RAGGED UNIVERSITY: CENSORED.BANNED. THIS LAND.
@ Forest Cafe , Bristo Hall 9th, 10th, 11th August
11am -11pm

“For only when free men write and speak with will, shall the arbitrary power be exposed and opposed”

FREE EVENT

Ragged Presents
3 days of talks; rehearsed readings; theatre performance; film screenings and our very own Ragged Theatre Workshops

The Ragged activist side comes out at the Forestthis year. In a narrowing world where we have increasing access to information and faster travel between borders, we could presume that freedom of thought and expression had equally been made universal. We could think that as some opportunities expand (and the barriers to accessing these opportunities are seemingly reduced) that aggressive censorship was a thing of the past. We would be wrong.

All events are free and for more information please contact carrie@raggeduniversity.com or see the Ragged website at www.ragged-online.co.uk

Programme With Three Photographic Exhibitions: Endoscapes, Free Belarus Now and Saeed Bohluoli

9th August

11-1:30 Ragged Theatre Workshop ( places still available . We will be exploring banned texts and methods of subverting text in performance with a performance on the 11th)

2-3pm Subverted Polish Children’s Theatre

3:30-5:30 Talk on Polish Peasant Memoirs and Censorship in the Arts with Paul Vickers and Dr John Bates ( Glasgow University)

6-7pm Banned Books and Audio Plays ( come along and read original banned literature whilst listening to recorded banned or dissident Theatre productions ) .

8-9:30 Screening of The Beats of Freedom featuring Polish Punk band , By Desertta led by Paul Vickers and Dr John Bates ( Glasgow University )

10th August

11-1:30 Ragged Theatre Workshop

2-3pm A dark and physical production of ‘Hansel and Gretel’ and other sinister fairy tales.

3:30-5:30 Human Rights Activist, Mehdi Saki gives a talk on Iranian oppression and censorship in arts and education, focussing on film and literature.

6-7pm Banned books and Persian Literature in Farsi feel free to read and have a look at the exhibition.

8-10:30pm Film screening of Off side directed by Jafar Pahani and Forbidden Sundance a film by Moslem Mansouri about exiled choreographer Aram Bayat.

11th August

11-1:30pm Ragged Theatre Workshop

2-3pm Der Sandmann– Rehearsed Reading

3.30-4.30 Theatre Censorship in East Germany - a talk by Dr Laura Bradley (University of Edinburgh), plus audience discussion

Theatre is a live event, and it is often difficult for censors to predict how audiences may respond to a performance. An audience may find controversial allusions, even where none were intended. If they do, laughter can spread quickly through a crowded auditorium, allowing spectators in a dictatorship to participate in a rare act of collective subversion. In this talk, Dr Laura Bradley will explore the role that audiences played in East German censorship, showing how the authorities tried - and often failed - to mobilize public opinion against productions, and how theatre practitioners sought to control spectators’ reactions during performances. Using extracts from censorship reports and Stasi files, she will explore how far East German audiences were able to use theatre as a forum for critical debate.

4.30-5.30 To Ban or Not to Ban: Scenes from Three Decades of East German Theatre Censorship - a radio play compiled by Dr Laura Bradley and performed by Theatre Found - estimated running time 1 hour.

Theatre in East Germany was subject to a strict regime of censorship: theatres had to submit their plans for productions to the authorities, and new scripts were checked particularly carefully. Even so, theatre scandals still occurred, and some plays were banned partway through a run of performances. This programme presents extracts from plays that caused offence and shows how censors scrambled behind the scenes to rectify the damage. The plays range from Aeschylus’ Seven against Thebes to an East German adaptation of The Government Inspector, and the productions show how GDR theatre practitioners responded to the challenges of their times, from the Prague Spring to perestroika. Join us to discover how and why the plays were censored, and how theatre practitioners finally cast aside their roles in 1989 and called for revolution.

6.00-7.00 Challenging Censorship through Poetry and Song - a wall display of poems and songs in which the East German artists Bertolt Brecht, Heiner Müller, and Bettina Wegner responded to censorship and Stasi surveillance. Sound recordings of Bettina Wegner’s songs will be available for visitors to listen to.

7:30 -8:30 Performances from the Ragged Theatre Workshop

8:30 -10 Free Belarus Theatre – A talk with Natalia Koliada , Artistic Director of the Belarus Free Theatre exiled from Belarus for performing, and discussion with Dr John Bates and Dr Laura Bradley.

CENSORED.BANNED. THIS LAND.

Faceplant: a showcase of the brilliantly unpopular
August 7, 6pm-9pm
Free

Local organisers and multimedia performance troupe, Zorras, bring you a fringe-of-the-margin-of-the-edge-of-the-fringe production, where you can move outside the mainstream, and not even risk your pennies. Faceplant: a showcase of the brilliantly unpopular will feature some of the UK’s finest poets and musicians who create art that is far beyond the ordinary. Witness performances from the strange to the sublime, and leave with stunning words, images and melodies floating in your head…
Featuring:
Alison Smith, Colin Herd, Fiona Soe Paing, Mark Mace Smith, The Naughty Boys, Nuala Watt, Rachel McCrum, ShellSuit Massacre, Sophie Mayer

Hosted by Sandra Alland & Y Josephine (Zorras)
part of An Edinburgh Zine & Small Press Fair
http://www.blissfultimes.ca/faceplant.htm

An Edinburgh Zine And Small Press Fair
7 August, 12pm-5pm
+ Readings/Performances 6pm-9pm

Free Entry, Wheelchair Accessible Local organisers and multimedia performance troupe, Zorras, present An Edinburgh Zine & Small Press Fair. For one day only, The Forest Cafe will be turned into a bookshop - featuring rare and hand-made zines, chapbooks, books, CDs and other ephemera. Some of the UK’s finest zinesters and small presses will gather to bring you independent poetry, fiction, comics, visual art and music. http://www.blissfultimes.ca/zinefair.htm

Featuring: anything anymore anywhere Bella Caledonia (Kevin Williamson & Mike Small) Duality Edward Ross Forest Publications Gutter Mark Mace Smith & Defective Arts Muletilla and The Rag New Escapologist nick-e melville (acton press) Nine & If Destroyed Still True Read This Press rodney relax (press king) SCREE Sophie Mayer & Salt Publishing Ste McCabe & Queers Make Music Witches Revenge WRITERS’ BLOC Zorras & sandraslittlebookshop

Naughty Boys at Faceplant!
August 7, 6-9pm
FREE

The Naughty Boys make improvised electro po-noize. Poems vs computers vs drums vs salvaged keyboards and whatever else we can find. You will come.

The Naughty Boys are: * DanSeizure on keys and computer loop. * Stevie Paterson on keys and percussion noises. * Ryan Van Winkle —Spoken Words.

Also appearing: Alison Smith, Colin Herd, Fiona Soe Paing, Mark Mace Smith, Nuala Watt, Rachel McCrum, ShellSuit Massacre & Sophie Mayer

August @ Forest
5th - 27th
Everything is happening. All free. All the time.

A month of eveything awesome. Music, performance, spoken word, theatre, art, parties. Maybe we’ll smash up a photocopier. Highlights below, but quite a lot more is also going on. See http://blog.theforest.org.uk/calendar for the lot.

Saturday 6th, 8 til late: EPIC OPENING PARTY
All rooms, all doors, all off your arses, featuring Ten Tracks/Police Box

Sunday 7th, all feckin day: ZINE FAIR
small presses and writers want your love

Sunday 7th til Sunday 21st: I AM NOT A POET
Art/txt/video/mashup: get it up ye.

Monday 8th til Saturday 13th: INKY FINGERS MINIFEST
words order beautiful beautiful

Tuesday 9th til Thursday 11th: RAGGED on CENSORED ARTS
learn about illegal stuff, you pleb

Friday 12th, 8 til late: PSYCHGAELC CEILIDH
tie die yr kilts

Saturday 13th, 8 til late: SUPER-EPIC BIRTHDAY PARTY
it is party here

Monday 15th - Saturday 27th: FOREST FRINGE
tasty arty performance yum

Friday 19th - Sunday 20th: ULTRACHIP
eight bit whores

Wednesday 24th: GOLDEN HOUR
the last one ever. all day long.

Saturday 27th:THE HAPPENING
it happens. hard.