SPRING FESTIVALS
Edinburgh arts festival Hidden Door has built its reputation on transforming disused spaces. But in 2017, it’ll pop up in a ready-made venue: the majestic Leith Theatre, which is reopening after nearly three decades. Yasmin Sulaiman discovers what’s in store
Door’s creative director, ‘because they’ve been to Thomas Morton Hall. But that isn’t Leith Theatre. Right next door to the hall is this amazing 1500 capacity space, but it’s been boarded up for 28 years.’
‘ Everybody thinks they’ve been to Leith Theatre,’ says David Martin, Hidden This year, it’s time to i nally unlock this forgotten venue of north Edinburgh, and the privilege – and challenge – has fallen to Hidden Door. It’s a i tting partnership: for the last four years, the DIY multi-arts festival has taken over disused parts of the Old Town. In 2014, it brought a festival to the Waverley arches, now the site of the swanky New Waverley development; and in 2015 and 2016, the secret courtyard in King’s Stables Road was buzzing (now also taken
over by developers: here’s hoping they’re not starting a trend).
But with its showcase of grassroots artists, theatre-makers and spoken word performers, and a reliably killer lineup of bands, Hidden Door has always felt a bit Leith-y – so the move makes complete spiritual sense. ‘Leith itself is full of people that want this to happen,’ says Martin, whose day job is with Leith School of Art, just round the back of Leith Theatre. ‘It’s a much more engaged community than anything we’ve had before, and there’s plenty of people in Leith who are going to come and inhabit Hidden Door and give it support. There’s not nearly the same kind of tutting and shaking of heads as we’ve had in the city centre.’
Over its ten days, the festival’s evening gigs have long been its most high proi le draw. This year’s selection is no exception, and the i rst two nights are curated by us folks at The List. The opening night is headlined by Anna Meredith, the Scottish Album of the Year winner who is fresh from stunning gigs at the BBC 6 Music Festival in Glasgow and at SXSW in March. She’s supported by the excellent Bossy Love, Bdy_Prts, and Marnie from Ladytron. On Saturday, Idlewild take to the stage alongside Dama Scout, Manuela, and rising Edinburgh singer-songwriter Hamish Hawk, who you might have caught on his recent stints supporting King Creosote and Charlie Cunningham.
‘I’m very excited to be playing Hidden Door,’ Hawk tells me from Oakland, California, where he’s currently touring. ‘I was along last year for Meilyr Jones, some street food and some physical theatre, and it’s such a sweet festival. It’s got a real community feel to it, and the fact that it utilises disused spaces is really appealing to me, especially as an Edinburgh local. You get to discover the little secrets this city has to offer, and there are plenty!’
There’s much more music besides, from longtime Hidden Door performer Hidden Orchestra and from another SAY award winner, Kathryn Joseph. But gigs are only part of what Hidden Door has to offer; its strength is in the way this – arguably more mainstream – strand ensconces itself around the maze of art from emerging artists showcased at the festival. At King’s Stables Road, the festival had several rooms to take over with installations and exhibitions inhabiting the disused spaces. And the cavernous Leith Theatre promises just as many curiosities, as well as a range of bars and street food vendors dotted around the site.
‘The building will change throughout the ten days of Hidden Door festival,’ explains Martin. ‘We want you to come on Friday when it opens, but if you come back on Wednesday it will look very different. The thing about Leith Theatre is that it has lots of nooks and crannies, rooms under the stage and behind the balcony; lots of little rooms we’re going to turn into visual art spaces, a mini- theatre, there’s going to be a cinema in there too. So there’s going to be a lot to discover if you wander around.’ The beginnings of Hidden Door have their origin in a one-off event in 2010, when Martin and his early team assembled a maze of art in the Roxy. ‘That started the idea that we could use any building we really wanted,’ he says. Now, Hidden Door is run by a team of 60 volunteers, around 12 of whom make up the core year-round organisers. Each year has had its challenges (‘other people have likened it to childbirth’) but it’s the thrill of seeing it all come together that’s kept him going.
‘I remember when I was a teenager going to Glastonbury for the i rst time,’ he says, ‘going into a i eld and there wasn’t much there, and then seeing this city appear over two or three days. It was a life- changing moment for me: the feeling of something just coming out of nothing, and then disappearing again. There’s a tiny little echo of that with Hidden Door. It’s obviously not the same scale, but there is something really beautiful about going into a place and it just being a mess and seeing hundreds of people come and turn it into a thriving, exciting space.’
From top: Bossy Love; Anna Meredith; Idlewild
1 Apr–31 May 2017 THE LIST 31