Theatre News

Edinburgh International Festival to go ahead with outdoor stages

All systems go for the international festival

Impression of the performance space at Old College Quad
Impression of the performance space at Old College Quad

The Edinburgh International Festival will go ahead!

Taking place from 7 to 29 August, the festival will stage shows in specially created outdoor pavilions including Edinburgh Park and the University of Edinburgh's Old College Quad.

Appropriate Covid safety measures will be implemented to help audience safety.

The full programme will be unveiled on 2 June 2021. Fergus Linehan, Festival Director at Edinburgh International Festival said: "Edinburgh's summer festivals were officially cancelled almost exactly a year ago. Today, we are delighted to announce that in August 2021 the Edinburgh International Festival will return to live performance.

"While there are still uncertainties ahead, we are confident that this programme will give us the very best chance of delivering a season of live performance from 7 to 29 August. All our planning will be led by the advice we continue to receive from our partners in Government.

"We appreciate that these first steps back to live performances will be for audiences closer to home but are delighted to offer a parallel programme of digital work for those further afield. We are hugely grateful to the artists who have agreed to come on this journey with us, the stakeholders, donors, and sponsors who have stood by us through a tough year and our audiences who have cheered us along throughout. We look forward to sharing full details of the programme in early June.

"Welcome back to live performance, welcome back to your Festival."

Sign up for our daily newsletter for more