Features Published 9 June 2014

Edfringe Programme Poetry: A Discovery That Changes Everything

Programme excerpts.

Natasha Tripney

collage B.B. Yates

At the dawn of the Enlightenment. On a bitter Scottish evening. In the most private of places. A monochrome circus. A fragile community. A strip club in the Alaskan wilderness. Isolated from the outside world. Gale force winds. The howling tones of Kate Bush. And a broken toilet. What’s that in the sky?

The first humans on Mars. Ten litres of whisky. Hundreds of flowers. Hi-tech, doll-like sculptures. Genuine haunted antiques. The battle rages on. By lamp-light. At high speed. With a 3am kebab. With Steven Berkoff. Farce turns to horror. In a caravan. Haunted by a pigeon. Terrifying and tragic results.

A seven-foot woman. With webbed feet. With a handlebar moustache. With a wedding to plan. On the run from the authorities. Leaving generations of tradition behind her. Sets out to discover the truth.

A downtrodden Englishman. Blinded by hatred. Rejected by girls. Stuck on a cruise liner. Viagra on his shopping list. More ink than blood. Awaiting the guillotine. Thinks he’s finally hit rock bottom.

Their stories intertwine. Old flames are reignited. Can he control his desires? Will his past destroy him? What price must he pay for success? Is somebody lost at sea? What could it mean for their future? Can she escape her fate or has it already been written? Could this be the start of something special? Where on earth is Hamlet?

Power-hungry politicians. Best friends living on benefits. Each unaware of the other’s existence. Oppression and revolt. Internal and external challenges. Feminist theory, Marxism and murder. Swashbuckling, scandalous action. Moments of great beauty. Dynamic dance numbers. Hilarious and eclectic. Fresh and fleshy. Rock’n’roll cabaret. Staged in a boxing gym. Played out in silence.

Decades later. A discovery that changes everything. A fractured man explains himself. A shared love of Shirley Bassey. A sideways look at injustice. A hilarious high-octane mash-up. A whip-smart slice of Victoriana. Inspired by Chekhov. Infused with the rhythm of beat poetry, Set in the swinging sixties. Down the rabbit hole called cyberspace. Swallowed up by stories. Peppered with ironic, cultural undertones. Written in verse. Performed by students. Never the same show twice.

Punk Rock. Punk Rock.

Punk Rock.

Punk Rock.

Drama without words. Explores modern femininity. Explores the bid for Scottish independence. A theatrical song cycle. A kickass comic quest. A growing online relationship. A big show in a small room. A little bit profound. Available anywhere via smartphone or tablet.

Come hear the truth. There’s a first time for everything.

Fight your way to freedom.

The Edfringe programme is now browsable

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Natasha Tripney

Natasha co-founded Exeunt in 2011 and was editor until 2016. She's now lead critic and reviews editor for The Stage, and has written about theatre and the arts for the Guardian, Time Out, the Independent, Lonely Planet and Tortoise.

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