General Blog

The Last Edinburgh blog 2010

Good evening blog followers,

Firstly, I am very sorry to have left you in the dark for the last 10 days. It has been rather hectic here at China Plate.

Secondly I must apologise that this blog is a total sham – I came back from Edinburgh a week ago and just haven’t had the chance to write it up until now. I had intended to do it on the way back from Edinburgh but was on a full train with no power supply so I couldn’t keep my laptop running long enough.

Right apologies over. If you’re still in Edinburgh or going up for the last weekend these recommendations will still be useful. (If not – you never know, we may be able entice some of the work down to Warwick Arts Centre in the coming year.)

There aren’t many show to go (of the 50 or so Paul and I saw whilst up there), but these last few are some of the best. 2 big shows, 2 tiny shows and 2 that have sadly already finished but I’m sure will tour.

First up, Beautiful Burnout. A big, brash bruiser of a show from Frantic Assembly and Bryony Lavery. It’s the story of a group of young boxers and their rise to fame. It’s a huge Edinburgh hit and I have no doubt there will be lots of opportunities to see it in the future.

Ontroerend Goed’s Teenage Riot was brilliant. Heartfelt, visceral, honest and dark. Ontroerend Goed are one of the most exciting companies working anywhere in the world at the moment and we shall do our best to lure them to Coventry! Google them – they are extraordinary.

And next, the tiny shows. Laura Mugridge’s Running On Air takes place in a camper van and Leo Kay’s It’s Like He’s Knocking takes place in a bedroom. They are very different though are both intimate self portraits. Laura’s piece is about her camper van, it’s a wistful, joyous celebration of a battered old unreliable car, a wedding present. Together you take a virtual journey down to Devon reliving something of its last year. Leo’s show is about his father and his grandfather and has a harder edge, together the audience toast the dead with vodka and celebrate their remarkable lives.

Sadly you won’t be able to catch either of these last two in Edinburgh as they were only on for limited runs – but again I’m sure you’ll get a chance to see them on tour. Melanie Wilson and Abigail Conway produced a beautiful piece called Every Minute Always which was performed in a cinema.Taking Brief Encounter as its inspiration, it’s a intimate headphones piece for of pairs of people. It’s a beautiful interactive piece of work in which each participant is the protagonist in their own cinematic encounter. And my last Edinburgh mention of 2010, Non Zero One presented a very early scratch of their new piece about choice and responsibility, Hold Hands, Lock Horns. They are remarkable company, its less than a year since they graduated from Royal Holloway – their graduate show was picked up by the Barbican last summer, I wonder what will happen to this one.

And before I go – a swift update on Caroline Horton’s show that was commissioned by Bite Size and Warwick Arts Centre earlier in the year. Caroline has had a fantastic festival. She has now had 4 star reviews in The Evening Standard, The Metro, The Financial Times, The List, Three Weeks, a lovely review in the Guardian and the Stage and a whole raft of Edinburgh specific reviews as well as being nominated for The Holden St Theatre Prize and The Stage’s best solo performer award. Not bad for the first piece of theatre that she’s made! And great for us at Warwick seeing work that has been supported and developed by the centre going on to great success.

So that’s it for me for another Edinburgh. I am already looking forward to next year with a sense of excitement and slight dread… It’s a British Council Showcase next year which always raises the stakes even further!