Celebrating a decade On The Rocks

Scotland’s largest student-run arts festival, On The Rocks, returns this week (6 to 15 April) with over 50 events at the University of St Andrews – making it the biggest yet.

Celebrating a decade as Scotland’s largest student-run arts festival, On The Rocks is a creative platform for students to showcase their talents as artists, photographers, dancers, musicians, actors and comedians.

This year, On The Rocks will explore themes of variety and inclusivity in creativity with the St Andrews PRIDE parade as well as RE FORM, an ethical fashion show hosted by Students For Global Health. Tales by Moonlight, hosted by St Andrews African Caribbean Society, features as part of the Festival’s unique event line-up. Tales by Moonlight is a re-enactment of one of the Caribbean’s most cherished cultural traditions. As with Caribbean oral traditions, the Society will share folktales and fables, epic histories, narrations, proverbs, sayings and songs from across Africa and the Caribbean – sharing the knowledge they have gained from across generations before us which teach us important aspects of Caribbean culture.

The festival has the patronage of St Andrews honorary graduates Sir Sean Connery, Dame Judi Dench, Dame Helen Mirren and Joanna Lumley, as well as graduates Crispin Bonham Carter and Siobhan Redmond, and British actor Simon Pegg.

The celebratory tenth anniversary programme covers a wide range of genres including comedy, musicals, art exhibitions, and community-wide events including an evolving mural and a range of arts and crafts workshops held in conjunction with local primary schools.

Festival Director and St Andrews student Sneha Nair said: “Now entering its tenth year, On The Rocks is bigger and better than ever. This year’s committee has worked tirelessly to build upon the hard-earned reputation of past teams to be more inclusive and ambitious than even before.”

On The Rocks offers events to watch, to enjoy, and even to participate in, such as a ceilidh in the grounds of St Andrews Castle.

Venues for the festival include The Byre Theatre, The Barron Theatre and University of St Andrews Students’ Association, with performers taking to the more traditional stage as well as hitting the streets with “flash-mob” performances. Locations also include local restaurants and popular public spaces, including the Old Union Café which will host a festival favourite, live, acoustic ‘Music Cafés’.

One of the festival highlights includes an independent, large scale production of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night (or What You Will).

Twelfth Night (or What You Will) follows a pair of twins – Viola and Sebastian – who are shipwrecked and separated on the island of Illyria. Viola takes on a man’s identity and falls in love with her master Orsino, while Sebastian falls in love with the Lady Olivia who is trying to avoid the advances of her puritan house master, Malvolio.

Other highlights include a 24 hour create-a-thon, a special concert by the Madrigal Group and Art On The Rocks, a series of art exhibitions which will showcase work curated by both student and local artists.

Sneha continued: “We are so excited to have been able to put together a programme for 2018 that offers an irresistible combination of new events and festival favourites. We are really looking forward to seeing our plans to come to life, and we cannot wait to share it all with you.”

On The Rocks opens Friday 6 April and ends once again with a birthday themed closing party.

Tickets for events are available from the Byre Box Office, Monday to Saturday 10am to 4.30pm, by telephone on 01334 475000, or 30 minutes before each event (if still available) on the door.

The programme is also available online and includes further information on all events.

All photos © Ligtbox Creative

Issued by the University of St Andrews Communications Office on behalf of On The Rocks.