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