Paines Plough on their Fringe 2016 programme

Paines Plough has one of the most exciting and varied programmes this summer at Edinburgh’s Fringe Festival. Boasting three world premieres and critically acclaimed visiting companies with award winning works, all performed in their custom built/bespoke Roundabout pop up amphitheatre; it’s a season not to be missed.

“We are the national theatre of new plays, so it’s really important for everything about us to represent the nation as a whole,” explains Joint Artistic Director James Grieve. “We do consciously try to work with writers, actors, designers and artists from across the UK. We think that’s the best way to represent the nation properly.”

Paines Plough’s commitment to inclusion is ingeniously expressed in the architecture of their pop-up amphitheatre Roundabout. “There are 168 seats and every seat in the house has the same view by virtue of being in the round so it does feel incredibly intimate, incredibly close – you can see the whites of the actors’ eyes, the beads of sweat on their foreheads.”

Grieve elaborates, “It’s got an extraordinary state of the art lighting rig with 627 individual LED units and surround sound, it looks beautiful and it’s really comfortable to sit in. It’s kind of a cool atmosphere – it’s welcoming, the ticket prices are cheap, you can bring a beer in if you like.

"Everything about Roundabout, from our perspective, is about inviting people in and saying theatre is not intimidating, theatre is not formal. Theatre can be really fun and joyous and a shared experience. And if you like comedy, or music, or Netflix, then you might find something that you like here too. Why not come and have a live experience? Try something different in a different environment.”

Scorch – Stacey Gregg (Northern Ireland)

Winner of Best New Play at the 2015 Irish Times Theatre awards, Stacey Gregg’s Scorch centres on a gender curious teenager who finds an escape from stifling oppressive gender norms in cyberspace. “It’s inspired by a number of recent UK court cases that have been based on what is known as ‘gender fraud.’ I think it’s quite a contested term, a new term and we as a society are not quite sure how to deal with it yet, particularly the press.

"The piece is about a teenager falling in love, who I would say is probably genderqueer, there’s a fluidity there. It’s a relationship that starts online and then goes into the real world and once that happens there are serious repercussions.”

Gregg’s work seeks to question the licentious narratives that tabloids weave around the young people charged with ‘gender fraud,’ without undermining those who feel victimised. “I think interestingly there’s a disconnect or a discrepancy at the moment between what I see as a really positive progression in attitudes towards queer and trans issues on one hand and this notion of ‘gender fraud’ on the other. There’s something that I find quite sinister and old fashioned that goes on in the press, that salacious take on the binary of monster and victim for young people.”

Gregg’s Scorch comes to Edinburgh fresh from successful shows in Belfast and Ireland, before touring the UK. “Formally, Roundabout is perfect because Scorch was written for the round. So much of what the play tries to do is take the audience on a journey towards empathy so that they feel complicit and accountable for this young person in front of them.”

Love, Lies and Taxidermy – Alan Harris (Wales)

Prolific playwright Alan Harris’ brand new original play Love, Lies and Taxidermy is a comical romance set in the valleys, which starts with a cute meeting at a medical research facility in Merthyr Tydfil between the son of a Polish taxidermist and the daughter of a failing ice cream salesman. Boy meets girl leading to a romantic first date in Tesco. Harris is tight-lipped about the plot, not wanting to give too much away, “Val (Valentine) is 17, he falls in love with a girl from the town whose father is in debt and really it is a kind of unconventional, offbeat love story.

“It’s about people in society that don't fit in but really want to. There is a lot of talk in our country at the moment about immigration, and it’s the subject of much anger and hate. It’s something I hope to address with this play.”

Harris describes writing and developing his play with Paines Plough as a “dream come true”: “I really love working with the whole team and especially George [Perrin, Joint Artistic Director] who having so much experience really knows how to use the 360-degree space. It’s oddly enough quite a technical play. It’s such an open company: inclusive, from writers, to actors, to the audience. They really make you feel as a writer that you are at the heart of their research. You feel there’s real collaboration.

“I love Edinburgh anyway but during the Fringe, I think it is one of the most exciting places in the world. I can't wait to get back up there. Nothing fills my heart with joy more than an audience with non-traditional theatre-goers.”

I Got Superpowers for My Birthday – Katie Douglas (Scotland)

Ethan, William and Fiona are wildly different kids that happen to share a birthday. They’ll also be sharing a special gift; as they turn 13 they’ll each gain superpowers. Not a moment too soon as the world is on the brink of being swallowed up by an evil overlord, The Darkness, who is planning to drag Earth as we know it kicking and screaming into a new ice age.

Award-winning playwright and television writer Katie Douglas premieres her original play for seven year olds and up. “It’s a superhero adventure story in the spirit of the Marvel movies, although on a slightly smaller scale that is really lots of fun! I like to bring the space and excitement of television and film to the theatre with the immersion that I think is unique to the stage, particularly in Roundabout as it’s such a unique space.”

Douglas enjoys the particular challenges writing for children presents. “You can tackle any subject but you have to tackle it in a way that kids can understand. It's about keeping them interested. Kids are a lot more discerning than adults sometimes; if they don't like something they are going to tell you within about 30 seconds.”

All showings of Douglas’s play are ‘Relaxed Performances’: “We don't expect parents to make kids sit as if it’s church. I will be bringing my seven month old. He might make a bit of noise but if he starts properly kicking off, I will probably take him outside. It’s just to make the audience feel comfortable so they don't have to worry if their eight year old needs the loo or eat crisps.”

Growth – Luke Norris (England)

Toby has managed to ignore the lump in his testicles for two years but it’s rapidly becoming a real pain in the balls, not least when it starts to negatively affect his love life. It’s time for Toby to drop his pants, man up and make some hard decisions.

A comedy about an all too common quarter life crisis, up-and-coming playwright Luke Norris hopes his original work Growth will resonate with Edinburgh audiences: “It’s definitely suited to the Fringe. It’s aimed at anyone who likes theatre but specifically people in their 20s.”

Writing material for the Fringe with Paines Plough has significant resonance for Norris, who returns to Edinburgh’s festival after an eight year hiatus. “Paines Plough is a company I worked for as an actor and they’ve been on my radar ever since I left drama school. It’s a great theatre company if you want to get a play on as a youngish writer. They call themselves the national theatre of new writing and that’s certainly what it feels like. It’s really exciting; especially as we tour after Edinburgh with Roundabout.”

Norris loves Roundabout’s “extraordinary” mobility. “We can just pack up onto one truck and move anywhere in the country,” and considers it a perfect stage for Growth: “It’s quite spare and relies on the actors an awful lot. That kind of raw theatre just focuses everything into the characters without any set or costume particularly or anything else. The very fact that it’s circular means it’s a very democratic space and the whole ethos of Paines Plough is that it’s a democratic environment. Anyone who’s willing to attend gets the same rewarding experience.”

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Scorch, 5-28 Aug (not 9, 16 or 23), 6.05pm, £10-17
Love, Lies and Taxidermy, 5, 7, 10, 12, 14, 17, 19, 24, 26, 28 Aug, 1.35pm, £10-17
Growth, 6, 8, 11, 13, 15, 18, 20, 22, 25, 27 Aug, 1.35pm, £10-17
I Got Superpowers For My Birthday!, 5-21 Aug (not 9, 16 or 23), 11am, £5-10