Scotland’s largest student-run arts festival will bring dancing, music, theatre and comedy to St Andrews venues over the next few days.
On the Rocks, which begins on Friday, is run annually by students at St Andrews University.
It has star-studded backing, counting Sir Sean Connery, Dame Judi Dench, Dame Helen Mirren and Joanne Lumley, as well as Crispin Bonham Carter, Siobhan Redmond and Simon Pegg among its patrons.
The 10-day spectacular will see performances in exhibitions in numerous venues which, for the first time will include The Bell Pettigrew Museum.
The Bell Pettigrew Sessions will be an evening of music among the creatures of the university’s zoology museum. There will also be an interactive tour of the museum combining science and artistic performance.
Organisers are excited to be hosting a group of Italian high school art students who have fallen in love with Shakespeare and are travelling to St Andrews to put on a production of Twelfth Night at The Stage.
A spokesperson said: “To have performers coming from so far away to take part in On The Rocks is testament to how much the festival has grown since its launch in 2009.
“The festival is proud to be fostering links between so many different groups of performers and venues, to celebrate the wonderful diversity of opportunities that creative collaboration can bring.”
The programme features community-wide events including an evolving mural, arts and crafts workshops held in conjunction with local primary schools and a ceilidh at the castle.
Among the highlights will be a production of An Education on April 7 and 8. It will be the first time the adaptation of Academy Award-nominated film, based on Lynn Barber’s book, has been told on stage.
Students Lavie Rabinovitz and Ryan Hay, whose first musical debuted with five stars at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe, will see the second musical they have penned performed. A Crown of Laurels, from April 11 to 13, is described as a “two-hand rock musical for strings about sexual abuse, hookup culture and self-care”.
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Venues for the festival will include the Byre Theatre, Barron Theatre, the St Andrews University Students’ Association, St Andrews Library and St Andrews Botanic Garden.
Performers will also take to the streets with flash-mob performances.
Festival director and St Andrews student Chloe Ashely said: “On The Rocks works to make the artistic community accessible to everyone, no matter their age or interests.
“After a year of hard work and creative planning, now is the time to get involved.”
Tickets are available from the Byre Theatre box office or on the doors.
