EGTG’s 2019 shows
EGTG announce ambitious 2019 programme
The Edinburgh Graduate Theatre Group has announced that it will stage four full length productions and two one-acts in 2019, as well as running a programme of improvised theatre during the year.
EGTG, founded in 1954, will include Joseph Heller’s own adaptation of his deeply cynical satyrical war novel Catch 22 in the Autumn, Shakespeare’s rarely performed Merry Wives of Windsor during the #EdFringe 2019 and a UK amateur premiere in the spring.
The company’s year begins with the SCDA’s One Act Festival, to be held at the Church Hill theatre in the week beginning Monday 18 February. EGTG will be entering two pieces into the competition, both with first-time directors.
Siobhan McGovern will direct Alan Ayckbourn’s four-hander, Drinking Companion and Jenny Tamplin will direct The Actor’s Nightmare, a six-hander by Christopher Durang. Auditions for both will be held later this year, in 2018, and both plays will be revived for the company’s EdFringe 2019 offering.
There will be two full length, main stage productions in the spring of 2019. The first of these sees David Grimes return to the helm, with the UK amateur premiere of Robert Askins’ 2011 script Hand To God, which was Tony nominated in 2015 and had a limited London run in 2016.
The play sees Grimes return to his darker side in what EGTG are describing as “A rambunctious, lightning-paced adult comedy that explores the startling fragility of faith, morality and familial ties.”
Hand to God is set in a Christian youth group which is using sock-puppets as part of its ministry when mild-mannered Jason’s puppet becomes possessed. Grimes will host a public script reading in late October. Auditions will be held after November’s production of All About My Mother and it will run April 17 – 22 2019.
The Lark
Following her successes with Death and the Maiden and Skirt, Claire Wood returns in the late spring to direct Jean Anouilh’s The Lark, the epic retelling of the trial, condemnation and execution of Joan of Arc.
Amidst the messy protracted skirmishes of the one of the world’s longest wars, a teenage peasant girl led an army of men into battle and carved a victory that defined France. When she claims that God asked her to save the country she is accused of witchcraft – the punishment for which is being burnt at the stake.
Anouilh’s classic 1951 play recreates Joan’s trial by the church and depicts a woman colliding with the male establishment with all the instinct, passion and panache of a revolutionary. Audition details and exact dates will be posted at a later date.
The company’s EdFringe 2019 offering will combine its usual Shakespeare production at the Royal Scots Club with a combination of the two one acts entered into the SCDA competition – Drinking Companion and The Actors Nightmare – and the return of its improvisation troupe: The Improbables.
For the Shakespeare, Angela Harkness-Robertson returns to the helm after her success with A Number. She will be giving The Merry Wives of Windsor a distinctly Scottish slant as she takes her inspiration from Tony Roper’s Scots classic, The Steamie, and places the antics of the merry wives and their cohorts in a public washroom.
The Improbables will start their return in the spring, overseen by Dan Sutton, with open auditions for experienced improvisors. The Improbables will meet regularly to rehearse over the spring and summer, ready for two presentations to run alongside EGTG’s Festival Fringe productions and an improvisation evening in the early autumn.
Also in the Autumn, Hannah Bradley returns to the helm with the ambitious 12-handed, 41 character stage version of Catch 22, running at some point in November.
Increasingly aware of the folly of war, Captain Yossarian, a nihilistic pilot and the last Assyrian alive, would like very much to escape the maelstrom of conflict of the flying increasingly suicidal missions in WW2. However, he finds that there is always a catch.
Further information on the productions will be available on the EGTG website where you can sign up for a newsletter for future audition and production announcements.
Listings and Links
EGTG website: https://theegtg.com/
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Twitter: @TheGrads
EGTG 2019 season at a glance:
Drinking Companion by Alan Ayckbourn & The Actor’s Nightmare by Christopher Durang
SCDA One Act Competition
Church Hill Theatre: week beginning 18 February 2019.
Hand To God by Robert Askins
April 17 – 22 2019.
Venue to be confirmed.
The Lark by Jean Anouilh
“Late spring/early summer”
Venue and dates to be confirmed.
The Merry Wives of Windsor by William Shakespeare
Drinking Companion by Alan Ayckbourn and The Actor’s Nightmare by Christopher Durang
The Improbables.
EdFringe 2019
The Royal Scots Club (venue 241), 29-31 Abercromby Place, EH3 6QE
Catch 22 by Joseph Heller
November 2019
Dates and venue to be confirmed.
ENDS
