“I actually thought I might be moving on from the festival after last year or at least just coming for a short bit…”
WHO: Ian Garrett
WHAT: “At the foot of the Royal Mile, Venue 13 has been bringing the best of emerging talent to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for decades. Now in it’s fourth decade, ‘this serene little venue’ (Scotsman) is focused on unique performances that don’t fit in other venues from the immersive to the ecological to the interactive in collaboration between Scottish and Canadian artists.”
WHERE: Main Space at Venue 13 (Venue 13)
WHEN: 16:00 (120 min)
MORE: Click Here!
Is this your first time to Edinburgh?
This is my… counting… 14th Fringe. I started coming in 2008, took what I thought was going to be a one year break in 2019, and then returned in 2023. I can’t seem to quit the festival, and I’ve tried my hand at many many roles. This year is my first time as a venue manager, to add to the list. I can’t say it’s made me any more confident about what makes a show successful or not, or if I”m going to get an audience in for something I’m going to work on. I’ve not been to the festival as just a Punter, though I’ve crammed in plenty of shows while here, in some ways it allows me to make up for not getting to the theatre as much at home.
My range of experiences has mostly been shaped by how busy I am as a producer, and the years I’ve come with my family. I’ve had years where I’ve been involved with a lot of shows (2012 was 8 I think) and it made it so I was always at the venue around the shows, and didn’t get away much. I actually find you get less time to see stuff when a show is successful because you end up adding things to your schedule and when your show isn’t doing well people leave you alone a lot. And I’ve brought my kids a few times at various ages and though they’ve become more interested in shows as they’ve grown up, the content has swung to their tastes, and I’m out less in the evening.
I actually thought I might be moving on from the festival after last year or at least just coming for a short bit to help get some things rolling for projects. But the opportunity to take on a venue, in particular Venue 13, which is also where I spend a lot of time, and found a keen partner on that, so now I think I might be in it for the foreseeable future.
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2024 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
2023 was my first year back at it, and it was interesting to see things change. It can be hard to notice change at the festival. I mean, so much changes each year with a huge number of new people, but longer periods, especially given changes to Edinburgh overall since 2018, the last time I had been at the festival, were much more pronounced. So I feel I’ve learned more about the city itself.
I’ve also learned the value of alternative spaces. In both 2023 and 2024 I felt a bit of an absence from pre-2020 of some of the spaces or pieces in the festival that were pushing at the edges of the use of space and playing with things outside of the regular theatre set-up. Though I saw the numbers of performances coming back, it all felt somewhat contained within established spaces. Maybe it’s because of rising costs, maybe it’s playing it safe for both artists and venues. I think I learned I miss that and I want to see it. I was part of the Counting Sheep team in 2016 which took over King’s Hall for an immersive show with food, and I feel I haven’t seen as much that is trying things like that. My reinvigorated interest is in part about how to find ways to support that sort of thing.
Tell us about your show.
The Climate Change Theatre Action is a global, distributed festival of new short plays on the topic of climate change (loosely sometimes, but still). I co-direct the program with playwright Chantal Bilodeau as a partnership between organizations we each lead. I’m director of the Centre for Sustainable Practice in the Arts, she’s the director of the Arts Climate Initiative. It started in 2015, and it has commissioned 50 short plays, typically 5-10 minutes long, every other year to be made available for free for anyone in the world to produce. We have a website where people can register their events and we promote it as a festival in the Autumn. It was always something I wanted to do in Edinburgh, so with the Venue work, it’s a good anchor to bring things in. So this year, we’re organizing 20 events, 6 days a week, through the festival to get all 50 plays read this year. We’ve invited people to partner with us, sort of like the comedy showcases, but to make it so that each event is kinda unique and connected to our partners.
We’re changing up the commissioning model this year, since it’s our 10th. So instead of 50 new plays, we commissioned 10 new plays, and are bringing in 40 of the “greatest hits” from the last decade. We’re going to pause commissioning (there are 260 plays, so we’re feeling good about it). After Edinburgh, we’ll begin to promote the events folks are organizing around the world, usually a little over 300 through the end of the year.
What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?
AI: The Waiting Room – An Audiovisual Journey at studio at C ARTS
I’ve been following this project, including seeing a previous interaction at the Fringe last year. It’s a really interesting generative AI experience, which is probably more along the lines of the other show in our venue, but I actually love seeing things come back and evolve. It’s something which I think is getting harder and hard to do. So the connection with the CCTA is more about looking at how artists engage with the festival combined with my personal interest in these topics about AI.
Alone – Alchemy Theatre and Luke Thornborough
The artists involved with this are going to be co-hosting one of our events at the CCTA, so we’ve been talking about their piece for a bit. I love some really scientifically accurate Sci-Fi, which this promises to be, and it’s on a couple of my favourite topics… Space and Climate.
Matt Winning: Solastalgia
More climate oriented work, which shouldn’t come as a surprise I suppose. I don’t know too much about this one, except I’ve been drawn to anything that refers to Solastalgia since learning about the term in 2009 and getting to know Glenn Albrecht, the Australian philosopher and social scientific who coined it and a bunch of other “pscyhoterric” words
Last Rites – Here & Now Showcase – Ad Infinitum
I’ve been a big Ad Infinitum fan for years. I think their one man physical version of the Odyssey was probably my first. And it was good, but it was Ballad of the Burning Star that lives rent free in my head. There is a literally heart stopping moment in there related to the firing of a gun… not actually, but through their physicality, that kind of haunts me. I think a lot of people go to Translunar Paradise first, and I also liked both Light and Beautiful Evil Things (which was sort of a return to the Odyssey type work). They may be somewhat of a Fringe darling, but I think it’s very much earned.
Whisky and Witches
There are a handful of whisky tastings throughout the festival program… we’re hosting some at Venue 13 even… and I love a good tasting, but the ticket for this is worth it for just the storytelling and music even without the whisky. Christine and Jane really elevate the event beyond what I expected last year, and I’m super excited to return. They’re extremely knowledgeable about spirits, history, and music. While any whisky tasting will probably introduce you to enough facts about the process of making whisky, this will offer a lot more history and background on the spirit that made me see it differently.
Rise of the Solar Punks – Future Artists
I’m really interested in this one for a few reasons. Future Artists have brought some really interesting work to the Fringe in the past, first and foremost. I also love solar punk as an idea… It was the foundation for the 2023 Climate Change Theatre Action, and a lot of other projects I’m involved with. Also “What can we learn from ancient cultures regarding climate adaptation, and how can we fuse this with technology and AI?” is one of the central questions of our other show A.I. Campfire, and it’s an area where, in my academic work, I research. So I’m hoping to not only see this, but make the Future Artists my best friends, at least for August. Also the only on my list that’s on X/Twitter anymore.
LIKE WHAT YOU JUST READ? FOLLOW US ON TWITTER! OR SIGN UP TO OUR MAILING LIST!
INTERESTED IN BEING INTERVIEWED TOO? CLICK HERE!
Get Your Coats On 