DELC Festival of European Theatre

Theatre productions have long been a highlight of the social life of the University of Edinburgh.

There are lots of opportunities to get involved in plays and performances as cast or crew.

Each year, many of our students are involved in these plays, sometimes as part of language-focused student theatre societies, such as Les Escogriffes, or in collaboration with staff, visiting playwrights and writers-in-residence in the School of Literatures, Languages and Cultures (LLC).

This year, the teams behind four of the languages plays have come together to run the first DELC Festival of European Theatre over eight nights at Assembly Roxy Theatre.

In this short video, Moa Bell of Les Escogriffes tells us what involvement in the Festival has added to her study experience:

What's on

Friday 15th and Saturday 16th March 2019 | Roxy Theatre - Upstairs | 7pm | £6 (£4 concessions)

The Italian Play 2019: Tally’s Blood - 30 Years On

The story begins just before the outbreak of World War Two. In the back shop of the Pedreschi, we hear a lively conversation about love, food, and the war. The multilingual dialogue includes English, Gaelic, Italian, Neapolitan and dialect from an Italian region informally known as Ciociaria, between Naples and Rome. Music, song and tarantella are interwoven into the dialogues.

News of the tragic sinking of the Arandora Star on the 2nd July 1940 brings total silence: 446 Italian war prisoners and civilian internees met their death aboard. A dance performance seeks to convey the searing pain of the women left behind, while opening an uplifting space for a reflection on the Italo-Scottish community today.

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Monday 18th and Tuesday 19th March 2019 | Roxy Theatre - Upstairs | 7pm (lasts 90 minutes) | £6 (£4 concessions)

The German Play 2019: Wodka-Käfer

In 1982, Irina Liebmann went from door to door in a tenement building in East Berlin to collect stories for Berliner Mietshaus. In 2015, Anne Jelena Schulte went on the same quest and turned her encounters into a play.

Set in Berlin in the 2010s, 'Wodka-Käfer' explores what can be revealed about one’s life to a stranger that suddenly appears at the door. Join the German Play Society to peek into people’s lives and see what you can learn about them!

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Friday 22nd March 2019 | Roxy Theatre - Upstairs | 7:30pm (doors open at 7pm; lasts 120 minutes) | £6 (£4 concessions)

Saturday 23rd March 2019 | Augustine United Church | 7:30 pm (doors open at 7pm; lasts 120 minutes) | £6 (£4 concessions)

The French Play 2019: Les Femmes Savantes

A French feminist adaption of Molière’s classic comedy in which love, education and familial obligation are negotiated.

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Friday 29th and Saturday 30th March 2019 | Roxy Theatre - Upstairs | 7pm (lasts 90 minutes) | £6 (£4 concessions)

The Spanish Play 2019: Luces de Bohemia

‘Luces de bohemia’ is the story of Max Estrella; a blind man, an alcoholic, and a poet. When Shakespearean drama meets Spanish truest self, an entirely new universe is created.

Ramón del Valle-Inclán’s widely celebrated esperpento embodies a new vision of human experience in this world. It forces us to be aware - to realize that every street is El callejon del gato, that inside of us all there is a Max Estrella.

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Are you interested in studying European languages and cultures?

Edinburgh is ranked fourth in the UK, and 19th in the world, for modern languages in the QS World University Rankings by Subject 2018. We teach nine European languages to degree level, and courses in Nynorsk, Old Norse, Basque, Catalan and Icelandic. We also offer a range of postgraduate programmes, both taught and research-led.

Find out more about studying with us