Enjoy an evening with Richard Demarco, CBE. Demarco has attended, or been extensively involved with, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe since its inception in 1947. He was a co-founder of the Traverse Theatre and over the years he has put on a wide variety of theatre productions, art exhibitions and cultural events and is associated with artists such as Joseph Beuys and Tadeusz Kantor.



Our students were lucky enough to get to hear Xela speak with Richard Demarco in a series of lectures that got down to the bottom of the founding of the Traverse Theatre. Richard also gave his personal account of the first Fringe Festival, illuminating our students to the festival's original purpose. Demarco purports that the festival was created as a means by which to "heal the wounds of war", and gives examples of several artists who may very well have been killed in their own countries had it not been for the aegis of arts to hide some of their views from people who wouldn't understand their beliefs in an artistic context.

He reminded us how lucky we are in America to have clauses put in place that protect artists to some degree, but also warned us that "Art isn't taken seriously in America because it lacks the threat of prison." He discussed his work with Kantor as well as Beuys and gave us a reality check as to the viability of works like these as compared to the events of this year's festival.

In our first class, Sam and Zach gave a presentation on Teatr Biuro Podróży's "Macbeth, Who is that Bloodied Man?" They covered the history of the company as well as the history of Macbeth and its cultural importance to Scotland as a nation. 

Teatr Biuro Podróży's Macbeth, Who is that Bloodied Man? was a retelling of the Macbeth story through pyrotechnics, physical theater, expressionism, and motorcycles. The show was presented in The Old College Quad and the outdoor setting was pretty vital to the show's energy and effectiveness. The actors stripped the text down into a minimal form and then fold in ambient, appropriate musical performance and effects that produce gut reactions in the audience.

The students definitely seemed to enjoy the show when we had our post-show discussion, and it certainly helped to prepare them for Song of the Goat's Macbeth at Summerhall later in the week. Hayley and Leah gave a pre-show presentation on the show and prepared us for a musical retelling of the Scottish Play fea