★★★★★ Tess – Corr Blimey ★★★★★ Ragnarok – North West End UK
★★★★★ Pickled Republic – A Young(ish) Perspective ★★★★½ The House – Quinntessential Review
★★★★ Simple Machines – The Guardian ★★★★ Plinth – The Herald
★★★★ Last Rites – The Guardian ★★★★ l’Amour du Risque – The Scotsman
And that’s a wrap! The 2024 Festival was one of our most expansive yet, with 11 theatre productions, 31 films, 7 work-in-progress performances, 4 workshops, 3 discussions, 3 gathering events, 1 mobile cinema and 1 international exchange programme. 3800 people attended the festival in venues across Edinburgh and online.
From parties with existential pickles to robot choreography, the 2024 Festival really had it all. We were thrilled to see Scottish visual theatre artists at the top of their game presenting bold new work at this year’s edition, with Tortoise in a Nutshell, Al Seed, Ramesh Meyyappan, Ruxy Cantir and Megahertz all presenting work in 2024.
We also welcomed new international companies such as Kwaad Bloed with Simple Machines (Belgium) and Sofie Grog Teater with The House (Denmark), along with returning Manipulate Festival favourites Compagnie A (France) and Compagnie Bakelite (France).
Thanks to generous support from Film Hub Scotland, our film programme also enjoyed a big expansion this year, with 3 features and 28 shorts from across the globe, in addition to a free mobile cinema for one which toured locations across the capital.
Here’s what some audiences had to say about the 2024 Festival:
An utterly fantastic experience. The House was a spectacular event and I left feeling better than I came in.
I love Manipulate Festival; it is my favourite of all Edinburgh’s festivals. It blows my mind!
It’s great to see animated film – both short-form and feature-length – playing a prominent role within Manipulate’s offering.
Ragnorok was tremendous – took theatre to a higher level – never seen anything like it before.
Thanks so much to all the incredible artists who made this year’s festival such a success; they are the beating heart of Manipulate Arts and we are very proud to bring their work to you across the country and throughout the year. Thanks also to all our funders and stakeholders, and an enormous thank you also to all our audiences, both our loyal returning audiences who have been with us through highs and lows across many years, and a big welcome to all our new audiences for 2024. We can’t wait to welcome you all back again in 2025.