VPT goes full-length
Village Pub Theatre to stage full-length immersive production
Leith’s Village Pub Theatre, the playwright collective specialising in script-in-hand performances of new work, is to stage its first ever full-length production The Sunnyside Centre, at the Hibs Supporters Club.
The company is teaming up with immersive and site-specific specialists Grid Iron, who are providing creative support for the show, which sees VPT relocate from their usual home on South Fort Street to Sunnyside, just off Easter Road. It has been made possible by a small grant from the first round of the council’s culture project fund.
Village Pub Theatre writers at the Hibs Supporters Club. Pic VPT
The production will feature work by playwrights Tim Barrow, Sophie Good, Louise E Knowles, James Ley and Helen Shutt. They will be reimagining the venue, “creating new worlds that spill out of the people who now use the centre, through the stories they tell”, according to VPT.
The piece will see the supporter’s club transformed into the Sunnyside Centre. It is set in the wake of an earth-jolting event. Confusion now reigns and communication channels have begun to breakdown. For one reason or another residents seek out a place of refuge: The Sunnyside Centre.
Direction will be from VPT’s artistic director, Caitlin Skinner, who will create a promenade theatre piece using the new works; an interactive and dynamic weaving together of the stories which will be delivered as solo performances – witnessed by audiences as they journey around the venue.
a site-responsive starting point
“We wanted to challenge ourselves with this project, it’s the biggest thing we’ve ever done as a company, says producer and writer Louise E Knowles.
“For a few years we’ve been thinking about doing something immersive with a site-responsive starting point rather than beginning with a theme as we do for our regular nights. It’s really thanks to the City of Edinburgh Council’s culture project fund that The Sunnyside Centre has come into being.
“We’re also feeling extremely lucky – and for me personally, chuffed to bits – to have rallied the support of site-specific theatre company Grid Iron who have been giving us many gems of advice for creating this style of theatre.”
Situated down a cul-de-sac hard by Easter Road stadium, the Hibs Supporters Club seems a strange choice of venue, even if Leitheatre has its club rooms further up the road.
“We visited a number of venues in Leith and were immediately inspired by the Hibs Supporters Club as a performance space,” says Knowles.
“There are lots of nooks and crannies with quite contrasting atmospheres and the real possibility for a very personal style of theatre. The idea of transforming something that is generally used as a traditional function space into other worlds was really exciting for us.”
Listing
The Sunnyside Centre
The Hibs Supporters Club, 11 Sunnyside, EH7 5RA.
Mon 11, Tue 12 & Thurs 14 December 2017.
Evenings: 8pm (please arrive at venue by 7.45pm).
Tickets £6 (over 18 only): www.eventbrite.co.uk.
Village Pub Theatre website: www.villagepubtheatre.co.uk
Twitter: @pubtheatre
Facebook: @PubTheatre
ENDS
