Back for its fifth year, with a new Chief of Engagement and a new Creative Director, Army @ The Fringe is poised to provoke public discussion through plays, art, poetry, and talks programmed to act as a foil to the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, showing the Army in a different, unexpected light.
As the Fringe emerges from Covid, Army @ The Fringe is playing its part in recovery. None of its visiting artists pay rent to perform in the venue, which keeps ticket prices affordable and means over a quarter of shows are free or pay what you want.
For the first time Army @ The Fringe has commissioned research and development works and play readings. Some are being performed by graduands from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland which sees their Fringe Debuts fully funded.
Lt. Col Hugo Clark MBE, who is responsible for Military Engagement across the whole of Scotland, is no stranger to Edinburgh and its festivals, having Commanded Edinburgh Garrison and the Military aspects of the Royal Edinburgh Tattoo for three years.
Lt. Col Clark said: “We’re trialing lots of initiatives to reach new audiences. For instance, we’re working with the University of Dundee to offer free tickets to humanities students from Scottish Secondary Schools up to 90 minutes from Edinburgh for productions and post show talks about history and international relations.
“We’re also collaborating with Scotland’s new Centre for Military Research, Education and Public Engagement at Edinburgh Napier University on a programme of post-show talks about veterans, spouses and mental health.
“In a year where the Fringe is on its way to recovery by having 80% of its 2019 programme, I’m pleased to support this by increasing our own capacity by 60% from last year through innovative programming and deploying a team who really have pulled out the stops to support this logistically.”
Leading the Creative Direction of Army at the Fringe is veteran producer, writer and artist Harry Ross who brings over two decades of experience to the artistic programme. He is also a serving Reservist, part of a new direction for Army @ The Fringe which will see soldiers start to play a more interactive role in creating work.
Interestingly, the venue in Hepburn House, an Army Reserve Centre on East Claremont Street, a fifteen-minute walk from Fringe Central, has some pedigree for artistic soldiers – two of Scotland’s well known modernist painters, Francis Caddell RSA and William Geissler enlisted into the Royal Scots at Hepburn House in the 20th Century.
Harry Ross said: “I rejoined the Army reserve as part of Artistic Research I am undertaking into the Hagiography of the Highland Warrior at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design, University of Dundee.
“As part of the University’s ethical approval process, I had to explain what I was doing to my military superiors who have been exceptionally supportive of my research. When I was asked by HQ Army in Scotland to help Army @ The Fringe, I felt it was a way of returning that support.
“I’m no stranger to life in the British Army, my father commissioned half a century ago and retired in 2006. Today’s army is very different to the one I grew up next to, and I hope that my programme reflects the values of a contemporary, diverse, and moral organization that the British Army seeks to become, with plays that accentuate how the moral component is key to an army that needs its soldiers to be reflective on choices made during service and respectful of all communities.”
The arts have always been interwoven with the British Army and cultural influences are reflected in works of art and poetry that soldier artists have created on their return from operations overseas, and music that has been composed during and after conflict.
As part of Army @ The Fringe’s strategy to present more work outside central Edinburgh, the art of conflict will be in the spotlight at a special concert of chamber music composed by 20th and 21st century composers at war, and Edinburgh Napier University Music Students that will be presented by members of the Band of the Royal Regiment of Scotland at the War Poets Collection, Edinburgh Napier University, Craiglockhart Campus on 28th August.
Soldiers creating works of art and music is one element of how the army interacts with the arts, another important interaction is that all soldiers must understand how to protect cultural property. This is not just the physical works of art or architecture but also the intangible heritage of oral history, performing arts, the values, traditions, and identities of communities.
“The Baltic Countries have a UNESCO Protected Intangible Heritage in their music and dance festivals. The one in Estonia is known as Laupupidu”, said Lieutenant Colonel Wendy Faux, the lead for arts in the Army for the last three years.
“The Kings Royal Hussars Battlegroup formed a choir whilst deployed in Tapa. They had a Russian Musical Director and performed with local choirs from the region around Tapa – in old Estonian.
“For me this was the coming together of communities through a mutual respect of music. It was interesting that many in the crowd could not believe the soldiers were singing in an old Estonian dialect that many of them would not attempt.”
It was this event along with the links Ross has nurtured over the years that has inspired a programme that brings together different voices through Intangible Heritage, with a highlight of the Poetry and Plays of young playwrights from the Baltic nations and modern writers from the Visegrád Group.
Continuing with the cultural heritage theme there are workshops and readings that investigate Scotland’s own linguistic diveristy, with an event exploring exploring why so many British Army units celebrate the Scots poet Robert Burns with senior non-commissioned officers form the Royal Regiment of Scotland, and a workshop on Gaelic war poetry produced in collaboration with the Scottish Poetry Library and led by Outlander’s very own Bard – Gillebrìde MacMillan.
Army @ The Fringe is also presenting two photographic exhibitions: – One is a remount of Alex Boyd’s acclaimed photographic exhibition at Stills Gallery – Tir An Airm (Land of the Army), that explores the largely unseen places in Scotland that are used to train our armed forces and those of our NATO allies.
The other is a retrospective of the work of prizewinning military photographer Bdr. Murray Kerr – To Spur a Running Horse, a collection of Portraits of veterans at rest and Officer Cadets in the field.
This year presents an opportunity for audiences and creatives to immerse themselves in a finely-honed programme of premières that bring the questions that really matter to light – what is our Army for; how do we train it; what are our values; how do we treat our veterans; who do we serve with and why; and what is our place in contemporary Scotland, the UK, and the wider world?
The full programme can be found at https://www.armyatthefringe.org/whats-on
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