Scottish showcase at Fringe revealed
● 23 shows will be promoted under the one banner during the festival
Stories drawn from real-life alcoholics, a female soldier’s sexual violence and bullying in the US military, and the views of conscientious objectors during the First World War will be in an official government-funded showcase of Scottish work at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The £560,000 Made in Scotland programme will also feature a comedy inspired by a radical gay and lesbian bookshop in 1980s Edinburgh, a dance show which will be staged inside the main debating hall of the City Chambers and a show about a series of urban horror stories in a fictional Scottish town.
The initiative, which is in its 10th year, allows a series of specially-selected theatre, music and dance shows to be promoted under the one banner.
The 2018 line-up, which features 0 Dancers Emma Smith Neil Price, Adam Sloan and Julie Spence of Independ-dance show Four Go Wild in Wellies to launch the 2018 Made in Scotland Showcase 23 shows, will include actress Mary Jane Wells’ onewoman show about the reallife experiences of soldier Danna Davis during her 10 years in the American Army.
Letters For Peace will see guitarist and composer Graeme Stephen perform work inspired by stories and letters of conscientious objectors who refused to fight during the First World War.
Blackout, which will be staged by New Room Theatre, is billed as an “honest, brutal, uplifting and darkly comic story of alcoholics and ultimately of their hope in recovery.”
Theatre-maker Cora Bissett will recall her experiences as a teenage rock star catapulted into Britain’s 1990s indie-rock scene with her Fife band Darlingheart as part of the 10th annual showcase of homegrown productions.
Ross Wilson, who performs as Blue Rose Code, will stage a new show exploration generations of “Caledonian Soul” music as part of the programme, which will see Mairi Campbell recall how her performance of Auld Lang Syne ended up in the film version of Sex and the City.
Musician and composer Anna Meredith will unveil a new adaptation of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons, JG Ballard’s cult novel Concrete Island willinfluenceanexperimental danceshowandanewmusical will be inspired by the Oscarwinning Daniel Day Lewis movie My Left Foot.
Shona Mccarthy, chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, said: “It’s a special year for Made in Scotland as we celebrate 10 years of this fantastic showcase, presenting the finest work from Scotland to the world. We’re very proud of this initiative and of all artists that have participated over the last decade.”