Death on the Fringe 2016 took place in Edinburgh from 5 – 29 August 2016, featuring the following programme:
Fri 5 Aug / 19:00 / LAUNCH EVENT
(University of Edinburgh Old Anatomy Lecture Theatre)
A sample of the year’s Death on the Fringe shows and a wee glass of something.
Wed 3 – Mon 29 Aug / 16:00 / Lana Schwarcz: Lovely Lady Lump
(Gilded Balloon Teviot)
Jokes, truths, and one or two poignant bits from a Melbourne comic who survived breast cancer.
Thu 4 – Sun 28 Aug / 13:10 / My World Has Exploded A Little Bit
(Underbelly Cowgate)
A logical, philosophical guide to managing mortality. Bella and her hapless, piano-playing assistant present a darkly comical guide to bereavement.
Fri 5 – Sun 21 Aug / 11:50 / Outside The Box: A Live Show About Death
(Summerhall)
Warning: this show might change your life… and your death. Personal and professional stories by Liz Rothschild; performer, celebrant and manager of award-winning burial ground.
Fri 5 – Sat 27 Aug / 15:05 / Life and Death (But Mainly Death)
(theSpace @ Symposium Hall)
Fri 5 – Sat 27 Aug / 22:05 / Dr. Phil’s NHS Revolution
(theSpace @ Symposium Hall)
Drs Phil Hammond and Margaret McCartney have had enough of top down deforms of the NHS. It’s time for a bidet revolution. From the bottom up. Life is for living, not medicalising. Note: Includes evidence-based satire and some statistics.
Fri 5 – Sat 27 Aug / 17:15 / A Dream of Dying
(theSpace @ Surgeon’s Hall)
The unbelievable real life tale of a man who has never been identified. When a body washes ashore in the small seaside town of Sligo in Ireland, a long exploration begins to attempt to identify the stranger – an investigation that remains unsolved.
Sat 6 Aug / 19:45 / Eddie Small: The Death Pantomime
(St John’s Church) [in partnership with Just Festival]
The corpses of two women start talking in a funeral parlour. One arrived the day before; the other was ‘mislaid’ 80 years ago. They talk about their deaths, often interrupted by the funeral director who will invite audience comments.
Sat 6 – Sat 20 Aug / 12:45 / Dark Heart
(Paradise in Augustine’s)
Debut musical thriller by writer/composer Jessica Avellino. Emma, suffering from the accidental death of her sister, is locked in Westlake Mental Hospital. She is trapped in her mind, as she struggles for her sanity and her life.
Tue 9 Aug / 15:00 / Prof Scott Murray: Bringing Death Back To Life
(Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas)
Dying is a universal human activity, and it shows no sign of abating. Given we cannot evade it, is it time to face up to death? Scott Murray, a leading palliative care researcher, asks when, where and how would you like to die?
Mon 22 – Sat 27 Aug / 11:40 / Little Wolfie
(theSpace @ Surgeon’s Hall)
Do people change? What if they lose something important to them? A new translation and adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s Lille Eyolf, a hard-hitting play about many kinds of loss.
Tue 23 Aug / 19:30 / Allan Kellehear: Mystical Experiences At The End Of Life – Really?
(Quaker Meeting House) [in partnership with Just Festival]
Dying people commonly report unusual experiences – near-death experiences, deathbed visions or hallucinations. Allan Kellehear of Bradford University will offer a critical evaluation of the explanations we receive about them from medicine and religion.
Wed 24 Aug / 19:30 / Sally Paul: What Happens To Dead People’s Bodies?
(Quaker Meeting House) [in partnership with Just Festival]
Children have questions… about everything… but how appropriate is it to answer them? Dr Sally Paul explores what children what to know about death and when they want to know it.