SIR John Chilcot’s report on the Iraq War will be taken to a new audience next month when a host of authors and comedians read it in its entirety at the Edinburgh Fringe.
They will be joined by politicians, Fringe performers, writers and members of the public from 6pm on Monday, August 8, for a non-stop reading of the 2.6 million-word tome.
Rebus author Ian Rankin was among the first to sign up for Iraq Out & Loud, which will be staged in a garden shed with just four audience seats on South College Street.
Rankin said: “I was on my holidays when the Chilcot Report was published, so this is my best chance to get to read at least some of it. It’s either that or wait for the film.”
Fringe veterans Bob Slayer and Omid Djalili are organising the show, with the aim of bringing the Fringe’s creative community and international audience together to discuss and reflect on the conflict and the UK’s role in it.
At an approximate rate of 120 words per minute the reading is expected to take more than two weeks to complete.
Rankin will be joined by Djalili, SNP MP Tommy Sheppard, Stewart Lee, Reg D Hunter, Arthur Smith, Francesca Martinez, Sean Walsh, Jo Caulfield, Simon Munnery, Tony Law, Ed Gamble, Stephen Frost, Michael Legge, Howard Read, Andy Askins, Andy Smart and many others who have already volunteered to take part.
The organisers have launched an appeal for more readers to sign up via iraqoutloud.com.
Two readers per hour will perform in the garden shed, beside Slayer’s Blundabus. Members of the audience will also have the chance to take part in the live streamed reading.
Sheppard, who set up the Stand Comedy Club, said: “Delighted to do my part in drawing attention to this damning indictment of Tony Blair’s government – pretty much every British military intervention he sanctioned made a bad situation worse.”
Djalili said: “Has there ever been a more current and brilliant Edinburgh Fringe Festival idea?”
Slayer said: “Producing this is going to be a truly mammoth undertaking, however, I know I would totally regret not doing it much more than actually doing it.”
A Gofundme appeal has been set up to cover out-of-pocket costs for staging the reading, and any additional cash raised will be donated to the International Rescue Committee, which provides aid to refugees and victims of armed conflict around the world.
Hourly tickets for the four seats in the shed go on sale on July 25.
Chilcot’s long-awaited report on the Iraq War criticised former prime minister Tony Blair and other leading politicians and senior officials over their actions before, during, and after the conflict in which 179 British service personnel died and many more were injured.
Former First Minister Alex Salmond has been one of Blair’s most vocal critics and has called for him to be held to account.
He told a Westminster debate on the report earlier this month: “I once told the former prime minister that he would answer to a higher law than this parliament, and I believe that to be true.
“But in the meantime this parliament at this stage should hold him accountable, not because it is a matter of pursuing the former prime minister, but because it will demonstrate and illustrate – even retrospectively – up with it they shall not put.”
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here