Three Czech shows to represent Czechia at Edinburgh Fringe
The 75th edition of the Edinburgh Fringe gets underway in the Scottish capital on Thursday, after a year-long break caused by Covid. Czechia will be represented by two groups of performers, Losers Cirque Company and Cirk La Putyka, who will perform the world premiere of a Czech-Ukrainian show called “Boom volume 2”.
The show called Boom, set to premier at the Edinburgh Fringe on Thursday, loosely follows on a one-off improvised piece of the same name staged in Prague earlier this year.
The performance was a collaboration of La Putyka’s Young Blood Project with a group of circus students from the Kyiv Circus Academy, who found refuge with the Prague-based troupe following the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Rosťa Novák, principal of La Putyka, says being selected for the Edinburgh Fringe is a great honour for the company, all the more so because they were approached by the organizers themselves to participate:
“The management of Underbelly in London heard about it through the international media, and offered us to co-produce a project just for the Underbelly venue here in Edinburgh.
“It’s a statement of the youngest generation of Czech and Ukrainian circus artists, who were brought together by the war in Ukraine.”
The Czech premiere of the show is scheduled for the end of September at Jatka 78, the home stage of La Putyka in Prague’s Holešovice district.
Alongside Boom, the La Putyka will also present their production from last year called Runners in one of the local Zoo Southside theatres.
“It’s an incredible opportunity for us to present two shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The second show we are bringing is Runners.
“It features a unique set design, a seven metre long treadmill that was actually made here in the UK.
“It’s a combination of contemporary dance, circus art and live music and it is about whether we can stop the moment and why we are chasing after something.”
Apart from performing, the Czech artists, along with their colleagues from all over the world, are also taking to the streets of the Scottish capital to personally invite visitors to their shows.
“This is yet another part of the festival, where all the actors take to the streets and personally invite the audiences to their performance.
“It is great to see people you have met in the morning in downtown Edinburgh and invited them to your show actually turn up at the theatre in the evening.”
La Putyka, which is performing at the Edinburg Fringe for the fourth time, is not the only Czech company to perform at the prestigious showcase.
Czechia will also be represented by the Losers Cirque Company, who will appear in the Scottish capital for the very first time. They are bringing a show called Heroes, starring the award-winning mime Radim Vizváry.
