7:29:08 > 7:29:09Every August, the Edinburgh Festival
7:29:09 > 7:29:11attracts performers from around the globe.
7:29:11 > 7:29:15There's comedy...art...
7:29:15 > 7:29:17theatre...dance...
7:29:17 > 7:29:19music...and monkeys.
7:29:21 > 7:29:23I'm here to perform my show
7:29:23 > 7:29:25and to see as much of the festival as I can.
7:29:25 > 7:29:30Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage Nina Conti!
7:29:30 > 7:29:32APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
7:29:32 > 7:29:33Hi!
7:29:35 > 7:29:38Hello, everybody. Welcome. Thank you for coming.
7:29:45 > 7:29:47- You OK?- Yep.
7:29:49 > 7:29:52Can I...? No, forget it, I'll never get them on again.
7:29:52 > 7:29:54NINA LAUGHS
7:29:55 > 7:29:58What shall I do with my glasses now?
7:29:58 > 7:30:02- Whatever you like.- I'll just...nah, hold on to them.
7:30:02 > 7:30:06- Yeah?- Yeah.- OK, Lorna.- OK.
7:30:06 > 7:30:09Why are you doing this to me?
7:30:13 > 7:30:16I've been coming to this festival all my working life.
7:30:16 > 7:30:18I want to die, Nina.
7:30:18 > 7:30:20It's a really important place
7:30:20 > 7:30:22to learn your craft as a comedian
7:30:22 > 7:30:24and have your mini breakdowns and...
7:30:24 > 7:30:27..win your awards, if you're someone else.
7:30:27 > 7:30:30But...70 years ago, when this festival began,
7:30:30 > 7:30:33comedy as we now know it didn't even exist.
7:30:33 > 7:30:35Sounds like a halcyon time.
7:30:35 > 7:30:37But now, it's everywhere,
7:30:37 > 7:30:40and you can't walk down any road in Edinburgh
7:30:40 > 7:30:42without seeing thousands of comedy posters.
7:30:42 > 7:30:45Comedians looking quirky and covered in stars.
7:30:45 > 7:30:48But how is it developing as an art form?
7:30:48 > 7:30:51- I don't think it is. - I mean, it is hugely.
7:30:51 > 7:30:55It's using theatre and performance art and storytelling now.
7:30:55 > 7:30:57You're just talking it up, Nina.
7:30:57 > 7:30:59I think it's all narcissism.
7:30:59 > 7:31:01We're going to have to disagree.
7:31:01 > 7:31:04Can't we go to Hawaii one year?
7:31:07 > 7:31:10One of my favourite comics, Sarah Kendall,
7:31:10 > 7:31:12is challenging what can be expected from stand-up
7:31:12 > 7:31:17by crafting a deeply personal family story into her show.
7:31:17 > 7:31:19Do you think there's too much comedy at the Fringe?
7:31:19 > 7:31:24I think most people see comedy as being the most accessible form of...
7:31:24 > 7:31:27- theatre, like, the most populist form.- Yeah.
7:31:27 > 7:31:30So I would say that there would be more people sort of looking to
7:31:30 > 7:31:32the comedy guide, possibly, for that reason.
7:31:32 > 7:31:36I think that the way comedy is at the Fringe for the month of August
7:31:36 > 7:31:38is not the way comedy is for the rest of the year,
7:31:38 > 7:31:43and I think that...this, the Fringe allows it to be something else
7:31:43 > 7:31:45and allows comedy to start pushing those boundaries
7:31:45 > 7:31:48and bleed into different genres and...
7:31:48 > 7:31:52I think people don't have that same sort of creative freedom
7:31:52 > 7:31:54for the other 11 months of the year.
7:31:54 > 7:31:57You know, when people come to a Fringe Festival,
7:31:57 > 7:32:00most people want to see something a little bit different.
7:32:00 > 7:32:03My dad had woken the whole family up at 4:30 in the morning
7:32:03 > 7:32:05to see Haley's Comet.
7:32:05 > 7:32:08Mum and Dad had been fighting all night.
7:32:08 > 7:32:11And my dad was just filling the silence
7:32:11 > 7:32:15with these facts about Haley's Comet
7:32:15 > 7:32:17that he had been looking up all week.
7:32:18 > 7:32:20And he said...
7:32:21 > 7:32:23"To many ancient civilisations,
7:32:23 > 7:32:25"comets were seen as a sign of bad luck.
7:32:25 > 7:32:29"But in 1066, it burnt so brightly
7:32:29 > 7:32:32"that William the Conqueror thought it was a sign of good luck."
7:32:32 > 7:32:34He said, "I like that positivity."
7:32:35 > 7:32:37And my mum said,
7:32:37 > 7:32:40"Well, maybe you should have married William the Conqueror!"
7:32:41 > 7:32:44And how on earth do you write a story like that?
7:32:44 > 7:32:48I mean, that feels to me a bit like you've written a novel,
7:32:48 > 7:32:51or something as difficult as I think a novel would be.
7:32:51 > 7:32:54I'm a storyteller, and I think that stories...
7:32:54 > 7:32:58for me are like these little roadmaps that we're given
7:32:58 > 7:33:02and we turn to stories as roadmaps for experiences
7:33:02 > 7:33:05and how to deal with things and who to be,
7:33:05 > 7:33:08and I think that there was this story that I had
7:33:08 > 7:33:10that was really resonant for me,
7:33:10 > 7:33:13and I thought, "That's got to be resonant for other human beings."
7:33:13 > 7:33:17In her show, Sarah talks about her friend's battle with cancer.
7:33:17 > 7:33:23"..And Sally's cancer is back, and it's in her kidneys."
7:33:24 > 7:33:26And my dad says, "What stars can you see?"
7:33:26 > 7:33:29He always asks, "What stars can you see?"
7:33:29 > 7:33:33And I look up, and, uh, it's a really cloudy night,
7:33:33 > 7:33:36and I say to my dad, "There are no stars."
7:33:36 > 7:33:38And he says, "There are."
7:33:40 > 7:33:42"You just can't see them right now."
7:33:44 > 7:33:46And he said, "Things can change in an instant.
7:33:46 > 7:33:47"There's always tomorrow."
7:33:49 > 7:33:51And then I say to my dad...
7:33:53 > 7:33:55"I didn't see Haley's Comet."
7:34:00 > 7:34:02And my dad says,
7:34:02 > 7:34:04"Neither did I."
7:34:07 > 7:34:09I think I relax more when I'm telling a story.
7:34:09 > 7:34:11I think if I'm telling a gag,
7:34:11 > 7:34:14I always sort of felt like I would live or die by each gag
7:34:14 > 7:34:16and I could never build anything up.
7:34:16 > 7:34:20But with a story, you invest more, the audience invests more,
7:34:20 > 7:34:24you reveal more of yourself. I think it's that thing where
7:34:24 > 7:34:27- you've sort of got to leave a chunk of yourself on the stage.- Yeah.
7:34:27 > 7:34:31I think that there is a trust that you develop with your audience
7:34:31 > 7:34:34and it's a very sort of... It feels like a very personal relationship.
7:34:34 > 7:34:38Each show, bizarrely, feels incredibly personal.
7:34:39 > 7:34:42Joseph Morpurgo's show Hammerhead
7:34:42 > 7:34:45playfully questions what the very idea of a stand-up show is,
7:34:45 > 7:34:48mixing audience interaction with technology
7:34:48 > 7:34:50to create something tricksy and hard to define.
7:34:50 > 7:34:54OK, so. "How did you structure the show?"
7:34:54 > 7:34:56OK. So. Most shows, as you know,
7:34:56 > 7:34:59have a beginning, a middle and an end.
7:34:59 > 7:35:01And our show, of course, has a beginning,
7:35:01 > 7:35:02but as well as moving forwards in time,
7:35:02 > 7:35:05we're also moving backwards in flashback
7:35:05 > 7:35:07which means the beginning is technically a middle.
7:35:07 > 7:35:09You see what I mean? Yeah, she does.
7:35:09 > 7:35:11And then, as well as an end,
7:35:11 > 7:35:13there's also a vice-end, a co-end and a deputy end.
7:35:13 > 7:35:15The latter of which is a traversable wormhole
7:35:15 > 7:35:17back to the beginning of the start,
7:35:17 > 7:35:19which is actually a middle sheathed in an ending.
7:35:19 > 7:35:21Now it gets interesting.
7:35:21 > 7:35:24Act one, act two, act three, act pi...
7:35:26 > 7:35:28..and then act four, which is a real-time flashback
7:35:28 > 7:35:30of everything you've just seen, so same thing again.
7:35:30 > 7:35:32Were you deliberately
7:35:32 > 7:35:35trying to break the form of a comedy show?
7:35:35 > 7:35:38You start with a premise, you set yourself its limitations,
7:35:38 > 7:35:42and then you just try and explore as deep as you can go within that.
7:35:42 > 7:35:43Hopefully through that process
7:35:43 > 7:35:47you discover something that's, um, like, unusual, or unexpected.
7:35:47 > 7:35:48I've been undone.
7:35:48 > 7:35:51Truly undone by vanity.
7:35:51 > 7:35:55In the candent heat of intellectual urgency,
7:35:55 > 7:35:58I have misconstrued all...
7:35:58 > 7:36:01- GERMAN ACCENT: - Did somebody say strudel?
7:36:01 > 7:36:04Do you think that there's too much comedy at the Fringe this year?
7:36:04 > 7:36:08I think it's easy, personally, to become an aficionado
7:36:08 > 7:36:11and then a connoisseur and then to become a bit jaded
7:36:11 > 7:36:13- because you've seen so much stuff. - Yeah.
7:36:13 > 7:36:15But I remember what it was like when I first came,
7:36:15 > 7:36:18and just to step into this, like, amazing realm...
7:36:18 > 7:36:21If you've never seen a clown show or a sketch show or a stand-up show,
7:36:21 > 7:36:25I think the fact there is, like, an endless, like, smorgasbord
7:36:25 > 7:36:27of stuff to see is a good thing.
7:36:27 > 7:36:31- # Tim! - Oh, oh, oh, oh
7:36:31 > 7:36:36- # Chartered surveyor, Tim! - Oh, oh, oh, oh
7:36:36 > 7:36:38# Surveying solo!
7:36:38 > 7:36:40# Sound, sound, structurally sound
7:36:40 > 7:36:42# Too much pebbledash, structurally sound
7:36:42 > 7:36:44# Issues with the party wall This one's been condemned
7:36:44 > 7:36:46# Five pounds! #
7:36:47 > 7:36:51Confounding our expectations further is Wild Bore,
7:36:51 > 7:36:54an absurd theatre piece where an international trio of performers
7:36:54 > 7:36:57take reviews from their previous works to create a show
7:36:57 > 7:36:59that has a laugh at the critics' expense.
7:37:00 > 7:37:05One reviewer said it was the worst theatrical experienced of his life.
7:37:07 > 7:37:10Another said, "Kill me. Kill me now."
7:37:10 > 7:37:11And it was also pegged as
7:37:11 > 7:37:14"a startlingly early frontrunner for worst show of the year."
7:37:14 > 7:37:16It opened on 7th January.
7:37:18 > 7:37:23The show is a montage of real quotes from real critics,
7:37:23 > 7:37:27taken...real reviews of real shows.
7:37:27 > 7:37:30We frame it as though it's about the show you're watching right now,
7:37:30 > 7:37:32but obviously it's from our past reviews,
7:37:32 > 7:37:34other people's past reviews, etc.
7:37:34 > 7:37:36For no apparent reason
7:37:36 > 7:37:40we have come into a darkened room to watch a theatre show.
7:37:40 > 7:37:44You may as well have written that for no apparent reason
7:37:44 > 7:37:47Hamlet holds the skull of Yorick in his hand for no apparent reason.
7:37:49 > 7:37:52You may as well have written that for no apparent reason
7:37:52 > 7:37:55she doth speak in iambic pentameter for no apparent...
7:37:55 > 7:37:57Yeah, there's no reason for that.
7:37:57 > 7:37:59So the show seems to mix, like,
7:37:59 > 7:38:02performance art and theatre with comedy.
7:38:02 > 7:38:06Is it consciously one or the other, or are you making a mixture?
7:38:06 > 7:38:08I think we're making a mixture.
7:38:08 > 7:38:10Although I consider myself a theatre-maker,
7:38:10 > 7:38:14there's, you know, comedy runs through all the work that I do.
7:38:14 > 7:38:15If you want to make people laugh
7:38:15 > 7:38:19and you're in a theatre context or you're in a...comedy context
7:38:19 > 7:38:23you do have to understand sort of like the form...
7:38:23 > 7:38:26The expectation, different tropes, different rules to that form.
7:38:26 > 7:38:28But I think it's funny that...
7:38:28 > 7:38:31In certain settings, like in Edinburgh,
7:38:31 > 7:38:32if you say, "I'm going to see comedy,"
7:38:32 > 7:38:36you picture one person on stage standing up with a microphone.
7:38:36 > 7:38:40- And that's silly.- I think the show could sit just as well, you know,
7:38:40 > 7:38:44at a theatre festival as it could at a comedy festival.
7:38:46 > 7:38:49So while comedy is really ballooning,
7:38:49 > 7:38:52there are so many kind of subheadings to it now.
7:38:52 > 7:38:56We've seen storytelling and performance art
7:38:56 > 7:39:02and then this very hi-tech and audience-experience-involved thing.
7:39:02 > 7:39:06I mean, there is a lot of comedy, but it's always evolving,
7:39:06 > 7:39:09and I would say that at this time of social divide,
7:39:09 > 7:39:13the laughter and the unity that that brings is more important than ever.
7:39:15 > 7:39:18This year is the 70th anniversary of the International Festival.
7:39:18 > 7:39:21The programme celebrates the courage and ambition
7:39:21 > 7:39:23of the original gathering of artists.
7:39:23 > 7:39:26One of the highlights is Benjamin Clementine
7:39:26 > 7:39:29who brings his soulful and uncompromising musical style
7:39:29 > 7:39:30to Edinburgh.
7:39:30 > 7:39:32# Your cup is full Your cup is full
7:39:32 > 7:39:35# What have you not yet achieved?
7:39:35 > 7:39:37# It is obvious that you're trying
7:39:37 > 7:39:40# Dubious stop or you will die here
7:39:40 > 7:39:44# You're pretending but no-one is buying...
7:39:47 > 7:39:51# London, London London is calling you
7:39:51 > 7:39:53# What are you waiting for?
7:39:53 > 7:39:56# What you searching for? #
7:39:56 > 7:40:00Clementine's first tour de force won the Mercury Prize in 2015.
7:40:00 > 7:40:04Always a songwriter to defy characterisation,
7:40:04 > 7:40:07his new self-produced second album, I Tell A Fly,
7:40:07 > 7:40:08is no exception.
7:40:13 > 7:40:16I've just listened to your album twice through,
7:40:16 > 7:40:20and I think it's incredible. Where did it come from?
7:40:20 > 7:40:22My inspiration, my influences,
7:40:22 > 7:40:25which is what's going on around me.
7:40:25 > 7:40:27- In the world?- Yeah, yeah.
7:40:27 > 7:40:30And that's what inspired me to write that second album.
7:40:30 > 7:40:33For example, you know, writing the song about...
7:40:35 > 7:40:40..Aleppo - I've seen people getting bombed, children crying,
7:40:40 > 7:40:43running away from, you know, a catastrophe.
7:40:43 > 7:40:47I was bullied in school, so if I was bullied in school
7:40:47 > 7:40:54and that trauma has stayed with me for over ten years,
7:40:54 > 7:40:56I could use that to talk about Aleppo,
7:40:56 > 7:40:59because of course what I experienced is
7:40:59 > 7:41:02nowhere near what the children of Aleppo are experiencing,
7:41:02 > 7:41:06but if it's that small, then imagine Aleppo, the children of Aleppo.
7:41:06 > 7:41:12# Oh, leave me, leave me Oh, leave me, leave me
7:41:12 > 7:41:15# Oh, love me, oh, love me
7:41:15 > 7:41:18# Leave me alone... #
7:41:18 > 7:41:22And, as a kid, did you escape to music?
7:41:22 > 7:41:26Certainly. I think music was...
7:41:27 > 7:41:30..my only, erm...
7:41:30 > 7:41:33way just to forget everything
7:41:33 > 7:41:35and to pretend nothing happened.
7:41:35 > 7:41:40And, you know, when I played music, when I played the piano,
7:41:40 > 7:41:44I always cried, because it was a feeling of...
7:41:44 > 7:41:49I felt peaceful, you know, and it brought so much emotion...
7:41:51 > 7:41:55- ..out of me.- I wanted to ask you about your voice, as well.
7:41:55 > 7:41:56So, your voice...
7:41:56 > 7:41:58I hated...
7:42:00 > 7:42:03..singing, because I felt that...
7:42:03 > 7:42:05The people that I listened to...
7:42:05 > 7:42:09- were, you know, Pavarotti, Maria Callas...- Right.
7:42:09 > 7:42:11..you know, Andrea Bocelli, Lucio Dalla.
7:42:11 > 7:42:15It was Italian music, you know.
7:42:15 > 7:42:18There were times that I would just really try to sing along a little
7:42:18 > 7:42:23bit, but, you know, I got troubles with my neighbours always, yeah?
7:42:23 > 7:42:25I always did it when my parents were not around.
7:42:25 > 7:42:29But, again, you know, my neighbours would come and bang the door
7:42:29 > 7:42:30and tell me to shut up.
7:42:30 > 7:42:35# So, Billy
7:42:35 > 7:42:38# It's forgiven
7:42:38 > 7:42:44# Billy bully, bully Billy, it's all right
7:42:44 > 7:42:47# Oh, it's fine... #
7:42:47 > 7:42:51So, then, your own style of singing, that just came along with the music?
7:42:51 > 7:42:53Yeah, it came along as a consequence
7:42:53 > 7:42:56when I had to, you know, find a way to survive.
7:42:56 > 7:43:00- You don't really want to sing, as a normal human being.- Why not?!
7:43:00 > 7:43:04- You know, you just want to listen to music, I think.- Really?
7:43:04 > 7:43:08- People love singing. - If it was left...
7:43:08 > 7:43:10The reason why I'm singing is because of consequences,
7:43:10 > 7:43:13it's not because I want to sing.
7:43:13 > 7:43:15Of course, I like singing, but it's not...
7:43:17 > 7:43:20..it's not what I'd hoped for as a kid.
7:43:20 > 7:43:23- I have to sing because I have something to say.- Mm.
7:43:23 > 7:43:25It's the reason why I'm doing it.
7:43:25 > 7:43:29- I use music to communicate with people.- Mm-hm.- You know?
7:43:29 > 7:43:35When things were dire, you know, I had to open up to people,
7:43:35 > 7:43:38- and I couldn't do that without music.- Mm-hm.
7:43:38 > 7:43:41And I don't think I can still do that without music.
7:43:41 > 7:43:44Do you think you'd do music without...pain?
7:43:44 > 7:43:47I think it would be impossible.
7:43:47 > 7:43:50I think that as soon as I'm done with what I want to say,
7:43:50 > 7:43:51I would stop.
7:43:54 > 7:43:59# Can you feel the thunder that Aleppo feels?
7:43:59 > 7:44:05# Billy
7:44:05 > 7:44:07# Oh, I believe
7:44:07 > 7:44:10# I believe, I believe
7:44:10 > 7:44:13# Can you feel the thunder that Aleppo feels?
7:44:14 > 7:44:17# Can you feel the thunder that Aleppo feels?
7:44:18 > 7:44:21# Can you feel the thunder that Aleppo feels?
7:44:22 > 7:44:28# Can you feel the thunder that Aleppo feels? #
7:44:30 > 7:44:31CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
7:44:35 > 7:44:37One of Edinburgh's most famous sons
7:44:37 > 7:44:39has come back to the festival this year.
7:44:39 > 7:44:42Trainspotting author Irvine Welsh has teamed up with actor and
7:44:42 > 7:44:45director Nick Moran to bring us a play that examines what happens
7:44:45 > 7:44:49when real-life gangsters come face-to-face with the art world.
7:44:50 > 7:44:53Performers is the story of two East End villains auditioning for
7:44:53 > 7:44:56parts in the classic arthouse film Performance,
7:44:56 > 7:44:58starring Mick Jagger and James Fox.
7:44:59 > 7:45:03Oi! We're not here to talk about art and bacon.
7:45:03 > 7:45:06We're supposed to be here to talk about pictures.
7:45:06 > 7:45:09And we're definitely not here to talk about naked pictures.
7:45:09 > 7:45:11Banned immediately upon release,
7:45:11 > 7:45:15Donald Cammell's cult classic challenged social norms
7:45:15 > 7:45:18and is widely considered to be a seminal piece of British cinema.
7:45:19 > 7:45:21Me!
7:45:22 > 7:45:24Me.
7:45:24 > 7:45:26Do you call that equitable?
7:45:28 > 7:45:30It's probably, along with Lindsay Anderson's If...,
7:45:30 > 7:45:35which was round about the same time, and Kubrick's Clockwork Orange...
7:45:35 > 7:45:37I mean, I think these are the three films
7:45:37 > 7:45:41that kind of staked out a pretty unique kind of
7:45:41 > 7:45:44territory in British cinema, because they're not trying to be
7:45:44 > 7:45:46Hollywood, or they're not even trying to be European arthouse.
7:45:46 > 7:45:49You know, and they had that mixture of kind of, you know,
7:45:49 > 7:45:52the kitchen-sink realism with the fantastical and the trippy,
7:45:52 > 7:45:54and that whole stylisation has gone
7:45:54 > 7:45:56right through from Quadrophenia to Trainspotting.
7:45:56 > 7:46:00And it's a film that deserves to be seen a lot more than
7:46:00 > 7:46:02it has been seen.
7:46:05 > 7:46:09I don't want any invalid, washed-up
7:46:09 > 7:46:12cabaret artistes in my beautiful basement.
7:46:12 > 7:46:17It's Donald Cammell trying to get authenticity in his film
7:46:17 > 7:46:20but being completely unaware that just by doing that,
7:46:20 > 7:46:23by having that as a thought, it's not inventive.
7:46:23 > 7:46:26It's patronising to try and think, "We'll get the real thing in."
7:46:26 > 7:46:28And the joy about the play is it's sort of revealed.
7:46:28 > 7:46:32Everybody's playing something that they can't ever really be or
7:46:32 > 7:46:34they can't completely maintain.
7:46:34 > 7:46:37The way that time period, the sixties,
7:46:37 > 7:46:40when you had the sexual revolution, the class barriers breaking down,
7:46:40 > 7:46:43people were kind of thinking about their identity and split
7:46:43 > 7:46:47identities and the management of their identity in everyday life
7:46:47 > 7:46:49to an extent for the first time,
7:46:49 > 7:46:51to an extent that they really weren't after the war.
7:46:51 > 7:46:53You could forge your own identity and just sort of...
7:46:53 > 7:46:56with a bit of conviction convince people that's who you really were,
7:46:56 > 7:46:59and that's why the play works so well.
7:46:59 > 7:47:02These guys can suddenly be famous, they can be in a film.
7:47:02 > 7:47:05It's only a bit of acting. No-one's going to get hurt.
7:47:05 > 7:47:09I don't believe you, Alf. You surprise me, you do.
7:47:09 > 7:47:11You really surprise me.
7:47:11 > 7:47:13I'm...
7:47:13 > 7:47:14Well...
7:47:14 > 7:47:16I'm surprised.
7:47:19 > 7:47:22In the '60s, so much British art was about class,
7:47:22 > 7:47:24but today it's much more complex than that.
7:47:24 > 7:47:27And perhaps it's not surprising that shows about identity
7:47:27 > 7:47:29and belonging and the breaking down of borders
7:47:29 > 7:47:32and boundaries are the big themes of this year's festival.
7:47:35 > 7:47:38Border Tales examines multiculturalism in Britain
7:47:38 > 7:47:40through dance, music and stories.
7:47:44 > 7:47:49It is a show about identity and multicultural living.
7:47:49 > 7:47:52It's quite remarkable to be bringing your actual personal
7:47:52 > 7:47:54stories to the work,
7:47:54 > 7:47:58and it means also digging into your own background,
7:47:58 > 7:48:00maybe things that you've even taken for granted,
7:48:00 > 7:48:04things that you don't notice any more, and really mining that,
7:48:04 > 7:48:06and I think that's incredibly powerful.
7:48:29 > 7:48:33From east London, visceral dance piece Blak Whyte Gray is
7:48:33 > 7:48:35based on conversations about identity and heritage
7:48:35 > 7:48:39the choreographer Michael Asante had with his Nigerian father
7:48:39 > 7:48:42and explores the struggle for liberation from colonialism.
7:49:04 > 7:49:08I've been struck by all these shows exploring our myriad British
7:49:08 > 7:49:11identities, but there's one artist shining a particularly personal
7:49:11 > 7:49:13and political light on this theme.
7:49:15 > 7:49:18Selina Thompson's powerful evocation of slavery and its dreadful
7:49:18 > 7:49:23legacy are explored in her extraordinary one-woman show Salt.
7:49:23 > 7:49:26Preparation for this show began with a real-life gruelling
7:49:26 > 7:49:29journey retracing the transatlantic slave trade
7:49:29 > 7:49:31route below the deck of a cargo ship.
7:49:32 > 7:49:35We are all descended from enslaved people.
7:49:36 > 7:49:39On a form, I tick "Black British".
7:49:39 > 7:49:42If you ask me where I'm from, I'll say, "Birmingham."
7:49:42 > 7:49:45If you ask me where I'm really from, I'll think, "Me mum."
7:49:47 > 7:49:48There's loads of really extraordinary
7:49:48 > 7:49:52work at the festival this year that's kind of looking at race
7:49:52 > 7:49:54and identity, lots of work from black women.
7:49:54 > 7:49:57It's really awesome to feel like part of...
7:49:57 > 7:50:01part of a moment in time where lots of people have kind of wanted to...
7:50:01 > 7:50:03speak honestly and frankly about...
7:50:05 > 7:50:08..this history but also the present and to imagine the future.
7:50:08 > 7:50:11And what were your current motivations for making this piece?
7:50:11 > 7:50:14It's been really eerie being up here with this show this week
7:50:14 > 7:50:16while everything's been happening in the States.
7:50:16 > 7:50:20It's felt... It's very eerie to be working on this show while something
7:50:20 > 7:50:25like Grenfell, that had massive racial implications, was happening.
7:50:25 > 7:50:27It feels like a very potent moment.
7:50:27 > 7:50:30But I think it would have felt potent for me last year.
7:50:30 > 7:50:33He tells me that the continent will never progress.
7:50:33 > 7:50:36He tells me that the people are feral children.
7:50:36 > 7:50:40He tells me to be wary of Africans, who, he tells me,
7:50:40 > 7:50:41will hate me worst of all.
7:50:41 > 7:50:45He finishes up by telling me that racism is ancient history.
7:50:47 > 7:50:50He knows I will say nothing.
7:50:50 > 7:50:55It is cartoon racism, brutish, impolite racism,
7:50:55 > 7:50:59not the smooth, slick, confused racism of my nice liberal friends.
7:50:59 > 7:51:02What was the journey like for you?
7:51:02 > 7:51:06- Whoo! Erm, great material for a show.- Yeah.
7:51:06 > 7:51:10- A very difficult time in my own life.- How long did it take?
7:51:10 > 7:51:13So, the whole thing took about two months, just over two months.
7:51:13 > 7:51:16And I think it's the kind of thing which...
7:51:16 > 7:51:18It would have been difficult even if everything had worked
7:51:18 > 7:51:21out perfectly, because I think to retrace...
7:51:23 > 7:51:25..the physical locations of the middle passage whilst
7:51:25 > 7:51:28thinking about all the things that took place there historically
7:51:28 > 7:51:31was always going to be extremely painful.
7:51:31 > 7:51:34But we were then dealing with a ship full of officers
7:51:34 > 7:51:38and crew members who were racist and very hostile.
7:51:38 > 7:51:40This is the master.
7:51:43 > 7:51:46I despise calling him master.
7:51:46 > 7:51:50His power is maintained by aggression and intimidation.
7:51:50 > 7:51:52He bullies his officers...
7:51:52 > 7:51:54who alienate his crew...
7:51:54 > 7:51:58and terrorise the woman, shouting at her, so she shouted at me,
7:51:58 > 7:52:02and we're still at sea in the morning.
7:52:02 > 7:52:04Where does the salt come from?
7:52:04 > 7:52:08I wanted salt because it has so many gorgeous connotations.
7:52:08 > 7:52:12So, firstly on a really bread-and-butter kind of thing,
7:52:12 > 7:52:16salt as in tears, salt as in sweat, salt as in the sea.
7:52:16 > 7:52:20But also the role that salt plays in healing, the fact that, like,
7:52:20 > 7:52:23salt is one of the quickest healing things that there is, but it hurts.
7:52:23 > 7:52:27But also, I wanted a physically difficult task.
7:52:27 > 7:52:29Like, I wanted something where...
7:52:30 > 7:52:33..you would sit and it would feel...
7:52:33 > 7:52:37There would be a very visceral sense of somebody working in front of you.
7:52:38 > 7:52:41- VOICEOVER:- Modernity as we understand it is, like, founded
7:52:41 > 7:52:44on colonialism and founded on the slave trade.
7:52:44 > 7:52:49And it's going to sound really big and over the top, but the only way
7:52:49 > 7:52:52that you change any of that is like a complete overhaul of the world.
7:52:52 > 7:52:55So it's a cheerful show and everybody skips
7:52:55 > 7:52:57- out of the theatre at the end... - NINA LAUGHS
7:52:57 > 7:53:00..feeling optimistic and happy about life!
7:53:02 > 7:53:06The art festival is also exploring this issue by looking
7:53:06 > 7:53:10at Scotland's historical role in the transportation of slaves.
7:53:10 > 7:53:13Inspired by Robert Burns' poem The Slave's Lament,
7:53:13 > 7:53:14artists Douglas Gordon
7:53:14 > 7:53:18and Graham Fagen are exploring surprising links between Burns,
7:53:18 > 7:53:22the famous champion of egalitarianism, and the slave trade.
7:53:22 > 7:53:25Gordon's work Black Burns is a response to a white marble
7:53:25 > 7:53:29statue of Robert Burns present in the National Portrait Gallery
7:53:29 > 7:53:31and aims to humanise the bard by making
7:53:31 > 7:53:34the truth of his character more explicit.
7:53:34 > 7:53:36No matter whether it would be a big abstract piece,
7:53:36 > 7:53:39I like to know what things are made of.
7:53:39 > 7:53:44A lot of Robert Burns himself was about being honest and open
7:53:44 > 7:53:51and trying to pull himself apart as a man in order to...
7:53:51 > 7:53:56you know, the everyman idea that "a man's a man for a' that".
7:53:56 > 7:54:01It's quite a brutal piece of work. Is he shattered? Is he broken?
7:54:01 > 7:54:03Or has he just been opened up?
7:54:04 > 7:54:07It's highly polished on the outside,
7:54:07 > 7:54:10and then we see what's underneath the surface.
7:54:10 > 7:54:13Where's the real figure? Where is the real fellow?
7:54:13 > 7:54:20# It was in sweet Senegal That my foes did me enthral... #
7:54:20 > 7:54:23In the adjacent gallery to Black Burns is Graham Fagen's
7:54:23 > 7:54:25work The Slave's Lament.
7:54:25 > 7:54:29Fagan has created a version of the poem with a haunting melody
7:54:29 > 7:54:31sung by reggae artist Ghetto Priest.
7:54:31 > 7:54:34# And must never see it more
7:54:34 > 7:54:41# And alas! I am weary, weary, O
7:54:41 > 7:54:44# Torn from that lovely shore
7:54:44 > 7:54:48# And must never see it more
7:54:48 > 7:54:52# And alas! I am weary, weary, O... #
7:54:52 > 7:54:55The poignant poem charts the journey of a slave aboard a ship
7:54:55 > 7:54:56from Africa to Virginia.
7:54:56 > 7:54:59And yet Burns, legendary man of the people,
7:54:59 > 7:55:03almost went to work on a slave plantation.
7:55:03 > 7:55:11I discovered that Burns had booked a passage to go to Jamaica to
7:55:11 > 7:55:14work on a plantation.
7:55:14 > 7:55:18So I felt I had to deal with that as an artist,
7:55:18 > 7:55:20I had to start a conversation.
7:55:20 > 7:55:26And I suppose that's when I met up with Ghetto Priest.
7:55:26 > 7:55:30And what has your experience of this work been like?
7:55:30 > 7:55:32Deep. Profound, to say the least,
7:55:32 > 7:55:37because I really believe, in my crazy head,
7:55:37 > 7:55:40that it's viable with all this
7:55:40 > 7:55:46that that 17th-century man called upon me to do this for Graham.
7:55:46 > 7:55:51- Yeah. Crazy.- But he's stripped the flesh from one man.- Mm.
7:55:51 > 7:55:54Burns, Black Burns. I'm the black Burns!
7:55:56 > 7:56:02Graham's work was made before I did mine, so I'm just copying him!
7:56:02 > 7:56:04I hope nobody falls on it and gets impaled.
7:56:04 > 7:56:07But, you know, there could be worse ways to go.
7:56:07 > 7:56:10Getting impaled by Robert Burns beyond the grave. Not bad.
7:56:11 > 7:56:15I don't think that anybody could ever point to anything in Burns
7:56:15 > 7:56:16and say it's pretentious.
7:56:16 > 7:56:19As opposed to me!
7:56:23 > 7:56:27I always feel like in Edinburgh the first week of the festival
7:56:27 > 7:56:28is in a different city from the final week,
7:56:28 > 7:56:30because you've been on such a journey.
7:56:30 > 7:56:32I've seen such a huge array of stuff.
7:56:32 > 7:56:36It's definitely exhausting, but I'm never going to get tired of it.
7:56:36 > 7:56:38And then always at the last minute
7:56:38 > 7:56:40you find something else completely different...
7:56:42 > 7:56:45How you feeling out there?
7:56:45 > 7:56:48..such as one of this year's top-rated Fringe hits, Acelere,
7:56:48 > 7:56:51the latest gravity-defying show from Circolombia,
7:56:51 > 7:56:54mixing Latin-American dance, soulful singing
7:56:54 > 7:56:57and jaw-dropping acrobatic stunts.
7:56:57 > 7:57:00It's a nonstop circus party to warm your heart.
7:57:00 > 7:57:02SHE SINGS IN SPANISH
7:57:57 > 7:57:59CHEERING AND APPLAUSE