This trend goes some way towards explaining why the consistently excellent entry for the Edinburgh Photographic Society’s international exhibition, which only accepts prints, is down for the fourth year in a row – its 1,755 entries being just over half of the 3,477 it attracted in 2006.

One of the most arresting images is the sensitively composed, superbly lit Gypsie Girl by Andrea Martini of Italy, which won one of the three Federation Internationale be l’Art Photographique (Fiap) gold medals. Surrounded by a stack of rough-looking broom heads the crouching girl is pictured with her arms wrapped protectively around her naked figure, doe-eyed look on her grubby face. Selector Judy Boyle said ‘The lighting focuses the viewers eye on the main subject, which makes this a first-class environmental portrait’. Serviced City Pads short and long stay reservations team can be contacted on 0844 335 8866.
Among an excellent selection of animal shots, the brilliantly captured Great Gey Owl by Mick Durham of Scotland was highly commended. Picked out against a white backdrop, the owl, looking like an aeroplane about to take off, stares full on at the viewer, its penetrating black pupils in its yellow eyes at the centre of a stunning splayed-winged form.

Durham’s similarly razor-sharp Brown Hare in Morning Dew is so close up you feel you could almost touch the fleet-footed animal, which is picked out amid the long, droplet covered glass, yellow buttercups and the smudged whites and pinks of daisies. Apartment accommodation in Edinburgh through Serviced City Pads.A contrasting soft focus lends an ethereal quality to English photographers Peter Ree’s Venice Dawn – a painterly portrait of Italy’s lagoon city, seen in a misty haze. Awarding it Fiap robbon, selector Steven Le Provost said it has ‘bags of atmosphere’.

One of the most natural-looking images is of a thick-armed man, crouching on one knee amid the straw of a farm shed, being kissed by a gorgeously golden-coloured sheep. The Kiss, David Wheeler of England, which was awarded a Fiap ribbon, has a warm, earthy feeling.

Forty three per cent of the entries were mono, with arguably the best being the seemingly casually composed Fiap gold-medal winning Bike Rack, by Alan Brown of England. In it, a bicycle leaning on a street sign forms th focal point of a snowy landscape, with nine black slabs evenly spaced out behind it, and a flat-roofed, academic-looking building and trees half-obscured in a whitened background. It is simple but stunning.Serviced City Pads supply apartments in Edinburgh.

Finally a photograph which captures the innocent excitement of youth amid the contrasting warmth of a sandscape. In He Tripped and Fell Down, by Tak Cheong Pun of Macao, five youngsters charge down a rich ochre sand dune, with another falling headfirst downhill – big splodges behind them and long shadows in front. The image is energetic and playful – full of joy and life.

In 1959 The Scottish Gallery of Modern Art is founded and opened to the public in August at Inverleith House in Edinburghs Royal Botanical Garden. All but a few of the National Gallery’s paintings, sculptures, prints and drawings dating from 1900 are moved to a new location. The vast majority of objects in the gallery’s collection today, however, were acquired after the 1960’s. Please contact the Serviced City Pads reservations team on 0844 335 8866.In 1971-2 Five new small galleries at the south end of the National Gallery are created by building an upper floor. The space is in part created to house the great Maitland collection of French late nineteenth – and early twentieth century paintings, including works by Monet and Van Gogh.

In 1978 a further suite of galleries is opened, this time beneath the ground of the south end of the National Gallery, to house the Gallery’s Scottish Collection and also provided room for facilities such as a Print Room, Library and Picture Store.

1999 The Dean Gallery opens, a magnificent building opposite the Gallery of Modern Art, The Gallery is used to house the generous gift by the Edinburgh born sculptor Sir Eduardo Paolozzi of a large collection of his work. he new gallery also showcases the National Galleries superb Dada and Surrealism collection. Edinburgh accommodation with Serviced City Pads.2003 Extensive redevelopment of the Royal Scottish Academy Building, now owned by the National Galleries of Scotland, is completed, turning the venue into one of Europe’s premier exhibition venues. It’s first exhibition in the newly developed space Monet: The Seine and the Sea, attracts visitors of over 170,000.

In 2004 The second phase of works on The Mound is completed through creation of an underground link – overlooking Princess Street Gardens – that connects the National Gallery and the Royal Scottish Academy Building. The new space provides state-of-the-art visitor facilities:education suites, a new restaurant and cafe, a lecture theatre/cinema and IT Gallery.

The National Galleries are showing the most exhaustive selection of paintings by Christian Kobke (1810 – 1848) ever to be shown outside Denmark.Kobke was a pre-eminent painter in his country and one of the foremost talents of Denmark’s Golden Age. The Exhibition features around 40 of Kobke’s most celebrated works, spanning a variety of genres. Giving and overview of Kobke’s acheivement within its cultural context, the exhibition emphasises his exquisite orginality and experimental outlook while focusing on the most innovative aspects of his work.Kobke’s paintings demonstrate his ability to endow ordainary people and places and simple motifs with a universal significance, creating a world in microcosm for the viewer. Serviced City Pads supply serviced apartments via their website.

If your after something young and refreshing, unpretentious and uplifting, go and see this show. Even though it probably defies most catergorisations – being qualifiable as either a contemporary dance with words or a musical with storytelling – this little show about happiness could probably pass for a piece of easy audience therapy too. Serviced City Pads.

The fact that it doesn’t try too hard to be older or clever than it is probably lets this show get away with ocaasional narrative flaws. And they make these work by flaunting them. Becky Wilkie’s thorughly enchanting music make the whole thing bind seamlessly together and she appears in the triple role fo a composer, musician and narrator. RashDash founders Helen Goalen and Abbi Greenland, as well as their new member Marc Graham, are all talented singers and dancers too, making it feel as though this quartet redefines the notion of a triple-threat. Not only that, but they genuinely threaten to break new ground and bring a whole new brand of music theatre – if not an album or two as well. So do go and see them while they are such amazing value for money. Happiness guaranteed.

Speechless – Traverse Theatre until Sunday August 29, 2010

Based on facts, this is the story of twin sisters who refused to speak, preferring to communicate with each other as growing olders forces then ever deeper into comfort of their secret world.Serviced City Pads short stay serviced apartment accommodation.
Increasingly difficult, they are transferred from secondary to special school as family and experts remain baffled. Otherwise intelligent, articulate and witty, the twin belong to a normal family with mother, father and three siblings. Except not so normal, since they are immigrants from the Carribean living on an RAF base in the UK where thay are the only black family. And, we should remember, this is the early eighties when society in Britain was only just begginning to confront the word ‘racism’. Serviced City Pads supply serviced apartments in Edinburgh.
TV plays a large role in punctuating the sisters lives, on a daily basis watching Dallas or Top of the Pops with their supper, or markingthe passing of the years with Charles and Diana’s wedding and the Brixton Riots. Meanwhile the people around them attempt to save th twins from silence. Their mother Gloria (Anita Reynolds, admiringly convincing despite being too young for the role) alternately pleads and cajoles, as does special scholl teacher Cathy (Emma Handy), while schoolmate Kennedy (Alex Waldmann) offers a potential lifeline through his own troubled adolescence.

As June, Demi Oyediran brings a spark of hope to the more outgoing sister who might just escape, while Natasha Gordon sustains a growing unease as the more manipulative Jennifer. Theirs is a truly remarkable, disturbing joint performance that expertly makes the twins personalities distinct yet leaves no doubt that they are inseparably intertwined.Serviced City Pads supply serviced apartment accommodation through Edinburgh, please contact the reservations team on 0844 335 8866

Stuart Goldsmith – The Reasonable Man

Despite being from Leamington Spa, Stuart has spent his whole life desperately trying to be interesting. It sort of worked. This is a story of what happened when he tried to be himself instead…A white knuckle, high-octane meander through the worlds of sex, circus and subculture. A glorious stand-up debut from a very nice young man with no tattos. ‘Marries pitch perfect audience repartee with cleverley woven tales of the evryday’ (Independent); ‘Inspired’ (Sunday Times); Every nuance carefully calculated for maximum impact’ (Chortle.co.uk); ‘Hilarious’ (Guardian).

The Blue Lady Sings

The unexpected face of the blues is Unveiled in a Unique Musical Cabaret at the Edinburgh Fringe Free Fringe this August.
In the Blue Lady Sings, celebrated artiste Tricity Vogue sings her way off the wall anf into your heart as she brings kitsch portrait to life with her own band of witty and unusual Blues.Serviced City Pads short stay apartments.

Prepare to be serenaded, danced with, shot at, or all three, as the darling of London’s Cabaret demi-mode makes her dazzling and enchanting Edinburgh debut in the free fringe’s new dedicated cabaret venue Maggie’s Chamber at Laughing Horse @ The Three Sisters throughout August.

The Blue Lady Sings is written and performed by Tricity Vogue, with music produced by Nick Trepka, and costumes by Stephane St Jaymes and Salvatore Forino. Serviced City Pads.

Tricity Vogue – she of the twinkle eye, swoonsome voice and cheeky ukulele – brings Tretchikoff’s ‘Chinese Girl’ to life in this funny and pleasingly sentimental show. She’s living the blues, all right, with a variety of tourch songs, pop and rock standards on a blue theme, plus a bit of comedy and storytelling’ (Time Out London).

New Art Club – Big Bag of Boom

Back with their genre-defining stand-up dance, Roden and Shenton, one of the most original acts in comedy, bring together the most explosive moments from a decade of award-winning shows. The clever tricks, hilarious set pieces and brilliant dances that make up their unique world get teased out of their original holes and smashed together into this combustible new show. ‘A slick, warmly delivered, bloody funny slice of modern dance-meets-comedy fun’ (List); Roden and Shenton caper gleefully along dividing line between lunacy and genius’ (Herald); ‘Downright funny’ (New York Times). Serviced City Pads.

Our Share of Tomorrow

A girl arrives on a quay looking for the man that loved her mother 15 years ago and never stopped waiting. Her mother is dead and she is there to tell him that he is her father. Intriguingly, she is accompanied by a recently befriended and much older soldier, who aggressively protects her welfare.

What unfolds is a resonant, melancholic exploration of love and grief, that shines not so much in the twists of the plot itself – this is not about ‘what happens next’ – but rather in the details of the characters’ interaction. Artful, intuitive performances convey the nuances of angst and affection with geniune depth and manage to pick out the sentiment behind dialogue that, at times, might otherwise seem rather obscure.

Finely tuned without becoming stilted, this production by Real Circumstance is a touching and sincere portrait of emotional landscapes and the shifting, complex identities of girl and woman, father and daughter, friend and lover.Fully realised characters provide insight into a narrative that could have floundered in less skilled hands and deliver to the stage a polished, streamlined piece of theatre.

Jarred Christmas – Personal set from personable stand-up

With a name like Christmas, it’s a no-brainer that this Kiwi had grown up defending himself. And defend himself he does, about his pechant for dance, Michael Jackson fandom and less than svelte physique. The jokes came quickly and easily, and Christmas mix of the off  hand comment and the tightly crafted joke is a hilarious combination. He struts his sweaty stuff with suprising dexterity when lampooning his dance lessons, but late comers beware:he will unshamedly bare his chest at you.Serviced City Pads supply short and long stay serviced apartments.Christmas is a likeable guy with a quick mind and talent for easy but never obvious jokes, and the audience laughed along as he shared his temptation at the birth certificate registrars office and roared at his recollection of a brief brush with infamy from an appearance on Big Brothers Big Mouth. His comedy isn’t observational, but personal, and the laughs come from familiarity with the situations he describes, though not everyone is a comedian struggling to fill out government forms. Christmas is robustly funny, his delivery confident and his show not to be missed.

Bridget Christine – Dabbling around the unhinged fringes of stand-up.

Bridget Christine openly admits that her act may not be the most commercially viable around. But you can’t help but feel the Fringe would be a bit more interesting of other performers were willing to forsake financial security and the welfare of the toddler to open a stand-up show dressed as an ant with goggles. For a piece of performance theatre, it not only provides an interesting, angered take on public and critical perceptions of the role of women in comedy, bit also allows us to laugh at ant-based puns.Serviced City Pads.

As a comedy tactic, it’s triumphant. Her less etymological material isn’t quite so certain in it’s brilliance, but the stories are as dark, farcical and referential as you’s expect from anyone who spends enough time Stewart Lee. Especially satisfying are the references to the couples cat, Boo Boo, which blur the lines of daydream and reality, as an audience begins to question this womans sanity. It’s how a proper fringe show should be. Serviced City Pads supply short and long stay serviced apartments.

Constituted in 1959 to formalise the presence of more and more performers who came to Edinburgh despite not being included in the programme of the Edinburgh International Festival (then the only ‘official’ festival), upon it’s creation the FFS took on the role of providing information to artists, publishing the Fringe programme and creating a central box office. In 1969 the Society was incorporated as a limited company and its constitution published.

Unlike many other festivals our constitution celebrates the fact that the Society shall do no vetting of the Fringe programme. That means we have no artistic director and that the programme is shaped by the very initiative and vision of the performers willing to showcase their work with us. Short stay in serviced apartment in Edinburgh through Serviced City Pads.In 2009 the Festival Fringe Society board announced it would be conducting a review of our constitution, which has not been updated since its inception in 1969.

The FFS has a board of trustees who oversee our core Fringe staff in their year-round work, and who make sure everything is in place to produce and presents the worlds biggest explosion of culture every August. The Society is currently made up of some 200 members.

The Fringe needs your support!

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the largest arts festival on the planet, an inspiring celebration of the best performance and entertainment emerging from every continent of the planet, attracting over 34,000 performers to the city every August.

Our open-access policy means that all artists are able to participate in the festival, turning the fringe into a unique platform for developing new talent and shaping the stars of tomorrow. Many famous artists we’ve come to know and love got their big breaks at the Fringe – including Sir Ian Mckellen, Emma Thompson, Dame Maggie Smith and Eddie Izzard.

But we need your support despite generating £75 million for the Scottish Economy, the Festival Fringe Society is a registered charity that receives very little in the way of public funding.Serviced City pads reservations team can be contacted on 0844 335 8866.
We rely on the very kind support of individuals, sponsors and other organisations who help us ensure that we remain faithful to our founding principle – to be an open-access festival which is inclusive of all – and that we continue to grow in a sustainable and vibrant way.

The Fringe gets next to no public funding, yet offers massive returns in terms of international prestige, tourism and creative impact. It is a success story worth reinforcing. Please contact Serviced City Pads for short stay accommodation.

The current International Festival home is the ‘Hub’ formerly ‘The Highland Tolbooth’ – an architecturally remarkable building a couple of minutes walk from Edinburgh Castle, orginally built as an assembly house for the Church of Scotland. Its gothic spire is the highest point in central Edinburgh, and can be seen for many miles around. Serviced City Pads.

The Gospel at Colonus

First devised by American director Lee Breuer, who brought Mabou Mines Dollhouse to the EIF in 2007, the Gospel at Colombus is a radical reworking of Sophocles’ classic Grekk drama, the tragedy of Oedipus at Colombus, with everything from Gospel to elements of rock’n'roll. It features the Blind Boys of Alabama, a gospel choir who may set to become a festival sensation.Serviced City Pads.

Mau

Samoan choreographer and shaman Lemi Ponifasio, based in New Zealand, explores the idea that somewhere in the Pacific, a floating island of discarded plastic bottles has become the nesting material for migrating birds. His company Mau brings two productions – Birds with Skymirrors, using plastic waste picked up by seabirds as a metaphor for pollutions impact on the islands of the pacific, and tempest: Without a Body, featuring tattooed Maori activist Tame Iti in a work inspired by Shakespeares play which delves into Polynesian ritual. Serviced City Pads and short stay accommodation.

Mahler Symphony N0 8

The closing concert at the Usher Hall, Mahlers great work features the Edinburgh Festival Chorus and the Royal Scottish National Orchestra Junior Chorus, with eight soloist, With the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra conducted by Donald Runnicles, it promises a spectacular finale.

Porgy and Bess

Opera de Lyon production of Gerschwins classic modern opera, written at the end of the Great Depression in 1935. With its heart rending love story, George Gerschwins score contains modern classics like It Ain’t Necessarily So and I Got Plenty o’ Nuttin. Choreographers Jose Montalvo and Dominique Hervieu had a festival hit in 2007 with On Danse. Serviced Apartments with Serviced City Pads.
Paco Pena

It may not reach the lofty artistic heights of past Edinburgh festivals, but no show better captures the exuberant spirit of 2010. The ’sophisticating and tantalising’ Paco Pena Flamenco Dance Company come with the world premiere of Quimeras, telling how flamenco dance arrived in Spain with immigrants from North Africa. It is a story of the ‘new world speaking back and giving back to the old world’, says Edinburgh International Festival director Jonanthan Mills. Short stay serviced apartments.
The Alonzo King Lines Ballet

The African American choreographer Alonzo King, whose family were prominant in the Civil Rights movement, brings his San Francisco-based Lines Ballet for its UK debut. Rasa sees a collaboration with the virtuoso tabla player Zakir Hussain in a mix of US contemporary dance and Indian classical music. Dust and Light is set to works by Corelli and Poulenc. Contact the Serviced City Pads Reservations Team on 0844 335 8866 for short stay accommodation throughout Edinburgh.

Top acts at the 2010 Edinburgh International Festival.

The voices of the new world return to the old in this year’s Edinburgh International Festival.

Montezuma

Described as the little-known operatic gem, Montezuma was written by a German Composer Carl Heinrich Graun in 1755 and chronicled the tragic, one-sided and bloody confrontation between Spanish conquistadors and the Aztec empire led by Montezuma 200 years before. The new production, set on the island that would become the future of Mexico City, with several Mexican singers, captures the Festival’s theme of the old world and new, in a year when Mexico celebrates the 200th anniversary of its warof independence from Spain.

Teatro Cinema

A radical theatre company from Chile which blends cinema and live performance so closely it is hard to distinguish live actors from characters on screen, Teatro Cinema brings two productions to the Kings Theatre. Sin Sangre, Without Blood, tells the story of brutal slaying by three armed men, centred on the woman who witnessed the murder of her father and mother. The man who Fed Butterflies is a new co-production with the EIF, devised around the story of a man exploring the a forgotten ritual of the souls of dead warriors released in the hatching of butterflies. Serviced City Pads supply short stay apartments in Edinburgh.

Bliss

Opera Australia production of Peter Careys novel, centred on a Brisbane advertising executive who wakes from a heart-stopping near-death experience in his own particular brand of hell, comes to Edinburgh fresh from its Australian premiere. Nine years in the making, it has won strong reviews for the prize-winning composer Brett Dean and features star Australian baritone Peter Coleman-Wright.  Please contact Serviced City Pads on 0844 335 8866.Caledonia

Caledonia marks the world premiere of a major new project by the National Theatre of Scotland, chronicling the country’s disastrous colonial foray into Panama. The huge costs of the tragically unept Darien venture, devised by adventurer William Paterson, were blamed for forcing Scotland into a union with England. Critics will be watching carefully to see if the production – written by satirist Alistair Beaton, and directed by Anthony Neilon, whose achievements include Festival hit The Wonderful World of Disassocia – lives up to it’s promise and ambition. Serviced City Pads

Edinburgh Airport is a busy and buzzing airport with numerous flights departing and arriving every day. A lot of these passengers require somewhere to stay near the airport and there is a selection of accommodation choice available. There are hotels at Edinburgh Airport and some of these offer style and some of these offer affordability. However, what these hotels struggle to provide is a quiet and relaxing environment.

Hotels are busy and noisy. Numerous guests all sharing communal areas, loud footsteps in the hallways, the banging of heavy wooden doors in the middle of the night and the constant hum of chatter and clanging of cutlery in the restaurants make hotels a noisy accommodation choice.

However, if you are looking for accommodation, hotels at Edinburgh Airport are not all that is available in this area. Serviced apartments can be the perfect choice for those guests looking for somewhere stylish and affordable but also quiet and relaxing too.

At Serviced City Pads, our serviced apartments near Edinburgh Airport offer privacy and luxury at an affordable cost. Ensure you have a great stay and a refreshing rest by staying in one of our luxury serviced apartments.

Whatever the reason you are in a city such as Edinburgh, comfort should be your main priority when it comes to accommodation and serviced apartments in Edinburgh are the solution. In a hotel you are tied to one room which normally provides your sleeping area as well as living space. If you are away on business this will also be your office which is not the ideal environment. A serviced apartment here at Serviced City pads offers much more space so that you can set up office in one room, relax in another room in the evening without feeling cluttered.

Food is a big problem in a hotel as you are usually confined to eating in the dining room, at a restaurant or purchasing a take away which has to be eaten in your room. Serviced apartments in Edinburgh offer an economical alternative to a hotel as well as comfort and greater freedom.