How it's Made: The Edinburgh Festival

Three weeks ago, the annual crowds descended on Edinburgh, each one on a mission to soak up as much of this celebratory comedy, muscial, dance, theatre, circus whirlwind that they possibly could. By now, we've reached that point where exhausted visitors go and see just about anything for the opportunity just to sit down. Performers are counting down to their last show, and any fly-ers still persevering on the Mile seem pale, exhausted and delirious. 

For some however, the hard work starts long before day one of the festival. The design and build of the sets, props and signage required to transform the city into a world renowned festival, involves hundreds of local fabricators working around the clock.

We've asked Make Works companies BScenic Construction, Sharon Kirby and Eastern Exhibition and Display about how they've been part of the making of Edinburgh Festival 2015.

Eastern Exhibition and Display

Eastern Exhibition and Display are a signage company working with exhibition, print and display fabrication. We asked Eastern's owner Janet Lee Adam to tell us what it's like being part of the big build.

What did you work on for this year's festival?

We produced a number of pieces for the High Street and The Royal Mile including the bin covers, entrance way arches, poster towers, some of the banners on the frames and stages.

How were these made?

The entranceway arches, bin covers and poster towers are made out of metal with direct print applied, the banners were printed using our wide format printer.

What's the best thing about being part of the festival build?

The buzz in town, working overnight for four nights during the set-up – luckily it didn't rain this year, we usually get soaked!

What's the worst thing about being part of the festival build?

The rain most years, and working alongside all of the drunks in the street during the night.

BScenic Construction

Bscenic Construction are bespoke fabricators of film, television and theatre props, exhibition and interior displays.

Bscenic were commissioned to build four sets for the Edinburgh Festival this year. They included the themed food drink pavilion for Edinburgh University, the Yama set with the Scottish Dance Theatre, various pieces for an LA producer with performances at 1A Hill St, and a set for a British Television Company piloting a festival-associated chat show. 

BScenic have been installing the themed food drink pavilion for Edinburgh University for 5 years now which is built next to the Teviot building and Bristo Square. They worked with the designers on the original manufacture and install, and now make annual updates and alterations to the modular system.

BScenic have also been working on the Yama set – Yama is a production by the Scottish Dance Theatre which is showing at the Zoo Southside Venue before starting an international tour. BScenic's Todd said that "the set was designed by a visual artists and proved to be a challenging build." This year BScenic were tasked with re-building the set according to a new set of technical, storage and transport requirements so that it's ready to go on the International tour.

What's the best thing about being part of the festival build?

Festival builds can be a challenging mix of problem solving because of the technical requirements and logistics. Edinburgh is extremely busy in July and August and all of our suppliers and skilled freelancers are working at capacity. Seeing everything happen can be very rewarding.

What's the worst thing about being part of the festival build?

The technical and logistic requirements can become overwhelming and achieving solutions without compromising the aesthetic design can be very difficult.

Sharon Kirby 

Sharon Kirby is a joiner and wood worker based in Edinburgh. She works across traditional joinery, furniture making, set production and window displays. Although Sharon hasn’t been working on this year’s festival she has told us about some of the projects she’s been part of at the festival over the last few years.

What kind of work have you done at the festival?

Framing out uneven ground with timber, levelling it by packing with blocks, timber legs or most often both then cladding with ply and or decking, scribing around permanent objects like trees.

Enclosing areas with "flats", CLS frames with a 4mm Ply skin on one or both sides. These are screwed together and reusable.

Fixing things on site during the run, such as the damaged cow. Repairs should be quick efficient and safe. In this case I used car body fibreglass to repair, then sanded smooth and painted.

What are some of the challenges of being part of the festival build?

There are tight deadlines and a responsibility to the safety and enjoyment of the general public in temporary venues which are often in challenging urban and wild outdoor environments. Working in all weathers and long days at work are both the best and worst aspects, Working in the rain at night can really challenge the body and mind.

What do you enjoy about being part of the festival build?

Less than individual pieces, working in the festival is much more of a team effort, which can be refreshing for a sole trader like myself. It is a good balance to producing work solo, in a controlled workshop environment.

From set production to signage, printing and prop making there's a huge amount of making behind the Edinburgh Festival involving local fabricators. To get in touch with any of the fabricators interviewed in this article, you can contact them on their Make Works listings. 

Sharon Kirby

BScenic Construction

Eastern Display