Edinburgh emerging artists on the road

Jan 15 2014 | By More

One-off events for Watt and Rush’s four star projects

Catherine Major (Lucy) in Rush Productions’ Hide & Seek. Photo credit: Rush Productions

Catherine Major (Lucy) in Rush Productions’ Hide & Seek. Photo credit: Rush Productions

By Thom Dibdin

Two emerging Edinburgh theatre companies have seen their work picked up for one-off events over the coming weeks.

Hide & Seek by Rush Productions has two performances as part of the Big Burns Supper in Dumfries; while Jenna Watt will be performing two of her solo shows at London’s Battersea Arts Centre on 14 and 15 February.

Hide & Seek is directed by Jo Rush, whose insights into the directing process during her stint as assistant director on the Royal Lyceum’s production of Ian Rankin’s Dark Road provided the popular Dark Road Rushes blog.

Hugh Simpson’s four star review of Hide & Seek for Æ during the fringe described: “an undertone of aching melancholy, of hopes unfulfilled and dreams repressed, all underscored by Jo Karselis’s haunting pastoral music.”

Inspired by Carol Ann Duffy’s fairy story, The Stolen Childhood, Hide & Seek will play the  Masonic Hall, Dumfries, on 25 and 26 January 2014, at 11am. As to any further revivals, the company told Æ they have: “none planned so far because of restricted availability of the company – but it’s not out of the question!”.

Jenna Watt’s two solo shows are Flaneurs and It’s Ok, It’s Only Temporary – the latter which is best known as “the apple smashing piece”.

Flaneurs was inspired by the attack and mugging of a friend of Jenna’s in London. Her horror was only compounded when she discovered that the attack took place in front of many witnesses. It also had a four star review here on Æ, when it played at the Traverse last May.

In her review Irene Brown said: “Watt’s open, honest and warm hearted delivery, though by definition in itself calculated to make people think, is in stark contrast to the cold calculation of the described attacks. She strikes a balance between being conscious of potential danger while retaining a positive viewpoint.”

It’s Ok, It’s Only Temporary is a live art action that explores a true story where in childhood Jenna was the victim of an act of violence carried out by her peers. It was an accident, a moment where play took a naive but deliberate step into something more serious. The performance is an account of the events leading up to the incident in 1993, and it’s effects 18 years later.

Jenna Watt told Æ that these will be the only two performances of these two plays at present, as she is focussing on new projects this year.

Listings

Hide and Seek
Masonic Hall, George Street, Dumfries, DG1 1EA. Sat 25/Sun 26 Jan 2014, 11am.
Tickets: http://bigburnssupper.ticketsolve.com.

Flaneurs and It’s Ok, It’s Only Temporary
Battersea Arts Centre, Lavender Hill, Battersea, London, SW11 5TN. Fri 14/Sat 15 Feb 2014, 8.30pm and 9.30pm.
Tickets: www.bac.org.uk and www.bac.org.uk. Discount for purchasing tickets for both shows.

ENDS

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