Each August, Edinburgh, Scotland blocks off its streets and allows more than 2,000 productions - ranging from street performers, bands and standup comedy to operas, plays and art galleries - to hold the largest arts festival in the world. Theatre professor Nick Erickson is taking University students in the show "Unrequited" to the Edinburgh International Festival to perform this summer. The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is part of the Edinburgh International Festival, which hosts independent performers who promote and produce their own shows. After performing in or attending the Fringe Festival four times, Erickson decided to take a group of students on a study abroad trip for theatre class credit. "It has every type of art imaginable," Erickson said. "It's pretty phenomenal. Every day, there are dozens of street performers, bands and theater companies outside performing, and people in costume promoting their show." Erickson said for three weeks, the entire city of Edinburgh is transformed for the festival, and more than 250 venues, such as warehouses or churches, are converted into theatre spaces. "You name it, if it can be converted to a performance space, it's done," Erickson said. The 21 students Erickson is taking to Edinburgh this summer will perform their play "Unrequited," which is an adaptation of Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night." One of Erickson's Fall theatre classes developed the play, which runs in Hatcher Hall Theatre at 7:30 p.m. tonight through Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday. It has since developed into a reflection on how people cope with natural disasters. The play tells the story of refugees of a natural disaster who are convinced by a showman to participate in his production of "Twelfth Night." The refugees agree because they have nowhere else to go, but they are eventually taken advantage of by the showman and forced to rebel. "The play examines one extreme view that people get what they deserve if they don't prepare in advance, and another view that at times like this, what we need more than ever is compassion," Erickson said. Stage manager Nichole Ingalsbe said "Unrequited" will take Louisiana's culture to Scotland by focusing on what people must do to regroup after a natural disaster. "I think this is important because while the play speaks about [Hurricane] Katrina, it's more about the fact that we are getting past it," Ingalsbe said. "While we suffered this ordeal, we are able to come out of it and create art and things that are uplifting." Erickson called "Unrequited" a physical theater piece. The 40-minute play includes choreographed scenes and acrobatic movement. "It's about the body and telling the story through your body as opposed to using words," Ingalsbe said.
---- Contact Blake Stephens at bstephens@lsureveille.com
