REPORT FROM EDINBURGH

AUGUST 7, 2013

So today was our countryside trip – our day off of festival doings where we hop on the bus and explore the hilly area known as the Trossachs – including the celebrated Stirling Castle and a few other surprises.

After all the bustle of Edinburgh you will enjoy the relaxed nature of the day – the countryside is really beautiful and at the time in August when we should be traveling, the famous “Heather on the Hill” will be blooming.  Stirling is perhaps best remembered as the location of the coronation of Mary Queen of Scots – an important figure in Scottish history, and one you’ll learn a lot about during the trip.  Much of the castle dates from the 15^th and 16^th centuries.  You’ll enjoy the great hall, where you’ll be able to sit at the thrones for a great photo op.

Castles grow and change over time

From the castle walls, a great view

Costumed interpreters tell the story of the castle

After the castle we rode on for a while and stopped for a box lunch in the small town of Callendar – most of us went to the riverbank to feed ourselves and give a little to the ducks and swans.

Lunchtime - you will meet lots of
cool teachers and adult mentors from
other schools next year.

The tiny town of Callendar-
the dot the landscape

After lunch the bus headed up the narrow road to a lovely vista of the surrounding countryside  While traveling we were treated to tales of the Scottish royals and some of the bloody battles of history involving towering historical figures like William Wallace, Robert the Bruce and Rob Roy MacGregor.  (See the movie BRAVEHEART to get a flavor of medieval Scotland  (beware, it’s a pretty bloody epic!)

The hills are alive with-
wait, wrong country

Actual real heather on the hill

We had a few other stops along the way, to see the Highland Mountain Cattle, and had a stop at the Scottish Woolen Centre – enjoying a demonstration of sheep (and duck) herding and shopping in the large store (good prices on wool souvenirs).

My new buddy Davina introduces us to Hamish,
the Highland Mountain Cow

Hamish likes people, and carrots

Border Collie demonstrates herding with ducks

Tomorrow, a meeting with this year’s directors, and then some more free time to explore, see some shows and get ready to come home.  In tomorrow’s edition I’ll fill in a few more blanks.  Questions?  Email them and maybe I can answer from here!

REPORT FROM EDINBURGH

AUGUST 6, 2013

Today’s entry will be a short one because it is late and there are too many images to sift through to make good choices!  I’ll do my best to catch up tomorrow!  But here’s the scoop –

After meetings with the festival tech staff and tours of all the facilities, I can say with confidence that we’ll be well taken care of.  We received lots of great advice on how to choose, build and market a show that will travel well and play well at festival, and they have every reason to believe we’ll be at the same venues next year. There’s one moderate size house (pix yesterday) and two more black box, intimate spots. I’ve now seen shows in two of the three venues and I’ll catch one Thursday in the third!

The Church Hill Studio space

The Church Hll Sainstage space

The Pilrig Studio - above a church

The big highlight of the day, and one you will look forward to greatly, was the performance of the Edinburgh Military Tattoo.  It’s one of the most spectacular and moving shows you will ever see, held outdoors against the backdrop of the Edinburgh castle.  This year the seasons were used as a theme – but my takeaway was that it’s the closest you may ever get to the thrill of being at the Olympics opening or closing ceremony – except without the pop stars.  There were astonishingly talented military bands, dance troupes and even a group of kid stunt motorcycle riders called the “Imps”.  And of course the bagpipers – a sound unlike any other – especially when there are 50 of them.  All in all over 1000 performers are in the show, and the production uses lighting to spectacular effect on the castle surface.  It’s truly fabulous.

Spectacular Castle Backdrop

Mongolian Armed Forces depiction of winter

Gearing up for the finale

Tomorrow we are out in the countryside, with our day trip to Stirling Castle and the Trossachs. Hope the weather is nice!

REPORT FROM EDINBURGH

AUGUST 5, 2013

I’ve got tired feet today – lots of walking!  When you pack for Scotland be sure to bring comfortable shoes (you will be walking – a lot!),  a jacket/sweatshirts etc (for the cool nights) and an umbrella (rainy days are common – today was misty for most of the day but it didn’t detract from the pleasures of the day!

First up after breakfast (you will not go hungry – the food at the Pollack Halls dining area is plentiful and good), a bus ride on the #30 – about 10 minutes – toward Edinburgh’s famous Royal Mile – so named because at the top of the road is the sprawling complex of the Edinburgh Castle, and at the bottom is Holyrood House – birthplace of Mary, Queen of Scots – and current Scotland palace for Queen Elizabeth.  As I’m typing this I can hear (and see) the fireworks from the nightly performance of the Military Tatoo  at the Castle (I’ll report on the show tomorrow!

Edinburgh Castle, at the top of the Royal Mile -
this is also the site of the Tattoo

Holyrood House at the bottom of the Mile

After getting off the bus I wandered up the Royal Mile toward the castle, and past the center of activity for the Edinburgh Fringe (more on that later).  Today was a good day for me to take the castle tour, so I trudged on up the hill and took in a fascinating tour of the castle and its many buildings – dating from the 12^th to 19^th centuries (that’s more than three times the length of time the USA has existed as a country).  The castle tour is not on our itinerary for next year, but if you are a history buff (particularly all the intrigue about the British royalty) or a castle fan (like me) you’d probably have time to visit.  It’s well worth it – especially the panoramic views of the city that you can enjoy from the top!

Looking over the Ramparts

St. Margaret's Chapel - 12th Century

National War memorial atop the castle grounds

From the castle I wandered down the Royal Mile with a little side trip down Bank Street to the Greyfriars area – home to a statue of “Greyfriars Bobby” – a terrier of Scottish legend who, after his master’s death, stayed by his master’s grave without leaving it for 14 years, until his own death.  Right up the street from the statue is the Elephant House, made famous because JK Rowling wrote much of her early work on the Harry Potter series while sitting at the tavern.

Scotland's Best Dog

Birthplace of
Harry

After checking out those two landmarks (each an easy stroll away from the Royal Mile) I hiked back up to the Fringe area to check out the street performers and hopefully catch a couple of AHSTF groups in action.  The street performers are everywhere – you’ll find musicians, comedians, kids show performers and other performance artists  all up and down the street, with three special stages set up to highlight upcoming Fringe performances.  Not only will you have four full shows, but you’ll also be assigned one 20-minute slot to do a “teaser” on the Royal Mile!  The energy of the area is electric – and it wasn’t even nearly as busy today as it gets at other times of the week.

A light day on the Mile sofar

A street performeer (with audience members
as the horse)

Statuesque performers everywhere

"The Drama Boys" singing "Chim Chim Cheree"

Artists go to extremes to hand out flyers

A childrens' theatre troupe entertains

From South Africa, "Africa Entsha": astounded'
with a cappella harmonies

An American school previews its festival show-
note the cool signage they brought along

Rather than taking the bus back to the dorm  I decided to walk it to check out the ease of skipping the bus – it is a nice 20-minute or so walk (just make sure you map out the one or two turns you’ll need -  I didn’t and I overshot my turn – so my walk was more like 40 miinutes!

            After dinner it was on to a charter bus to go to the Church Hill Theatre – one of the main venues for AHSTF.  We caught two shows – one musical piece from a highly selective performing arts academy in Florida, and another by a more “typical” high school group in Texas.   Each group has a two hour window to set up, perform and strike.  In the photos, the platforms and such were provided by the festival.  The group that did projections brought their own “stuff”.  As you can see by the photos, this is a very traditional venue – it looked like about a 400 seat house (but keep in mind that the average over every Fringe show city-wide is 7 people per performance – the AHSTF audiences will probably not be that small, because schools are assigned to go see a few other shows – so we will probably at least have high school peers in the audience each time.  The AHSTF staff indicates that the neighborhood is good about attending shows at the theatre – and it is in an old church!

Interiior Church Hill Theatre -
Projection screen set

Sound and light table at rear

First show cleans up

Church Hill Lobby

A former church, turned theatre

The board out front

The next show is ready

            Tomorrow I’ll tell you more about the tech elements of festival as we will take our “tech tour”.  I’ll also report on the Tattoo – from all indications one of the most thrilling performances in the world.

REPORT FROM EDINBURGH

AUGUST 4, 2013

Greetings  from sunny (really!), beautiful Edinburgh, Scotland!  It’s the end of Day 1 of the “Fam Trip” – for directors who have been invited to present work at the American High School Theatre Festival at Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival in August 2014!  Each year the festival offers a “sneak preview” of the festival experience for the next year’s directors – this week I’ll get a chance to see some festival shows, talk with festival tech support staff, experience the Festival Fringe in all it’s glory – and most importantly, network with theatre directors from across the US and Canada who are here for festival this year and will be presenting work next year along with us!

All of the traveling directors met in Newark and traveled to Edinburgh on an overnight flight.  If you’ve never traveled by plane to Europe – don’t expect to sleep much, and prepare the for the shortest night of your life!  It felt like as soon as the dinner plates were taken up, the sun was rising  (and it was beautiful!) and breakfast was being served.  We landed at 7:30 am Scotland time (which felt like 2:30 am to me and anyone else on east coast time!

sunrise over the East Atlantic

Beautiful start to the adventure

We were met at the airport by AHSTF staff along with Davina, our charming and VERY knowledgeable local tour guide (you will probably meet her next year – she seems to be a festival regular!)  On our trip into and around town she regaled us (in her absolutely beautiful Scottish accent) with stories and advice about the town, its history and how to get around.  Our morning included a stop at a beautiful local country club for tea and scones (Scotland is of course renowned for its golf courses!

Nice place for tea

No, no one went golfing

 

Bagpipers are everywhere

Buildings along the Royal Mile

Davina has all the answers

Our tour took us past the Edinburgh castle, home of the world famous Military Tatoo, and to Holyrood Palace, original home of Mary Queen of Scots and now  the Queen’s Scotland palace (sorry, she wasn’t home today).  We caught a glimpse of Edinburgh’s famous Royal Mile, which stretches between these two landmarks and is the home of the street performers at Festival (closeup photos of the mayhem to come later in the week!)

We ended our tour at the University of Edinburgh’s Pollack Halls, which will be the home base for us (and all the groups) next year.  The University sits just south of the Royal Mile (about 1 km), in the shadow of a spectacular mountain peak called Arthur’s Peak (with any luck, you might have a view of the Peak outside your dorm window!  The university itself is very attractive but cozy – with a central building straight out of Harry Potter! (You’ll be able to visit the café where JK Rowling did much of her early writing – it’s very close to the castle).  Even at this time of year it stays light quite late – it’s about 9:00 as I’m typing this and there’s still plenty of good light in the sky!

Turner Hall, one of the dorms

Your possible dorm window view

Hogwarts?

9:00 and all is well

The dorm rooms themselves are definitely a cut above.  Each of you will have a  comfortable single room with sink – there are bathrooms and showers on each floor.

Home away from home

Private and comfortable

Next time I’ll tell you about the Church Hill Theatre, the main venue for the AHSTF performances, and I’ll get up in the middle of the Royal Mile craziness!