Last month I asked the question, “will Enron repeat its West End success on Broadway?”. We now have the answer to this question, which is a categorical no! The show, which had its last performance on Sunday lasted for only 15 performances. It was hoped that the show would be as successful at the […]

For those of us who don’t know, ‘Mela’ is a Sanskrit word meaning ‘gathering’ and it is used across the Indian Subcontinent to refer to all sorts of religious, cultural, sporting and even trade events.

Held at the waterfront beside Ocean Terminal in Leith, this year’s Mela Festival in Edinburgh, one of the biggest of its kind in the UK, is a multi-cultural (but mostly south Asian) festival of theatre, music dance and costume – or so promises its new director, Liam Sinclair.

Mr. Sinclair has said that in addition to the usual carnival atmosphere and exciting mix of theatre, dance and music, this year the festival will be bolder than ever before and will include a “world premier”.

This step-up in dynamism and ambition is due in large part to the new sponsor of the Mela, the property developer and port operator Forth Ports, which has offered a new sponsorship package that organisers say will support a longer-term vision for the Edinburgh Mela as Scotland’s pre-eminent celebration of cultural diversity through the arts.

The festival will run from 25th to the 31st of August and is rated as one of the ‘must see’ see celebrations in Edinburgh over the festival season.