What is Blackbird?
In 2005, a rising Scottish playwright, David Harrower, was commissioned by the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival to write and produce a piece of work that would premiere at the festival. The genius of Blackbird was thus created.
Performed by two actors alone, it is the story of a 90 minute encounter in Ray’s office where a young woman whom he hasn’t seen for 15 years turns up out of the blue; it is a drama that positively explodes with unresolved, and possibly irresolvable, concerns.
It was a huge success; it transferred to the West End's Alberry Theatre, scooped up the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play, and has since continued to pick up awards globally as it is performed in new countries around the world. That is some serious Scottish talent.
We, at Et Al Theatre Company, now plan to bring the play back to the city and Festival from which it was born for this year’s upcoming Edinburgh Fringe with eight daily performances (17-24 August, 1800 hours). HOWEVER, it will return with a twist and a bang as BLACKBIRD IS BROUGHT TO LIFE; this powerful play will now become quakingly real in a SITE-SPECIFIC PRODUCTION.
Et Al's production of Blackbird
In El Al Theatre’s production, middle-aged Ray works as Human Resources manager for the Edinburgh Training & Conference Centre and it is here, in this very building just off the Royal Mile that, minutes later, Una and Ray's worlds are turned upside down. Arriving as if attending the venue for a conference, the audience are then catapulted into an extraordinary site-specific drama in the staff room and find themselves witnessing two people’s lives unravel before their eyes.
Who are we?
Predominantly we are Edinburgh university students with big ideas.
Blackbird is DIRECTED BY Sariel Heseltine under the Et Al Theatre Company umbrella, an Edinburgh University theatre company he co-founded in 2009, through which he has produced numerous critically successful plays such as this year’s hit, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Four Stars in the The Journal).
It is ACTED BY Camilla Spence (a Theology student at Edinburgh University who is also a promising young actress, she trained with NYT) and Adam Tomkins (a professional actor with over 10 years' experience working mainly in theatre and film).
It is CO-PRODUCED BY Sariel Heseltine, David Coleby and Camilla Spence.
Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland
At the same time as putting on a production that will make a buzz at the Fringe, we want to use this buzz to raise money and awareness throughout our eight day run for Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland, a charity which works to support Scottish playwrights and increase awareness of the wealth of creative talent within Scotland, both at home and internationally.
All belonging to Edinburgh in some capacity we have each spent years swimming in the Edinburgh theatre arts scene and admired the courage and very often the breathtaking talent of its playwrights. But these artists need support. The success of David Harrower’s Blackbird is a tremendous illustration of the possibilities in Scotland and Playwright’s Studio, Scotland is a unique organisation that can truly push similarly brave Scottish talent by broadening access to plays and supporting artists.
TESTIMONIAL: Ella Hickson is a playwright who once attended Edinburgh University and says. “I have received funding this year which has given me time to develop my craft outside of the commercial pressures of the industry. I consider myself impossibly lucky to have benefited from the support of Playwrights’ Studio, Scotland, it doesn’t get much better than that.”
Why we need your help
We know we have an exciting production to take to the Fringe, but we need your help to get it there. Mounting a show like this is an expensive undertaking. As well as paying for the venue itself we need to cover the costs of transport, publicity, insurance, costume, theatre rights... the list goes on and on! We receive no public subsidy, and so are wholly reliant on the box-office and the generosity of people like you to make Blackbird happen.
The cost of the publishers' performance rights to simply be able to put Blackbird on for 8 days anywhere at all are a whopping £512! We are looking to raise £1450 on Sponsume to go towards the whole shebang. Not only will we keep every sponsor fully informed about the play's progress, but we've put together a wide selection of ways that you can benefit from your gift. These range from getting your name in our programme, to having a five-minute radio play written and performed especially for you by us! The truth is though that whatever you can donate will make a huge difference, and we cannot express our gratitude enough for every pound that you give.
From all the team, a massive thank you!
The owner of this project has not made any updates yet.
