National Theatre Of Scotland Returns to the 2019 Edinburgh Festivals With Two World Premieres

The National Theatre of Scotland returns to the Edinburgh Festivals in 2019, with a programme that includes two world premieres at the Edinburgh International Festival, a special event at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, and new artist development opportunities as part of the Company's Engine Room programme.

Red Dust Road, a co-production with HOME Manchester based on the soulful memoir from Scots Makar Jackie Kay, receives its first stage adaptation. Adapted for the stage by award-wining writer Tanika Gupta, Red Dust Road will perform at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh during the International Festival before visiting Stirling, Inverness, and Manchester later in the year.

National Theatre of Scotland will also be presenting the latest show from celebrated theatrical experimenter Tim Crouch. Total Immediate Collective Imminent Terrestrial Salvation will premiere at the Festival Theatre Studio before touring to Royal Court Theatre, London, Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Brighton and Teatro do Bairro Alto, Lisbon

Following the success of last year's event The Scale of Female Ambition, the National Theatre of Scotland is also once again partnering with the International Festival for a new development opportunity as part of the Company's Engine Room programme. Engine Room: Navigating International Waters will offer bespoke support to five selected performance makers from Scotland's ethnic minority communities.

In addition, Fringe Central will play host to the Engine Room Lounge throughout the month, providing respite and company for artists along with discussion events, panels, and optional one-on-one advice surgeries with members of National Theatre of Scotland staff.

Red Dust Road

Written by Jackie Kay

Adapted for the stage by Tanika Gupta, Directed by Dawn Walton, Designed by Simon Kenny, Music composed by Tayo Akinbode, Sound Design by Richard Hammarton, Movement Direction by Vicki Igbowe, Lighting Design by Lizzie Powell.

Cast includes Stefan Adegbola, Irene Allan, Elicia Daly, Sasha Frost, and Elaine C. Smith.

Opening at the Royal Lyceum Theatre - Edinburgh International Festival, previewing at the Beacon Arts Centre, and touring to Macrobert Arts Centre, Eden Court, Inverness and HOME Manchester from 10 August to 21 September 2019

Opening performance at Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, on 14 August at 7.30pm as part of the Edinburgh International Festival.

Poet, Scots Makar and novelist Jackie Kay's beautiful soul-searching memoir Red Dust Road is brought to the stage for the very first time, in a new production from the National Theatre of Scotland and HOME, Manchester. Adapted for the stage by award-wining writer Tanika Gupta, Red Dust Road will be presented as part of the 2019 Edinburgh International Festival, before visiting Stirling, Inverness and Manchester later in the year.

From the moment when, as a little girl, she realises that her skin is a different colour from that of her beloved mum and dad, to the tracing and finding of her birth parents, her Highland mother and Nigerian father, Jackie Kay's journey in Red Dust Road is one of unexpected twists, turns and deep emotions.

Originally published in 2010, the book has been hailed for its warmth and candour, winning the Scottish Book of the Year Award in 2011. Navigating the challenges of growing up as a mixed race adopted Scot, Jackie discovers that inheritance is about much more than genes: that we are shaped by songs as much as by cells, and that what triumphs, ultimately, is love.

The role of Jackie Kay will be played by acclaimed stage and screen actor Sasha Frost. Legendary Scottish actress and comedian Elaine C Smith also joins the cast for the production, playing the role of Jackie's adoptive mother Helen. This will be her first appearance in a National Theatre of Scotland production. The cast will also include Irene Allan,Stefan Adegbola and Elicia Daly.

This stage production will be brought to life by a dynamic creative team, including playwright Tanika Gupta, the winner of the 2018 James Tait Black Prize for Drama, and director Dawn Walton, the founder and outgoing Artistic Director of Eclipse Theatre, one of the UK's foremost black-led theatre companies.

Jackie Kay has picked up numerous awards for her novels and story collections. She has written extensively for television and the stage. She was awarded an MBE in 2006, and made a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2002. She was named Scots Makar-the National Poet for Scotland-in March 2016.

Red Dust Road has been developed with the support of Macrobert Arts Centre.

This is the National Theatre of Scotland's first co-production with HOME, Manchester. Jackie Kay is a patron of the multi arts venue which has been a major cultural destination in the north of England since it opened its doors in 2015.

Red Dust Road sees the National Theatre of Scotland return to the Edinburgh International Festival, following the successful revival of David Greig and Gordon McIntyre's Midsummer in 2018, as well as previous productions including Realism, The Bacchae, 365, Caledonia, The James Plays, Dragon, Paul Bright's Confessions of a Justified Sinner and Anything that Gives Off Light.

Red Dust Road and Total Immediate Collective Imminent Terrestrial Salvation are part of You Are Here, a new season of theatre, dance and music at the Edinburgh International Festival, which offers audiences the opportunity to travel the globe in the company of artists whose performances give us fresh perspectives and insights into the world around us, asking where we are and where we are going. Co-curated by Festival Director, Fergus Linehan with Kate McGrath, Director of Fuel Theatre, other artists include; Serge Aime Coulibaly (Burkino Faso), Ifeoma Fafunwa (Nigeria), Robert Softley Gale (Scotland), Milo Rau (Switzerland), Oona Doherty (Northern Ireland) and Marcel Khalife (Lebanon).

Red Dust Road at the Edinburgh International Book Festival

On Fri 16 August the Edinburgh International Book Festival will host a special discussion event, titled National Treasures, with Jackie Kay and Tanika Gupta. Kay will discuss the process of bringing her life story to the stage for the first time, and all that's happened since she wrote the revelatory book. Part of Edinburgh International Festival 2019. Taking place Fri 16 Aug 13:30 - 14:30 at The New York Times Main Theatre. Tickets £12.00, £10.00

For more information and booking visit www.edbookfest.co.uk

Total Immediate Collective Imminent Terrestrial Salvation

Written by Tim Crouch, book illustration and set designed by Rachana Jadhav, directed by Karl James & Andy Smith, lighting designed by Karen Bryce and sound designed by Pippa Murphy.

Full cast is Shyvonne Ahmmad, Tim Crouch and Susan Vidler

At the Edinburgh International Festival (The Studio, Festival Theatre Edinburgh); Royal Court Theatre, London; Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts, Brighton and Teatro do Bairro Alto, Lisbon from 07 August to 16 November 2019

Opening performance at The Studio, Edinburgh Festival Theatre on 07 August at 8pm

Opening performance at The Royal Court Theatre, London on Tuesday 03 September at 7.45pm

Total Immediate Collective Imminent Terrestrial Salvation, the latest work from celebrated metatheatrical specialist Tim Crouch is presented by the National Theatre of Scotland, in association with The Royal Court Theatre, Teatro do Bairro Alto, Lisbon and Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts (ACCA), premiering at the Edinburgh International Festival in August before visiting London, Brighton and Lisbon later in the autumn.

The play explores the story of a man who, compensating for his own failure, manipulates a group of people to sit in a place together and believe in something that isn't true.

Convinced of his calculations, the book he's written predicts it all- the destruction of this world, the start of a new one, and all the words we'll speak until the end. On this last day, at this last hour, a defector finds her voice and returns.

Told through parallel worlds of stage action and illustrated text, with illustrations by Rachana Jadhav, audience and actors turn the pages together. They study the images together. Sometimes - with agreement - they share the words. The play will be performed by a cast including Crouch himself, alongside Susan Vidler, who previously appeared in the National Theatre of Scotland's production of Let The Right One In, and has most recently appeared on TV screens in Line of Duty, and Shyvonne Ammad, who made her professional debut with the National Theatre of Scotland's Interference earlier in the year

Exploring manipulation and the nature of truth in an age of arch-political misdirection, Tim Crouch's latest play is a thrilling and intense theatrical experience, and a bold experiment in the collective creation of fiction. The production has been co-commissioned by the National Theatre of Scotland and The Royal Court Theatre, London and is presented in association with The Royal Court Theatre, Teatro do Bairro Alto, Lisbon and Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts (ACCA).

Tim Crouch is a celebrated theatre-maker, playwright, and performer. He has enjoyed success at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with previous productions: England, An Oak Tree, The Author, My Arm, what happens to the hope at the end of the evening, Adler & Gibb, and I, Malvolio. This is his first production for the Edinburgh International Festival. He enjoyed recent TV writing success with Don't Forget the Driver, a six-part series for BBC2 which aired in Spring 2019, which he created and co-wrote with Toby Jones.

Part of the British Council Edinburgh Showcase 2019.

Red Dust Road and Total Immediate Collective Imminent Terrestrial Salvation are part of You Are Here, a new season of theatre, dance and music at the Edinburgh International Festival, which offers audiences the opportunity to travel the globe in the company of artists whose performances give us fresh perspectives and insights into the world around us, asking where we are and where we are going. Co-curated by Festival Director, Fergus Linehan with Kate McGrath, Director of Fuel Theatre, other artists include; Serge Aime Coulibaly (Burkino Faso), Ifeoma Fafunwa (Nigeria), Robert Softley Gale (Scotland), Milo Rau (Switzerland), Oona Doherty (Northern Ireland) and Marcel Khalife (Lebanon).

Engine Room at the Edinburgh Festivals

Following last year's partnership on The Scale of Female Ambition, the Edinburgh International Festival and National Theatre of Scotland are collaborating on a new artist development opportunity for the summer festival season.

Engine Room: Navigating International Waters will offer five selected performance makers from Scotland's ethnic minority communities a new artist development opportunity in partnership with Edinburgh International Festival. This new opportunity will support and enable leading artists working in live performance, theatre, dance or music, to meet and connect with their peers, as well as offer them professional support, and the opportunity to experience a curated programme of Edinburgh International Festival productions

The Company will also partner with the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to bring Engine Room to the Fringe Central programme. Engine Room Lounge will provide pop-up curated events throughout the month, including a 'speed-dating' networking session for composers, sound designers and directors, an afternoon dedicated to experimental artists curated by BUZZCUT, and an open space for artists, producers, and makers to come together and create some headspace during the world's busiest festival. Optional one-on-one advice surgeries with members of the National Theatre of Scotland staff will be available. A note of National Theatre of Scotland staff available for one-on-ones will be posted in July.

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