A world of connections between Festival and Fringe and theatre and music was hymned on Saturday morning as the Bank of Scotland Herald Angel Awards were presented at Edinburgh's Festival Theatre.
After the presentations, by Lloyds Banking Group head of communications John Penman and Traverse Theatre artistic director Dominic Hill, a quartet from Mr McFall’s Chamber – all players from the Scottish Chamber Orchestra – performed Peewits by Martyn Bennett, a lovely fiddle piece originally written for a stage version of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped.
The quartet – Robert McFall, Su-a Lee, Brian Schiele and Rosenna East – were present to receive an Angel award on behalf of virtuoso sarod player Amjad Ali Khan for his Morning Ragas at the Queen’s Hall last Wednesday. The SCO toured to India with him and recently released a recording of their collaboration, Samaagam. Just the previous evening, however, McFall’s own cross-genre group had been playing the music of the late Martyn Bennett at the New Town Theatre, some of it written for the theatre and first performed at the Traverse, one of four crucial Fringe venues that also featured in the awards this week.
From the International Festival programme, their were also Angels for Wu Wei, the Chinese master of eastern mouth organ, the sheng, who played a work specially written for him by Unsuk Chin with the Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra, and for the Shanghai Peking Opera Troupe for their version of Hamlet, The Revenge of Prince Zi Dan. As Wu Wei was giving a repeat performance in Bremen, Germany, on Saturday, his award was collected by EIF managing director Joanna Baker, while Degang Wan, the Chinese Consul in Edinburgh, received the award on behalf of the Chinese company.
However, Sun Chongliang, manager of Shanghai Peking Opera Troupe and producer of The Revenge of Prince Zi Dan, sent a message to the gathering stating: “There is no boundary in art. Western art on stage could act out oriental story while oriental art on stage could also act out western story. An art full of charm is helpful to the emotional communication between different people and understanding between different cultures. Thanks a lot!”
Our guests also heard from Andy Field of Forest Fringe that the fight continues to keep that venue operational despite the threat of closure. The Bank of Scotland Herald Angel recognises five years of innovative and inspirational work by himself, founder Debbie Pearson and producer Ira Brand and Field pledged that their model for treating artists better than was sometimes true elsewhere would be continued, even if their premises change.
The vast spaces of Summerhall, the former Royal (Dick) Vet College that is now to be the home of Richard Demarco’s art collection and has hosted some of the most exciting events on the Fringe this year, were also garlanded. Owner Robert McDowell paid tribute to his technical director Pete Searle for his role in bringing the space – where events have already won two Angels this year – to life.
Kate McGrath from Fuel is another theatre-maker with an appetite for innovation and production challenges. She collected another Angel this year, dedicating it to her colleagues working on the five-shed installation The Simple Things in Life in the Botanic Gardens, where the problems have included squirrels chewing through a power cable.
The loss of power at Zoo Southside on Tuesday had meant the cancellation of seven hours of performances at the venue. Production director Peter MacKenzie collected this week’s Little Devil Award for his work in ensuring that the next day the show did indeed go on.
Both his and this week’s Archangel Award for sustained contribution to the arts were presented by Dominic Hill as he came to the end of his fourth and final Fringe programme before taking over the reins at the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, and the day after his successor had been named as Orla O’Loughlin.
The award went to theatre director Max Stafford-Clark, a previous director at the Traverse, whose collaboration with Russell Barr and actor Ian Redford, A Dish of Tea with Dr Johnson, played at the Traverse last week. It was collected on his behalf by Redford, who rhymed off only a little of Stafford-Clark’s extraordinary career, and by his daughter Kitty Stafford-Clark, following in her father’s footsteps as stage manager of the current show.
For more information on the Bank of Scotland Herald Angels go to www.heraldscotland.com/go/heraldangels
Review of A Dish of Tea: Page 20
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