theatre – Page 14 – The NEN – North Edinburgh News

Roll up, roll up! Randolph Crescent joins the party

Don’t you feel the West End is always left out when it comes to Fringe Fun? Well, no more – the West End is joining the party …Randolph Crescent gardens are no longer sleeping. From 8 to 24 August a 150-seats circus tent, twice the size of the Institute’s theatre, will expand the Fringe experience at the Institut français.

The gardens off Randolph Crescent are about to turn into a new Fringe venue as the Institut français adds circus to its programme for the first time this August. From 8 to 24 August, the tailor made big top of Belgian company T1J will be the home of the circus show L’Enfant qui…

Randolph Crescent gardens are no longer sleeping. From 8 to 24 August a 150-seats circus tent, twice the size of the Institute’s theatre, will expand the Fringe experience at the Institut français.

Under the ‘Chapiteau’, the Belgian theatre company T1J will bring together acrobatics, puppetry and live music for the stunning circus show L’Enfant qui… Passing the doors of the impressive structure, festival-goers, neighbours and inhabitants of Edinburgh West End will discover the world of an ill child who finds his own way to escape reality through arts, his connection to Nature and the power of his imagination.

Including circus to its Vive le Fringe! programme is the latest and biggest development of the Institut français since its return to the Fringe in 2010.

Covering almost all the surface of the gardens, the circus tent will provide greater visibility to the Institut français’ presence at the Fringe and increase the attractiveness of the West End, a flourishing area that the recent arrival of the tram contributed to reinforce.

Pictures: Ann Baraquin

Institut français d’Ecosse/ Venue 134 – 13 Randolph Crescent, Edinburgh.

Box Office: 0131 225 53 66 Mon – Sun 9.30 am – 9.00 pm.

www.vivelefringe.org

Theatre Project meeting reminder

I hope you are having a lovely Summer!

This is just a wee reminder that there is an open meeting for everyone who is interested in participating in the amazing 1d Tenement Opera project, on

Thursday 14 August at 11am at North Edinburgh Arts.

I attach the flyer once again (below) and please forward this to everyone who you think will be interested. Looking forward to seeing you next week,

Stephanie Knight

NETP flier 2

Arts for all! Date set for exciting new theatre project

We first revealed news of this exciting new North Edinburgh Theatre community project last month, and a date’s now been set for an introductory meeting to get the ball rolling.

Whatever your skills and interests, there’s sure to be something for you in the 1d (that’s an old penny!)Tenement Opera project! Why not attend the first meeting at North Edinburgh Arts on Thursday 14 August at 11am? It could be the start of a something big – and there’s even free tea and cake!

Interested? See the flyer for details …

Making a drama out of a referendum at Craigroyston!

Yes, no, still don’t know? Then maybe some live theatre can help you make up your mind with The Great Yes No Don’t Know Five Minute Theatre Show!

Craigroyston Community High School will be streaming a series of live five minute theatre plays made by everyone for an audience of everyone on Monday (23 June) from 5 – 7pm.

There’s tea, coffee, juice, bacon rolls – and if your not on the Electoral Register yet there’s an opportunity to register too!

Everyone welcome!

The Great Debate

Edinburgh College students set to Glow!

Edinburgh College’s dazzling creative students are about to light up the city with a two-month celebration of their luminous skills!

The Let’s Glow festival will give Edinburgh the chance to enjoy performances and exhibitions from students covering everything from music, theatre and dance to photography, sculpture, illustration and much more.

The programme (see below) shines a beaming light on the inspirational talent of the Edinburgh College students and is a glowing testimony to the outstanding work they have accomplished this year.

Let’s Glow runs from 15 May to 18 July, with events taking place at venues across Edinburgh and some students taking their work down to exhibit in London.

let’s glow programme

Citadel Arts to stage free panto

Citadel Arts Group, a Leith-based theatre and living memory company, are to perform ‘McScrooge’, a free family panto, at the Kirkgate Community Centre later this month …

We’re performing a pantomime, ‘McScrooge’on 20^th December at 1.30pm in the Kirkgate Community Centre. It’s a free show for all the community and to mark the launch of a book of living memories, ‘You Never Forget the Stories’ – reminiscences of Leith and beyond’.

All the participants live locally or have strong Leith connections. The group includes a Newhaven celebrity, Ron Cattell, who directed the Gang Show and the ‘Children’s Hour’ shows in the Ross Bandstand for years. Some of his fascinating stories are in the book.

We’re also inviting members of the Leith Drama Team, our youth drama group, to the show to lead the shouts of ‘He’s behind you!’ – it’s a traditional panto lasting just half an hour.

It would be great to see you!

Liz Hare

www.citadelartsgroup.co.uk

Scottish Ballet success for Waterfront dancers

Scotish Ballet success for local dance studio

Well done to Ballet pupils of Waterfront Dance studio in Granton!

This year four of the girls have successfully auditioned for places on the Scottish Ballet Junior Associate Scheme. Lara McMahon, Claire Nisbet, Lucy Garrity and Louise Black all travel through to Glasgow once a month to undertake intensive training at the Scottish Ballet Tramway Studios. Places on this prestigious training programme are very limited and competition comes from children all over Scotland.

Laura Saunderson, Fionn Hart and Amy Loughray have been offered parts in Scottish Ballet’s forthcoming production of Hansel and Gretel at the Festival Theatre. Rehearsals will soon be underway and their classmates are looking forward to going to watch them!

The girls all train at the Waterfront Dance Studio -for more information on classes visit:

waterfrontdancestudio.co.uk

Niki Forbes

We Will Be Free – next Friday!

WWBF Publicity

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

New play at North Edinburgh Arts this weekend – Couldn’t Care Less!

Press Release – Couldn’t Care Less Sept 2013.

Couldn’t Care Less, a new play examining the ups and downs of caring for someone with dementia, is opening this Friday and Saturday at the North Edinburgh Arts Centre.

The play explores the lives of Elspeth, a former dancer who develops Alzheimer’s, and her daughter Lilly who finds her life disappearing as she gives it all up to care for her mother. It’s a dark, surreal, funny and moving play and speaks not only to those with experiences of caring and being cared for, but also the general public as our society faces up to the looming challenge of caring for older people.

A video trailer for the show is also available on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n1f7u4MgBI and the

Facebook event can be found at https://www.facebook.com/events/702195563128809/?fref=ts

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.