Home Culture Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024 – Made in Scotland showcase announced

Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024 – Made in Scotland showcase announced

May 23, 2024 12:01 am

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Artists, performers, creatives, and their communities from all over Scotland will present their work as part of Made in Scotland Showcase at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024.

The 2024 programme will include fourteen shows featuring dance, music, theatre and interdisciplinary work. With international audiences, industry and media visiting, the artists and performers will enjoy a unique opportunity to present their work with the potential of later taking it to audiences across the world.

Established in 2009, this essential programme of work has supported 273 shows to date, has nurtured and encouraged international creative dialogue, and has been the catalyst for many exciting international collaborations. The onward touring fund component has supported more than 100 productions in visiting over forty countries.

This year’s showcase reflects the changing landscape of expression across the nation with traditional forms like theatre, which Scotland is known for, to new multidisciplinary works where voices in new forms are finding emerging audiences. Themes explored include international music collaboration, a musical love story, a Wild West dance spectacular, intergenerational ideas of masculinity, deforestation tackled in a miniature opera and life in the community after incarceration.

Dancers Robbie Synge and young performer Alfie (10) from The Show For Young Men PHOTO © 2024 The Edinburgh Reporter

The selected works will be performed across ten venues in Edinburgh, including the Traverse Theatre, Summerhall, Assembly@ Dance Base, the Scottish Storytelling Centre, Assembly Roxy. Other spaces include live music venue The Queens Hall and club La Belle Angele. Fringe-specific venues also include ZOO Southside, Assembly George Square and New Town Church.

The Onward Touring fund component has supported more than 100 productions in visiting more than forty countries. This level of engagement would not have been possible without ongoing support from The Scottish Government’s Festivals EXPO Fund through Creative Scotland. Through this support, the vibrancy and vitality of Scotland’s cultural landscape will be proudly on display during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this August. From established, and award-winning companies, to new work from world class performers, audiences will be captivated by this year’s Made in Scotland programme.

Angus Robertson, Cabinet Secretary for Constitution, External Affairs and Culture said: “Scotland has a rich, internationally-renowned cultural heritage, and in bringing some of our best new talent to audiences around the world, the Made in Scotland Showcase highlights how that legacy continues to evolve in new and inspiring ways.

“The Scottish Government is committed to enhancing the international presence of our culture sector and we’re therefore proud to have supported this year’s showcase with £550,000 funding through our Expo fund, which is designed to help festivals innovate and maximise national and international opportunities for the artists who contribute to them.”

2024 Made in Scotland Programme

INTERDISCIPLINARY

STUMPED
By Lewis Coenen-Rowe
Recommended age guideline: 12+
Venue: Scottish Storytelling Centre, Venue 30
Dates: Aug 2^nd, 4^th, 6^th, 8^th, 11^th, 13^th
Time: 18.45
60 Mins
Category: Interdisciplinary
STUMPED is a miniature scale contemporary opera designed to be performed in intimate spaces with a small number of performers. STUMPED explores the issue of deforestation through scenes from five very ancient stories from various times and places that all centre on what happens when you mess with trees. These old stories alternate with conversations between two users of an internet forum on an overnight work binge. Gradually, the two worlds begin to merge.

The Show for Young Men
By Eoin McKenzie in Association with Imaginate
Recommended age guideline: 8+
Venue: Dance Base, Venue 22
Dates: Aug 2^nd – 3^rd, 7^th – 10^th, 14^th – 17^th, 21^st – 24^th
Time: 17.30
60 Mins
Category: Interdisciplinary
The Show For Young Men (TSFYM) is a brilliant new co-created performance for young audiences by Eoin McKenzie (Associate Artist, Platform; Accelerator Artist, Imaginate 22/23), presented in association with prestigious Scottish theatre and dance organisation, Imaginate, and devised in collaboration with critically-acclaimed dancemaker Robbie Synge (Ensemble, Made in Scotland Showcase, 2019; Men & Girls Dance, Fevered Sleep, 2016) and young performer Alfie (The Show for Young Men, 23/24). Created with and for young men, TSFYM is both an astounding piece of contemporary performance for young audiences and an urgent political interrogation that proudly presents new possibilities for men of all ages.

THEATRE
A History of Paper (World Premiere)
Dundee Rep Theatre and Traverse Theatre
Recommended age guideline: 12+
Venue: Traverse Theatre, Venue 15
Dates: Aug 1^st (Preview) 2^nd – 4^th, 6^th – 11^th, 13^th – 18^th, 20^th – 25^th
Time: Various
80 Mins
Category: Theatre
A HISTORY OF PAPER is a new piece of musical theatre produced by Dundee Rep Theatre. Written by Oliver Emanuel (Book and Lyrics) and Gareth Williams (Music) A History of Paper is a musical love story based on paper and people who love paper. Under the co-direction of Andrew Panton, Artistic Director of Dundee Rep Theatre, and a guest co-director, the intimate work is a small-scale chamber musical featuring two performers and a pianist – ‘comic feelgood tearjerker about a man and a woman and the bits of paper that can mean so much’.

Love Beyond (Act of Remembrance)
Raw Material Arts Ltd and Vanishing Point
Recommended age guideline: 12+
Venue: Assembly George Square, Venue 8
Dates: Aug 12^th (Preview) – 13^th, 15^th – 18^th, 20^th – 25^th
Time: 12.15
75 Mins
Category: Theatre
Love Beyond (Act of Remembrance) is a theatre production written and performed by acclaimed deaf theatre maker Ramesh Meyyappan along with three other cast members and directed by Matthew Lenton (Vanishing Point). Harry has dementia. He also uses sign language. As he moves into a new care home, he is accompanied by memories that dance like ghosts around him. Events from the past seem newly present; a visit from his wife rekindles their love – he imagines they are young and together again.
Harry’s carer provides him with some solace, but just as the determined nurse begins to learn Harry’s sign language, he begins to forget it, leaving him in a unique world where he must confront the only thing that remains – himself.

June Carter Cash: The Woman, Her Music and Me
National Theatre of Scotland and Grid Iron Theatre Company
Recommended age guideline: 16+
Venue: Summerhall, Venue 26
Dates: Aug 2^nd – 4^th (Preview) 6^th – 11^th, 13^th – 18^th, 20^th – 24^th
Time: 16.20
80 Mins
Category: Theatre
June is a new autobiographical play with songs by Charlene Boyd. June is a character study of how women, ground down by life, endure, exploring working class stereotypes, motherhood, ambition and failure, through the paralleling of Charlene’s experiences as a divorced mother and artist, with the life of legendary country music star June Carter Cash (JCC). Directed by Cora Bissett, this co-production between the National Theatre of Scotland (NTS) and Grid Iron Theatre Company (GI) will welcome audiences to an intimate, transformed space, designed by Shona Reppe. Cabaret-style seating and table settings will recreate the feeling of attending a gig in Nashville’s legendary Bluebird Cafe, the hatchery for superstar country musicians.

Through the Mud
Steller Quines and Royal Lyceum Theatre
Recommended age guideline: 14+
Venue: Summerhall, Venue 26
Dates: Aug 1^st (Preview) 2^nd – 6^th, 8^th– 11^th, 13^th – 18^th, 20^th – 25^th
Time: 17.55
70 Mis
Category: Theatre
Through the Mud is written by American born, Edinburgh based writer and performer Apphia Campbell and directed by Stellar Quines artistic director Caitlin Skinner and is produced by Stellar Quines and the Lyceum Theatre. The play follows young college student Ambrosia Rollins, played by Tinashe Warikandwa, who is starting college near Ferguson in 2014, just a few weeks after Michael Brown is killed by a police officer. Ambrosia, unaware of the significance of the political events she finds herself in, is confronted by present and past struggles for black liberation as she becomes involved in the beginnings of the #BlackLivesMatter movement.

Puddles and Amazons
By Guy Woods
Recommended age guideline: 14+
Venue: Summerhall, Venue 26
Dates: Aug 1^st (Preview) 2^nd – 11^th, 13^th– 18^th, 20^th – 26^th
Time 16.40
50 Mins
Category: Theatre
Puddles and Amazons is a one-person piece of experimental storytelling theatre. Originally produced at the Tron Theatre, this 50-minute production is a fast-paced comedy/drama using live sound creation, and is designed for young people. 1 in 2 LGBTQI+ people experience depression (Source: mentalhealth.org) and suicide is the largest killer of men under 45 in the UK (Source: ONS). As queer artists, we want to move away from often severe depictions of queerness, and bring an unconventional, absurd perspective to stories of grief and boyhood.
DANCE
Common is as Common Does: A Memoir
21 Common
Recommended age guideline: 14+
Venue: Zoo Southside, Venue 82
Dates: Aug 2^nd – 10^th, 13^th – 17^th (confirm please)
Time: 12.30
60 Mins
Category: Dance
This dance spectacular mashes feats of physical endurance with the end of the night at the Grand Ole Oprey. Using tropes of a Western movie, it explores how experience of poverty and violence can shape a man. Both challenging and wildly entertaining, this will make an excellent addition to the showcase and demonstrate the ground-breaking calibre of contemporary Scottish artists.

Futuristic Folktales
By Charlotte Mclean
Recommended age guideline: 12+
Venue: Assembly @ Dance Base Venue 22
Dates: Aug 13^th – 18^th
Time: 15.50
60 Mins
Category: Dance
Futuristic Folktales is a new dance-theatre production from Charlotte Mclean and Collaborators telling the tentative tale of the first womb, humbly attempting to unify humanity through the universal narrative of birth. The work questions the preservation of tradition and myth using contemporary, breaking and Scottish Highland dance, as well as storytelling and song. Through these performative mediums, the work politicises and critiques borders, body politics and reproductive justice. Futuristic Folktales is a trio-work performed by actor (Chanai Bradley Fofanah), dancer (Orrow Bell) and break-dancer (Astro Raiz Jorge Scheidegger).

The Flock & Moving Cloud
Scottish Dance Theatre
Recommended age guideline: 12+
Venue: Zoo Southside Venue 82
Dates: Aug 13^th (Preview) 14^th – 18^th, 20^th – 25^th
Time: 18.20
70 Mins
Category: Dance
Scottish Dance Theatre returns to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2024 with a thrilling Double Bill programme, celebrating Scotland’s rich cultural heritage and outward-looking spirit. After five years of absence, the full company returns to the Festival to present a joyous and virtuosic evening of live music and dance, conceived for the Fringe and engaging for both the contemporary dance connoisseur and the complete dance-novice.

The Last Forecast
By Bridie Gane
Recommended age guideline: 6+
Venue: Dance Base, Venue 22
Dates: Aug 3^rd, 4^th, 6^th – 11^th, 13^th – 18^th
Time: 13.15
40 Mins
Category: Dance
The Last Forecast tells the story of Gail, a gecko-like creature who happily lives alone on an island, in harmony with the surroundings. Everything matches, everything is perfect. Unfortunately, Gail is not alone for long. A stranger arrives, laden with earthly belongings and starts setting up home, disturbing this island sanctuary. However, the forecast is for rising water levels and soon there won’t be space for either of them…
MUSIC
The Other
Recommended age guideline: All Ages
Venue: Scottish Storytelling Centre, Venue 30
Dates: Aug 14^th, 15^th, 16^th
Time: 15.15, 15.15, 18.45
60 Mins
Category: Music
This is a collaborative project between musicians from Scotland, those who have experienced displacement and migration, to explore the music of different cultures through developing compositions based on the diversity of the many ethnic origins of people who now live in Scotland. With support from Creative Scotland’s Creative Development fund, and the EPAD Practice Support Fund, The Other brought together eight incredible musicians to work on five compositions as a means to launching this project in 2021. Those involved come from Scotland, Iran, Chile and Brazil.

Catriona Price and Friends
Hert (World Premiere)
Recommended age guideline:
Venue: La Belle Angele, Venue 301 The Queen’s Hall, Venue 72 New Town Church, Venue 111
Dates: Aug 12^th., 14^th, 16^th
Times: 20.00, 20.30, 14.30
120 Mins
Category: Music
Hert (Orcadian Scots for ‘heart’) is an original 45-minute suite of music in nine movements for nine musicians by Orcadian violinist and composer Catriona Price. Through the piece Catriona explores the changing meaning of ‘home’ – delving into what her motherland of Orkney means to her now that she is looking upon it with adult eyes. The parts of it she loves and celebrates, is proud of, is disillusioned by, things she didn’t notice when she was a child growing up in the island bubble, and the things that she misses. Initially inspired by George Mackay Brown’s iconic Orcadian writing, she dug deeper and chose seven more Orcadian writers as inspiration for the music.

A Giant on the Bridge
Co-created and performed by Louis Abbott, Kim Grant, Jo Mango and Solareye with Phil Crockett Thomas, Rachel Sermanni and members of the Distant Voices Community
Recommended age guideline: 14+
Venue: Assembly Roxy Central, Venue 139
Dates: Aug 2^nd – 6^th, 8^th– 11^th, 13^th– 18^th
Time: 10.40
80 Mins
Category: Music
AGOTB is a bold performance of heart-wrought songs & urgent stories, animating five perspectives on prison homecoming. Critically acclaimed singer-songwriters Louis Abbott (Admiral Fallow), Rachel Sermanni/Raveloe (in February performances), Jo Mango, Jill O’Sullivan with rapper Solareye give horizon-expanding performances in this unique narrative gig. AGOTB developed from a five-year research project to explore the challenge of returning home from prison and re-integration (Distant Voices: Coming Home).