Walking towards The Boardwalk in Glasgow, on a Monday night, to attend a scratch night at which I had been invited to be part of a panel, exposing my alleged wisdom or otherwise over what artists should be looking for from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, I was struck by the past.
It’s hard not to be struck by the past given my association with this particular building.
I was, after all, involved in fundraising for Scottish Youth Theatre after they were given the largest financial gift in the history of the arts when the old Sheriff Court building – now The Boardwalk – was given to them.
Now the Scottish Youth Theatre have, post-Covid, decided to go virtual and the building has been transferred to Impact Arts, which means that it continues to be an artistic beacon in the centre of the city.
As I walked down into the courtyard, I a mused on the fact that the cafe used to have a yellow brick wall upon which many of my students’ and my own names were placed as we had pledged money for the survival of Scottish Youth Theatre in times past.
What I found both important is that the theatre is still named the Brian Cox Studio. It sits as a legacy of the relationship between the former artistic director of Scottish Youth Theatre, Mary McCluskey and Cox as well as his role in supporting SYT.
Given that Edinburgh in August shall also have Cox himself performing at the Royal Lyceum it was apposite that the Studio hosted a fringe test night, organised by local collective Play Full.
It’s easy to say things like it was an honour and a privilege to be asked but it was.
What struck me was the level of enthusiasm and joy in the creative process. It was a wholly supportive place where you could feel that every single artist who put their foot upon that stage was being supported to do well.
There was none of the backstabbing or backbiting or whispered discussions in corridors that would detract or bring down anybody who had performed but a real sense that this was a collective effort that everybody was banding together in the face of all of the opposition that the arts face time and time again simply to be creative.
It reminded an old cynic like me the reason why I was attracted to the arts in the first place.
And so, as I sat down to watch the five scratch night performances, each in various different senses of dress and undress, it struck me that this enthusiasm may well find a crucible come August in the centre of another city not 30 miles east of us.
But for the moment I was captured and captivated.
It’s unfair to review any of the five that I saw that night because they had post-it notes for the audience to give feedback all of which will be used to develop and improve.
It’s incredibly valuable.
In fact as part of the panel I mused that I would love to see this in every city prior to Edinburgh as part of the process. This is massively valuable. Is that not after all what we do in a rehearsal room when working with actors whose experiences have come through other directors’ hands, and we have the opportunity of hearing their experiences moulded by people participating in a similar process to our own, but at a different place at a different time.
And so, if you’re at the Fringe have one eye open for Nick it for Munich – a solo show about getting to Euro 24 and the obvious disappointment of our debut against Germany at Greenside at George Street. Or if you quite like something a little meta – Cardstock at the Greenside at Riddles Court might well be your thing. Connor McKenna’s Seltzer Boy which is at Paradise at St Augustine’s which is a real one man tour de force.
Insane Odds Productions brought us Fearless Monster – solo stand up about a queer Frankenstein’s monster and what he might think if he had a microphone in his hand at Paradise at St Augustine’s.
Finally, Perfect Dead Girls is at Bedlam by Audaciously Tenacious Theatre. This was the one out of the five that I’d previously reviewed as part of the Emergence Festival held by the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland earlier this year. I was delighted to see it here developing a new audience prior to making their debut across Edinburgh. (If you want to know why I tipped B*Witched off my Spotify cos I thought every time I heard it a goth teenager had died – book tickets…)
Each show gave us something to really muse over and again I was struck by the privilege that you have to see the actors and directors at that part of their process being open enough to just listen to what people think.
By the end of the night both myself and Kirsty from the Festival Fringe Society did our part in trying to be incredibly helpful and encouraging for all including the two companies who had received the Festival Fringe Society funding.
I came away with hopefully something very valuable.
I know that I did, and I may have started by walking towards the event thinking about the past but as I walked out I was really bright and feeling very positive about the future.
This was organised by a bunch of volunteers, young enough to believe and hope. Play Full do more than fulfil a function or are just a bunch of wannabes wanting to catch a break. This is a real movement, and I saw the change I wanted to see years ago. Challenging. Diverse. Inquisitive. Mainstream. Divergent. And standing upon their own shoulders as well as the shoulders of giants
There is no disappointment in seeing new theatre programmes not having new writing in it but it may well be a missed opportunity when there is such a richness out there that organisations like Play Full are attempting to develop. In one short evening Play Full gave others a platform to show, learn and develop Scottish Theatre – it’s a young thing, not a young person’s thing – and it richly deserves support to see how it could develop. New strategies for the arts are emerging and at the forefront is Glasgow. Promote and support the leadership, who knows what might happen.
If we old codgers don’t pay attention, then it will be our fault that there is not a new breed to make us more excited about the future of Scottish theatre and that would be a legacy none of us should be proud of.
