Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Languages, love and feminist philosophy

Researchers from the School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences will take the stage at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe

The world's biggest arts festival, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, is returning next month. From comedy to cabaret, the Fringe will host a wide range of shows from Friday 3 until Friday 27 August.

Researchers from the School of PPLS at the University will contribute to this yearly festival with theatre, and also spoken word shows as part of the Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas and Skeptics on the Fringe.

Casanova Dreaming: A story of love, loss and death

For three weeks of the Festival Fringe, relationship researcher Dr Sarah Stanton plays three very different women in the theatre drama 'Casanova Dreaming' focused on Casanova and the women in his life.

Henriette portrays the bittersweet pain of forbidden love. The Nun reflects the temptations of voyeurism and Sara embodies the internal conflicts of young love.

The Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas

Linguistics professor Antonella Sorace, neuroscientist Thomas Bak and feminist philosopher Elinor Mason will perform at the New Town Theatre as part of the CODI programme, curated by the Beltane Public Engagement Network.

The programme is an opportunity for researchers from Edinburgh's four universities to present and debate hot topics with visitors at the Fringe.

Everybody is bilingual

Is anyone truly monolingual? On Wednesday 8 and Sunday 19 August, Professor Antonella Sorace will explain how everybody is bilingual to some extent. Discover what the extinction of monolingualism could be doing to your brain in her show 'Monolinguals, Where Are You?'

Languages: the ultimate transferable skill

What if the benefits of education are mainly due to language learning? On Monday 13 and Thursday 16 August, Dr Thomas Bak will explore whether it's worth putting more effort into learning more languages rather than relying on factual knowledge taught in schools.

Sexual consent and entitlement

Are men just not listening when women refuse sex? On Tuesday 24 August, Dr Elinor Mason will discuss the complexities inherent in women’s sexual refusal in her show '#YesAllMen'.

Skeptics on the Fringe

As part of the programme curated by the Edinburgh Skeptics Society, philosophy lecturer Dr Dave Ward will explore why 'clear' and 'rational' ideas have been at the heart of European and American philosophy for the past 300 years.