Orchestras' holidays 'mean we can't move closer to the Fringe' says Mills

Published on Wednesday 1 September 2010 18:06

MAJOR European orchestras, dance and performance companies must offer their staff more flexible holiday dates before the Edinburgh Festival can explore moving its schedule closer to that of the Fringe.

At the moment, European companies are locked into working with staff who expect August holidays, Festival director Jonathan Mills explained yesterday. But while the city feels quiet in the last week of the Festivals - when the EIF continues after the closing of the Fringe - many Edinburgh residents enjoy a "slightly sedate" form of the Festival at the end, he said.

The International Festival, running from 13 August to 5 September, both opened and ended this year one week after the Fringe, in what is now a familiar pattern.

Fringe veterans, such as William Burdett Coutts, director of the Assembly venues, have often argued that the two festivals should move in tandem. But Mr Mills said his Festival would stick to its dates for "basically practical reasons", unless there was a change in the employment practices of major European orchestras and performance companies.

"There is no possibility of us welcoming many of these companies that have been an important part of Edinburgh if we did not keep to these dates," he said. "They simply have to offer their employees August off, particularly dance companies.

"If the arrangements became more flexible we would, of course, explore shifting our dates more in line with the Fringe."

Mr Mills appeared at a press conference yesterday to mark the world premire tonight of Quimeras, from the company of Spanish flamenco dance master and guitarist Paco Pea.

Pursuing a theme that has emerged frequently across the Fringe this year, it is inspired by the story of migrants and refugees finding their way to Spain from North Africa, and has won backing from the European Commission.

But in one sign of how both press and public have abandoned Edinburgh with the end of the Fringe on Monday, was that just two journalists were present to hear from Mr Mills, Mr Pea and Neil Mitchison, the head of the EC's office in Scotland.

This year, Mr Mills was forced to slap down radical suggestions the giant, free-ranging Fringe, with close to 2,500 shows, had now overshadowed the original, official Festival that he runs and could effectively operate without it. He said: "It feels a little quiet in the town.There are a lot of locals who love this week and very much enjoy a slightly sedate form of Festival experience".

In 2012, he said, his Festival's dates meant that it would also form the "perfect bridge" between the London Olympics, which end on 12 August, and the beginning of the Paralympics on 29 August.

The absence of the Fringe, he said, also made "no discernible or observable difference" to the EIF's ticket sales, though "there may be more difficult shows for us to sell tickets to".

The new Australian opera Bliss, which opens tonight, has yet to sell out, although Porgy and Bess did earlier in the Festival. But the latter, with popular tunes by George Gershwin, was an easier sell from the start.

Quimeras is a co-production between the Festival and the Paco Pea Flamenco Dance Company, backed by the Festival's long-time sponsors, Standard Life. Mr Pea said it was inspired by the notorious case of an African woman who moved to Spain and was nearly burned alive when her home was set alight.

"The theme of Quimeras extends from our experience of a great influx and great traffic of people moving from northern Africa to Europe, passing on to France and Belgium," he said. "It was an attempt to document their travels and suffering."

The production has won the European backing as part of the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion. Mr Pea, whose company includes several Roma performers, said he grew up in poverty after the Spanish Civil War and faced "social exclusion" as he worked his way up through a class-ridden society.