The Middle East has often featured high on the bill at the Edinburgh Festival. Authors who examine the history of the region, plays about war and conflict, and performers who come from or are influenced by the Arab world regularly feature in the programmes.
At this year’s Edinburgh International Book Festival, which runs from August 13 to 29, the region has its own strand – “Redrawing the Middle East” – focusing on a hopeful future.
Saudi novelist Raja Alem, winner of the 2011 International Prize for Arabic Fiction for her novel The Dove's Necklace, will discuss her book and the customs of Mecca from a female perspective on August 17.
In a welcome move away from concentrating on conflict – as if the Middle East is a problem to be solved rather than a culture and region to enjoy – Mostafa Salameh, the son of Palestinian refugees, will talk about his book Dreams of a Refugee, which tells his remarkable story about how he was driven to climb Mount Everest (August 18).
At The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which begins on Friday, August 5, and runs until August 29, Syrian guitarist Ayman Jarjour’s classical concert on Saturday will feature Spanish, American and Middle Eastern music in the evocative setting of Stockbridge Church.
The performance programme at the Fringe seems to imply that the unrest in the region is not the fodder for comedy and satire it used to be. Stand-ups love jokes about the Middle East conflict and its consequences in the West, but there are fewer performers or comic plays devoted to it this year.
Lifted (August 5 -27, excluding August 7 and 21) is an exception. The gritty, dark comedy, set in a Scottish prison cell, is a mystery about how two young men – a Scottish Pakistani and a Kuwaiti – ended up behind bars. The two-hander asks: is it because they're starting a new caliphate – or because they don't fit in?
Shoot the Women First (August 16-28) is another black comedy. The debut play by Irish comic Mary Bourke is set in the modern day and depicts women mercenaries in a Tehran hotel discussing their precarious future.
Shaking up preconceptions, especially around women, is a common Fringe theme. Rapture (August 8-12), by A-Team Arts House of Talent, lifts the veil on Muslim women.
“You see a hijab – I see a rapper,” reads the play’s blurb. Through hip-hop and personal accounts, the lives of young Muslim women in London are revealed to be different from what you might think.
Fringe First Award-winning playwright Henry Naylor also makes us question women and war in Angel (August 3-29, excluding August 17), the final chapter of his Middle Eastern trilogy of plays. The one-woman performance was inspired by the story of a young female law student-turned-sniper, known as the Angel of Kobani. Discovering she had a talent for killing, she is said to have killed more than 100 men in the Syrian wars.
Conflict in the Middle East inevitably inspires playwrights at the Fringe. The Blue Box: Memories of the Children of War (August 8-13) is a bilingual Arabic/English production that received a standing ovation during its run in Kuwait for its heartfelt portrayal of children affected by war. Based on a book by teenage author Emma Abdullah, it has been brought to the Fringe by One World Actors Centre, the same company that presented the much-praised Antigone: An Arabian Tragedy last year.
Words aren't always necessary to portray Middle Eastern life. The double bill The Rooster and Partial Memory (August 5-14, excluding August 8) is performed by the El-Funoun Palestinian Dance Troupe and features music by El-Funoun and Syrian poetry by Nizar Qabbani.
Partial Memory is a dance solo by Ata Khattab, depicting memories of his childhood in occupied Palestine.
Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour has a large following in the Middle East, in part due to his album Egypt, which he made with the country's Fathy Salama Orchestra. N'Dour is making a rare appearance in Scotland, on August 24 at the main Edinburgh International Festival, with his funky beat that combines Senegal's ancient musical traditions and influences ranging from Cuban rumba and hip-hop to jazz and soul.
• Edinburgh International Festival, August 5-29, www.eif.co.uk
• The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, August 5-29, www.edfringe.com
• Edinburgh International Book Festival, August 13-29, www.edbookfest.co.uk
artslife@thenational.ae
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Jawan
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Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
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BIRD%20BOX%20BARCELONA
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If you go
The flights
Emirates and Etihad fly direct to Nairobi, with fares starting from Dh1,695. The resort can be reached from Nairobi via a 35-minute flight from Wilson Airport or Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, or by road, which takes at least three hours.
The rooms
Rooms at Fairmont Mount Kenya range from Dh1,870 per night for a deluxe room to Dh11,000 per night for the William Holden Cottage.
It’ll be summer in the city as car show tries to move with the times
If 2008 was the year that rocked Detroit, 2019 will be when Motor City gives its annual car extravaganza a revamp that aims to move with the times.
A major change is that this week's North American International Auto Show will be the last to be held in January, after which the event will switch to June.
The new date, organisers said, will allow exhibitors to move vehicles and activities outside the Cobo Center's halls and into other city venues, unencumbered by cold January weather, exemplified this week by snow and ice.
In a market in which trends can easily be outpaced beyond one event, the need to do so was probably exacerbated by the decision of Germany's big three carmakers – BMW, Mercedes-Benz and Audi – to skip the auto show this year.
The show has long allowed car enthusiasts to sit behind the wheel of the latest models at the start of the calendar year but a more fluid car market in an online world has made sales less seasonal.
Similarly, everyday technology seems to be catching up on those whose job it is to get behind microphones and try and tempt the visiting public into making a purchase.
Although sparkly announcers clasp iPads and outline the technical gadgetry hidden beneath bonnets, people's obsession with their own smartphones often appeared to offer a more tempting distraction.
“It's maddening,” said one such worker at Nissan's stand.
The absence of some pizzazz, as well as top marques, was also noted by patrons.
“It looks like there are a few less cars this year,” one annual attendee said of this year's exhibitors.
“I can't help but think it's easier to stay at home than to brave the snow and come here.”
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
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The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre turbocharged four-cylinder
Transmission: Constant Variable (CVT)
Power: 141bhp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: Dh64,500
On sale: Now
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