Leading Edinburgh amateur company bring rarely performed 'classic' to the Biscuit Factory

A RARELY performed satircal play is to be brought to life in Leith’s Biscuit Factory by local amateur theatre troupe Edinburgh Graduate Theatre Group (EGTG).

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller tells the story of Captain John Yossarian, a US Army bombardier and the last Assyrian alive -he would very much like to keep it that way.

Convinced an entire army is trying to kill him, Yossarian desperately tries to evade battle, but finds that there is always a catch.

Meanwhile, the unit’s long-suffering Chaplain has found himself inadvertently caught up in a strange war of his own. And everyone is trying to locate the mysterious Washington Irving.

The action of the piece will take place in a recreation of the nose cone of a B-25 Mitchell bomber with the audience placed intimately close and around the unfolding drama.

EGTG, who have established themselves as one of the city’s most respected amateur companies, have a reputation for tackling challenging work and hope to build on that with the rarely performed script that made its UK debut in 2014 to mixed reviews.

Directed by award-winning Hannah Bradley, she reveals she first fell in love with Heller’s novel as a teenager, and was captivated by its use of irony and wordplay to reflect the cyclical and timeless nature of warfare.

The 14-strong perform a total of 40 characters throughout the piece and are Wendy Brindle (Patient’s Mother, Mother in Law), Steven Croall (Towser, Clevinger, Investigating Officer, English Intern), Bethany Cunningham (Nurse Duckett, Nately’s Mother), Richard Godden (Colonel Cathcart, Psychiatrist, Doctor), Gordon Houston (Yossarian), John Lally (Doc Daneeka, Investigating Officer, Nately’s and Patient’s Father), Joshua McDiarmid (Wintergreen, Patient, CID Man, Military Police), Alan Patterson (Texan, Cpt. Black, Military Police), Graham Pritz-Bennett (Nately, Snowden, Aarfy, Gus, Patient’s Brother), Rebekka Puderbaugh (Mrs Daneeka, Old Woman), Keegan Siebken (Milo, Whitcomb, Wes, Doctor), Eirini Stamkou (Luciana, Nately’s Whore), Laurence Wareing (Major Major, Korn, Old Man) and Dimitri Woods as the Chaplain.

EGTG bring Catch-22 to The Biscuit Factory from 12-16 November, tickets £12 advance, £15 on the door www.theegtg.com