Tag: Assembly Roxy

Coming Up at Assembly Roxy this November!

Assembly Roxy’s year-round programme continues this November with a line-up of theatre, music, and live events celebrating creativity, Scottish traditions old and new, and looking to a better future for all. 

With highlights including immersive theatre piece Maiden Mother Whore from Theiya Arts Dance Collective, Jeremy Corbyn at Lighthouse Books’ Radical Book Fair, and the Scottish Dementia Arts Festival 2024, there’s plenty coming up at Assembly’s year-round venue.  

Theiya Arts Dance Collective joining Assembly Roxy on the 01 Nov with a thought-provoking performance experience, in Maiden Mother Whore.

A 90-minute show, Maiden Mother Whore invites audiences to interact with five installations throughout the Roxy, exploring complex relationships between women, social structures, health and social policies, and institutions.  

Assembly Roxy regulars Edinburgh Ceilidh Club with Teannaich bring the finest in Scottish Ceilidh dancing back to Assembly Roxy Central on Fri 08 Nov. All the dances are taught and called by the band – so bring along regulars and newbies alike to celebrate the Scottish tradition.  

Scottish Dementia Arts Festival 2024 boasts a jam-packed line-up of events including live performance, creative workshops, film screenings, open-mics and more.  The four-day festival runs from 11 – 14 Nov and celebrates the creativity of people living with dementia, and highlights include relaxed Scottish panto McScrooge by Alan Mountford and Citadel Arts Group and creative consultants living with dementia, Dementia the Musical Soundtrack Gig with Sophie Bancroft and Friends, and Meeting Centres Scotland film launch, as well as a host of ceilidhs, open mics, discos and more!  

Lighthouse Books return with their annual Radical Book Fair from Thurs 21 – Sun 24 Nov with a line-up of workshops, cabarets, panels and talks exploring community organising, creativity and international solidarity. This year’s theme ‘From Where We Standcelebrates histories of resistance, protest and change-making.

Highlights include We Are It: Community Power in Our Time with a panel including Jeremy Corbyn, Kate Pickett and Oliver Escobar, and Young Radical Worlds exploring radical writing for young people with Faridah Abike-Iyimide and Margaret McDonald.

The full programme of events can be found at www.lighthousebookshop.com.  

Closing out the month, Amy Leach and Alasdair Paul bring their duo gig Amy and Alasdair to the Snug Bar, passing on traditional Scots songs and ballads. With history in Edinburgh and beyond,

Amy and Alaisdair share their simple and striking approach in a stripped back show sharing glimpses into the darkest and lightest moments of life. Amy and Alasdair is showing for one night only on 29 Nov.  

Tickets and information on all the events above are available now from www.assemblyroxy.com 

Performing arts students take centre stage in spring spectacular

Scotland’s freshest performers tread the boards at top Edinburgh venues

GIFTED STUDENTS at one of Scotland’s leading performing arts schools will take to the stage in a captivating spring showcase to flaunt their singing, dancing and acting skills.

In a series of highly entertaining performances, The MGA Academy will be showcasing the graduating class of 2023 as they perform well known shows including Jekyll and Hyde, Little Women and Jerry’s Girls alongside a Triple Bill of fantastic choreography, promising an unforgettable experience for audiences.

The Academy firmly believes in the educational value of students performing in front of live audiences and it is an integral part of its philosophy to offer the chance to put students’ learned skills into practice within a professional setting.

Marcella Macdonald, Principal of The MGA Academy, said: “Live performance is at the heart of everything we do here at the MGA Academy so we encourage all musical and theatre lovers to come along to watch the fantastic performances in the flesh.

“It’s so important for our students to have the opportunity to showcase their talents and for their family, friends and the general public to enjoy the fruits of their labour, especially after a challenging few years for the industry.

“We’re hoping to see a great turn out from the general public and they snap up tickets for one or more performances to support our students, who are some of the most exciting and driven young performers in Scotland.”

The spring showcase series will kick off on Thursday, 4 May with a radical reimagination of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic Jekyll and Hyde, which will see the BA Hons Acting Class of 2023 portray the clash between civilised Victorian London and seedy Soho in a story of scientific experimentation.

Directed by Becky Hope Palmer, performances of the Edinburgh-inspired tale will be held at Assembly Roxy on Thursday, 4 May at 7.30pm, Friday, 5 May at 7.30pm, and twice on Saturday, 6 May at 2.30pm and 7.30pm.

For dance enthusiasts, a Triple Bill performance will be a showcasing of three exciting dance pieces devised by three different choreographers. While for those with a musical theatre interest can expect impressive performances of Little Women and Jerry Girls by MGA’s Musical Theatre cohort.

Marcella added: “The spring showcase is one of the school’s largest performance projects of the year and it really demonstrates the level of skills our aspiring performers have learned throughout their time with us – it is definitely not one to miss!”

The MGA Academy of Performing Arts was established in 2005 to provide a platform for aspiring performers to remain in Scotland while studying at a level equivalent to prestigious London colleges.

The performing arts school is Scotland’s only full accredited vocational college, holding Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA), Council of Dance, Drama and Musical Theatre (CDMT) and Imperial Society for the Teachers of Dance (ISTD) certifications and also has a partnership with Bath Spa University to offer full-time degrees.

Find out more about the events on offer and buy tickets here: https://www.themgaacademy.com/shows-and-events/productions/

Learn more about the MGA Academy here: https://www.themgaacademy.com/

Fringe 2022: Musclebound

One woman’s quest for tortured beefcake, 80s action and raw sexual power

Pre-pandemic Rosy became the world’s first female time-travelling doctor in her multi-award-winning theatre debut ‘Passionate Machine’. Now this feminist powerhouse is Musclebound to examine our most shameful sexual secrets.

When bodybuilders and 80s action films unite, you can always count on one thing: a good hard flogging! And for a five-year-old Rosy, witnessing live action film characters like He-Man and Conan the Barbarian being stripped, beaten and humiliated by their male antagonists sparked an odyssey of secret obsession that would shape her erotic life forever. 

Now forty, with a string of disappointing relationships behind her and her own grown-up daughter about to leave home, a chance re-watching of He-Man reignites the spark of Rosy’s lust, setting her off on a mission to replenish her sexual power. But can tortured beefcake really be the key to her salvation? Or does a more uncomfortable sexual truth lurk, waiting to be reckoned with? 

Join Rosy in this intelligent, provocative and terrifically funny real-life story, as she goes to any lengths to find out – even if that means asking Dolph Lundgren and Arnold Schwarzenegger themselves …

‘It’s about me getting to grips with my childhood passion for watching these incredible scenes of hyper-muscular men being abused’, says Rosy.

‘About why that dynamic felt so powerful. Musclebound takes a playful, candid and highly singular look at sexual power, female pleasure and the politics and principles of orgasm-faking.’  

Rosy is forced to ask herself: what are the sexual lessons we want to pass on to our daughters – and what do we still need to learn for ourselves? Is it ever OK to objectify people?

Rosy Carrick is a writer, actor and translator. Her critically acclaimed play Passionate Machine won theawards for Best Design and Best New Playat Brighton Fringe in 2018, and The Infallibles Award for Theatrical Excellence at Edinburgh Fringe. She has co-hosted the poetry stages at Glastonbury, Latitude and Port Eliot Festivals for the last decade.

Her debut poetry collection Chokey was published in 2018 and its follow-up, 26 Letters, is due for release in 2023. Rosy has a PhD on the Russian revolutionary poet Vladimir Mayakovsky. She has released two books of his work in translation, and is currently working on a third, which will be published in 2024 by The 87 Press. www.rosycarrick.com

Musclebound is directed by Fringe First winner Katie Bonna. Katie won the Most Promising New Playwright award at the 2018 Off West End Awards (for All The Things I Lied About).

In 2021, her queer comedy The Entertainment was nominated for OFF Fest’s Best Online Theatre production, and her short film IRL was nominated for Best Comedy at the Cannes Shorts Festival.

Part of the prestigious BBC Comedy Writers Room course 2019/2020, Katie is currently under commission from BBC Radio 4 and RADA.

‘Intelligent, articulate, funny’ Scotsman (on Passionate Machine)

Listings information: 

Musclebound

Venue: Assembly Roxy (Venue 139)

Dates:  3-29 Aug (not 10, 16, 23) First review date 3 Aug

Time: 17:50 (60 mins)Tickets: £11.50 – £13.50 (previews 3 & 4 Aug £7.50)

Venue Box Office: 0131 623 3000 

www.assemblyfestival.com