Welcome to Disability Arts International’s theatre and dance picks for Edinburgh Festival
Fringe 2017. This year the Fringe celebrates its 70th anniversary. In that time, it’s
gone from the margins to the mainstream and then beyond by embracing different voices
and championing challenging work. This year is no different, so here is just a selection
from the theatre and dance programme. First up, Graeae Theatre Company’s Cosmic
Scallies. Graeae need little introduction as one of the UK’s finest disabled-led companies.
Cosmic Scallies is a brand-new play by Graeae’s Write to Play graduate Jackie Hagan, premiering
at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Expect a gritty but witty tale of working class life
in Skelmersdale. Amit Sharma directs, building on the success of Solid Life of Sugar Water,
which last year completed a run at the National Theatre.
Frozen Light Theatre specialise in making productions which are accessible to audiences
with Profound and Multiple Learning Disabilities. Their latest show, Home is a multisensory
journey of discovery and friendship. The show is part of the British Council’s Edinburgh
Showcase – a selection of the very best of British contemporary performing arts at
the fringe, now in its 20th year.
Caroline Bowditch and Company present Snigel and Friends
an interactive dance show for the Fringe’s very youngest visitors – and
their grown-ups. Bowditch is known for her joyous choreography, with her 2014 Fringe
show, Falling in Love with Frida winning a Herald Angel Award. Snigel and Friends sees
her donning a shell, joined by fellow dancers and performers in a colourful feast for under ones.
Touretteshero returns to the Fringe, as part of the British Council Edinburgh Showcase
with an adaptation of Samuel Beckett’s Not I.
Having won a Total Theatre Award for Best Emerging Company for its 2014 show Backstage in Biscuit Land
the company went on to tour nationally and internationally. This production
will present Beckett’s classic play through Jess Thom’s unique neurology, in a show
which promises to explore neurodiversity and questions of who is allowed to perform.
All performances are relaxed, allowing the audience to make noise and move around.
Silent Faces were one of the breakthrough acts from 2016’s Brighton Fringe, with their
darkly comic physical theatre piece, Follow Suit. The show follows four high-flyers in
the strangest office you’ve ever seen, using nothing but movement, facial expressions and
a smattering of words to satirise the equally absurd world of high finance. As Silent Faces
say themselves, this is business…but not as usual.
Ridiculusmus, winners of a Total Theatre Significant Achievement award, have in recent years garnered
a reputation for a transformative approach to mental health issues. Give Me Your Love,
explores the radical treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder using MDMA, through the story
of two old friends, one a veteran of the Iraq war. This provocative piece leaves audiences
gripped in suspense as Ridiculusmus walk the line between the sublime and ridiculous throughout.
Fresh from shows in Melbourne, Liz Carr, star of BBC’s Silent Witness, brings her ‘TED
talk with show tunes’ Assisted Suicide the Musical to the Fringe, as part of the British
Council’s Edinburgh Showcase. This show is full of glitz, mischief and fiendishly
catchy songs, as Carr tackles this thorny issue from a rarely-seen perspective.
One of the highlights of Unlimited Festival 2016, it returned to the Southbank Centre by popular
demand. This is one not to miss.
Mind the Gap are one of Europe’s leading learning-disability theatre companies.
This year, they bring Mia: Daughters of Fortune to the Fringe
packed full of sketches, dancing and multimedia elements. It explores the taboo
around learning-disabled people being parents, examining both the facts and the myths with
humour and sincerity. Through the show’s four learning-disabled performers who switch
roles effortlessly, this weighty but overlooked topic is deftly presented with a light and
personal touch.
And finally, Dan Daw is an internationally
renowned performer, who has worked with a host of leading companies, including Scottish
Dance Theatre and Candoco. Directed by Graham Adey, 'On One Condition' draws on Dan's lived
experience of disability by inviting the audience to share some of his most intimate formative
moments in a swirling performance mixing dance and theatre. Having recently won ‘Best Theatre’
in the 2017 Adelaide Fringe Weekly Awards, On One Condition asks us to question our own
perceptions of normal while offering a stripped back look at the world we live in.
And that’s it for Disability Arts International’s picks of Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2017.
We’ve got more information on our website about these shows and more. Hopefully, we’ll see
you in August in Edinburgh!