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features & interviews
Nick Manasseh |

So the tune we'll discuss today in the imaginary seminar that occupies a certain part of my brain is….

Peter Culshaw |

Squint and you could be in 1968 - although this lot are rather better dressed and healthier than most hippies. I did see a bumper sticker “The Hippies Were Right”. But though it seems retro, actually many here see this festival as a catalyst of an idealistic loved up eco friendly future.

Steve Burns
Hi. I’m Steve, creator of the solo show bearing my name on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and I’d like to make something perfectly clear: I’m alive.…
Boyd Tonkin
What does a spectacular backdrop give to – or maybe take from? – a music festival? Exit the Wigmore Hall and, however transcendent the performance,…
Justine Elias.
The first word of The Iliad is “war”; the first word of The Odyssey is “man”. After that, the twists and turns of Homer’s epic poems veer in wildly…

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