Grads announce 2018 shows

Nov 16 2017 | By More

Almodovar, Shakespeare and Wood for EGTG

The Edinburgh Graduate Theatre Group has announced its 2018 productions with four full length shows added to its entries to the SCDA’s one act competition.

The first full length production is Macbeth in the Spring. The Grads own Claire Wood returns with a piece of new writing, Skirt, for the early doors fringe show, coupled with a second Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, as the late evening show. Samuel Adamson’s adaptation of Pedro Almodóvar’s All About My Mother closes the season in December.

As previously announced the company is staging two pieces at the Scottish Community Drama Association One Act Festival, taking place at the Church Hill Theatre in February.

Angela Harkness-Robertson is directing Caryl Churchill’s A Number, which was recently seen in an award-winning production directed by Zinnie Harris at the Lyceum. The second piece sees Hannah Bradley directing The Ram in the Thicket, a script by her Great Grandfather, David Mackenzie, writing under the name of Glen Mhor.

Macbeth will directed by Naomi Wallis-Ryder, who won the Bob Buchanan Salver at the 2017 SCDA One Act Festival for her production for Mike Bartlett’s Contractions. The production comes with the strapline “hell is murky” and the description that once the initial murders are done, “the natural order of the world has been destroyed and Macbeth’s reign descends into a hell for all”.

EGTG’s offering for Fringe 2018 continues the group’s tradition of placing a classical crowd pleaser alongside a more contemporary and challenging piece of theatre.

murky reality

2018’s early evening slot will see Claire Wood following the success of this year’s beauty with skirt, which will be co-directed with Alan Patterson. Inspired by a Daily Mail cover story earlier this year, Wood’s new script explores what passes for gender equality in 2018.

Wood says:”Scotland prides itself on leading the way on equality. Half of First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s cabinet is female and she’s charged the country to deliver 50/50 gender representation on public and private company boards by 2020.

“But the high profile statements mask a murkier reality. Though girls outperform boys at primary and secondary school and are more likely to go to university, the glass ceiling is well-documented, as is the gender pay gap.

“Sexual harassment in the workplace is currently under the spotlight, thanks to events in Hollywood and UK politics. skirt is a punchy, provocative and darkly funny exploration of the questions that are easier to sweep under the carpet.”

For the late evening show during the fringe, David Grimes returns to the rich vein of comedy he found this May for The Ladykillers, with his take on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing.

Will true love conquer all?

Gossip lies at the centre of Shakepeare’s 1559 comedy, tricking Beatrice and Benedict into marriage and thwarting love elsewhere as Dame Joan attempts to shatter any new-found happiness. Will true love conquer all? Will Joan’s plot be uncovered? Will Beatrice and Benedict ever stop bickering? Grimes will no doubt bring out the answers with a gleeful eye to the laughs.The final production of the year will allow Ross Hope to realise a long-held ambition to stage Samuel Adamson’s 2007 adaptation of Pedro Almodovar’s movie, All About My Mother.

Following the tragic death of her teenage son, Manuela travels to Barcelona in search of his estranged father. There she gets caught up in the lives of three women: Agrado, a transsexual prostitute and old friend; Rosa, a pregnant nun and Huma Rojo, a famous actress long idolised by Manuela’s dead son.

Hope told Æ: “I loved Almodovar’s film version when I saw it back in 1999 at the Filmhouse and have made it my mission to get the rights to direct the play version since it debuted at the Old Vic. Also who doesn’t love a play that deals with death, religion, gender and existentialism, all in equal measure!”

The production will be something of a coupe, as this will be only the second outing of the play since the original production at The Old Vic in 2007.

Casting calls for all the shows will be issued over the year. In the meantime, anyone who wants to get involved with the company can contact the Grads through its website and social media.

The Grads website: www.egtg.co.uk/
Facebook: @edingrads
Twitter: @TheGrads

ENDS

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