Plenty of local interest to catch eyes on the international stage
Festival director Linehan makes sure domestic talent is not left out in the cold
mix of film footage and meticulously observed artefacts displayed in the show’s exhibition and made by artists Robbie Thompson, Jack Wrigley and others that tap into the city’s radical past so vividly.
Despite its seeming localism, Bright has played at theatre festivals in Sweden and Ireland, and now effectively comes home to the Queen’s Hall, the venue where the show’s eponymous subject is said to have presented his ill-fated stage version of James Hogg’s iconic novel, Confessions of A Justified Sinner.
“It feels like the right place to be,” says Laing. “It was Fergus’ suggestion that we do it in the Queen’s Hall, and it’s not going to be an easy place to do it because of all the concerts that are going to be on there in the daytime, but it’s very exciting.”
Dragon, which was made with Tianjin People’s Arts Theatre in China, is an equally ambitious project, a near wordless fantasia written by Oliver Emanuel in which physical theatre, puppetry and music by composer Tim we did it, in terms of ticket sales it wasn’t a popular show, but people who saw it got something out of it, and there ended up being a bit of a buzz around it. Then by the time we got to Dublin there was a real buzz and it sold out. It’s almost as if the show was dictating to us.
“One of the things that concerned me about doing it in Dublin was the Scottishness of it and the Protestant culture that the original novel was steeped in, but as it turned out that wasn’t a problem. They absolutely got it. In Sweden they got it as well, but they got it on a different level because it’s so wordy.”
The EIF dates for Bright’s Confessions of A Justified Sinner and Dragon come at very interesting times for both Laing and Vox Motus. Creative Scotland’s rejection of Untitled Projects for regular three-year funding – a decision taken after Paul Bright was already confirmed for the Queen’s Hall – has effectively left the company in a limbo from which it is unclear whether it will recover.
“The company is still there as an idea,” says Laing, “but I’m not sure what’s going to happen next.”
While Laing isn’t short of work as a designer of note, Bright’s EIF run could ideally be used as a platform for more international dates.
Vox Motus, meanwhile, are working with unnamed commercial producers on a major project which should see the light of day in 2017, and don’t feel it appropriate to apply for public funding at all. In terms of the future of Dragon, Edmunds and Harrison are already looking beyond EIF.
“We’ve already had lots of interest,” says Edmunds, “and hopefully this is just the start of Dragon having a much larger international life.” Dragon, Royal Lyceum Theatre, Aug 14-15, 7pm, Aug 15, 2pm, Aug 16, noon and 4pm. Paul Bright’s Confessions of a Justified Sinner, The Queen’s Hall, Aug 19-22, 8pm, Aug 22, 4pm. www.eif.co.uk/dragon www.eif.co.uk/sinner
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e had to accept we were in a very dragon-centric culture and that what looked sleek to us, to them looked like long maggots