At 75, Edinburgh Festival more intent than ever on healing divisions

Performers from the contemporary circus company Gravity & Other Myths perform during the launch of the 75th Edinburgh International Festival at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh, Scotland on Aug 3. Photo: AP

Self-described working class playwright Kieton Saunders-Browne used to think the Edinburgh Fringe wasn't for people like him - until a fund set up to draw a more diverse cast of performers to the world's largest arts festival stepped in to help.

The 24-year-old Londoner, of Irish and Caribbean heritage, is using a grant from the Generate Fund to stage his play Block'd Off, which runs at the city's Pleasance Theatre from Aug 3, and break the cycle of deprivation that is central to the work.