British Sign Language – Summerhall August Festival 2015

The Human Ear

richardx — Fri, 29 May 2015 14:53:26 +0000

Paines Plough return to Edinburgh with the World Premiere of a gripping thriller from last year’s Fringe First Award winner Alexandra Wood.

A man turns up at Lucy’s door claiming to be the brother she hasn’t seen in 10 years. But why has he come? Is it really him? And what happens when there’s another knock at the door? Forced to confront the messy inner workings of sibling love with its petty resentments, casual cruelty, profound betrayals and implicit understanding, can the bond between brother and sister be rebuilt? An intriguing tale of loss, renewal and knowing who to trust.

“An intense, original and memorable play for today.” ★★★★ The Scotsman on Alexandra Wood’s The Initiate, 2014

#TheHumanEar

Our Teacher’s a Troll

richardx — Fri, 29 May 2015 02:05:10 +0000

Two terrible twins with a talent for turmoil rule their school with terror and tyranny, until the arrival of a new head teacher with green scaly skin, sharp fangs and a long spiky tail. Can the twins save the school from the child-eating troll? Can they get Brussels sprouts in peanut butter taken off the menu? And most importantly, can naughtiness prevail?

Be outrageously entertained in this colourfully comic show from the writer of West End hit, Matilda the Musical. For ages 7+ and their accompanying trolls (or parents).

 “Comic perfection.” ★★★★ The Times

#OurTeacher’sATroll

Lungs

richardx — Fri, 29 May 2015 02:05:01 +0000

Duncan Macmillan’s award-winning smash hit play returns to Edinburgh in Paines Plough’s pop-up theatre Roundabout.

‘I could fly to New York and back every day for seven years and still not leave a carbon footprint as big as if I have a child. Ten thousand tonnes of CO2. That’s the weight of the Eiffel Tower. I’d be giving birth to the Eiffel Tower.’

In a time of global anxiety, erratic weather and political unrest, a couple want a child but are running out of time. Which will be the first to destruct – the planet or their relationship?

 “The most beautiful, shattering play of the year.” ★★★★★ Sunday Express

#LungsPlay

Every Brilliant Thing

richardx — Fri, 29 May 2015 02:05:32 +0000

Following a sell-out 16 week run Off-Broadway and an acclaimed National Tour, Every Brilliant Thing returns to Edinburgh

You’re six years old. Mum’s in hospital. Dad says she’s ‘done something stupid’. She finds it hard to be happy.

So you start to make a list of everything that’s brilliant about the world. Everything worth living for.

1. Ice Cream
2. Kung Fu Movies
3. Burning Things
4. Laughing so hard you shoot milk out your nose
5. Construction cranes
6. Me

A new play about depression and the lengths we go to for those we love.

#EveryBrilliantThing

 “Heart-wrenching, hilarious … possibly one of the funniest plays you’ll ever see.” ★★★★ The Guardian

British Council Edinburgh Showcase 2015.

Chicken

richardx — Fri, 29 May 2015 02:05:25 +0000

Eastern Angles and Unity Theatre present Chicken by Molly Davies. It’s the night of the big ‘Separation’, rural communities are cutting the ties, breaking away from metropolitan control. Set in a dystopian future, Davies has created a wonderfully twisted world full of witchcraft and superstition, fractured families and agricultural angst. At the centre of this ‘Norfolk Noir’ tale is an exploration of human fear and difference, and the journey a chicken takes from processing factory to kitchen table. Molly’s previous credits include A Miracle and God Bless the Child (Royal Court), Shooting Truth (National Theatre Connections) and Orpheus and Eurydice (NYT/OLD Vic Tunnels).

Key Change

Dave — Thu, 28 May 2015 04:05:14 +0000

The prison van, fences high, a magpie. ‘One for sorrow. Snatched the babies. The mother fought, but it was too big and flew too high.’

Devised by women from HMPYOI Low Newton and originally toured to male prisons, Key Change is a raw and illuminating portrayal of women in prison, using only a few chairs, a ghetto blaster and four rolls of masking tape.

Directed by Laura Lindow, written by Catrina McHugh and developed through a Dilly Arts commission, Key Change was named the North East’s Best Devised Piece by BritishTheatreGuide.info in 2014.

Cinema

Dave — Thu, 28 May 2015 04:05:34 +0000

August 1978. Cinema Rex fire, Abadan, Iran. Four-hundred and twenty-two dead. The year of Superman, Saturday Night Fever, and an act of terror that sparked a revolution. Who will remember the dead?

Shahrzad – feral cat, teller of tales – pleads with Death for one more life. To have another saucer of milk. To tell the stories of the dead. Paris, Baga, Peshawar, Aleppo, New York, London, Utoya, Abadan… What matters now is that the names are not forgotten.

ZENDEH creates award-winning, unforgettable theatre that connects the personal with the political.

Edmund the Learned Pig

Dave — Wed, 27 May 2015 03:05:00 +0000

Bonaparte’s travelling circus, show and marvellous menagerie was on its uppers. A zoo with just pigeons, an aerialist who won’t leave the ground, a chipped plate spinning act, and a Mr Memory who can hardly remember his own name. And then into their lives came Edmund the Learned Pig.

Based upon a poem by Edward Gorey this magical entertainment cunningly fuses BSL, puppets, music by Martyn Jacques of the Tiger Lillies and circus to create a darkly pleasant feast of a show that will tickle the palettes of grown-ups and young shavers alike.

British Council Edinburgh Showcase 2015

Can I Start Again Please

Dave — Wed, 27 May 2015 03:05:28 +0000

This bold new work written by Sue MacLaine is both duet and duel as two languages, one signed and one spoken, spar across the heard and the unheard to ask; what is being described here.

Performed by Sue MacLaine and Nadia Nadarajah with outside eye by choreographer Jonathan Burrows.

An extraordinarily eloquent piece about silence and childhood sexual abuse…. burning with anger, yet beautifully choreographed and powerfully controlled.’★★★★★ The Stage

Sick! Festival commission