Lung Ha at 40: Spotlight on… Gavin Yule

May 21 2024 | By Thom Dibdin More

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Lung Ha Theatre Company, All Edinburgh Theatre is delighted to collaborate with the award-winning professional company for actors and theatre makers who are autistic or learning-disabled.

Lung Ha have marked the occasion by commissioning a series of portraits of every member of its 25-strong ensemble from Edinburgh-based photographer Peter Dibdin. Æ will publish the individual portraits over the coming year of celebrations (see our News story: Lung Ha hit 40). We hope to publish a new spotlight on a different actor every fortnight.

Lung Ha Actor Gavin Yule, photographed by Peter Dibdin for Lung Ha’s 40th year celebrations.

Spotlight #1: Gavin Yule

Gavin joined Lung Ha in 2016 and first appeared with the company in 2017 in Dr Stirlingshire’s Discovery, an immersive piece created in collaboration with Grid Iron and staged at Edinburgh Zoo.

He has loved performing from a young age, appearing in musicals, plays and pantomimes at school before training as an actor. He graduated from Fife College in 2015 and was one of the Lyceum’s L20 artists in 2021, the pilot year of the Lyceum’s multi-discipline artists attachment programme.

He performed in the revival tour of the company’s 2015 hit Thingummy Bob in 2017/2018; Three Sisters in 2018 (Æ review: ★★★★☆ Direct) and We Are All Just Little Creatures in 2019. He played potential love interest William in the award-winning Castle Lennox (Æ review: ★★★★☆ Huge humanity).

This August, during the Edinburgh Fringe, Gavin will be reprising his role in the 2021 hit An Unexpected Hiccup, originally created under post-Covid conditions in collaboration with Plutot La Vie. The remount production is at Zoo Southside, 2 – 10 August at 4.30pm, daily.

Lung Ha actor Gavin Yule, photographed by Peter Dibdin for Lung Ha’s 40th year celebrations.

Gavin Yule Q&A

What do you think is the most fabulous thing about being an actor? The Lung Ha Ensemble! Everyone supports each other: from performers to production teams, there’s a real team effort.

If you could give an aspiring actor one piece of advice, what would it be? If it’s what you want to do, then do it, and it’s OK to make mistakes.

40 years is a big milestone during which we look back but also look ahead! What are your hopes or ambitions for the future? I hope Lung Ha continues to be part of the Scottish theatre scene for many years to come. It deserves to be part of the theatre community and long may this continue.

The 40th anniversary photo shoot took place at the Traverse Theatre. Costumes by Karen Tennent; hair and make-up by Catherine Christie.

Browse the rest of the Spotlight on series here.