THE FLYING LOVERS OF VITEBSK Wins 2017 Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award

The Carol Tambor Theatrical Foundation has announced the winner of this year's The Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award, the highest honor at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Chosen by Carol Tambor and members of her Foundation, along with The Scotsman Newspaper's Arts Writers Joyce McMillian, Jackie McGlone and Mark Fisher, THE FLYING LOVERS OF VITEBSK was announced as the winner at the Scotsman Award Ceremony during the closing ceremonies of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on Friday, August 25.

Produced by Kneehigh and Bristol Old Vic THE FLYING LOVERS OF VITEBSK, directed by Emma Rice, written by Daniel Jamieson and composed by Ian Ross, played at the Traverse Theatre from August 15-27. The production will have a New York run courtesy of The Carol Tambor Theatrical Foundation this spring with dates and a venue to be announced.

Partners in life and on canvas, Marc and Bella are immortalized as the picture of romance. But whilst on canvas they flew, in life they walked through some of the most devastating times in history. The couple embark on a journey exploring themselves and each other, navigating the Pogroms, the Russian Revolution and the World Wars.

"I was familiar with both Emma Rice's unique style and Marc Chagall's magical paintings before seeing the show. However, I was unprepared for the unbridled joy I felt while watching The Flying Lover of Vitebsk," said founder Carol Tambor. "Emma Rice has enhanced Chagall's love affair with Bella and his art, with her own inimitable creativity--- the piece is a feast of marvelous music (by Ian Ross), movement, and an utterly beautiful set."

Emma Rice is best known for her groundbreaking work at Kneehigh Theatre, an innovative touring company based on the Cornish coast. She spent eight years working with Alibi Theatre making theatre for adults and children in venues ranging from tiny Devon primary schools to the RSC.

She became Joint Artistic Director of Kneehigh and lead the company through a vast and diverse range of work that included original pieces, adaptations and re-imaginings of classics. She has recently founded her own theatre company Wise Children, which will have its debut at London's Old Vic during the 2018/19 season with a production of Angela Carter's novel for which the company is named after.

Her productions for Kneehigh include: 946 -The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips, The Red Shoes, The Wooden Frock, The Bacchae, Tristan & Yseult, Cymbeline (in association with RSC), A Matter of Life and Death (in association with National Theatre), Rapunzel (in association with Battersea Arts Centre), Brief Encounter (in association with David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers Production), Don John (in association with the RSC and Bristol Old Vic), Midnight's Pumpkin, The Wild Bride, Wah! Wah! Girls (in association with Sadler's Wells and Theatre Royal Stratford East for World Stages) and Steptoe and Son.

Other work includes: the West End production of The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Oedipussy (Spymonkey); The Empress (RSC) and An Audience with Meow Meow (Berkeley Repertory Theatre).

Daniel Jamieson has worked for many years with Theatre Alibi as associate writer, actor and joint artistic director (1995 - 2000). In 2015 he won an ACA Members Award for his plays for children. In addition to writing new works for various theatre companies, he has adapted novels by Charles Dickens, Graham Greene, and more for the stage.

Ian Ross is a Bristol based multi-instrumentalist. He leads the band Eleven Magpies. He has composed, been a musician, and music director for a number of theatrical works including Hansel and Gretel, Brief Encounter, and Kneehigh's 946.

Now in its 14th year, The Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award builds a bridge between New York City and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the largest arts festival in the world. Created by Carol Tambor in 2004, the inaugural award winners were Sister's, Such Devoted Sisters and Rosebud: The Lives of Orson Welles. Subsequent winners include Andrew Dawson's Absence and Presence; Michael Redhill's Goodness; 1927's Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea; Ella Hickson's Eight; Elaine Murphy's Little Gem; Pants on Fire's retelling of Ovid's Metamorphosis; Circle of Eleven's LEO; David Greig's Midsummer and The Events; Yael Farber's Mies Julie; The Object Lesson by Geoff Sobelle; Key Change by Catrina McHugh and last year's award-winner Life According to Saki by Katherine Rundell.

Carol Tambor is a portrait artist by trade and a theater aficionado. For over a decade prior to creating the award, she had traveled to Edinburgh to enjoy the Festival offerings. Dismayed that so many fine plays never transferred to NYC, she decided to create an opportunity for New York audiences to get a taste of the Edinburgh magic.

The Carol Tambor Theatrical Foundation was established to bring excellent dramatic work to The New York audience by funding The New York run. The mission to support artists in their desire to be seen and produced is carried out with no financial or commercial involvement in their future success. For more information, visit www.bestofedinburgh.org.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe began in 1947 when eight theatre companies turned up uninvited to perform at the inaugural Edinburgh International Festival. The companies were refused entry to the programme but decided to perform on the fringe of the Festival anyway. The Fringe has remained true to the defiance expressed by the eight companies who performed in 1947, upholding its open access principle that permits anyone with a story to tell and a venue willing to host them to participate and the Fringe has grown to be the largest arts festival in the world. There were 50,266 performances of 3,269 shows in 294 venues across Edinburgh, during the 2016 Festival with an estimated 2,475,143 tickets issued. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has served as a launching pad for the careers of stars such as Craig Ferguson, Mike Myers, John Cleese, Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Jude Law and Eddie Izzard as well as renowned playwrights like Tom Stoppard. For more information, visit www.edfringe.com.

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