Fringe Festival: Record numbers of NI talent set to perform in Edinburgh

A record number of acts from Northern Ireland are set to perform at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Seventeen actors, comedians, artists and playwrights will take to the stage throughout August.

"This time it feels like we're more of a collective," said Kat Woods, a playwright from Enniskillen.

The Fringe celebrates its 75th anniversary this year and has returned to pre-pandemic levels, having been a limited sized event in 2021.

The festival's chief executive, Shona McCarthy from County Down, spoke of a "growing acceptance" of the Northern Ireland accent, while The Guardian dubbed it "the Derry Girls effect".

Ms Woods first took her work to Edinburgh in 2014 and described the festival's exposure as being "incredible".

Having struggled financially in the past, this year she received additional funding from Arts Council Northern Ireland and describes her upcoming play as her "most ambitious" piece to date.

Set in post-conflict Fermanagh, Birds of Passage in the Half Light explores Northern Ireland's connection to the church in 2022.

"It's a cathartic piece for people who have ever felt conflict in their lives, from a religious perspective. We are not great with language in Northern Ireland, but our self-deprecating sense of humour is how we remain positive," she said.

"We deal with it in comedy, that's a universal concept, it helps with dark subject matter."

'Proud of our differences'

Rosemary Jenkinson's latest work, Billy Boy, is based off interviews with loyalist bonfire builders in east Belfast.

"Bonfires might be more contentious in Belfast because of our divided society, but bonfires and fire rituals take place as expressions of culture all over the world," she told BBC News NI.

"It's so wrong for Northern Irish people to think they are culturally inferior or that they continually need to explain and justify their culture. It's time for us to be proud of both our differences and similarities with the rest of the world."

The playwright said that many have experienced "cultural starvation" since the pandemic, with this year's festival providing a "strong sense of celebration and relief".

"The most badly hit sector in the whole of the arts during lockdown was theatre, as Northern Irish theatres were closed for a year and five months.

"I also think because of the Lisa McGee and Anna Burns effect, everyone working in Northern Irish theatre feels this year that there is a particular appetite for our humour, so it's really important for us to ride that wave at this current moment.

"I believe the future for Northern Irish work is limitless. However, it's high time that the immense talent from here was properly recognised, supported and exported by Stormont."

This year's festival is like a "breath of fresh air", said Ursula Burns

Harpist-comedienne Ursula Burns, from Belfast, is travelling to the festival in a modified truck which she intends to use as a venue for her show.

Ms Burns knows that Edinburgh "can be really tough", but already she feels like the 2022 line-up offers a "support that just wasn't there any other years".

"There's a vibe, I've already picked up on a buzz, the fact that other [Northern Irish acts] have reached out to me - it's like a breath of fresh air," she said.

Ms Burns, like many others, is excited to make her Edinburgh festival return following the pandemic.

"Last year was very scaled back, there was all the testing and masks, that's like a real buzz kill, singing wearing a mask, didn't appeal to me, I wasn't ready, I wasn't interested," she said.

"I was used to the adrenaline, creating content and keeping things going and to just go to nothing - it hit me very hard. Everybody's gone through it, it's like a collective trauma."

Fermanagh-born Joyce Greenaway is returning to this year's festival with Whisk(e)y Wars, her play about an Ulster woman who is attempting to create the perfect single malt in an effort to save her family's distillery.

Joyce made her Edinburgh debut with the one-woman-show at 2021's downsized event and describes this year as being "totally different".

"There's a buzz as there's way more artists performing and so much generosity and a definite sense of community," she said.

The performer described the acts from Northern Ireland as "insanely talented, absolute grafters and natural storytellers who often hide their lights under bushels but are the equal of any".

"We're great storytellers, with dry wit and raw emotion and we totally deal in dysfunction, which always connects.

"I also love that our shows are now a 'thing', a sort of known brand, and known for quality work, so I'm loving being part of this creative surge to Edinburgh Fringe which is well overdue", she added,

As the festival kicked off, Shona McCarthy told BBC News NI that it highlighted a "great growth" in Northern Ireland representation at the festival and described the year's line-up as "super exciting".

"I think there is a growing acceptance of voices that aren't all kind of monotonal and sound the same.

"I can't wait to hear all the flat vowels, all those local voices and see Northern Ireland yet again punch well above its weight in what is 3,300 shows we have."