EXPLORE THE UNBEATEN PATH WITH PLEASANCE AROUND TOWN

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Taking place in the hall of St Thomas of Aquin’s High School – found on Chalmers

Street, just off Lauriston Place – The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning is the latest play from the National Theatre of Wales, detailing the radicalisation of the Welsh teenager who now faces a trial which could lead to life imprisonment.

Manning is the 25 year old US soldier who is currently standing trial in America charged with releasing 250,000 secret embassy cables and military logs from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Ultimately Manning has been charged with 22 offences in total, including passing classified information onto the whistle blower website WikiLeaks. However, he spent much of his adolescence in the

Welsh town of Haverford West and now the country’s National Theatre are asking how a Welsh teenager became so radicalised and just who was responsible.

The play has received impressive reviews including four stars from the Independent on Sunday, The Arts Desk and The Daily Telegraph and was shortlisted for the James Tait Black Award for Drama. Whilst being performed on the stage at St Thomas Aquin’s High School, the production will also be streamed live via an interactive website – something the company are describing as ‘hyper connected theatre’ – to enable a live comment stream to take place as well as access to hyperlinks containing additional information about the background and story of Bradley Manning.

Running until 25 August, head over to St Thomas of Aquin’s High School to catch The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning at 19.30, plus weekend matinees at 14.30 from the renowned National Theatre of Wales.

ISSUE 9: 16TH AUGUST 2013

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Ever fancied grabbing a pint with a wandering traveller called Maggie? Listening as

she tells you the tales which have shaped her life before setting off once more to continue on your own journey? Then Pint Dreams is for you. An immersive experience set inside a real life pub – The Antiquary’s back bar – Pint Dreams has captivated audiences since its inception and now comes to Edinburgh to pull you into the narrative.

The show was conceived by Birmingham based Tin Box Theatre Company who explore pieces which are site specific, utilise innovative uses of storytelling and practise highly visual theatre. Their latest show Pint Dreams toured the pubs

of the West Midlands during March 2013 and the success and reception it there received compelled the company to tour it once more.

The Edinburgh Fringe is the place to enjoy experiences you would never otherwise have the opportunity to and Pint Dreams is most definitely one of these. Join Maggie as her journey collides with yours this Fringe.

Pint Dreams begins it’s run on 22 August at Pleasance at the Antiquary with performances daily at 14.30, 16.30 and 18.30

PINT DREAMS

THE RADICALISATION OF BRADLEY MANNING

Described by Lyn Gardener of the Guardian as ‘a pop up establishment of disarming eccentricity’ the Hunt and Darton café was

one of the biggest hits of 2012 Fringe. Now returning on St Mary’s Street Jenny Hunt and Holly Darton are back with the fully functioning café and live art installations.

With food served by performance artists and entertainment surrounding diners as they eat their cakes, light lunches and the girls’ signature dish – the roast dinner sandwich – the Hunt and Darton café offers lots of delights on the menu. Each day the café will play host to performances from other artists including pieces such as Buzzcut, Bedding Out, How To Avoid Making An Entrance of Yourself and All Roads Lead to Rome whilst Hunt and Darton will be performing their own piece Boredom in the café as well.

Pop into the Hunt and Darton Café before the 25 August on St Mary’s Street to see what’s on the menu! Open daily 10.00-late, show details online

Hunt and Darton Cafe

offers lots of delights on the

menu

HUNT AND DARTON CAFÉ

Ever fancied grabbing a pint

with a wandering traveller?

The company are describing the show as

‘hyper connected theatre’

The Edinburgh Fringe is the

place to enjoy experiences you wouldn’t

otherwise have had the

opportunity to

Pleasance Times is delighted to annouce that Philip Ridley’s Dark Vanilla Jungle has won a Fringe First Award. The Awards are given weekly throughout the festival to recognise outstanding new works of theatre. Check out the show until 26 August in the Pleasance Courtyard at 15.00

DARK VANILLA JUNGLE WINS FRINGE FIRST

Image of the day: Members of the Young Pleasance received their A level results yesterday

The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning

The Hunt and Darton Café

Pint Dreams

After her Edinburgh debut in 2010 with the Total Theatre award-winning Sex Idiot and 2011’s 7

Day Drunk, performance artist Bryony Kimmings has returned to the Fringe; but this time, she’s not alone. With her 9 year-old neice Taylor in tow, Kimmings’ Credible Likeable Superstar Role Model tackles the corporate global tween machine and the role models currently available for young women. Invited to invent a new role model, Taylor has dreamt up museum-working, imagination championing, bike-riding, tuna pasta-eating pop star Catherine Bennett.

Kimmings’ show gets to the heart of modern society’s proclivity to sexualise and objectify women, encouraging narcissistic personality disorders and unrealistic expectations of appearance.

Her two year-long project comprises the Catherine Bennett fame experiment, a theatre show, a documentary and an

education project that aims to reassess young girls’ aspirations; Kimmings recalls with heart-warming pride how one school girl who dreamt of becoming a pop star decided she wanted to “work with dinosaur bones” after seeing Catherine Bennett perform.

Yet more than anything, this is a touching and honest hour long exploration of the sophistries of the heart and vicissitudes of growing up. Placing a pair of headphones over Taylor’s ears, Kimmings openly and candidly discusses her young niece’s rite of passage to adulthood, “the young fawn” to “the dinosaur”. With David Curtis Ring’s

trademark costumes and sound scores by Tom Parkinson, Kimmings and Taylor tug at the heartstrings in a profoundly honest show about relationships and modern society’s corporate behemoths

Kimmings’ remarkable performance will leave even the stiffest upper lips quivering so expect to laugh, expect to cry, and most of all, expect a thoughtful performance about the unique bond that exists between an aunt and her neice.

Catch Credible Likeable Superstar Role Model until 25 August at the Pleasance Dome at 17.45

Improvisational comedy has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years and 2013’s Fringe had proved no exception. A record

64 improvised acts have graced Edinburgh’s stages and the Pleasance has many of the best, including Voices in Your Head: The Phill Jupitus Experiment and Paul Merton’s Impro Chums.

However, ensconced in the relative comfort of Pleasance That, Aaaand Now For Something Completely Improvised has been making waves. Pleasance Times caught up with two of the quartet, Chris and Daniel, to discuss their show, what makes a good improviser, and the future of improvised comedy.

The troupe met in their student days as part of the improvisational society, the Oxford Imps. “Oxford has the Oxford Revue and plenty of other sketch groups but you had to write things and that was a bit too

much,” Daniel explains. While many fell by the wayside (one became a co-founder of the Tea Party and another was victorious in the UK’s version of Beauty and Geek), the four players stuck it out and their Fringe show has garnered high praise.

The common misconception is that improv players don’t prepare. “Generally in improv you rehearse a lot,” Chris explains. “I would count pub sessions as rehearsal, they’re group bonding sessions. The analogy always used with improvised comedy is that it’s like football. You never know what’s going to happen in the game but you have to train to prepare for it so you’re fit and can work as a team. It’s about getting used to working with people on stage.”

The spontaneity of improv has led to one or two embarrassing moments for the quartet. Daniel recalls scenery tumbling into the audience and heckling audience

members. “Our best heckle was a woman who started breast feeding on the front row. It’s all part and parcel of improvisational comedy.” They recall with much more nostalgia serenading a couple who were celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary. “That love song for the couple was exactly what improv is all about. It’s an adventure, it’s like a story, it lasts for an hour and that’s it. It’s fun and silly, and most importantly, you’ll be involved.”

Edinburgh has certainly caught the improv bug in recent years; the number of improv acts has increased around six fold in the last ten years. Very few troupes, however, have been able to make a career of the craft. “One thing that limits improv is the financial aspect,” Chris asserted. “There’s definitely a burgeoning market for it in Edinburgh, the question is, how does it transfer?”

Aaaand Now For Something Completely Improvised runs until 26 August in the Pleasance Courtyard at 11.30.

The Pleasance Theatre Trust is a registered charity in England and Wales (1050944) and Scotland (SCO43227)

IMPROV SHOW PLAYING FOR LAUGHS AT THE PLEASANCE

A touching exploration of the sophistries of the heart and vicissitudes of

growing up

@paulsinha John Robins Pleasance Attic. Existential crisis comedians

getting younger & younger, great jokes , superb fluid storytelling

@C_M_WardYou must see The

Babysitter at Pleas-ance Courtyard. An amazing piece of

theatre #thebabysitter #edfringe

@CassetteboyWe had a great time at the Pleasance Halfway party last night, thanks to the

great crowd and tech guys who made it all possible

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scenes snippets follow us

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CREDIBLE LIKEABLE SUPERSTAR ROLE MODEL

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PLEASANCE TIMES

WORD PLAY: SCROOBIUS PIP SHARES HIS WORDS

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Scroobius Pip does not seem like a star of the UK hip hop and electronic scene. He is understated, grateful and truly humble

as he talks about his show, Words, the reception it has so far received, his work in the music world and love of comedy, and does not for one moment seem anything but a normal guy, albeit an incredibly talented one.

A spoken word performance at a festival best known for comedy and theatre may seem like a slightly odd fit and something many performers wouldn’t initially consider doing. “When I toured it in December,” Pip begins as I ask what made him bring a spoken word show to the Fringe this year, I wanted to play in rock venues to show people you can have a good night out at a spoken word gig (in fact, Pip comments that one of the reasons he chose the Ace Dome was because it has a bar) and Tim Key and Brett Goldstein caught it and suggested I bring it up the Fringe this year. Just to have them think I could do something at the Fringe was great as I’m a massive fan of them both.”

The good time ethic Pip sees as key to his work was there at the birth of Words when he

premiered the show during the Saturday night headline spot at Latitude Festival last year. Initially expecting an audience of two or three hundred people he arrived onstage to find a 4000 strong crowd Pip was overwhelmed with the show’s initial reception . “It was the Saturday night headline slot,” he almost shakes his head in slight disbelief, “You would except people to want to go out and go dancing but they’d had to stand everyone up as there were about 4000 people in the tent. And they stayed there, and listened to the whole thing and it meant the world to me. It was so overwhelming, such a wonderful reaction.” Known also for his work in music, something which may well have drawn the impressive Latitude crowd, often with Dans Le Sac, Pip notes he often forgets people know him foremost for this and ask if he’ll be doing “any of the songs” in his set. “Well,” he smiles, “I think yeah, but the delivery won’t be the same and the inflections too, some of ‘the songs’ will be there but it will be different.”

Scroobius Pip has always engaged with society in his work. Whilst many poets and spoken word artists can be concerned with introspective subjects life Pip’s work constantly strives to connect to the wider society. “I do this partly because I’m a fan of hip hop,” he begins, “Along with spoken word it’s always the quickest to respond to things. A great example is the Treyvon Martin case, where artists reacted to the ‘stand your ground law’ in America during the trial, It’s such an instant response.”

Although Pip mentioned he was a comedy nerd at the beginning of our conversation, I was still surprised by his knowledge and response

when I asked what he’s most excited to see at the Fringe this year. As we talked of ex-rapper Doc Brown, Doctor Brown and his silent comedy, Tom Rosenthal and many others Pip is keen to catch, Pip is constantly enthused and passionate about something he clearly loves. “Being around the comedians and pretending I’m meant to be to be here is great. Chris Ramsey came along to the show last night and it was great to chat and hang out after. It’s not a comedy show but there are some light-hearted moments, and having people like Brett and Tim previously credit my work is amazing. The main focus is me trying to play it cool around these comedians without being all ‘you know who I am!’”

Scroobius Pip has words a plenty to share. You can catch his show Words until 26th August in the Pleasance Dome at 21.40.

ISSUE 6: 10TH AUGUST 2013

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STOP PRESS:

TARTAN RIBBON COMEDY BENEFITLINE UP!

The Boy With Tape

On His Face

David O’Doherty

Tim Vine

Hal Cruttenden

Slightly Fat

Features

Mat Ricardo

And ManyMore

TUESDAY 13 AUG

PLEASANCECOURTYARD

“Being around comedians and pretending I’m meant to be

here is great”

“It was so overwhelming,

such a wonderful reaction”

Image of the day: Backstage at the tech rehersal as Scroobius Pip prepares for this debut Fringe show, Words

Watch video clips, behind the scenes footage and festival exclusives.

PLEASANCE TV

The most embarrassing moment on stage was…

having to deal with a latecomer knocking on the door of Upstairs to be let in during one of my quietest speeches.

I am most proud of…

making my own acting debut after decades of directing other actors and teaching student actors.

My biggest fear is…

another idiot knocking on the door of Upstairs in the middle of my show!

This year I’m most excited about…

the lovely response to Morning and Afternoon - it’s been very humbling.

My favourite thing about the Fringe is…

the sheer SIZE of it!! It’s my first time and I am absolutely awed by it.

Catch Andy in Morning and Afternoon at the Pleasance Courtyard 13.55.

ELLIPSIS WITH ANDY HINDS FROM MORNNG AND

AFTERNOON

Edited by Jonathan Bucks & Emily Tanner. Photography by Jassy Earl