Actress Stockard Channing was spotted on Edinburgh's Royal Mile on Thursday while promoting her new show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with actor David Westhead. The 82-year-old arrived in Scotland less than 24 hours earlier and was up early leafletting for her first ever Fringe appearance, Krapp's Last Tape.
Edinburgh's Royal Mile might be the last place you'd expect to find Rizzo from the hit movie musical Grease. But for many unsuspecting passers-by on an overcast afternoon Thursday, that's exactly where Hollywood actress Stockard Channing could be spotted.
It's been decades since the movie star was last in the capital city, but she was excited to stop and
take it all inas she watched street performers and musicians keep visitors entertained.
The Hollywood actress is taking a break from a press tour promoting the sequel to the 90s movie Practical Magic, starring Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock, to direct the classic Samuel Beckett play.
She is working with her longtime friend and fellow actor David Westhead, who will perform the play's leading role.
He has experience of the Fringe Festival, but says having a famous name like Stockard Channing's on the bill doesn't guarantee them an audience.
You're up against 4,000 other shows when you come to Edinburgh
Stockard Channing has built a huge Hollywood career since starring as Rizzo in Grease, but it is still a part she is renowned for.
Despite the impressive back catalogue of previous works between the pair, both are happy to
return to their rootswhen it comes to this play.
An idea that started round a table in a flat is now ready to be shown to the public.
It's been put together on a tight budget, with David driving himself up from London in a small Ford car with all the kit to put on this show. The small team will also stay in student accommodation while in the city, as a way to keep down costs.
The play has been put together to raise funds for The Wembley to Soweto Foundation, which David set up in 2010. It provides photographic training and life-skills to disadvantaged young people.
They will perform 27 shows during their time at the Festival Fringe, but Stockard admits it's David who has been the real organiser behind making the show become a reality.
We sat in at my kitchen table and discussed everything
It's been a weight off not to have a massive production involved. But really it's down to David that everything has come together.
Festival season
But David stresses that Stockard has played a pivotal role.
And her presence in Edinburgh isn't going unnoticed, despite being behind the curtain for this latest performance.
We've had people coming up all the time saying, 'Oh my God, I love your work,' or 'what are you doing here!'
From this point, Edinburgh will be inundated with thousands of visitors who want to take in the city's festival season.
There's a number of festivals happening across the city throughout August. The biggest - the Fringe - has more than 4,000 shows in 299 venues, including a bakery, a mosque and a sauna.
The Edinburgh International Festival will stage the first of 147 performances and the largest representation of American artists in its 79-year history.
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