CO-PROMOTION t h e a t r e
PLEASANCE
NO KIDS Ad Ini nitum Pleasance Courtyard, Sat 4–Mon 27 Aug (not 8, 13, 21), 3.40pm, £10.50–£13.50 (£9– £12.50). Previews Wed 1–Fri 3 Aug, £6.50. No Kids explores the personal journey that real-life couple Nir and George embarked upon when they asked the question: as a gay couple, should we go out of our way to have children? Gender-bending musical cabaret and verbatim theatre marry to conceive a distinctly queer piece that asks: should we be making more babies in an increasingly overpopulated world? And is our society truly open to the idea of two dads? FREEMAN Strictly Arts Theatre and The Pleasance Pleasance Courtyard, Sat 4–Mon 27 Aug (not 10), 5pm, £8–£11 (£7–£10). Previews Wed 1–Fri 3 Aug, £6. Inspired by the i rst man in America to plead insanity as his defence, award-winning writer Camilla Whitehill and Strictly Arts examine the unspoken link between mental health and systemic racism. Throughout time and across waters, from William Freeman to Sarah Reed, six true stories are threaded together and told through physical theatre, spoken word, gospel singing, shadow puppetry and more.
PROPELLER The Network and Pleasance Theatre Trust Pleasance Courtyard, Sat 4–Mon 27 Aug (not 13, 21), 1pm, £7–£9 (£6–£8.50). Previews Wed 1–Fri 3 Aug, £6. So you want to change the world? Really? You? You Instagram-checking, avo-smashing, coconut-l at-white-sipping loser? Yeah, the world sucks sometimes – OK, a lot. But you can’t do anything about it. Can you? This show says yes, yes you can. Maybe. If you ever feel frustrated about the way things are but don’t know what to do about it, this is the show for you. A devised piece about power and the possibility of change, directed by double Fringe First winner Caitlin Skinner and co-created by The Network Ensemble.
LIGHTS OVER TESCO CAR PARK Poltergeist Theatre Pleasance Dome, Sat 4–Mon 27 Aug (not 15, 22), 10.50am, £8.50–£11 (£7.50–£9). Previews Wed 1–Fri 3 Aug, £6. A docu-comedy for the post-truth age. Robert reported lights over the Tesco car park, then said an alien was coming to stay in his spare room. With the help of some historical abduction stories, a latex alien mask and a bucket of l ying saucers, we’re working out whether to believe him. Maybe this is a good place to believe him? Samuel French New Play Award winner 2018.
THE FLOP Clown fun facing a stiff challenge
D oubtless destined to launch a thousand headlines with penis-related puns, The Flop emerged from inclusive company Hijinx’s exploration into the potential of clowning as a vehicle for the discussion of sex and vulnerability. ‘One of the cast stumbled upon a mine of information about the impotence trials in 17th-century France,’ explains director Ben Pettit-Wade, ‘when the church and the state tied themselves in knots over the need for everyone to be able to consummate their marriage. If you could not, for whatever reason, you could be brought to trial and forced to prove your virility at a public trial.’
The strangeness of these laws was too good to ignore, and the story of the Marquis and Marquise de Langely ‘has it all – love, pride, a fall from grace, failure, manipulative relatives and plenty of idiocy,’ Pettit-Wade says. ‘We saw two characters at its centre who do not conform to societal expectations, who were outsiders. I think this is a very clown theme.’ With Hijinx’s previous Fringe success Meet Fred having gleefully subverted theatrical conventions, The Flop continues the company’s enthusiasm for disrupting the predictable through a dynamic dramaturgy and sardonic humour. For Pettit-Wade, clowning is joyous, a chance to ‘approach everything through play and i nding the game’ and a chance to ‘break all the conventions of traditional theatre: there is none of the stufi ness and bullshit.’ And unlike in 17th-century France, ‘you can acknowledge and embrace your mistakes, your l ops at any moment.’ (Gareth K Vile)
Summerhall, Wed 3–Sun 26 Aug (not 13, 20), 4.55pm, £12 (£8). Previews Wed 3–Sun 5 Aug, £6.
68 PLEASANCE | SUMMERHALL | ZOO | FESTIVAL 2018