Ecce, HDA: Hopkins Students Go to Edinburgh

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is the largest performing arts festival in the world. Performers from across the world come to Edinburgh to perform in the Fringe, debuting new musicals, plays, dance performances, and comedy sets every year. Yet – to HDA Director Mike Calderone – the Fringe is much more than that. He “started going [to the Fringe] as a sophomore in undergrad with my college theater troupe, The Shoestring Players, in 1988.” Witnessing the performances there proved to be “a turning point in [his] life and every opportunity [he] can go, [he does].” 

Hopkins students stayed at the University of Edinburgh’s dorms during the trip. According to Greta Lee ’28, they would begin each day “with breakfast at the university and then [they] would walk about 40 minutes to [the] venue to perform a show.” Students usually would “get to the venue fifteen minutes before the show… start at 10:10AM and finish around 10:55,” and following the show, HDA would explore Edinburgh, recalls Molly Calderone ’27.

Following their performance, HDA members would either “see a bunch of shows, go see something historical or cultural, or a mix of both,” says Beatrix Vassilev ’27. Some highlights included “exploring the national museum of Scotland, [seeing] some of Edinburgh’s castles, walking through the shops, eating lots of Gelato, bungee jumping, and hiking Arthur’s seat,” shares Lee. HDA members usually “regrouped for dinner” and discussed their days as well as the shows they saw, according to Jack Beauclair ’27. 

Performing at Edinburgh Fringe was much different from the usual performances at Hopkins. Vassilev shares that at performances, HDA members “were performing for strangers instead of friends, which made for an audience that laughed less at the jokes.” Lee believes that, because of this, “there was a bit more pressure to put on a good-quality show and have fun with it.” According to Calderone, even the space was different: “[the] venue was a converted church, so the physical space was different from what [HDA is] used to.” HDA members also found certain challenges in performing besides adjusting to the new space. Beauclair shares that the difficulties of the performance stemmed from “how little time [they] had to prepare,” as they “really only had a week of rehearsals” before going to the Fringe and debuting their show. 

In Director Calderone’s eyes, “at the Fringe you see what’s possible on stage… sometimes the most educational show for a young performer are the shows that don’t exactly hit their mark!” Learning from other performers turned out to be another highlight of the trip for HDA members. Lee shares that she often finds herself “holding back from embracing a character’s full potential when performing due for fear of embarrassment or ‘doing it wrong’ but after seeing so many professionals at the Fringe who committed to their characters,” Lee was inspired to “give every show [her] all.”

Despite these challenges, each HDA member found themselves enjoying different aspects of the trip. Lee found that she “loved getting the opportunity to explore so many different kinds of shows,” including “some super impressive improv shows, a show that was solely about three chickens, and even an acrobatic show.” At their opening show, performers met “one of the original writers of the Ecce Romani textbook,” Dr. Richard Orr, who had come to see the show and even approached the students to discuss the show afterwards, Lee adds. Beauclair similarly believes that “it was clear that a lot of people cared so much about what they were doing,” making shows even more enjoyable. Spending ten days with each other also meant that HDA members bonded. Vassilev adds: “traveling with others is such a unique experience, and a good way to get really close to people really fast, because we were spending all day and night together.” Calderone’s favorite part of the trip “was the amount of historical landmarks [they] got to see. One day, [they] visited Holyrood Castle where Mary Queen of Scots was murdered.” 

Many students shudder at the thought of doing any work in the summer, yet HDA members banded together to perform, engage with audiences, and explore a foreign country while on their break. While they might not be completely ready to perform acrobatic shows or act like chickens, the lessons learned and experience gained from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe are memories that benefit each performer and the Hopkins stage.