Mark Ludmon picks out some of the new writing highlights at the 2018 Edinburgh Festival Fringe
This year’s Edinburgh Fringe offers an incredible choice of new writing, including many world premieres. Alongside the powerhouse of the Traverse Theatre, venues such as Summerhall have now established a reputation for exciting new theatre, especially with the return of Paines Plough’s Roundabout space. But don’t always follow the crowd: there are plays by new writers being staged across the city, giving you a chance to catch new and emerging talent.
Angry Alan
Roger thinks the world’s gone mad: he hates his job, his ex-wife torments him and his girlfriend just discovered feminism. Then he discovers Angry Alan, online activist and “voice of reason”. This darkly comic new play about masculinity in crisis is written by award-winning writer Penelope Skinner and performed by Donald Sage Mackay.
Underbelly, Cowgate: 2-26 August. Book Now!
The Approach
Cathy Belton, Derbhle Crotty and Aisling O'Sullivan star in this new play by leading Irish playwright Mark O'Rowe. Through three conversations, it explores the inner lives of three women, revealing a psychological puzzle and a quietly devastating tragedy.
Assembly Hall: 2-26 August. Book Now!
Blackout
Inspired by the true story of a young offender from Glasgow who committed a violent crime, Davey Anderson’s Blackout is a hard-hitting play about getting bullied, fighting back, trying to make a name for yourself, turning vicious, doing something stupid, losing everything, then finding your way again.
PQA @ Riddles Court: 3-7 August. Book Now!
Class
Iseult Golden and David Horan’s new play examines learning difficulties, whether in school or in life generally. Based around a parent-teacher meeting that goes very wrong, it sees recently separated couple Brian and Donna confront a teacher over their nine-year-old son. This UK premiere in association with Abbey Theatre, where it had a sold-out run, features Stephen Jones, Sarah Morris and Will O’Connell.
Traverse: 2-26 August. Book Now!
Debut: Diamond, Nina’s Got News, Sitting
These three new plays come out of an initiative by BBC Arts and Avalon to support people who have never written before. They are not complete unknowns. Nina’s Got News at Pleasance Dome is by comedian, author and broadcaster Frank Skinner, where Nina delivers some news to her ex-boyfriend and her best friend, starring Rob Auton, Jessica Clark and Breffni Holahan. Actor Katherine Parkinson has penned Sitting at the Gilded Balloon Teviot about three people, years apart from each other, who are sitting for a painting in an artist’s studio, featuring James Alexandrou, Grace Hogg Robinson and Hayley Jayne Standing. Diamond by director Beryl Richards at Underbelly in Bristo Square follows a surgeon on a journey of discovery, revelation and redemption after his mother’s death, with Nancy Baldwin, Jenny Lee, Eoin Lynch, Amy McAllister and Stuart Milligan. A fourth play, Hoard by journalist Bim Adewunmi, was originally scheduled but its debut has been postponed.
Various venues: 1-26 August. Book Now!
The Delusion of Home
For the fifth year in a row, the Taiwan Season returns to Edinburgh Fringe to showcase the country’s dance and theatre. Highlights include The Delusion of Home, a documentary-style depiction of everyday life in the Chiayi area of southern Taiwan, refracted through the story of King Lear. Using live performance and projected photographs of the area’s declining villages, Our Theatre presents a character-driven study of displacement, poverty, homelessness and the search for meaning and renewal.
Summerhall: 1-26 August. Book Now
De Profundis
Olivier Award-winning Simon Callow performs Oscar Wilde’s searing meditation on his life, written while in Reading Gaol in the form of a devastating letter of reproach to his lover Lord Alfred Douglas, later published as De Profundis. It has been adapted by acclaimed writer Frank McGuinness and is directed by Mark Rosenblatt.
Assembly Rooms: 2-26 August. Book Now!
Drip Feed
This dark comedy written and performed by Karen Cogan promises to be fast and infectious and has already been shortlisted for Soho Theatre’s Verity Bargate Award for new writers. Set in Cork in 1998, it is the story of Brenda and her best pal and the messiness of being youngish, female and queer in Ireland.
Assembly George Square Theatre: 1-26 August. Book Now!
Everything Not Saved
This promises to be a show about memory “but not nostalgia”. Come see ex-lovers argue about when they were happiest, come see police officers rewrite history, come see Rasputin dance like no one’s watching. Also, the Queen is there. This new show is from Irish theatre company Malaprop which was behind last year’s five-star double bill, Love+ and BlackCatfishMusketeer.
Summerhall: 1-26 August. Book Now!
First Snow
This world premiere has been created by artists from Scotland and Québec, written by Davey Anderson, Philippe Ducros and Linda McLean and presented by National Theatre of Scotland, Théâtre PàP and Hôtel-Motel. It follows Isabelle who returns to her family at their ancestral home in Québec with her new Scottish boyfriend where they confront what the future holds. It is one of six shows being performed at CanadaHub, a showcase of Canada’s contemporary performance scene, now in its third year.
CanadaHub @ King’s Hall: 1-26 August. Book Now!
EDINBURGH FRINGE PREVIEW PART TWO
Mark Ludmon has been a journalist for over 20 years, specialising in writing about theatre and the arts as well as bars, pubs and drink. He has been on the theatre judging panel for London’s Olivier Awards and has a masters degree in English literature, specialising in Elizabethan and Jacobean drama. He has an MA in theatre research, criticism and dramaturgy from the University of London’s Royal Central School of Speech & Drama. You can find him tweeting about theatre as @MarkLudmon and writing about theatre at markludmon.com.
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