James Grieve on Summerhall's sauna theatre: 'There’s nothing about this that's a gimmick'
Even before the Fringe kicks off, Summerhall can justifiably lay claim to some of the hottest shows in town this year. Zara Janjua chats to the team bringing sauna theatre to Edinburgh and discovers the practicalities of staging multiple shows a day while breaking a full-on sweat
A telephone box. A swimming pool. Public toilets. A taxi. Even a lift. Over the years, the Fringe has transformed some of the city’s most unlikely corners into stages. What constitutes a venue at the world’s largest arts festival never fails to surprise. But this August might be the first time audiences have been asked to bring a swimsuit and towel.
Sauna Theatre, a purpose-built 80-seat sauna at Summerhall, will host nine performances a day, combining storytelling, music, dance and the centuries-old sauna ritual known as aufguss. And before anyone dismisses the concept as a novelty, co-creative director James Grieve is keen to make one thing clear. ‘There’s nothing about this that is a gimmick,’ he says. ‘We’re absolutely serious about this. I hope what we’re going to deliver is a really beautiful theatre that happens to have a sauna stove in the middle.’
The idea arrives at a moment when sauna culture is booming across Britain. What was once considered a Scandinavian import has rapidly become part of Britain’s growing wellness industry. But the roots of communal sweating stretch much further back than Nordic spa traditions. ‘People think of saunas as something we’ve recently imported from Finland,’ says Grieve. ‘But actually there are sweat lodges on this island dating back 10,000 years.’ For co-creative director and designer Lucy Osborne, the appeal lies in bringing together two experiences that already foster connection. ‘It’s become the new pub,’ she says of modern sauna culture. ‘It’s a place where you go to meet your friends.’
The performance element comes through aufguss, a German sauna ritual whose name translates as ‘infusion’. During a traditional session, ice infused with essential oils is placed on hot stones before a sauna master circulates the fragrant steam around the room using elaborate towel choreography. If that conjures images of someone aggressively snapping towels in a changing room, think again. ‘It’s really evolved from being a sauna ritual into a performance,’ says Grieve. ‘Aufguss now often involves narrative, music and lots of different storytelling forms alongside the heat and scent to take the audience on a journey.’
Early risers can start with a straightforward morning sauna session before graduating to a rave, where DJs provide the soundtrack as audiences move between heat and cold plunges. There are literary salons, music events and performances from some of Europe’s leading aufguss artists. One of the most intriguing offerings is Mysteries Of The Picts, which imagines how ancient Scottish communities may have used sweat lodges. ‘The Picts are believed to have come from Ireland originally, where there are sweat lodges everywhere,’ says Grieve. ‘We’re imagining that perhaps this was where they prepared for battle against the Romans. Perhaps it was where they tattooed each other. Perhaps it was where they told stories.’
The result is part history, part mythology and part imaginative reconstruction. Audience members won’t spend 90 minutes continuously baking. Most performances are divided into four short acts with cooling-off intervals in between. Cold plunge baths, showers and outdoor spaces allow people to regulate their temperature before returning for the next installment. ‘We know a lot of our audience will be first-time sauna-goers,’ adds Grieve. ‘So we’re keeping our acts a little shorter.’ The aim, says Osborne, is for audiences to leave feeling ‘euphoric’ rather than exhausted.
The venue, constructed in Somerset, was due to take around four weeks to build. Lighting, sound and staging all required specialist solutions because conventional theatre equipment struggles to cope with sustained heat and steam. ‘The heat and the steam are one of the most brilliant things about aufguss,’ says Osborne, ‘but also the most challenging from a practical point of view.’ Lighting equipment sits outside the heated environment, shining through glass openings rather than being exposed directly to high temperatures.
Then there are the performers themselves. A team of UK and international aufguss masters will rotate through the programme, with Grieve describing them as ‘athletes’ as much as artists. ‘It’s an extraordinary thing to watch somebody work so hard with such elegance and beauty in an extremely hot room,’ he says. For audiences worried about practicalities, the organisers insist hygiene and safety have been built into every aspect of the experience. The venue will be cleaned between every performance, while guests receive guidance on hydration and sauna etiquette from the moment they book.
The project has been funded through private investment rather than traditional arts funding, leading Grieve to make perhaps the most revealing observation about contemporary culture. ‘If anything,’ he laughs, ‘I’d say there’s probably more funding in saunas than there is in theatre at the moment.’ The Fringe has always been about putting Edinburgh audiences somewhere they’ve never been before: this year that place just happens to be 90C.
Get Set For The Day Sauna Session, 9am; Morning Sauna Rave, 10am; Mysteries Of The Picts, noon; Lunch Break Luxuriate Lit Salon, 1.30pm; Aufguss x The Waves, 3pm; Bubble Schmeisis (Remixed), 4.30pm; International Aufguss Masters, 6pm; Aufguss x Nils Frahm, 7.30pm; Sauna Sessions Arts Club: The Hottest Club In Town, 9pm; all shows at Summerhall, 6–31 August; main picture: Lucy Osborne and James Grieve / credit Ian Georgeson.