National Theatre of Scotland Sets Edinburgh Festivals Lineups

The National Theatre of Scotland is celebrating 10 years of presenting acclaimed theatre at the Edinburgh Festivals. This year the Company brings the world premiere of ANYTHING THAT GIVES OFF LIGHT in a co-production with the Edinburgh International Festival and the TEAM, and two acclaimed music filled dramas about refugees and migration to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, as part of the Made in Scotland Showcase, both at the Assembly Hall; GLASGOW GIRLS, in a co-production with Pachamama Productions, Regular Music and Theatre Royal Stratford East, and LAST DREAM (ON EARTH), presented by Kai Fischer.

Also, the National Theatre of Scotland and the Goethe-Institut Glasgow are supporting Living Pictures, a director training company, in offering an exciting opportunity for directors to work with Thomas Ostermeier during the presentation of Schaubühne Berlin's production of Richard III at the Edinburgh International Festival.

WORLD PREMIERE

The TEAM, the National Theatre of Scotland and Edinburgh International Festival

present

Anything That Gives Off Light

Written by Rachel Chavkin, Davey Anderson, Brian Ferguson, Sandy Grierson and Jessica Almasy

Directed by Rachel Chavkin with Associate Director Davey Anderson

Cast is Jessica Almasy, Brian Ferguson, Sandy Grierson and Martin Donaghy

with live music performed by Annie Grace, Maya Sharpe and Cat Myers

Designed by Nick Vaughan, lighting design by Chahine Yavroyan, sound design by Mat Hubbs

From 18 - 26 August 2016 at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre

Press Performance on Thursday 18 August at 7.30pm

Every light casts a shadow...

Anything That Gives Off Light uses the Scottish Enlightenment as a lens through which to examine the contrasting and overlapping national myths of Scotland and America. This co-production marks the debut of the TEAM at the Edinburgh International Festival and reunites the TEAM with the National Theatre of Scotland, who previously collaborated on the award-winning Architecting at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2008.

Written collaboratively, Anything That Gives Off Light, is led by Rachel Chavkin, Artistic Director of the TEAM, and Davey Anderson, whose work as Associate Director with the National Theatre of Scotland includes Enquirer, To Begin, Black Watch and Home. The production features a trans-Atlantic and Scottish cast with Brian Ferguson, Sandy Grierson and Jessica Almasy. At selected performances Martin Donaghy will feature in the ensemble.

Anything That Gives Off Light follows the story of a Scottish man who, after years of living in London, catches the sleeper train north to the heart of Scotland for a homecoming he's been putting off for years. In a pub, an American woman drinks alone, trying to remember who she is while forgetting where she came from. When their paths collide they set off on a tour of the Highlands, slipping through the cracks between present and past, waking and dreaming, the real and the imagined. But as they shed the layers of their national identities, the ghosts of dead philosophers, crofters, cowboys, myth-makers and soothsayers get ever closer.

The production features live music from the Scottish-American folk tradition, performed by celebrated Scottish folk and rock musicians Annie Grace, Cat Myers and American musician Maya Sharpe. This foot-stomping collaboration is performed with the TEAM's trademark athletic theatrical style exploring the tension between self interest and sacrifice and the individual and the collective in the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness.

The TEAM is a Brooklyn-based ensemble dedicated to creating new works about the experience of living in America today, crashing American history and mythology into modern stories to illuminate the current moment. Recent productions in the UK include RoosevElvis at the Royal Court Theatre, London (2015) and Mission Drift at the National Theatre in London (2013).

The National Theatre of Scotland and the TEAM reunite, having previously collaborated on the award-winning Architecting in 2008, which premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe before touring to the Barbican Centre, London, and to Europe, the US, and Canada. Turning attention to the relationship between Scotland and the USA, Anything That Gives Off Light brings a mix of performance and live Scottish and American folk music to tell the tale of two nations reshaping, rebuilding, and wrestling with their own identities and heritage. An early version of this production was shared as a work in progress, billed as "The Scottish Enlightenment Project," at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2014. This is the TEAM's first production at the Edinburgh International Festival, having previously visited the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on five occasions, winning four Scotsman Fringe First Awards, a Herald Angel, an Edinburgh Total Theatre Award, and the Edinburgh International Festival Fringe Prize in 2011.

This is the eighth partnership between Edinburgh International Festival and the National Theatre of Scotland. Previous productions at the Festival include Dragon, Paul Bright's Confessions of a Justified Sinner, The Bacchae, 365, Realism and Caledonia. The James Plays, premiered at the Festival in 2014 and completes a major UK and international tour in June 2016.

Rachel Chavkin, Artistic Director of the TEAM says

The TEAM has always been obsessed with the gap between inherited mythology and lived experience. And the Enlightenment ideals of personal liberty and self-determination are responsible for both the most utopian and most divisive American values today, embodied in our first and second amendments, i.e. freedom of speech and the right to bear arms.

As our Scottish friends and their country were wrestling with the possibility of independence and the question of what kind of democracy they wanted to be, it seemed like the perfect time to begin a collaboration about parallel national and personal narratives."

Join the conversation: #Anythingthatgivesofflight

Full ticket info available : www.nationaltheatrescotland.com www.eif.co.uk

Pachamama Productions, the National Theatre of Scotland, Theatre Royal Stratford East & Regular Music present, in association with Citizens Theatre & Richard Jordan Productions

present

Glasgow Girls

Conceived for the stage and directed by Cora Bissett, book by David Greig, designed by Jessica Brettle, musical director Gavin Whitworth, musical producer Michael Asante, choreography Natasha Gilmour and original score by MC Soom T, Patricia Panther, Cora Bissett and the Kielty brothers.

Full cast is Calum Cuthbertson, Roanna Davidson, Sophia Lewis, Stephanie Macgregor, Patricia Panther, Terry Neason, Shannon Swan and Kara Swinney.

Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Assembly Hall, Edinburgh 4 - 28 August 2016 (not 10 or 15), 14:20 (15:50)

A freshly imagined production of GLASGOW GIRLS returns to the stage, with a new design, cast members and musical arrangements. The hit, music-filled drama opens at the Assembly Hall as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Made in Scotland 2016 programme, before embarking on a UK tour including a London run at the Theatre Royal Stratford East.

Cora Bissett's passionate, political, high school musical, has won the hearts of audiences in London and Glasgow from its original runs in 2012 to 2014. This UK tour re-introduces us to the seven school girls from Drumchapel High, who along with community members and teachers fought for their rights of their school friend to stay in Scotland and subsequently took on the Scottish Parliament to defend the rights of all refugee children.

Glasgow Girls is a celebration of the power of teenagers and a community with a cause, offering a strong, positive and unifying message, featuring a highly charged musical score with reggae dub, electronic grime, folk rock, international beats and show tunes, composed by a diverse array of contemporary musical talent.

Join the conversation: #GlasgowGirls

Kai Fischer, in association with National Theatre of Scotland

presents

Last Dream (On Earth)

Conceived, directed and designed by Kai Fischer, sound designed by Matt Padden and costume designed by Lisa Sangster.

Full cast: Tyler Collins, Michelle Cornelius, Kimisha Lewis, Edward Nkom and Gameli Tordzro.

Edinburgh Festival Fringe at Assembly, Assembly Hall from 4 to 28 August at 1.25pm

A traveller stands on a beach in Morocco with a small group of friends. Tonight, they are going to try it. Tonight, they are getting ready, for a journey that might change their lives. Here, we will never know their names.

Decades earlier, a young man is being strapped into a tiny sphere, on top of a powerful rocket. He is ready for his mission, trying to become the first Human Being in Outer Space. His name will soon be known all over the world: his name is Yuri Gagarin.

As if out of nowhere, a musical dialogue starts. Words are spoken, and the story of the trip of a lifetime emerges. It is a story of hope, dreams and beauty - and sheer inhumanity.

The production includes an award-winning live soundtrack with collaborations from sound designer Matt Padden and musicians Tyler Collins and Gameli Tordzoro. Audiences will experience the immersive sound world of Last Dream (On Earth) on headphones, as it is created and performed on stage in front of them.

Last Dream (On Earth) interweaves this driving live music score with accounts of those who risk their lives for a distant dream. It draws on extensive interviews and historic documents to explore journeys beyond the imaginable, and quests to find a better future in faraway places.

Kai Fischer's research for Last Dream (On Earth) took him to seek out interviewees, travelling to the Italian island of Lampedusa, a refugee centre in Malta and onto Rabat and Tangier in Morocco. His research also led him to study the transcripts of radio communication during Yuri Gagarin's flight to become the first Human to reach Outer Space, as well as official NASA documents, in relation to their early manned space program.

Last Dream (On Earth) originally premiered and toured in 2015, winning a Critics Award for Theatre for Best Music & Sound and most recently received its European premiere in Craiova as part of the Europe Theatre Prize events, representing the National Theatre of Scotland which was awarded a Prize for New European Theatrical Realities in 2016.

Join the conversation: #LastDream

Living Pictures in association with Goethe-Institut Glasgow and the National Theatre of Scotland

Thomas Ostermeier Directing Workshop: 25th - 27th August 2016 in Edinburgh from 11am-4pm

Living Pictures has partnered with Goethe-Institut Glasgow and the National Theatre of Scotland to offer a free three day workshop with award-winning director Thomas Ostermeier, offering 12 UK directors the chance to gain development and experience in European rehearsal methods.

Directors will be offered insight into the foundations of Ostermeier's work as well as his directing techniques. Thomas Ostermeier's acclaimed production of Richard III for the Schaubühne Berlin plays at The Lyceum, as part of the Edinburgh International Festival from 24 to 28 August.

Applicants need to send a CV and a statement outlining their interest in the opportunity and how it benefits them to Robert at lpworkshops14@gmail.com by 17th July 2016. Participants will be responsible for their own travel/accommodation costs.

Living Pictures is a director training company that champions development and life-long learning. For more information and full details on how to apply please go to www.livingpictures.org.uk and or nationaltheatrescotland.com

TOURING INFORMATION

Glasgow Girls tours throughout autumn 2016, with an Edinburgh preview before the Festival run.

Beacon Arts Centre Fri 29 and Sat 30 July (previews)

Assembly Hall, Edinburgh 4-28 August at 14.20 ( 4& 5 previews) (no performances 10 & 15)

Citizens Theatre, Glagsow Tuesday 30 August - Saturday 3 September 2016

Oxford Playhouse Wednesday 7 - Saturday 10 September 2016

Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling Wednesday 14 - Friday 16 September

Dundee Rep Theatre Wednesday 12 - Saturday 15 October

Last Dream (On Earth) tours throughout July 2016 before arriving at the Festival.

Beacon Arts Centre, Greenock 20 July 7.30pm

Theatre Royal, Dumfries 22 July 7.30pm

Ryan Centre, Stranraer 23 July 7.30pm

The Lemon Tree, Aberdeen 26 July 7pm

Eastgate Theatre, Peebles 28 July 7.30pm

Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling 29 July 7.30pm

Assembly Hall, Edinburgh 4 to 28 August at 1.25pm

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