RBC set for another strong year at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 17 JULY 2019

Actors trained at Royal Birmingham Conservatoire will soon be travelling to Edinburgh to join thousands of performers and arts professionals for another year of explosive energy at the world’s largest and internationally renowned arts festival, The Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

The highly anticipated festival is a significant occasion for our actors, as it provides a unique platform to showcase their talent and develop their practice. Festival-goers will not only find our established graduates in shows, but this year there is an unprecedented number of our most recent graduates appearing in productions, fresh from graduation. This year RBC will also be represented by three current students who have only just completed their first year of training!

We hope they can follow on from last year’s hugely successful festival where events website ‘The List’ ranked ‘Trojan Horse’ as the third best show at last year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Starring 2018 Conservatoire graduate Shobat Kadara, the play also won the Amnesty Freedom of Expression Award and a ‘Scotsman’ Fringe First award.

‘Freeman’ – a production by theatre company Strictly Arts, which was founded by graduate and Honorary Member of RBC, Corey Campbell  was placed by ‘The List’ as the 13th best production at the 2018 Fringe, and it also received recognition in Mervyn Stutter’s ‘Spirit of the Fringe’ Awards, (known as The MERVs). Massively successful new musical ‘Six’, starring alumna Alexia McIntosh as Anne of Cleves, was named the fifth best production – Alexia has since gone on to be nominated for an Olivier Award for her role, along with the other 'Queens' (‘Best actress in a supporting role in a musical’).

A high-profile show to watch out for at this year’s festival is #HonestAmy, a hilarious one-woman ukulele comedy starring RBC graduate Amy Booth-Steele directed by well-known actor, director and writer Kathy Burke. The show has already been rated as one of the 12 best shows at Fringe by the Guardian.

Also look out for two shows written and directed by current student Nathan Dunn, who started his own theatre company, Saltire Sky Theatre, in 2016. ‘Candy Factory’ stars 2019 graduate Angus Easener alongside first year students Ella Stokes and Gregor Copeland. ‘1902’, Nathan’s other production, features first year students Ella Stokes, Gregor Copeland and upcoming RBC student Jonny Tulloch.

Among the recent graduates to watch out for is Clement Charles who, since appearing at the 2018 festival in 26th ranked show ‘Kids Play’ when he was still studying, has spent the time since finishing his training at RBC in a production of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ in Dubrovnik. Clem is heading to Edinburgh Fringe once again to appear in ‘The Good Scout’ by Boys of the Empire Productions.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe provides a major platform for both big name and emerging artists and collaborators from across the globe, and offers great exposure for new talent.

Follow us on social media using the hashtags #RBCatFringe and #RBCFamily to keep up to date with all the RBC students and graduates you can catch performing at the 2019 Edinburgh Festival fringe.

Just some of the RBC representation in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe programme this year includes:

2019 graduates

Show: Candy Factory 
Company: Saltire Sky Theatre
Venue: The Wee Red Bar      
Dates: Aug 2 - 26 (ex. 7, 14, 21)
RBC graduate: Angus Easener, and current students Ella Stokes and Gregor Copeland (
Show written and directed by current student Nathan Scott Dunn.)

Show: 1902    
Company: Saltire Sky Theatre
Venue: The Wee Red Bar      
Dates: Aug 2 - 26 (ex. 7, 14, 21)         
RBC graduate:
Current students Ella Stokes, Gregor Copeland and Nathan Scott Dunn, alongside upcoming student Jonny Tulloch. Show written and directed by current student Nathan Scott Dunn.

Show: The Good Scout           
Company: Boys of the Empire Productions   
Venue: theSpace at Surgeons Hall    
Dates: Aug 2 - 24 (ex. 13)                   
RBC graduate: Clement Charles

Show: Macbeth          
Company: Tread the Boards  
Venue: theSpace on North Bridge     
Dates: Aug 2 - 10                    
RBC graduates: Stephanie Austin, Phoebe Cresswell and Ruth Page

Show: Shakespeare in the Garden: Comedy of Errors          
Company: C Theatre  
Venue: C South (Garden)       
Dates: Jul 31 - Aug 26 (ex. 13)           
RBC graduate: Tom Huxley Golden

Show: Hamlet
Company: C Theatre  
Venue: C Aquila (Temple)      
Dates: Jul 31 - Aug 26 (ex. 13)           
RBC graduate: Tom Huxley Golden

Show: Conversations with Myself
Company: Cambridge Mask Collective
Venue: C Cubed (Main Space)
Dates: Aug 1 – 17
RBC graduate: Luke Daniels

Other alumni productions

Show: Girlfriend From Hell: The Bitch is Back           
Venue: Underbelly, George Square   
Dates: Jul 31 - Aug 26 (ex. 12)           
RBC graduate: Gabby Killick

Show: The Big Bitesize Breakfast Show         
Company: Bitesize Plays        
Venue: Pleasance Courtyard 
Dates: Jul 31 - Aug 26 (ex. 13,19)      
RBC graduates: Thomas Willshire and Claira Parr

Show: Before 30                    
Company: Tom Hartwell
Venue: Underbelly, Cowgate 
Dates: Aug 1 - 25 (ex. 13)                   
RBC graduate: Thomas Willshire

Show: Trainspotting Live       
Company: King's Head and In Your Face
presented by James Seabright
Venue: Venue 150 at EICC     
Dates: Aug 1 - 26 (ex. 7, 14, 21)                     
RBC graduate: Dean Gribble

Show: Section 28: The Legacy of a Homophobic Law           
Company: The Stafford Lake Theatre Company
Venue: theSpace on the Mile
Dates: Aug 19 - 24                  
RBC graduates: Ray Stafford and Andrew Lake

Show: Sexy Lamp
Venue: Pleasance Courtyard – Baby grand
Company: Katie Arnstein and Victoria Gagliano
Dates:
Jul 31 Aug 1-12, 14-26
RBC graduate: Katie Arnstein

Show: Honest Amy (directed by Kathy Burke)
Company:
Paul Taylor Mills
Venue: Pleasance Dome
Dates: 
Jul 31 Aug 1-11, 13-26
RBC graduate: Amy Booth-Steel

Show: F. Off
Company: National Youth Theatre of Great Britain
Venue: Underbelly, Cowgate
Dates: August 2-25 exc. 12
RBC graduate: Daniel Lipton

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