College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

Academic wins Fringe prize for "magnificent" play

A play co-written by an Edinburgh academic has won a prestigious award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

How Not To Drown, by Nicola McCartney from the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures and actor Dritan Kastrati, has been recognized by the Scotsman’s Fringe First awards.

The prizes celebrate outstanding new writing premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe and are judged by some of the country’s leading arts critics.

Magnificent work

How Not To Drown is based on Mr Kastrati’s own experiences as a child, fleeing Kosovo as a refugee and his disturbing experiences in the care system upon arrival in Britain.

The play – which is on at the Traverse Theatre until 25 August – has been described by Joyce Macmillan, the Scotsman’s chief theatre critic, as a “magnificient work” that “should be widely seen”.

Prestigious award

The University of Edinburgh is the official partner of the Scotsman’s Fringe First awards.

Since their foundation in 1973, previous winners include Stephen Fry, Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Rowan Atkinson.

Related links

Literatures, Languages and Cultures

How Not To Drown at the Traverse Theatre

The Scotsman's festival coverage