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Dateline: 10th June, 2005
The Pleasance: 21 Years at the Fringe The Pleasance has come a long way since Christopher Richardson first arrived in Edinburgh, on a dank February day in 1985 to look at a bleak courtyard. This year the Pleasance celebrates 21 seasons at the Fringe with one of the most exciting ever programmes. With over 150 shows in 20 theatre spaces the Pleasance has perhaps the largest, most diverse and explosive array of comedy, theatre, dance, and music of any venue in the world. There were over 225,000 visitors last year (despite the poor weather) making it the most popular venue at the Fringe. Christopher Richardson started the Pleasance Theatre Festival in August 1985, though he had been involved in the Fringe long before that. Notably in 1979 he helped with the Children's Music Theatre (later the National Youth Music Theatre), and at the Wireworks where he designed a show performed by a young trio - Howard Goodall, Richard Curtis and Rowan Atkinson. He was a teacher at the time which may explain his passion for discovering and nurturing new talent which later led him to start the Pleasance Theatre Festival and it has been essential to the ethos and success of the venue ever since. His vision has always been to provide the opportunity and space for artists to express themselves with a view to launching or enhancing their careers, and, as importantly, for audiences to have a good time. The Pleasance has been a launch pad for the likes of Paul Merton, Graham Norton, Frank Skinner, David Baddiel, Al Murray, Ennio Marchetto, Mel and Sue, Patrick Marber, and hundreds of other writers, directors, actors, designers and technicians. Over the years, Christopher has variously been; set-designer, director, traffic attendant, usher, ticket seller, welder and rubbish collector… anything to make it work. Now after 21 years, as one of the most recognisable, influential and loved characters at the Fringe he will be taking a step back as, current Deputy Director, Anthony Alderson takes over at the end of August. Pleasance London will be 10 years old in December and the first show that was performed there, Bus! The Musical, written and designed by Tim Norton and Christopher Richardson with music and lyrics by Ned Bennet, shows in Pleasance Grand for the first two weeks of the Festival. Performed by the Young Pleasance with a cast of over 60, an orchestra and a Bus, built on stage in four minutes (including a tea-break!), it promises to be spectacular. Among the highlights of this year at the Pleasance are:
Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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