The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo will celebrate its 75th anniversary next summer - with the milestone show taking audiences on a journey through the Tattoo’s history.
Titled, The Heroes Who Made Us, the August event will look back at the iconic event’s history to date, feature memorable Tattoo acts and new show elements, and celebrate special individuals who stitch communities together across the country.
Titled, The Heroes Who Made Us, the August event will look back at the iconic event’s history to date, feature memorable Tattoo acts and new show elements, and celebrate special individuals who stitch communities together across the country.
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NewsTranscript
00:30So, the Heroes Who Made Us does two things, I think.
00:45The first of which is celebrate and recognise the people who have made the tattoo.
00:49This is a global brand and experience for audiences that cannot be seen anywhere else
00:55and that is as a result of the work of hundreds, thousands of brilliant people over the years
00:59and we want to celebrate them, we want to celebrate our unique position, Edinburgh Castle,
01:05the city itself, the weather, the audience, all of these heroes that have made 75 years
01:10possible.
01:11But we also want to take a moment, especially in these difficult times, to celebrate and
01:15recognise the people who stitch together our communities into a society, the volunteers,
01:21the people who live their life and set a standard, an example of their behaviour.
01:25We want to lift them up, we want to say this is something that we're really proud to be
01:29associated with, to be championing.
01:31And so we're going to be doing that and you'll see lots of things between now and the show
01:34of how you can nominate your hero, how you can make sure that the values you think are
01:39important are part of the show that we're making.
01:41And that gets me really excited, it feels like a really good time to be doing that.
01:55I understand the work I make as a theatre director, that's what I've been trained in,
01:59it's what I've spent 20 years doing, and I make large-scale outdoor community plays and
02:03for me the Tattoo is the greatest large-scale outdoor community play, it's a community of
02:07communities, we bring groups and gangs of people from all over the world and part of
02:11that is about how you talk to them, how you rehearse them, how you behave with them, but
02:15part of it is also that theatrical sensibility.
02:18The show makes sense to me if I can have someone on the esplanade talking to the audience,
02:21I need a storyteller, so we're going to cast a great actor and they're going to be able
02:25to talk to the audience and make sense of the show and knit together all the bits of
02:28the show that people love into something really cohesive and emotionally engaging.
02:33So I think from the absolute start you'll go, ah, there's a slightly different flavour
02:37to this, but at the same time I start as the biggest Tattoo fan, I saw it when I was 8
02:42and I saw it again when I was 18 and I was like, I want to do that one day and now I
02:45get to do it.
02:46So I start from the point of view that I want to keep the heritage and the amazing tradition
02:52of the Tattoo and I just want to make sure that it's always just slowly moving forward
02:56to keep the audience with it.
02:57And so I think you'll see theatricality, of course you will, that's what I know how to
03:01do, but you'll also see someone who really respects the form as well.
03:04The Tattoo for 75 years has been giving to charity and most recently in 2019, pre-COVID,
03:24we were giving a million pounds and we're on track to do that again next year.
03:28And in some ways I hope people see the Tattoo through that lens and want to participate
03:33with the Tattoo in order for that great purpose that we have.
03:38And then there are other things this year for the 75th, 75p of every single ticket sold
03:44will be given to charity as well.
03:45So it's something that is very important to all of us here at the Tattoo.
03:52Our parent company is a charity, I report to a board of trustees and they look at how
03:59we can give more every single year.
04:02And again, it's something I'm so thrilled about that we are that kind of company.