In what is now the eighth partnership between them and Edinburgh International Festival, the National Theatre of Scotland (NTS) is delighted to announce the world première of a new co-production with Brooklyn-based ensemble the TEAM, who will make their debut at the EIF to bring Anything That Gives Off Light in August 2016.
Written collaboratively, Anything That Gives Off Light, uses the Scottish Enlightenment as a lens through which to examine the contrasting and overlapping national myths of Scotland and America. It is led by TEAM Artistic Director Rachel Chavkin, and NTS Associate Director Davey Anderson.
Anything That Gives Off Light, follows the story of a Scottish man who, after years of living in London, catches the sleeper train north to the heart of Scotland for a homecoming he's been putting off for years. In a pub, an American woman drinks alone, trying to remember who she is while forgetting where she came from. When their paths collide they set off on a tour of the Highlands, slipping through the cracks between present and past, waking and dreaming, the real and the imagined. But as they shed the layers of their national identities, the ghosts of dead philosophers, crofters, cowboys, myth-makers and soothsayers get ever closer.
Featuring live music from the Scottish-American folk tradition, and the TEAM’s trademark athletic performance style, this foot-stomping collaboration explores the tension between self- interest and sacrifice; the individual and the collective in the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness.
Fergus Linehan, Director of the Edinburgh International Festival says, “This production marks ten years of collaboration between the National Theatre of Scotland and the International Festival, a relationship that began with Anthony Neilson’s Realism and has gone on to feature projects such as The James Plays and, most recently, Dragon and Paul Bright’s Confessions of a Justified Sinner. The National Theatre of Scotland has, in that time, enriched the festival with the startling originality and virtuosity that has earned them plaudits throughout the word. With Anything That Gives Off Light we welcome this work by Rachel, Davey, Brian, Sandy and Jessica, a group of artists whose work has been marked by combination of curiosity, fearlessness and virtuosity.”
Later in the year, a new double bill of productions exploring two extraordinary lives in transition, created by a team of leading Scottish and UK theatre artists including Cora Bissett, Chris Goode and Jo Clifford will tour Glasgow and Edinburgh. This world premiere of Eve/Adam, a timeous and theatrical exploration of the complexities and challenges facing trans people, using an innovative intertwining of personal testimony, storytelling, composition and mass digital media, is supported by the Mental Health Foundation.
Eve is a deeply personal piece that speaks generously to and for a much wider community. It is performed by acclaimed playwright and performer Jo Clifford offering audiences an authentic and intimate insight into the real life experiences of a trans person. The performance is a reflection on one trans woman's life, from an oppressive 1950s boyhood to the present day. Eve invites audiences into the most intimate relationship with the story of an individual’s life.
Adam is the remarkable, true story of on Egyptian boy trapped in a girl’s body. Fleeing alone from a conservative society, Adam finds himself in a tiny room in Glasgow on the edge of despair. He manages to get online and ask the question; ‘Can the soul of a boy be trapped in the body of a girl?’ What happened was beyond Adam’s wildest dreams. A catalyst to begin the epic journey for the right to change his body, to the boy he knows himself to be.
Adam will feature a score sung by a virtual choir of trans and non-binary individuals from across the world, and NTS is inviting trans and non-binary individuals to take part in the production. The Company is seeking to create a global digital community choir – The Adam World Choir that will bring together voices from the online trans community to be an integral part of Adam. All Singers are welcome to join, whatever their level of experience.
Also in October, presents Home Away, an international programme celebrating participatory arts practice and performance. Five international organisations will come together with five companies from Scotland, including Artlink (Edinburgh), a new Highlands Gaelic arts collective (Uist) and the Bangladeshi Association of Glasgow. Home Away features ten new productions from Scotland, Brazil, Jamaica, Australia, India and USA, and a symposium for the participatory arts community.
NTS Associate Director Simon Sharkey says, “This is an unprecedented opportunity for us to share and explore our humanity and our place in the world. Our sense of who we are, where we come from and where we belong is being challenged every day. I am terrifically excited by the artists and communities who have agreed to join us in an exploration of who we might become.”
Past NTS productions continue to tour and its award-winning Let the Right One In plays in Seoul, South Korea from 21 January 2016 in an ambitious new Korean-language restaging, courtesy of Sensee Theatre Company. From 20 to 30 AprilI Am Thomas – a brutal comedy with songs, a co- production with Told By An Idiot and the Royal Lyceum Theatre, will tour to Wilton’s Music Hall, London at the end of a UK wide tour. The James Plays ends their five-month tour across the UK, Australia and New Zealand with an appearance at the Luminto Festival in Toronto in June and Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour will tour to the Palace Theatre, Kilmarnock, during a UK/international 2016 tour from 6 to 9 July.
As part of the NTS’ ongoing commitment to supporting the development of Gaelic theatre in Scotland, it is supporting Gaelic artists and productions in 2016 including Theatre Gu Leòr’s Shrapnel, a new Gaelic drama production, in co-production with the Tron Theatre and An Lanntair that tours from 10 March to 2 April 2016. Supported works in progress at Tramway are Buaireas anns an Uisge/ Trouble the Water by Elspeth Turner (22 & 23 January 2016); are Uainead/ Degree of Greeness by Kate Robinson (February 19 & 20 2016); are Mus Ro Faclan Ann/ Before Words by Rosalind Mason (March 18 & 19 2016).
For any questions regarding participation in The Adam World Choir, and for details on how to join, please contact the Choir Project Manager, Leonie Gasson. [email protected]
Home Away is at Tramway, Glasgow, Saturday 8 to Thursday 13 October 2016
Tickets will go on sale in April 2016.