Hendrick’s Carnival of Knowledge, a travelling parlour of enlightenment and gin, is returning to Edinburgh for this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
It will be at One Royal Circus – a Georgian house overlooking Royal Circus Gardens – from August 7 to 10, with a cocktail bar and a schedule of gin-related scientific, historic and literary presentations.
Sessions include Burke and Hare day with Antique Beat and A Curious Invitation, involving a series of fascinatingly macabre events and discussions on Scotland’s most notorious serial killers Burke and Hare. It includes a psychoanalysis of the men behind the death masks in “Portrait of a serial killer”, The Art of Voodoo and an Anthropomorphic Mouse Taxidermy Workshop. It takes place on Sunday August 10 from 1pm to 9.30pm.
“The Universe inside your head” offers a day of discovery with Guerilla Science, from a Jelly Brain Dissection to The Power of Smell and “a bizarre look at Zombies I have known and loved”. It runs on Saturday August 9 from 1pm to 10pm.
Celebrated publisher Canongate presents Curious Stories for Curious Minds, described as a day of literary nourishment for the curiously-minded. From a workshop on how to create your own comic to a discussion of the blisteringly intelligent thriller Lust and Lycanthropy, it runs on Thursday August 7 from midday to 5.30pm.
A “high-octane” day of enlightening and inspirational spoken word has been created by 5×15 for Friday August 8 from 1pm to 9.15pm. From a look at the bizarre stories and specimens of the world’s weirdest creatures at the Carnival of Curious Animals or revealing the softer side of hard-man Ernest Hemingway in Pillow Talk and Sweet Nothings, 5×15 will bring speakers from diverse backgrounds to reveal their most innovative ideas and abiding passions.
The pop-up features the Hendrick’s Parlour Bar throughout the four days, promising unusual characters, eye-opening wisdom and exquisite cocktails from midday to 11pm. Admission is free, with capacity of 40.
Other sessions have free admission for various shows or £12 tickets including a cocktail. Details and tickets via www.hendricksgin.com/carnivalofknowledge and www.edinburghfringe.org.
Duncan McRae, Hendrick’s British ambassador, said: “After a most delightful time last year we are thrilled to be returning to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with Hendrick’s Carnival of Knowledge.
“Guests at the Carnival can expect to have their minds tickled and expanded through attending one of our intriguing lectures and their thirsts quenched with decadent cocktails from our cocktail bars.
“With such a variety of incredible entertainments on offer, Hendrick’s Gin contribution to this year’s festival will be a riotous experience of knowledge and entertainment for lovers of gin and literature everywhere.”
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