Pleasance Times - Issue 2

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For interviews, feature articles, footage, and behind-the-scenes content find us online at pleasancetimes.tumblr.com

PEOPLE OF PLEASANCE

Name: Height: Shoe Size: Position: Hidden Talent: Fringe Rating:

Thomas Andrew Brace More than 5ft, less than 6ft 8 Street Team Coordinator / Magician Invisible deck of cards Chaotic Good

What is it like co-ordinating the street team? This is my fourth year of doing it, so really good fun. I like the freedom of it, you’re not stuck behind a desk and you get to walk and talk to people. That’s what I’m good at. It’s going really well, and we’ve got some really great shows that we are promoting. The strangest thing you’ve seen whilst flyering? I saw a man dressed as a lion today. He wasn’t saying anything, he was just dressed as a lion. It was a kids show, I think, but I was quite terrified. The eyes were so wide for a lion, it looks like it’s done something. Also, I wouldn’t go straight for lion, like a bear? It’s your fourth Fringe. What’s it like returning? I’ve been up at the Fringe in lots of different roles, now I’’m back doing a magic show and I thought, “Oh, I’ll also do this!” I love it. I quit to try and pursue something else and then I very quickly realised that I’d always be coming back.It is addictive, and it’s not even about the shows. The shows are a very small part of it now. It’s its own bubble. Time passes in the real world and you go back and think, “What?” - “How have I missed all of this?” The first year I saw 72 shows, last year I saw about 15. I know what I like and I watch that. For me it’s just the experience and the people, and it’s always a laugh.

IT’S KIKA’S BIRTHDAY!

Hi Danyah! Who is Kika and what can you tell us about your show about? It’s called Kika’s Birthday and it’s about a little French mouse called Kika, who comes to visit her British cousins. You see them going through the seasons – and in the Summer it’s Kika’s Birthday. They have a very special birthday. They have a birthday breakfast and they wear a crown and a cloak. Whilst all this is going on I’m baking a cake. I put it in the oven and it just happens to be ready [in time]. We then take the cake out and decorate it a bit. There’s a party, dancing, a grasshopper band, so it’s a lot of fun. There’s puppetry, singing and storytelling. It’s a theatrical, storytelling piece.

What can families expect when they come to see your show? I really respond to the audience. When I do shows, people say to me, a storyteller is more akin to standup than acting. So, as the children call out and the audience heckle in anyway at all then I will take that, I love that. The naughtier the better! It’s for children between 4 and 8, so it’s softer.

9 AUGUST ISSUE TWO WELCOME

PLEASANCE

TIMES

9 AUGUST ISSUE TWO WELCOME

I was able to go, “Meowwww!” Perfect timing. For me, ad libbing is part of what I do. I love it. It’s real, it’s live.

Many children watch television instead of live theatre. What has their response been to the show? There was a child who saw this, I think he was 7, and he didn’t say it during the show but afterwards he said to his mum, “Mummy, I was concentrating so hard I forgot my own name, I’ve never forgotten my own name before.” How do you go about creating this imaginary world for children? For me, it’s about being gentle, playful and just remembering. As a five-yearold child you have seen four summers. Can you imagine how wonderful summer is, or spring? The first tiny little snow drops that come up. For us, that have seen twenty or thirty of them, it’s like, “Yeah, we know what happens.” Of course, your first two or three you won’t remember very well anyway. That’s so magical! We forget that. Kika’s Birthday, 11.30, Courtyard, Beside

Have you had any budding hecklers in your audience? I was doing one show, and there was this the little boy who was interacting, and he was really in it and then he went, “Mummy, put her on pause, I need the loo!” He said it in the most massive voice, it was fantastic! There are times when I have to ignore it because it’s deeply in the story, but today, for example, I was in the story, and there is a bright orange cat that may be coming to foil these little mice’s party – maybe to eat them for lunch. I move forward with my claws and somebody’s balloon popped. So

Any recommendations? The water. Have you tried the tap water in Scotland? It’s delicious. I’m also a big fan of Irn Bru. I drink Irn Bru for the month and then don’t drink it for 11 months of the year. Also Scoopz, the ice cream place, a big shout out to them. It’s just so good.

Media Futures Team

Brace Yourself, 14:00, 8-18 Aug, Courtyard — The Green

Contact us mediafutures@pleasance.co.uk

Content Producers Ella Dufton Jack Solloway @jack_solloway Photographer Elly White @ellywhitephoto Videographer Eliott Simpson @sockfacesimpson

CREDIT: ELLY WHITE

IT’S NOT EASY BEING GREEN! E thical responsibility is an idea that can be quickly forgotten amidst the stresses of small budgets, frantic flyering and the constant desire for takeout coffee. Growth in the anti-plastics movement, along with programmes such as Blue Planet, have helped draw awareness towards the issue of single-use consumption, but how can we address this within the largest arts festival in the world? Hosted by Pleasance, who are part fo the Green Arts Initiative, rising stars Poltergeist Theatre, are approaching this issue headon with their #SustainableFringe campaign. Working with Creative Carbon Scotland (who the Green Arts Initiative) and Keep Scotland Beautiful, and to support their existing work, they have created 3 simple steps for other companies and audiences alike to follow. ‘As visitors to Edinburgh, seeing how many flyers there are and how much of an impact the festival goers have, I wanted to build

something at a production level’, Alice Boyd, Poltergeist’s Sustainability Manager tells me. ‘This is the first year of the campaign, so we decided that we wanted to do three very simple challenges that people can commit to and share. These are focused on waste because it is the most visible environmental issue at the Fringe.’ So how can you get involved? First, create a ‘sustainable fringe kit’ including an array of reusables such as a lunch box, travel cutlery, ‘keep cups’. Second, recycle effectively, separating waste, recycling flyers and taking pictures of them. Third, use the fringe Swap Shop organised by Fringe Central and supported by Creative Carbon Scotland, companies can take leftover flyers, set, costume and props to be swapped or recycled. ‘Even if people don’t follow the campaign, if they just read about it, it will start planting in their mind that this is something they

should care about’. It is refreshing to see a young company with such a proactive attitude, taking a stance on this important issue. Leading by example, Alice is fully equipped with her reusable cup and tells me how the whole team have come together to promote #SustainableFringe. Their show, Lights Over Tesco Car Park, follows the story of Robert who tells the group that an alien has come to stay, leaving them to figure out whether they believe him or not. This joyous piece uses the audience to tell a story, playing with theatrical convention to contemplate ideas of truth and how perceptions of this can differ. Actively reusing props throughout the run, with plans to expand the movement, you’d be out of this world to give this one a miss! To find out more follow @SustFringe on twitter. Lights Over Tesco Car Park 10.50 Aug 8-14, 16-21, 23-27 JackDome, Dome

www.pleasance.co.uk

0131 556 6550

www.pleasance.co.uk

0131 556 6550

pleasancetimes.tumblr.com

@ThePleasance

pleasancetimes.tumblr.com

@ThePleasance


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