In collaboration with Northern Stage at Summerhall, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 2 – 23 August
As the centerpiece of the company’s 40th anniversary programme, Paines Plough’s portable in-the-round theatre is unveiled at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe with a repertory of new work performed by an acting ensemble. After three years in development the brand new Roundabout auditorium will be unveiled at Summerhall this August.
A prototype of the theatre space was co-produced with Sheffield Theatres in 2011 and played at Shoreditch Town Hall in 2012. Armed with the experience of these two runs, and the generous support of principal funder Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation along with J Paul Getty Jr Charitable Trust, John Ellerman Foundation and Garfield Weston Foundation, the brand new pop-up theatre will form an integral part of future Paines Plough programmes.
Duncan Macmillan’s critically acclaimed Lungs will return as part of the season, joined by his Every Brilliant Thing, with Dennis Kelly’s play for young people, Our Teacher’s a Troll – originally commissioned by Paines Plough and Half Moon in 2005, it will be presented here in a new co-production between the two companies – and the world première of Alexandra Wood’s The Initiate. The 2014 Roundabout Season is made possible thanks to the generous support of the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
The company for Lungs, Our Teacher’s a Troll and The Initiate is Andrew French, Abdul Salis, and Sian Reese-Williams. The cast for Every Brilliant Thing is Jonny Donahoe.
Paines Plough will also stage relaxed and signed performances throughout the run in Edinburgh for each of their productions.
Following performances in Edinburgh, the auditorium and season of plays will embark on a series of nationwide residencies including Newbury Corn Exchange (27 – 30 August), Margate Winter Gardens (3 – 7 September) and Barnsley Civic (1 – 5 October).
Northern Stage will partner with Paines Plough for this year’s Roundabout Season at Summerhall – staging their own productions Dead To Me, Britannia Waves the Rules and Beats North; and Show 6 a new play by Mark Ravenhill written for the Lyric Hammersmith’s innovative Secret Theatre Company.
Paines Plough’s Artistic Directors James Grieve and George Perrin said today, “Roundabout is the epitome of Paines Plough and everything the company has striven to achieve in its 40 year history. Our beautiful pop-up theatre means we can tour outstanding new plays further and wider than ever before, giving audiences a thrilling in-the-round experience on their doorstep. Roundabout will pop-up in sports halls and warehouses in parts of the country that don’t have theatres, and our own productions will sit alongside community shows and events as a mini-festival that will bring new plays and great entertainment right to the heart of local communities.
“In collaboration with our friends at Northern Stage, we are unveiling Roundabout at Summerhall with a repertory of plays by three of the most exciting writers in the country. Paines Plough has a long history of premièring work in Edinburgh, and the largest arts festival in the world is a fitting and exciting place to unveil our ground-breaking new portable theatre. We can’t wait to welcome audiences in Edinburgh and around the UK to Roundabout.”
Rupert Thomson, Artistic Director of Summerhall commented, “Among the things we value here at Summerhall, are imaginative and alternative approaches to familiar things, and positive collaborations between like-minded parties. Paines Plough’s Roundabout project fulfils both of these perfectly, with a beautiful and purpose-built structure for theatre in an intimate setting, and a partnership with both them and Northern Stage to present it as part of the Fringe. We are thrilled that so many excellent plays feature in this space, and look forward to welcoming audiences to them throughout August.”
John graduated from Telford College in 2010 with an HNC in Practical Journalism and since then he worked for the North Edinburgh News, The Southern Reporter, the Irish News Review and The Edinburgh Reporter. In addition he has been published in the Edinburgh Evening News and the Hibernian FC Programme.
