After two intense months of rehearsals, 20 VCHS Theatre students traveled to Scotland to participate in the world’s largest arts festival, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. According to Fringe Chief Executive Kath Mainland, this year’s Fringe included an estimated 22,457 performers from 47 different countries and 42,096 performances of 2,695 shows in close to 300 venues.
Not only did our students have the opportunity to attend multiple performances each day in Edinburgh, but they were also able to contribute to the artistic community with four full performances of Twelfth Night:Serenade, Associate Director Matt DeMeritt’s original adaptation of Shakespeare’s most musical comedy. Another highlight was performing their abridged version to a very receptive audience on The Royal Mile.
In addition to their roles as thespians and audience members, the students and their chaperones were also afforded numerous, exciting sightseeing excursions. Destinations included London, Birmingham, Stratford Upon Avon (Shakespeare’s birthplace and home of the Royal Shakespeare Company), Sterling Castle, Edinburgh Castle (including the impressive Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo performance), and The Elephant House (a cafe in Edinburgh where JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter novel). Needless to say, it was the trip of a lifetime!
