Hull UK City of Culture 2017 will head to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this August to bring the spirit of its vibrant cultural scene and its unprecedented year in the national spotlight to the world-renowned arts festival.
Hull 2017 will present five, highly regarded, exciting theatre companies across Edinburgh, including the four Hull-based companies, Middle Child, Bellow Theatre, Pub Corner Poets and Silent Uproar and the internationally acclaimed, Norwich-based curious directive with their Hull 2017 commission, Frogman. Not afraid to tackle hard-hitting issues head on or push the boundaries of theatre, these companies serve up form-busting shows from gritty drama laced with original music to live theatre fused with virtual reality.
Martin Green, Director of Hull 2017 said: "Hull is a hotbed of creative talent and its exciting theatre scene one of the reasons it was awarded UK City of Culture status. These terrific theatre companies are already making waves and the Edinburgh Festival is a fantastic opportunity to perform to new audiences and bring some of the buzz of Hull 2017 to this world-renowned event."
Award-winning theatre company curious directive will premiere Frogman at the Traverse Theatre’s new venue CodeBase, in a co-production with Hull UK City of Culture 2017, Hull’s The Deep aquarium and The Old Market co-production, in association with Brisbane Powerhouse and with guidance from The Great Barrier Reef Foundation. Known for making work that bridges science and art, Frogman is a coming-of-age thriller set on the Great Barrier Reef in the 1990, told through live theatre and 360 film in Virtual Reality. The company have previously won The Scotsman Fringe Firsts for Pioneer (2014) and Your Last Breath (2011).
Associate Artist of Paines Plough and Hull Truck Theatre Supported Artists Middle Child will perform All We Ever Wanted Was Everything at Paines Plough’s award-winning pop-up and plug-in Roundabout venue at Summerhall. The show, a Hull 2017 commission and one of the highlights of its second season, Roots and Routes, was written by award-winning writer Luke Barnes with original live music by James Frewer. A timely piece of gig-theatre, the production is a three-act anthem set across three decades, from 1997’s Cool Britannia to 2007’s Broken Britain and today’s Brexit Britain looking at a generation who were promised everything, but what happens when their dreams don’t become reality? This will be Middle Child’s fifth appearance at Edinburgh Festival Fringe, with previous shows including Weekend Rockstars (2015) and Ten Storey Love Song (2016).
Bellow Theatre return to the Fringe with Bare Skin on Briny Waters at the Pleasance followed by the success of Billy Through the Window in 2015. Led by Maureen Lennon and Tabitha Mortiboy, Bellow are Supported Artists of Hull Truck Theatre, and a New Diorama Theatre Emerging Company 2017/18. Bellow are renowned for intimate, moving and DIY aesthetics and telling brave and stirring female-centric stories. Originally developed for Hull’s Heads Up Festival, the play explores survival and escape in forgotten seaside towns, with a pair of young women struggling to keep their heads above water. The show features live original folk music and is designed by Naomi Kuyck-Cohen with lighting design from Will Monks.
Pub Corner Poets, Emerging Artists of New Diorama Theatre, will be making their Edinburgh Festival Fringe Debut with Sad Little Man, a stand-up tragedy performed by the mind of a young man in shock at The Vault. The company are a theatre and poetry collective dedicated to using the arts to challenge and overcome social boundaries and to give young people, be they artist or not, a chance to voice their opinions. Written by Josh Overton, winner of The Times Playwriting Award 2015, Sad Little Man is a multi-media, spoken word spillage, fusing performance poetry with physical theatre. An autobiographical piece of new-writing set in the four seconds of cognitive dissonance – the time it takes to process the suicide of his girlfriend.
Silent Uproar, will make their Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut with A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad) at the Pleasance after a sell-out run at New Diorama Theatre. Written by recent Olivier Award winner Jon Brittain (Rotterdam, Margaret Thatcher Queen of Soho), this is a fun, silly cabaret musical about depression with music and performance from Matthew Floyd Jones (Frisky & Mannish). Silent Uproar is a new writing company renowned for confronting uncomfortable and vital issues affecting people today; they are Supported Artists at Hull Truck Theatre and Emerging Artists of New Diorama Theatre.
To bring the spirit of Hull City of Culture 2017 to the Edinburgh Festival, Hull 2017 will take members of its volunteer team there on Monday 7 August to flyer for the theatre companies and promote what Hull has to offer visitors on the city’s most iconic street, The Royal Mile.
BELLOW THEATRE | BARE SKIN ON BRINY WATERS
Written by Tabitha Mortiboy and Maureen Lennon
Directed by Maureen Lennon
Designed by Naomi Kuyck-Coen
Lighting by Will Monks
Cast: Charlie Sellers, Maureen Lennon
Dates: 2 – 28 August
Press Performance: from 2 August
Time: 1pm (60 mins)
Venue: Pleasance Courtyard: Bunker 1
Ticket prices: £11/£10
Recommended for ages: 14+
Accessibility: Wheelchair Accessible / Captioned performance: 14th August
Underscored with live folk music Bare Skin on Briny Waters tells the story of Annie and Sophie, two young women whose life has led them to the edge. A story about survival and escape, which asks how a generation of young women can forge their own path in the world.
curious directive | FROGMAN
Theatre Direction and Cinematography by Jack Lowe
Designed by Camilla Clark with Sound design by Peter Malkin
Creative Technology by Ed Greig (Deloitte Digital) and Software Development by German Munoz.
Dates: 4 – 27 August
Press Performance: from 8 August
Time: Various times (60 mins)
Venue: Traverse Theatre (CodeBase)
Ticket prices: £19.50/£14.50/£9.50
Recommended for ages 14+
Accessibility: Wheelchair Accessible / All shows are 80% BSL interpreted (the patron must make themselves known to the company in advance)
A coming-of-age supernatural thriller set on the Great Barrier Reef in the 1990s, Frogman is one of the first Virtual Reality theatre pieces and is sure to ignite discussions about the exciting future of the cross-over of digital tools and storytelling.
MIDDLE CHILD | ALL WE EVER WANTED WAS EVERYTHING
Written by Luke Barnes
Music by James Frewer
Directed by Paul Smith
Cast: Alice Beaumont, Bryony Davies, Emma Bright, James Stanyer, Joshua Meredith, Marc Graham, James Frewer
Dates: 4 – 27 August
Press Performance: from 7 August
Time: 8.45pm, (75 mins)
Venue: Summerhall: Roundabout
Ticket prices: £14/£12 £17/15/12/10
Recommended for ages 14+
Accessibility: Wheelchair Accessible / Hearing Loop Enabled / Captioned Performance by Ipads: 9, 16, 23 August
A new piece of gig theatre, All We Ever Wanted Was Everything, is a three-act anthem set across three decades, from 1997’s Cool Britannia to 2007’s Broken Britain and today’s Brexit Britain. A generation promised everything, but what happens when dreams don’t become a reality?
PUB CORNER POETS | SAD LITTLE MAN
Written by Josh Overton
Directed by Tyler Mortimer
Cast: Dannielle Harris, Oliver Strong
Dates: 23 - 27 August
Press Performance: from 23 August
Time: 7.30pm (60 mins)
Venue: The Vault, Paradise Green
Ticket prices: £10/£8/£5
Recommended for ages: 14+
Accessibility: Wheelchair Accessible
Sad Little Man is a multi-media, spoken word spillage fusing performance poetry with physical theatre. An autobiographical piece of new-writing set in the 4 seconds of cognitive dissonance – the time it takes to process the suicide of his girlfriend - this is a stand-up tragedy about a young man in shock.
SILENT UPROAR | A SUPER HAPPY STORY (ABOUT FEELING SUPER SAD)
Written by Jon Brittain
Directed by Alex Mitchell
Music by Matthew Floyd Jones
Sound by Ed Clarke
Cast: Madeleine Mac Mahon, Sophie Thompson, Ed Yellend
Dates: 2-28 August
Press Performance: from 2 August
Time: 2.20pm (60 mins)
Venue: Pleasance Courtyard: Above
Ticket prices: £12/£7
Recommended for ages: 16+
Accessibility: Wheelchair Accessible / Captioned performance: 24th August
Written by Olivier Award-Winner Jon Brittain, A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad) is a fun, silly, cabaret musical about depression with music by Matthew Floyd Jones (Frisky & Mannish), and Sound Design by Ed Clarke (Olivier Award Nominee). Silent Uproar is a new writing company renowned for confronting uncomfortable and vital issues affecting people today.
