United Drama at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (2012)
If you are in Edinburgh this summer you could do worse than attend some of the incredible shows in which United Agents’ clients are featured. Please see below for more information.
Agnes is always trying to help, but never herself. As she arranges the nibbles at her dad's funeral party, we find her wrestling with the big questions - life, love and the proper presentation of cheesy footballs. Starring Abi Tedder 'Effortless perfection' ***** (Varsity), Anything But won the prestigious Harry Porter Prize for comic playwriting, judged by Edinburgh Comedy Award-winner Tim Key. Praise for writers: 'Smart writing ... a perfectly balanced script' **** (Chortle.co.uk)’ 'Razor-sharp writing' (TheStage.co.uk). Praise for the show: 'Hilarious and moving' ***** (Varsity). 'Extremely funny' **** (CambridgeTab.co.uk).
Pleasance Courtyard, 14:00, 1-27 August
Neal and Rachel are an over-worked, under-sexed couple stuck in the horrible transition between being stressed-out medical students and living the life of comfortable, middle-class doctors. Into this high-pressure environment steps Neal's old friend Richie. This blast from the past is an unstable, impulsive and altogether dodgy slacker who, before too long, has thrown one massive spanner into the lives of this couple. Combining the aggressive sexuality of Mamet with the warped naturalism of Pinter, Penhall's dark comedy is an under-performed masterpiece in tension and manipulation. Award-winning Cambridge University company.
C Venues – C Aquila, 17:55, 11-27 August
Moving between Downing Street and Helensburgh, two gripping stories trace the paths of personal and political destruction. A fizzing double-bill from two of Scotland’s greatest playwrights’ David Grieg and David Harrower, starring Blythe Duff, Belinda Lang and Simon Chandler. ‘Razor-sharp production, Blythe Duff is brilliantly deadpan... It's a tremendous piece of work’ **** (Guardian for Good With People). **** (Telegraph). **** (Scotsman)
Traverse Theatre, Times Vary, 4-26 August
Chris Goode (Writer) Naomi Dawson (Set Design)
When you’re a child you don’t really think... ‘cos you like to live like a child. Doesn’t really seem you’re just going to be an adult. Like time flies by and you just want... to, like, stay as a child, but you just enjoy things, the way it goes. We asked 30 eight to 10-year-olds to tell us about their lives, their thoughts, their world. In Monkey Bars, their words are spoken by adults. Not adults playing children, but adults playing adults, in adult situations. Funny, endlessly surprising, deeply touching, this is a verbatim piece with a revelatory twist.
The Traverse, Times Vary, 14-26 August
A world premiere from 2011 (Scotsman) Fringe First winners with Allotment. Come roll your dice at the church hall beetle drive and share Izzy and Joan's memories. Friends since primary school and closer than close ever since; identities stitched together as intricately as their homemade party dresses. Living in the secure but suffocating embrace of a 1950s seaside community, who gets to become the woman they want to be? Praise for Allotment: 'Witty and sympathetic ... a grow your own treat' **** (List). 'Darkly humorous ... wonderfully alive...' **** (ThreeWeeks). www.nutshelltheatre.co.uk.
Assembly St Marks, Times Vary, 3-26 August
Chicago, 2012. Zac is confronted by friends and family, trying to redeem him before it’s too late. As we delve deeper into his alcoholism, the more skeletons appear from the family cupboard. A series of explosive revelations unravel the brutal truth behind the cycle of abuse. A father and son tale for the 21st century. Ann Bryson, Jan Ravens, Aisling Bea, Waen Shepherd, Michael Malarkey, Phil Nichol and James Carroll Jordan in the Comedians' Theatre Company premiere of Dave Florez’s (Fringe First Award 2011) darkly humorous new play. ‘Dizzyingly brilliant stuff’ (Scotsman). ***** (WhatsOnStage.com). ‘A golden nugget’ (Guardian).
The Assembly Room, 18:40, 3-26 August
Hannah Eidinow directs Dave Florez's dark, redemptive monologue about lost love and Alzheimer's. Praise for the prequel, Fringe First 2011 winner Somewhere Beneath: Critic's Choice (List), 'Hard- hitting drama burns bright' **** (Metro), 'Engaging, unpredictable' **** (Fest).
Pleasance Courtyard, 13:55, 1-27 August
Tom Holloway's beautiful new play is an uplifting testament to the power of love and the indomitability of the human spirit. Don and Pam have lived together most of their lives, the kids have grown up and moved on, but now, suddenly, she wants to leave him - or that's how it seems to him at least. And No More Shall We Part looks at what happens to a relationship when death comes into the room. Directed by James Macdonald with Dearbhla Molloy and Bill Paterson.
Hampstead Theatre, SOLD OUT, 30 July – 26 August
The country's in turmoil, the spring is sprung, there's about to be a coup, a woman has been found murdered, her unborn child stolen from her womb. Things can't get any worse - wait until Peter Pan turns up. James Baldwin (Lilian Baylis Award / IdeasTap winner) and Elgiva Field - Purge, Arcola, March 2012, **** 'gripping ... gets right under your skin' (Daily Telegraph) - bring you a deliciously frightening, dangerously familiar, dystopian world of tomorrow. Revel as we expose the devilish side of JM Barrie's eternal child and recoil in fascination as we ask, are child monsters essential for sociological function?
Pleasance Dome, 14:50, 1-26 August
Celebrating the bicentenary of Charles Dickens’ birth, one of the world’s most compelling character actresses, Bafta award-winner Miriam Margolyes (Baz Lurman’s Romeo + Juliet, The Age of Innocence, Blackadder, Complicite’s Endgame, Harry Potter) reprises her Olivier award-nominated production. Portraying 23 or Dickens’ best-loved characters, from doe-eyed young heroines, brow-beating old harridans, to men and midgets, she sets out to discover the man himself, revealing everything from the raucous humour of his characterisations to the darker, more sinister aspects of his life and work. ‘Highly entertaining … riveting … a virtuoso display’ (Guardian). ‘Hilarious’ (Independent).
Pleasance Courtyard, 14:30, 8-25 August
This is the tale of Jonah, Sophie, and a fox called Scruffilitis. It’s a love story. A dysfunctional, voyeuristic and darkly funny love story, but a love story all the same. A new play by Bruntwood Playwriting Prize winner Phil Porter, Blink is an exciting collaboration between Soho Theatre - London’s most vibrant venue for new writing, comedy and cabaret – and internationally acclaimed, Fringe First winners nabokov.
Traverse Theatre, Times Vary, 2-26 August
Originally commissioned by Paines Plough as a 10-minute piece that was performed at the Royal Exchange in 2010. The full-length play opened at the Lowry Theatre, Salford Quays in 2011, before transferring to Theatre503. As Pete prepares to propose to Julia he expects today to be the happiest of his life, however his flatmate Freddy has other ideas. With twists and turns unveiling a web of lies and deceit, we begin to see the characters for who they really are. ‘For one so young this is frighteningly accomplished’ **** (Scotsman for Territory, by Reuben Johnson).
The Space (Surgeon Hall), 19:30, 14-25 August
Wrecked is a new play by award-winning writer Reuben Johnson. Wrecked will transfer to the Lowry Theatre, Salford Quays in September following the previous sell-out success of Territory (2010) and The Proposal (2011). Roaming the streets of a Salford council estate are mates Toby, Dimp and Smalley. When Toby’s dad is released from prison, their troublesome antics suddenly spiral way out of control. ‘Skilful writing, conflicting sympathies and deeply human characters' ***** (ThreeWeeks on The Meeting). 'As visceral as a heartbeat, perfectly pitched and truly arresting' ***** (WhatsOnStage.com for Territory).
The Space (Surgeon Hall), 22:10, 14-25 August
Two hopeful, hapless romantics get drunk, get it on and then get the hell away from each other. In her eyes, he’s a mistake. A mistake who keeps turning up at parties. In his eyes, she’s perfect. He’s short-sighted. This achingly funny romantic catastrophe fuses poetry and prose to ask – can a one night stand last a lifetime? A very human tale of good intentions and bad timing.
Pleasance Dome, 13:20, 15-27 August
‘I’ve seen people whose whole lives are about tryin’ to put food in their gobs and tryin’ not to get blown up… How d’yer go from that to watchin’ X Factor with a plate of Chinese on yer knee?’ Ray’s been f*cked up since Afghanistan but tonight at the pub, he’s going to win his ex-wife back. A darkly comic and acerbic look at the impact of war upon returning soldiers, developed with ex-servicemen prisoners and produced by Second Shot Productions, a social enterprise creating arts opportunities for ex-offenders. Winner - Old Vic New Voices Edinburgh Season.
The Underbelly (Cowgate), 17:00, 2-26 August
Inspired by a true story, Born to Run explores the ordinary and extraordinary journeys the body and the brain can go on when they are tested beyond the point of exhaustion as one woman tells of her attempts to escape death by pushing her body to new limits. Everyone is running form something. The question is - when is it time to stop? This critically acclaimed production by one of Scotland's most exciting young writers was originally produced for a Play, a Pie and a Pint at Òran Mór. This revival stars The Decent's Shauna Macdonald as Jane.
Traverse Theatre, 10:00, 18-26 August
The end of summer. Two friends are about to go their separate ways, but they will always share that one moment. A moment that bound them together and changed them forever. A dark new coming of age play. A world premiere by award-winning playwright Simon Stephens (Pornography, Sea Wall, Punk Rock), Lyric Hammersmith Artistic Director Sean Holmes (Blasted, winner of an Olivier Award, Saved, Ghost Stories), performed by the Lyric Young Company, West London’s leading youth company.
Traverse Theatre, Times Vary, 1-27 August