The sensational St Serfs players are back next week!
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Tag: drama
Drama to educate pupils on fireworks danger
An informative play about the dangers of misusing fireworks will be performed to around 1,500 pupils in schools across Edinburgh during the run up to Guy Fawkes night. TOAST shows pupils how dangerous fireworks can be, as well as raising issues such as peer pressure, bullying and managing aggression.
The production involves two actors playing 11 different characters, with the scene shifting between a hospital, a home, a school and a housing estate. The principal character is drawn into an ill-fated escapade with stolen fireworks, with ultimately tragic consequences.
The play, originally commissioned by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) in Northern Ireland, has been adapted for Edinburgh and is being staged by the Strange Theatre Company. It lasts for 30 minutes and has been organised by staff working in the City of Edinburgh Council’s West Neighbourhood Office.
It will run until Friday (1 November) and will be performed to all S2 pupils in sixteen Edinburgh schools, including locally at Craigroyston – approximately 1,500 young people aged between 12 and 13 will see the drama.
The weeks leading up to Bonfire Night are a time of increased complaints to police and councillors about excessive fireworks noise, with elderly people, the very young and domestic pets often left particularly distressed by fireworks noise.
Councillor Lesley Hinds, Environment Leader, said: “Guy Fawkes night is great fun and families enjoy the spectacle of fireworks as the nights get darker. However, fireworks can be extremely dangerous if handled improperly.
“The play ‘Toast’ is an excellent way of helping young people understand the risks and dangers of misusing fireworks. We will be carrying out test purchasing in shops where fireworks are on sale to make sure that retailers are adhering to the legislation.”
William MacDonald, Group Commander for The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, said: “Bonfire Night is the busiest time of year for the fire service and we are urging parents and carers to be mindful of the potential risks from fireworks and the need to heed fire safety advice to ensure this year’s Guy Fawkes celebrations stay safe.
“We work closely with partners agencies including the City of Edinburgh Council to raise awareness of the risks and dangers associated with bonfires and fireworks as well as delivering fire safety advice to schoolchildren across the area. Toast, which highlights the dangers associated with fireworks, is an excellent example of this type of initiative. “Every year, hundreds of people in the UK are injured by fires and misusing fireworks which are very similar to explosives. Most at risk are unsupervised children, particularly those who play with fire or who get too close to bonfires. We want everyone to enjoy this time of year but to stay safe and advise they stick to supervised bonfires and firework displays.”
We Will Be Free – next Friday!
I have attached (above) a copy of a leaflet publicising ‘We Will Be Free’, a new play by Townsend Theatre Productions, about the Tolpuddle Martyrs and their fight for justice (see blurb on back page). It’s being hosted by North Edinburgh Arts next Friday (25 October) as part of our Power to the People Autumn programme. Tickets are only £3 for local folk with good neighbour cards (free from the arts centre).
This is Townsend Theatre Productions second visit to North Edinburgh. Last year, they brought us ‘The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists’ which they performed brilliantly.
Hope to see you at the performance!
Lynn McCabe
Emma Thomson is new PASS patron
British superstar and Oscar award winning actress Emma Thompson has become the new face of Edinburgh College’s Performing Arts Studio of Scotland (PASS). 
The Nanny McPhee and Sense and Sensibility star (pictured above), who is also a screenwriter and well-known human rights activist, has shown her support towards the performing arts arm of Edinburgh College by accepting the honour of being its patron.
Emma Thompson said: “Edinburgh College’sPerforming Arts Studio of Scotlandis an exciting, high octane, cutting edge centre that will attract much of the wealth of talent in Scotland and beyond. I’m very proud to be patron.”
The much-admired British actress became familiar with PASS after meeting Edinburgh College acting and theatre performance lecturer John Naples-Campbell when he was training as a theatre student at the Scottish Youth Theatre in Glasgow.
John said: “I first met Emma when I was 18 years old at the Scottish Youth Theatre (SYT). She came along to the theatre to hold a Q&A session with SYT students and, after listening to her talk about her career in the industry, I felt driven to continue with my career in performing arts – which is why I am anacting and theatre performance lecturer today.”
“We are absolutely thrilled to have Emma Thompson as patron as this means that our training at Edinburgh College is truly recognised by the very best in the industry. We look forward to welcoming her to our productions in the college’s theatre wherever possible, and we hope to work around her schedule to hold workshops with our students.”
John added: “Emma is an inspirational person, not only because of her many Academy Awards, but also because of her work as a human rights ambassador. Her tremendous work on stage and screen gives hope to any young person wishing to pursue a career in the arts and I know that having her as our patron will motivate and inspire our students to reach their full creative potential.”
As one of the world’s most respected actresses, Emma Thompson is known for her versatility in acting as well as screenwriting and she most recently appeared in The Boat That Rocked, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and as the voice of Queen Elinor in the Pixar animation Brave. As well as her work on screen, Emma Thompson also works as an educational ambassador for a UK-based human rights organisation, the Helen Bamber Foundation, to help rebuild the lives of, and inspire a new self-esteem in, survivors of human rights violations.
Edinburgh College offers a selection of dance, acting, technical theatre, costume design, and make up artistry courses.Former graduates from performing arts courses include Scottish actress Karen Gillan, who starred in the BBC’s Doctor Who. Previous students from PASS have also performed live at the O2 Arena and collaborated with Jon Lord at the Usher Hall, Edinburgh, and have also performed live on stage with Lady Gaga.
Youth theatre? Join the A-Team!
Lottery funding supports new Youth Theatre Company
In February 2013, inspired by our backgrounds in theatre and youth work, a small group met to discuss and develop an ethos and a strategy to build foundations for what later would become ‘A-Team Productions’.
Our vision was to put together a new youth theatre company which would change the image of Amateur Dramatics and youth entertainment. We wanted to encompass new ideas and experience of what has worked in the past to create something which would not only benefit the lives of young people in Edinburgh but the wider community as a whole.
Our ethos is simple: to promote teamwork, equality and encourage individuals with raw and unnourished potential to get involved, give it a go and grow under our roof.
We believe that Edinburgh has a wealth of talented young people, we see it all around us. We want to provide an opportunity for these young people to be the best, allow them to meet new friends and work with them to reach a common goal of putting on a five star production.
We at A-Team aim to do it like the professionals would! Our young people will wear the finest costumes, get star treatment and perform to full houses of eagerly awaiting theatre goers.
However without our funders we would be nothing. In April it was announced that A-Team Productions were granted funding to run productions for 3 years with a generous fund from The Big Lottery. Their Young Start programme will ensure that we have the necessary funds to put on an extravagant show without the families having to pay a penny.
Our first production “Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber of Fleet Street” will be performed in St Brides Centre in February 2014. Auditions for this production will be held at Ocean Terminal on 28 September 2013, call backs on 29 September.
For any information regarding the company, auditions or our february production please mail ateamproductionschair@live.co.uk or call 07973317031.
United.Passionate.Successful
Friends, Romans, countrymen … lend me your bike!
![images[1]](https://i0.wp.com/nen.press/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/images1.jpg?ssl=1)
An unusual troupe of well-travelled travelling players will perform Shakespeare at Lauriston Castle this weekend. On Saturday 5 and Sunday 6 July The HandleBards, a four-strong, all-male troupe of travelling players, will perform Romeo and Juliet and Twelfth Night as part of a cycling tour of Britain that will see the group pass through 25 venues across Scotland and England.
Beginning at Glasgow’s Riverside Museum and finishing up at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea, which recently hosted its 100th Chelsea Flower Show, The HandleBards will also perform at The Dell in Stratford-upon-Avon (the Royal Shakespeare Company’s outdoor playing space) Bolton and Newark castles and Rufford Old Hall in Lancashire, where Shakespeare himself performed in 1585.
As part the challenge, The HandleBards, who are supported by the Old Vic Theatre, will carry all the required set, props, costumes and camping equipment necessary for the 926 mile journey on their bikes, with no back-up vehicle in support – covering a distance equivalent to that between Land’s End and John o’ Groats.
The four HandleBards will play multiple characters in each 1930s-set play, fully engaging showgoers with some unusually energetic audience interaction. So grab your picnic blanket and head down to Lauriston Castle to enjoy this enthusiastic and engaging show, with some special music thrown in too!
Tickets are £10 (£8 concessions) – find more details on how to book on the Edinburgh Museums website.
![Handlebards1[1]](https://i0.wp.com/nen.press/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/handlebards11.jpg?ssl=1)
For one night only: Alice at Craigroyston
Craigroyston Community High School will be staging ‘Alice in Wonderland’ TONIGHT at 7pm.
Marie McGarrol, drama worker at Craigroyston Community High School, said: “Craigroyston Community High School’s senior Drama club is putting on a public performance of Alice in Wonderland at the school tonight at 7pm, adult tickets £2, children’s tickets £1.50. The students involved would really appreciate any external support as the school as not seen a performance of this nature for many years. Please could you pass this email on to your colleagues that work in the area”.
For further information contact Craigroyston Community High School:
Telephone: 0131 477 7801
Email: Admin@craigroyston.edin.sch.uk
Web Address: www.craigroyston.edin.sch.uk
Citadel double bill for Leith Festival
Citadel Arts Group is presenting a double bill of environmentally friendly plays during Leith Festival, which gets underway this weekend.
‘The Junk Food Vampire’ which features four Leith school pupils who delighted audiences in Citadel’s 2012 Leith Festival show, and ‘Granny was a Rock Star’ which uses humour, pathos and song to drive home the importance of recycling and explores cross generation friendship between two Leith teenagers and the older lady whose veggies they were trying to nick!
Two shows for all the family for the price of one!
Venue: The Granary, The Shore, Leith
Dates: Wed 12 June 7.30pm, Fri 14 June 2pm and Sat 15 June 7.30pm
The Granary are offering a 20% meal deal to our ticket holders so why not make it a night out with a healthy meal – no junk food of course!
Tickets@ £7/£5 from lizhare@blueyonder.co.uk or 0131 337 8570
TV students set for big screen debut
Edinburgh College Granton Campus TV students will be showcasing their talents at a screening at Edinburgh Filmhouse on Wednesday at 6pm. Telford’s Film and TV course has produced some fine creative talent over the years – take the opportunity to view the next generation!
For further information contact Television Lecturer Fergus Robb at Edinburgh College by email at fergus.robb@edinburghcollege.ac.uk
Arts the way to do it
North Edinburgh Theatre Project is preparing for a summer spectacular – and you can be part of it, as Stephanie Knight explains …
This message is to everyone to remind you that as from tomorrow (Saturday 18 May) we shall be having workshops from 12 noon – 2pm as well as the Friday evening workshops from 6 – 8pm. This is because we are working towards our performance on Saturday 29th June.
We are also working on a Saturday as some of you have said that you can come along then, but Friday evenings are not always so convenient. Everyone is very welcome to both sessions – Fridays and Saturdays.
We are working towards a very comical performance and there is fun for everyone to join in. So if you haven’t been at the workshops for a while, please don’t worry, you know you are always very welcome when you can make it. We have a crèche and it would be good to know if you are bringing your children so that we can plan crèche workers. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in contact with me or Kate at North Edinburgh Arts.
Looking forward to seeing you soon, take care
Stephanie Knight
North Edinburgh Theatre Project
