The Illusion of Dramaturgy: Mara Menzies @ Edfringe 2017

‘The illusion of Truth’ – Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh Festival Fringe

After taking her successful show from the 2016 Fringe to many festivals around the world and collaborating with NGO’s, Mara Menzies returns to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year with a new story to tell.

Enter a world where Gods feast, dance and wander through forests. Reaching into the pantheon of African Orishas (Yoruban mythology), performance storyteller Mara Menzies explores our relationship with truth, intention and powerlessness wrapped in the thin cloak of power. 

Edinburgh Fringe - Scottish Storytelling Centre, August 3-7, 13-17, 21-24 (13:30) Duration 1hr, £9.00 (£7.00) (£28.00F)

credit Bibi June Schwithal

What was the inspiration for this performance?

The inspiration for the story came about because I had found this incredible ancient myth that somehow encompassed everything that we see in the current political atmosphere where it is difficult to discern truth from fiction because we don't have access to multiple truths. I also love Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's TED talk, 'The Danger of the Single Story' and felt it was time to explore what we consider to be truth and how we deal with it.  Doing this through ancient African mythology seemed to be an exciting way of exploring truth.

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas? 

Performance, especially direct storytelling theatre that engages people and draws them into the piece directly is an incredibly valuable tool for discussing ideas. 'The Illusion of Truth' doesn't aim to provide answers, simply to enable the audience to decide for themselves through multiple characters sharing a variety of layered stories.

How did you become interested in making performance?

I became a storyteller, initially to ensure my children had access to the incredible stories from their African heritage but since then it has grown to encompass stories that explore themes such as identity, truth and how we become who we are. Storytelling and performance enables audiences to access worlds that they may not have otherwise imagined, to hear stories and experiences that may inform and inspire them, to challenge their own perspectives of people and place, all while having a bloody good time!

Is there any particular approach to the

making of the show?

The main thing for me is the narrative. It has be strong and true to itself and if a story is adapted, then it is done so with respect and as much cultural accuracy as possible. Finding a great team is essential. To play with ideas, to give an alternative eye, to simply support.

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

The Illusion of Truth is an ancient mythology from a living, vibrant pantheon of deities worshipped around the world. We are sharing some of their stories in without live percussion which is unusual and we are incorporating an eclectic soundtrack which we think brings something exciting to the production. 

This is the first show that we have performed in the round which is terrifying and exciting and wonderful. Each production we have made to date is different and depends on the narrative, the origin of the story, the audience to whom you anticipate telling to, the team putting it together and more. 

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

We hope that audiences will leave questioning

their own relationship with truth. We are also really excited to introduce audiences to the Orishas where a fundamental belief is that there is no right or wrong, good or bad but simply that sometimes things get out of balance and have to be realigned. We also hope to challenge perceptions of storytelling as theatre or as a powerful performance tool in its own right. 

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

Storytelling by its nature involves close, intimate interaction with the audience and the circular set up of the space brings the audience together, so in a sense they take part in the performance but also are able to watch each other. There is something of the sacred in a circle and within the piece, spirals and circles are an essential part of that experience. 

Enter a world where Gods feast, dance and wander through forests. Reaching into the pantheon of African Orishas (Yoruban mythology), performance storyteller Mara Menzies explores our relationship with truth, intention and powerlessness wrapped in the thin cloak of power. How does society control its decision-making when exposed to so many alternative facts? A young man obsessed with joining the ranks of deities, seizes an opportunity to appease himself to the Gods. An innocent misunderstanding leads to disastrous consequences when seemingly justifiable actions are taken without full knowledge of the facts.

Edinburgh based, Kenyan/Scottish storyteller, Mara uses her shows not simply to tell a story, but to engage the audience in powerful issues such as FGM, sexism and racism through the art of storytelling. Taking the medium of storytelling back to its roots, used to pass on information and inform younger generations. Mara brings her passion to the stage as she spreads the knowledge through her stories with a contemporary twist of an electronic soundscape to engage with audiences of all ages.

Last month Mara performed a taster of her new show ‘The Illusion of Truth’ at the British Library in London for Africa Writes 2017 to a sell-out audience and received much acclaim.

Don’t miss this show which addresses highly topical issues at

Scottish Storytelling Centre, August 3-7, 13-17, 21-24 (13:30) Duration 1hr with ticket prices £9.00 (£7.00) (£28.00F). 3^rd August preview £6.00 (£4.00) (£16.00F).

Edinburgh Fringe - Scottish Storytelling Centre, August 3-7, 13-17, 21-24 (13:30) Duration 1hr, £9.00 (£7.00) (£28.00F)

Dramaturgies of Hope and Resistance: Bonnie Fechters @ Edfringe 2017

BONNIE FECHTERS – SONGS & STORIES OF HOPE & RESISTANCE

FRI 18 – SUN 20, FRI 25 & SAT 26 AUG
SCOTTISH STORYTELLING CENTRE, 43-45 HIGH STREET, EH1 1 SR

VENUE 30

A ONE-WOMAN SHOW CELEBRATING WOMEN OF COURAGE ACROSS THE CENTURIES

Previous sell-out success at Edinburgh International Radical Book Fringe & the Scottish Storytelling Centre

Bonnie Fechters is an inspiring collection of stories and songs about women’s activism and struggle throughout the world and over the centuries. Devised, performed and directed by Morna Burdon* ( see below), the show journeys from the jute mills of Dundee to the Vietnam war, from late 19^th century Syrian refugees welcomed into the USA to a modern Scottish woman who rode horseback in Mongolia with her 6-year-old daughter to record the lives of women there.

Discover the Scottish women targeted as witches, hear tales of the girls who survived the Magdalene institutions for “fallen women”, explore the 1976 ‘Strikers in Saris’ protest and many more inspiring females who may never have been heard of but were there.

Burdon states:

What was the inspiration for this performance? 

Courageous women & songs they sang to survive or give then strength or  songs that were sang about women such as they. Also, a call out for free fringe shows 2 years ago by that lovely, supportive Edinburgh venue, Woodland Creatures

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas? 

This one is! Great after show discussions where that has been feasible & also written comments from audiences. Folk have gone off and done research about people in their own families and different generations have sat in the same room talking to each other about their backgrounds, their battles, their lives.

How did you become interested in making performance?

 I did Highland dancing when I was wee & loved it. A little theatre company came to my rural primary school and created magic in our gym hall.  I was auditioned for a small part in a class show & apparently did a great  stretch & yawn ! 

Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?

Allowing myself to go with what inspires me. Might be an idea. Might be an actor's way of moving ( if I am directing). Always remembering that the show is for the audience - not ( sorry) for the critics. If I did not remember that, I would never create anything - my own internal critic is massive!!!

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

Not really in that I perform & direct my own one woman show which is new to me. 

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

Inspiration - I hope they experience knowing that in the midst of terrible tragedy, prejudice & what seem like impossible odds, we human beings are capable of courage, dignity and hope. 

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

Was I going on too long? Was I being false at any stage? Was I remembering this show is "their" show - the women of courage - not " mine" & remembering it is not about me - it is about "them" (the women of courage) and "them" the audience - who will undoubtedly include people of courage. I am just a conduit & I need to use what I know about theatre to get out of the way & let the story & the audience connect.

‘A bonnie fechter is someone who stands up for what they believe in. The aim of my work is to inspire audiences by using words, song, music and performance to tell the stories of real people – especially women – whose courage, love, inventiveness and human spirit have stood up to injustice and oppression over continents and centuries.

‘My research showed me that whatever the circumstances of these women, somewhere there was hope, courage, resilience and – more often than not – there was song. This show is a celebration of these women, a celebration of song – and it’s for everyone. Each production has its own focus and theme but the aim is simply allowing the stories of brave people to take centre stage. Depending on the setting or production, there can be space for the audience to tell their stories of inspiration – and their stories are amazing too.’

           

Bonnie Fechters – Songs & Stories of Hope & Resistance

Fri 18 – Sun 20, Fri 25 & Sat 26 Aug
1.30pm (50mins) | Ages 14+

£9 (£7) (£28 family of 4) (£6.50 Storytelling Centre Supporter)

 Box Office:

www.scottishstorytellingcentre.co.uk             0131 556 9579

www.edfringe.com                                         0131 226 0000

*Morna Burdon is a director, writer, performer & singer whose work has focused strongly on telling the stories of the disenfranchised and those whose lives are hidden & voices unheard. This has inevitably often meant a focus on women -  from " Twa Mock Weddings & A Henna Night" for Dundee Rep about similar ( & outrageous)  wedding preparations in the Scottish, Chinese & Asian communities to " Mother, Daughters & Wild Wild Women - an international project using trapeze, sword-fighting & live painting on stage. 

For ten years she was a member of the creative team at Edinburgh’s ground-breaking Theatre Workshop  ( set up by 2 women, and for many years a Fringe venue - now sadly being redeveloped). She was also a member of the women's ensemble theatre company, Witch where bricks were thrown at the company as they left the theatre - not because of the quality of the show ( "We preferred to think..") but because a women's company was bound to be full of "lezzies" - it was " an exhilarating experience - we were having an impact"!!! 

She has also undertaken commissions and collaborations with Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, Dundee Rep, Perth Theatre, Traverse Theatre Edinburgh, Royal Court London; Dance Base, 7.84 Theatre Company and Drake Music Scotland. Morna has also previously been invited to direct at the Royal Scottish Conservatoire. 

Pre theatre she was the first National Information & Education Worker for Scottish Womens Aid & Joint National Co-ordinator. Work here included negotiating the building for the first Asian Womens Refuge in Scotland and briefing Donald Dewar on the passage of the Matrimonial Homes (Scotland) Act through Parliament. She has recently been involved in "Speaking Out" marking 40 years of Women's Aid in Scotland.

 Scottish Storytelling Centre is a home for Scotland’s culture in the heart of the capital city. A finalist in the Sunday Herald Culture Awards 2017 for Best Performing Arts Venue, it presents a seasonal programme of live storytelling, theatre, music, exhibitions, workshops, family events, and festivals. The Centre strives to ensure local talent is given a platform at the world’s leading open access arts

More Moira Dramaturgy: Alan Bissett @ Edfringe 2017

credit: Stephanie Gibson

(MORE) MOIRA MONOLOGUES

a sequel

written and performed by Alan Bissett, directed by Sacha Kyle

Scottish Storytelling Centre (Venue 30) | 2­–28 August (not 14/21) | 7pm (1hr) | £15 (£12)

 “The most charismatic character to appear on a Scottish stage in a decade” (The Scotsman) is back! After two sold-out Edinburgh Fringe runs, Alan Bissett’s indomitable character Moira Bell, truth-teller, straight-talker, cleaner, single mum and The Hardest Woman in Falkirk™, returns in a brand new sequel to 2009’s well loved The Moira Monologues, premiering at the Edinburgh Fringe in

credit: Stephanie Gibson

August 2017.

  

Moira’s a gran now – ‘can ye believe that, Babs?’ – but still telling hilarious home-truths about online dating, her estranged sister, cleaning posh people’s houses, and the return of her ex, Billy. 

With the same balance of uproariously incisive observation, brilliant character comedy and heart-wrenching emotional content as the original show, this is a post-indyref, post-Brexit Moira, switched on to politics and still blowing away preconceptions about class.

What was the inspiration for this performance?

This is the follow-up to my 2009 ‘one-woman show’ The Moira Monologues, which was best on the experiences and attitudes of the women in my family – my sister, my aunties, my cousins – the sort of working-class women I’d rarely seen represented on a Scottish stage before.  

I figured I would catch up with the character eight years on, as Scotland – indeed the world – has changed a great deal since 2009.  Back then, we lived in a pre-indyref, pre-Tory govt, pre-Brexit, pre-austerity, pre-Trump climate.  I wondered what Moira’s take on these things would be, and where she currently is in her life, so I wrote a sequel.

credit: Stephanie Gibson

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas? 

 Yes, I think so.  The rarefied space of the theatre allows the audience to slip outside reality – away from the barrage of screens, advertising and media verbiage we are surrounded with every day – and give themselves over to a different way of seeing. 

Also, the communal element of performance – it is literally the oldest artform, going back to fireside accounts of hunts in our prehistoric days – taps into the sort of communal and social atmospherics that late-capitalism has attempted to erode. 

We experience these things with the other people in the room, sensing their reaction to the material and letting that inform our own. All of that means a powerful space opens up to examine ideas from an angle otherwise denied to us by consumer culture.

How did you become interested in making performance?

It happened rather organically as an extension of my twin careers as a teacher and a prose writer.  If you publish a novel you get used to having to read aloud from it at book festivals, in schools, in libraries, and even in prisons.  

I’ve always felt a responsibility to make that entertaining and engaging for the audience, which meant not only ‘performing’ the material but selecting the scenes which had a strong dramatic shape and through-line and which lent themselves well to the stage.  I just refused to fritter away their attention spans with some deathly-dull recital of the internal consciousness of the protagonist.

credit: Stephanie Gibson

Also as a teacher you have to be able to stand in front of a class of, say, thirty young people – some of whom perhaps don’t want to be there – and take them on a journey through a lesson using only verbal tricks and body language, reading their responses and being able to judge what the sound (or the silence) coming form them meant. 

Fuse these things together and you get a performer-in-waiting.  Theatre felt like a natural sideways step from that.

Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?

 The main approach to the making of the show is threefold: to entertain and to provoke.  This has been the modus operandi of myself and director Sacha Kyle since we made our first show together: the original Moira Monologues.  Most audiences will reject a show that only provokes.  But a show which only entertains is lightweight, and usually ends up only reinforcing the status quo.  

What I’m trying to get the audience to think about in More Moira Monologues, as with the original, is our attitudes towards class, gender and nation – towards Scottish working-class women, essentially – and so there are moments that will certainly make the audience feel uncomfortable.  Moira has to be a fully-rounded human being if the audience are to have their expectations about ‘chav’ culture exploded, but this sometimes mean confronting them with material which they may not be quite prepared for.  

As long as you are fulfilling your duty of entertainment towards them – arranging the narrative shape and the humour in such a way that they are pulled along with it – then they will forgive you for that and be more inclined towards giving your ideas a hearing.

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

It certainly fits with the style and aesthetic of the original Moira Monologues, but Sacha and I have mainly made work that trades on my attempts to personally connect with the audience, as the writer and the only figure onstage, so as to take them on a political journey.  Shows that I have written for other actors – such as Turbo Folk or The Pure, the Dead and the Brilliant – examine ideas of Scottishness and politics also, using language and humour resourcefully and imaginatively to do so, so, yes, More Moira Monologues feels of a piece with our previous work.  

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

We want the audience to go from being rather intimidated by Moira at the beginning of the play to admiring her strength and warmth by the end.  She’s someone that most middle-class audiences will experience in their lives only as someone they’d want to avoid, but when they’re trapped in there with her, and forced to give themselves over to her worldview, my hope is that they then begin to realise working-class women – so often marginalised, patronised or made completely invisible in our culture – are as human as themselves.

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

We do not rely on a set, props, costume or music to try and ‘enhance’ the theatrical experience, trusting only on the writing, performance and direction to make Moira come to life before their eyes.  

For this reason we eschew the sort of drag act cliché – exaggerated femininity – which often occurs when a man is playing a woman onstage.  

The characterisation of Moira is key, exploring the depths of her personality and making her as emotionally complex as any Shakespeare heroine.  That’s our responsibility to her and to the audience.  

"Since its debut in 2009, my 'one-woman show' The Moira Monologues has proven itself to be probably the most popular and enduring thing I've ever created,” Bissett says. 

“Reviving the original show at the 2016 Edinburgh Fringe revealed an audience eager for Moira's return. Scotland has changed a lot since 2009 – I kept wondering what had happened to Moira in the intervening eight years, where she was in her life now, and what she thought of such new developments as Brexit, online dating, the Kelpies in Falkirk and Donald Trump. There still aren’t enough representations of working-class Scottish women on the stage, and I can’t wait to unleash (More) Moira Monologues on audiences of old pals and people who haven’t had the pleasure of her company yet.”

credit: Stephanie Gibson

Based on the stories told by the women in his large working-class Falkirk family, The Moira Monologues, (More) Moira Monologues and the indomitable character of Moira Bell are creations of the award-winning author, playwright and performer Alan Bissett, whose novels include Boyracers, The Incredible Adam Spark, Death of a Ladies’ Man and Pack Men. Since its initial production at the Citizens’ Theatre, Glasgow, in 2009, the original Moira Monologues has toured the UK extensively, with sold-out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe (2009 & 2016 revival), and the Manchester Royal Exchange Theatre, as well as performances in Serbia, Canada and China.

(More) Moira Monologues is the tenth collaboration between Bissett and director Sacha Kyle. Their other productions include the CATS-Award nominated Turbo Folk (shortlisted for Best New Play at the CATS Awards 2010), 2016’s One Thinks Of It All As A Dream (“an insightful eulogy to Pink Floyd’s wayward genius”, The Guardian), 2014’s The Pure, The Dead and The Brilliant (“a stunning piece of theatre”, TIME Magazine), Ban This Filth (shortlisted for Amnesty’s Freedom of Expression Award 2013) and of course The Moira Monologues (2009).

Sacha Kyle also directed Iain Pattison’s I, Tommy (2013), and a number of new writing productions for Oran Mor’s A Play, A Pie and a Pint series, and has just been named as one of the nine directors selected for the BBC’s UK-wide Continuing Drama Directors Scheme.

Fuaigh - Dramaturgy: Rona MacDonald @ Edfringe 2017

Fuaigh, written by Rona MacDonald will be showing at SSC during the Edinburgh Fringe on 17 and 21 August at 3pm. 

Using song, story, imagery and dance, Fuaigh – Interweaving looks at the consequences of losing words, land and language and being forced to the edge. 

Fuaigh starts at a ceilidh on the Hebridean island of South Uist, leaves for the big city of Glasgow and comes back again; Performed in Gaelic and English, and exploring the stories of  celebration of the spirit of belonging, leaving and returning to home.

Originally commissioned and presented in 2016 as part of Home/Away, the National Theatre of Scotland’s international festival of participatory arts, Fuaigh- Interweaving is an exciting new Gaelic ceilidh theatre experience, exploring the tensions between Gaelic life on the islands and the cities and the quest to preserve cultural ties. 

The show was devised collaboratively by a core artistic team made up of acclaimed singer and musician Gillebride McMillan, South Uist-born playwright, poet and writer Rona MacDonald, visual artist and photographer Judith Parrott and director and writer John Binnie. 

Answers from author Rona MacDonald 

What was the inspiration for this performance?

We are in such a rush to make progress, for progress sake, to move forward - that in that process we can lose meaning and value.  Stories, hidden histories and the names of places are lost, cultural significance is diluted and neglected – and in our English-centric world we forget the nuances and subtlety of language, the Gaelic Language in this case.  What gets lost in our hurry to be homogeneous.

Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas? 

I believe that performance, all art, can be an agent for change, and it’s the best platform to touch people on a different level to political persuasion and social agendas.  If done well, it reaches deeper, in a profound and emotional way and this is far more important and life changing than any other medium. 



How did you become interested in making performance?  

I come from a family of singers, storytellers and pipers from the island of South Uist, but from an early age I’ve been writing poetry.   For a few years I’ve been writing in different forms and I am interested in theatre and was driven to bring to life some of these stories I’d been writing.  It was a natural medium for me as I’m a theatre producer by day.

Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?

I come from a community of non-theatre goers, but who have little experience of seeing themselves, their identity, on the stage.  We wanted to bring the performance to the floor, to the level of the audience, and a well-liked and recognisable format is the ceilidh.  Very often in Gaelic culture you will have a main stage with a big name and a passive audience in that experience.  We wanted to involve the audience in the experience of coming together, to be part of the story.

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

This is our first performance as a collective – though we all have experience in different fields

What do you hope that the audience will experience?

Connection, understanding and they will feel part of this event, an equal member of the ceilidh

What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?

We ultimately wanted the audience to feel like they were arriving at a Ceilidh at St Peter’s Hall, Daliburgh South Uist.

Fuaigh was first presented  for National Theatre Scotland's Home Away Festival in 2016. Music is by Gillebride MacMillan, and projected visuals by Judith Parrott. The play is directed by John Binnie. 

The Gramophones Theatre Company@ The Scottish Storytelling Centre- 30th May

I have a soft spot for the Scottish Storytelling Centre. This might be because it showcases a performance art that is accessible to all ages and interests, yet retains a huge influence on contemporary experimental practice: both Rantin and The Riot of Spring (entries in the recent NTS Auteurs season) reveal this heritage. It might be because their cafe has a fresh atmosphere and good cakes. 

The SSC has a habit of putting on intriguing shows. Next up, The Gramophones Theatre Company with the tale of their "daring and unusual journey from one end of Great Britain to the other on as many different forms of transport as possible with only one pound per mile." The subsequent show at the 2012 Fringe End to End was a five star success...

Leaving aside the value of stars at the Fringe, the adventure of three women crossing the country at bargain rates is another example of how performance has long since abandoned the predictable "write a script, act a script" approach. The Gramophones are playful, witty and smart. If they begun on a whim, they soon found plenty to celebrate about the nation they were crossing.