Edinburgh Company Stages Six Shows in Six Centuries this Fringe
For many, putting on a Fringe show is ambitious enough. There were over 3,500 last year to compete with, to say nothing of the creative effort, casting, venue costs, accommodation, transportation and budgeting for marketing, set, props etc.
But apparently all this wasn't challenging enough for local theatre company Edinburgh Rep, who back in January announced that they would be staging at least one show each month this year, starting off with a sold-out run of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest and critically acclaimed productions of Press To Pulp WIP and William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing.
This week they revealed a six show Fringe programme across 3 venues, with each show set in a separate century between the XVIth and the XXIst. "When you've done the Fringe as many times as we have said, you've got to spice it up somehow" laughs one member of the family.
The company has helped themselves a bit, as not every show is brand new. Elizabeth I: Regina Vagina (1500s) and Charles II: Living Libido Loca (1600s), both musical comedies around different British monarchs, have done the Fringe before, where they sold out and earned 4 and 5 star reviews. The 2000s production, [Parent]ified, a one-woman-ish drama about bringing up a sibling as a child, has also been performed a couple of times before, last year and this one, getting 5-star reviews at its initial preview in November.
All three were written by members of the company and produced in-house though, as are the three new shows. One is also a musical comedy around historical figures, Burke'n'Hare: Let The Bodies Hit The Floor (1800s), another is a comedy adapting a short story by Jane Austen, Love and Freindship [Sic] (1700), and the third tells the true story of the radio-operators on board Titanic and Carpathia, CQD To SOS: A Titanic Story.
It's a diverse mix, to say the least. "There are some common strands," the Edinburgh Rep representative disagrees, "History connects things and repeats things, obviously. And with the same group of people doing them, certain interests and sensibilities bubble to the surface, not to mention familiar faces. But we never wanted to tick boxes and do a particular show or subject just to cover off one particular century. These were all shows we just wanted to do. Clearly they wanted to be done too, or they wouldn't have arranged themselves so conveniently."
"Just wanted to do" seems a bit of an understatement considering the undertaking, but then this is the company staging 12 shows in its first year.
"13, actually".
Alright, 13. Better them than me.
You can find out more about the individual shows and Fringe runs at https://linktr.ee/edinburghrepco. Jane Austen's Love And Freindship [Sic] and CQD To SOS: A Titanic Story will also be staging previews in-person and online this month and the next.
