Published: 11 Dec 2019
Raw Material will tour new drama James IV - Queen of the Fight to a wide range of mid to large scale venues across Scotland from April – June 2021.
Written by Rona Munro and directed by Laurie Sansom, James IV will explore the hidden history of Scotland’s gamble for survival in medieval Europe and the central role played by an African member of the royal household in the propaganda tournaments staged by James during his reign. James IV will be co-produced by Raw Material and the Royal Lyceum Edinburgh in association with National Theatre of Scotland.
Munro’s play is one of 10 projects announced today, to receive a total of £990,000 National Lottery funding through the latest round of Creative Scotland’s Touring Fund for Theatre and Dance.
The funding is enabling new tours of acclaimed theatre and dance projects - including circus for babies, gritty drama, and musical comedy capers exploring themes from international friendship to mental health - to criss-cross Scotland’s small, medium and large-scale venues throughout 2020 and 2021.
Award winning Scottish based companies such as Starcatchers, new dance theatre company Shotput, and solo performers like Victoria Beesley will present a wide variety of original, adapted and restaged productions for children, young people, adults and families.
Creative Scotland’s Lorna Duguid said: “It’s great to be see such a broad and dynamic range of work receiving support to tour throughout Scotland to a variety of different communities, across urban and rural areas.
“Through this Fund, we’re particularly keen to ensure that venues are able to programme increasingly diverse work for their audiences and allow the great work produced in Scotland from artists working in a range of genres, to reach as many people and as wide a geographical spread as possible.”
Ferguson and Barton, image by Mihaela Bodlovic
Shotput (co-directors Lucy Ireland and Jim Manganello) will tour Ferguson and Barton across Scotland in 2021. This compelling one-hour piece of dance-theatre is about role-play in contemporary relationships. Through sensual movement and witty camera play, a couple recreates Hitchcock's thriller Vertigo, and in the process tests the power dynamics of their own relationship. The show asks: can we ever really understand the person closest to us?
Described as ‘both homage and wrecking ball to the master of suspense’, Ferguson and Barton is a production by Shotput, Glasgow's new dance-theatre company, and was developed at Scottish Opera, The Work Room, Dance Base, and Platform, and premiered at Platform in 2019.
One Mississippi, image by Mihaela Bodlovic
Mariem Omari’s play, One Mississippi will tour to twelve venues across Scotland in 2020. Exploring the impact of childhood experiences on men’s adult lives, the play blends humour, storytelling and powerful elements of physical theatre for an uncompromising insight into what takes individuals to breaking point.
One Mississippi is based on a collection of interviews undertaken with men across Scotland including, a Scottish Pakistani Muslim, an Indian Sikh, a Northern Irishman living in Glasgow, and a recovering addict from East Glasgow. Through their stories the impact of adverse childhood experiences on men is revealed, no matter their ethnicity or faith – ultimately becoming a collective story of their lived reality. First staged at the Traverse Theatre in 2017, as part of the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival.
Commenting on the work, Omari has said: “Currently in Britain, reports on the suicide rate among British men indicate that it is at its highest level for more than a decade, and parts of Scotland have the highest levels in the country. In conjunction with this, new research suggests that childhood trauma is one of the leading causes of substance abuse and depression later in life…Over the course of six months, the interviews I did for One Mississippi reinforced those findings.”
Widely acclaimed for their popular socially relevant work, Sleeping Warrior Theatre will tour Andy McGregor’s 5* musical comedy caper, Spuds to Scottish venues next year. When David MacGonigle’s wife dies, his perfect middle-class life collapses around him. But a freak occurrence, involving mouldy chips and Iron Brew, leads to his discovery of a new designer drug, Spuds. Soon he has built the ultimate criminal empire, but at what cost? Spuds premiered at Oran Mor’s A Play, A Pie and A Pint in 2017.
Company of Wolves are developing a new adaptation of Shakespeare’s political masterpiece, Julius Caesar. Co-directed by Ewan Downie and Brian Ferguson and featuring a cast of six, the new work will tour to venues and arts centres across Scotland between September and November 2021.
Following a sold-out world premiere run at Dance Base, Slanjayvah Danza’s 6 Feet 3 Shoes will now tour across Scotland. This celebration of friendship across borders told through percussive Flamenco, Scottish and contemporary dance is an exhilarating and heart-warming show for the whole family.
A combination of storytelling, humour and foot-stomping rhythms, the show features an international cast of dancers and musicians and brings to life a true story which resonates across generations and cultures. First premiered at Dance Base 6 August 2019.
Writer and Performer, Victoria Beesley’s new, solo, touring theatre show, Kissing Linford Christie will bring the remarkable story of one girl’s journey to Olympic success to young and family audiences (8+) from September 2020 – March 2021. Vickie wants to compete at the Olympics. But there is only one obstacle; she isn’t very good at sport. Yet despite the odds, her love for athletics takes her all the way to London 2012.
Starcatchers, image by Jassy Earl
Award-winning Starcatchers, Scotland's National Arts and Early Years Organisation will take two productions for very young audiences on tour. At a time in their development when young children are discovering their own physicality and the pleasures and perils of gravity, Little Top invites babies to experience spectacular balances, astonishing tumbles and inventive juggling in a specially-designed set that miniaturises the magic of the Big Top.
Created through a partnership between Starcatchers and SUPERFAN, Little Top’s colourful set creates a cosy and welcoming space where professional circus acrobats, tumblers and jugglers perform in babies’ line of sight, interacting and responding to their young audience.
Starcatchers’ Chief Executive Rhona Matheson said: “We’re really looking taking our beautiful, innovative productions for very young audiences, on tour across Scotland, for the first time.
“Our productions push the boundaries of expectation about what kind of arts experiences babies and young children can benefit from and Little Top is certainly that. Babies and adults alike are transported into a playful, joyous, upside down, topsy-turvy world where people can fly, patterns fill the air and anything is possible.”
Starcatchers is also developing a new piece of dance storytelling, with celebrated storyteller Andy Cannon, called Spike. From the perspective of a wee dinosaur in a big world, this is a story of the passing of time and stories passed on, bringing generations together in a celebration of connection and kinship.
Rapture Theatre will tour Rapture Bites: A Season of Touring Classic Lunchtime Theatre Plays to medium sized venues over an 18-week period. Launching in Spring 2021, each play will be preceded by lunch and a short introduction by the director, and the performance will be followed by an event where audiences will be invited to share tea and cake with cast members.
ends
Notes to Editors:
1. Touring Fund for Theatre and Dance awards:
Victoria Beesley: £62,194
Company of Wolves: £123,039
Lucy Ireland and James Manganello: £73,909
Mariem Omari: £48,685
Rapture Theatre: £206,366
Raw Material Arts: £148,461
Slanjayvah Danza: £98,708
Sleeping Warrior Theatre: £58,000
Starcatchers (Little Top and Spike): £170,603
2. Deadlines for the next round of the Touring Fund for Theatre and Dance will be announced in the New Year.
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3. The Touring Fund for Theatre and Dance is open to Scotland-based dance and theatre artists, companies and organisations, independent dance and theatre producers and venues, for the making and touring of new work or the restaging of previous work for touring across Scotland.
4. Decisions were made by a panel of five members drawn from the touring theatre and dance sector through an open call process, and four Creative Scotland specialist staff. They were:
Paul Burns (Head of Dance, Creative Scotland), Karen Dick (Interim Head of Place, Partnerships and Communities, Creative Scotland), Lorna Duguid (non-voting Chair) (Multi Art Form Manager, Creative Scotland), Simon Hart (Puppet Animation Scotland), Laura Mackenzie-Stuart (Head of Theatre, Creative Scotland), Electra McPhillips (Tron Theatre), Graham Reid (Equalities, Diversity and Inclusion Office, Creative Scotland), Ben Torrie (Aberdeen Performing Arts), Kathryn Spence (Independent Dance Artist) Laura Tyrrell (Fallhills Consulting).
5. Creative Scotland is the public body that supports the arts, screen and creative industries across all parts of Scotland on behalf of everyone who lives, works or visits here. We enable people and organisations to work in and experience the arts, screen and creative industries in Scotland by helping others to develop great ideas and bring them to life. We distribute funding provided by the Scottish Government and the National Lottery. www.creativescotland.com.
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Media Contact:
Wendy Grannon, Media Relations and PR Manager, Creative Scotland
T: 07989 854 306 E: Wendy.Grannon@CreativeScotland.com
