This year when Northern Stage returns to the Edinburgh Fringe for the third time it will be in a new venue.
Instead of New Town venue St Stephen's, the Newcastle-based theatre will cross the city to the King's Hall Church in South Clerk Street, close to the Assembly George Square, Gilded Balloon and Pleasance Dome and just a short walk from Summerhall where NS is collaborating with Paines Plough to present the Roundabout, a portable in-the-round amphitheatre.
This year's programme will not only feature work from the north of England but will also include artists from elsewhere in the UK, with new partnerships including Escalator East, Made in Scotland, Lyric Hammersmith and Summerhall, enabling the theatre to launch its biggest and most ambitious programme to date.
Heading the programme is David Ireland’s I Promise You Sex And Violence, directed by artistic director Lorne Campbell. Well known to Scottish audiences, David Ireland is a leading voice of his generation and this is his most ambitious play to date.
Also featuring in the programme is Chris Thorpe with Confirmation, created in collaboration with TEAM artistic director Rachel Chavkin and produced by China Plate. Originating from Thorpe’s own frustration with the current level of political discourse in the UK, and his own ‘liberal’ bias, the piece has been developed through research-conversations with individuals on the far right, in an attempt to open discussion on political extremism in an objective environment.
Other highlights include Unlimited Theatre’s Play Dough (part of the Made in Scotland Showcase), a theatre-cum-game-show for 7- to 11-year-olds that invites audiences to bet with £10,000 in real pound coins, Gary Kitching’s Dead to Me, which takes a look at Psychics and psychic ability, Britannia Waves the Rules, Manchester Royal Exchange’s production of Gareth Farr’s Bruntwood prize-winning play, and Chewing the Fat by Selina Thompson, a part-theatre, part-stand-up, part-raucous-romp about fat, bodies and ego.
Live Theatre returns with its 2013 smash-hit Captain Amazing and will also première a brand new work Good Timin’, Ian Mclaughlin’s one-man show inspired his own story of finding his father. Manchester-based music and performance collective Geddes Loom presents Prelude to a Number, a combination of spoken word, story-telling, live-looped electronic and acoustic music that weaves together stories, songs and poetry inspired by the number phi.
Continuing the theme of music is Company TSU in association with Curious Monkey’s Beats North, a double bill of new plays by Luke Barnes and Ishy Din exploring the soundtrack to our lives through the eyes and ears of two young northern men.
The Lyric Hammersmith’s Secret Theatre Company will be bringing two shows to the fringe: a brand new play, Show 6, from Mark Ravenhill, written especially for the company and playing at Summerhall and A Series of Increasingly Impossible Acts which is devised by the company (at King's Hall).