Taking place from 5th to 28th August, Edinburgh International Festival marks its 75th year since its founding, returning yet again with a mixed programme of opera, classical music, dance, theatre, contemporary music, circus and digital events. A diverse theatre programme including Liz Lochhead and Michael Boyd’s (National Theatre of Scotland) Medea, Kae Tempest, Kyle Abraham’s An Untitled Love, Belvoir S.Shakthidhara and Eamon Flack’s Samsara and Odile Gakire Katese and Ross Manson’s The Book of Life amongst others, this year’s festival will also feature a season very pertinent to current circumstances titled ‘Refuge’ – a season of contemporary theatre, dance, visual art, film and conversation questioning what it means to be international in today’s world. With this year’s programme officially announced, festival director Fergus Linehan tells us more about what to expect from his last programme before musician Nicola Benedetti succeeds as director later on this year.

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It’s that time of year again. Time for family gatherings, office parties and too many mince pies! And what better way to celebrate than coming along The Christmas Wishlist at The Yard theatre?

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London’s spectacular Christmas destination Hyde Park Winter Wonderland has arrived for 6 weeks of winter cheer. With FREE admission there is even more entertainment than before. A huge hit with the royals and the celebrity crowd: Cara Delevingne, Kate Moss, One Direction, Elle Macpherson, Damien Lewis and Penelope Cruz have all been spotted enjoying the festive atmosphere.

TheatreFullStop have secured a family ticket to see a spectacular show from Zippos Circus in the Mega Dome.

For more information visit, www.hydeparkwinterwonderland.com

T&C’s
Family tickets = 2 adults and 2 children
Tickets must be used between 20th Nov 2015 – 3rd Jan 2016 (closed on Christmas Day)
Tickets cannot be exchanged
Tickets are subject to availability
Session times must be stipulated for Zippos Circus.

To enter please send your name and email to theatrefullstop@gmail.com. Deadline for this competition is Friday 4th December. The winner will be announced shortly afterwards and picked at random. Good luck!

What better way to spend Halloween than savouring the weird and wonderful at The Dark Circus Party. The evening includes astounding aerial acts, freakishly talented dancers and crazy circus sideshows – all washed down with delicious cocktails. Brought to you by Bourne and Hollingworth and Torture Garden, this is a night of fabulous thrills which is not to be missed!

The evening’s dress code is Opulence, Glamour and Fantasy with a Dark Circus Twist. So, let your imagination run wild and dress to impress.

TheatreFullStop are offering one lucky winner a pair of tickets for Saturday 31st October to this spell-binding evening of entertainment. All you have to do is answer the question below:

What is another name for Halloween?

a) Festival of Spirits

b) All Hallows Eve

c) Night of the Dead

Please send your answer, along with your name, address and contact number to theatrefullstop@gmail.com. The deadline for this competition is Friday 23rd October. The winner will be announced shortly after and chosen at random. Good luck!

Circa from Brisbane Australia are a circus company with a difference using acrobatics and movement to create amazing shows. Since 2006 Circa has toured to 32 countries including the astounding productions of Beyond and Wunderkammer. This year, Circa have been commissioned by Underbelly to create yet another exciting performance! 

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Circa from Brisbane Australia are a circus company with a difference using acrobatics and movement to create amazing shows. Since 2006 Circa has toured to 32 countries including the astounding productions of Beyond and Wunderkammer. This year, Circa have been commissioned by Underbelly to create yet another exciting performance! 

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Beyond was a breathtaking exploration of the beauty and strength of the human form, without failing to also portray the body’s strange grotesqueness. In a frantic hour of flying chairs, Rubik’s cubes, animal costumes and impersonations, unbelievable contortion and awesome gymnastics, Circa’s contribution to this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival, playing at Underbelly’s McEwan Hall, did as promised and went well beyond what I believed the body had the capacity to do.

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For centuries, our perceptions of the circus have been fixed into believing that the art form is a set genre, devoted to showcasing a selection of the weird and the wonderful, from contortion artists to jugglers, trapeze artists to clowns. Fast forward to the 21st century, and Artistic Director of Circa, Yaron Lifschitz updates the traditional art form into a thematic and imaginative playground full of wonder amazement. As the founder of the internationally acclaimed Circa, noted for their ambitious and awe inspiring productions, Yaron has witnessed the company’s popularity go from strength to strength. Having taken their performance of Beyond worldwide, Circa will be making a pit stop in Edinburgh for the next month as they take on this year’s Festival. Ahead of their performances, I was able to speak to Yaron about his inspirations for the production, what he’s looking forward to the most at this year’s festival and why it’s important to not take yourself too seriously!

Yaron, you are the Artistic Director of Circa, who will be showcasing the critically acclaimed Beyond at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival from 30^th July. Could you describe the concept of the production?
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During our lifetime, we’re taught that our GCSEs, A-Levels and University Degree’s will bring us that one step closer to attaining our dream job role. However, in the real world, this couldn’t be further from the truth. With the issue of youth unemployment being a divisive topic within politics and the media, what can be done to combat the situation? Ahead of the large scale Tangled Feet production One Million, which tackles the youth unemployment issue, physical theatre performer Jessica Andrade speaks to Theatrefullstop about returning to the production, why it’s important to make theatrical experiences more accessible and why she will never be defined as a conventional circus performer!

You’re currently touring with Tangled Feet in their production of One Million. Could you describe what the production is about?

One Million is a show about the unemployed youth from 16-25 (years of age). As we all have the experience of going to school, going to Uni, getting your degree; its that time where everyone thinks the world is their oyster and you find out it isn’t. Doing the show, we reflect on the emotions that you go through after graduating and you think the world is a playground. We go through a playground state where we’re just playing and seeing what it’s about. You realise how many people are applying for the same job, so we reflect that in the show by the amount of people. We’ve got 9 full cast members, 40 young people, they’re our participation lot, then we’ve got a 9 man band and a poet.

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With the return of the quirky and original circus show that had crowds and celebs flocking from all over in its first season last year, Limbo once again aims to amaze, bewilder and astound. Ahead of press night, I was able to speak with Heather Holliday, who not only held the title of being the youngest sword swallower in the world as a teen, but is also a fire eating extraordinaire! Heather speaks to Theatrefullstop about why she’s glad to be back in the UK, her inspirations, and why it’s important to have a good attitude in the circus industry!

Limbo returns to the Wonderground Festival this summer after a successful run last year. How does it feel to be back?

I’m really excited because (we’re) here for such a long season and (of) all of the places we go, London has the most entertainment and it’s the most interesting to be in. Also, (it’s) nice to be back because we’d just created the show last year and it was fairly new. We were still getting to know each other, the performers were getting to know each other’s skills so after a full year we’ve been able to just be a lot more creative with each other and get to know each other and I think that’s really going to show on stage with the new stuff we’re doing.

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