A teenager residing in Dubai will become the region’s only and first student to perform solo during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The 13-year-old Ahan Dasgupta, a student of Emirates International School, Meadows, will be performing his solo show ‘Feynman’ on the topic ‘Why Do Magnets Attract?’ at the famous Scottish performing arts festival being held between Friday and Sunday.
The show is a combination of monologue and drums, and the teen who was born in Singapore will try to answer some of the major ‘why’ questions, like “why are Russia and Ukraine sparring?” or “why do crops fail?”.
Dasgupta’s work is inspired by Richard Feynman, his favourite physicist who dedicated much of his life’s career to trying and answering many of life’s whys.
He said that he was just 13 months old when his mother performed at the Fringe. He has heard so much about the festival and is now excited to perform there. Moreover, this year, Fringe’s 75th anniversary makes it even more special.
He said that all this has been possible because of the effort of his drama teacher, Ms Alba Rose and his drum teacher, Nasser Abeidoh, who helped him tremendously to be stage ready.
Edinburgh Festival Frings starts on Friday and will operate till Monday, August 29. The diverse line-up will feature a combination of plays, comedy acts, walking tours and spoken word performances with highlights that will include a Game of Thrones musical, which comedian Eddie Izzard sets along with social media comic Ashley Storrie.
Moreover, the play Saber Came to Tea is from the region and will be presented on Saturday and Sunday. The play, made with award-winning Yemeni artists-in-exile Shatha Altowai and her composer, husband Saber Bamatraf, jointly with Palestinian poet Ghazi Hussein and writer and director Robert Rae, recounts the story of one young woman’s rebellious stand against the constraining social standards of her family.