To Be or Not to Be Shakespeare – Theatre at Buxton Fringe

PRESS RELEASE 10th June 2013

For immediate release

Theatre is the backbone of the Fringe and there are lots of opportunities to see great drama in July. It is sometimes said that Shakespeare with a twist is perfect Fringe material and bearing that out are two returning success stories. Last year's Theatre Production award winners Smooth Faced Gentlemen returns with an all-female production of Titus Andronicus, a vibrant, visceral retelling of Shakespeare's bloodiest, most under-rated tragedy, and Butterfly is back underground in the ghostly, epic labyrinth of Poole's Cavern with Hamlet. Book early for these two - sell-outs expected.

Shakespeare may be the granddaddy of playwrights but some big names from this era are also celebrated in Buxton this year. Former Fringe Award winner Freerange Theatre Company presents Billy Elliot-writer Lee Hall's play Spoonface Steinberg about an enchanting and brave autistic seven-year-old with cancer, incorporating songs from Maria Callas. Two plays from the Library Theatre Touring Company feature leading dramatists: Irene asserts her civil liberties via letter in Alan Bennett's Lady of Letters, and Happy Jack by John Godber is a celebration of life and love. In a new one-man adaptation of Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days, Uproot Theatre Company take Phileas Fogg on a rip-roaring adventure.

If a show returns to the Fringe it's probably made a good impression the first time. Amongst those to reappear are Caroline Small's The Unknown Land from Cotton Grass inspired by the fatal attraction of the Polar Regions and Shadow on Their Wall from Sheepish Productions described as 'A triumph of small-scale theatre' by Fringe Guru. George Telfer's one-man shows are always a highlight, and this year he has two of them, Burton's Last Call charts Richard Burton's rise from the humblest of beginnings to becoming a world icon, and in conjunction with Three's Company the story of Monty Python's Graham Chapman, Not the Messiah.

There are many more dramatic presentations of historical figures. Some are notorious - Clifford Barry's You all know me - I'm Jack Ruby, featuring the killer of Lee Harvey Oswald, and Bin Laden: The One Man Show from Knaive Theatre which follows him from his years as an economics student, right up until 9/11. Others are more literary, Charis Community Theatre presents The Dickens! an affectionate tribute to the great author, An Evening with Charlotte Bronte by Little Red Hen Theatre finds Charlotte Brontë revisiting her writings and Scars upon my Heart, by the Hush Hush Theatre Company documents the early life of Vera Brittain. There are some whose lives are full of drama. Jordan by Anna Reynolds with Moira Buffini from Stickleback Theatre Company is a modern-day fairy tale telling the true story of Shirley Jones' journey from the soggy chip-papers of Morecambe to her desperate act to keep her child, and Act-IV Theatre Company's Raffles: One Heart and Mind is a musical play about the remarkable rags-to-riches-to-rags life of Stamford Raffles, founder of Singapore.

There is plenty of musical action going on too. One Accord weave hit songs from the stage and screen amongst a moving tale of sadness, triumph and friendship in Magic of the Musicals, and MY Inter-Theatre Company also pull together classic musicals in Godstar, a compilation of Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar. GlovesOff tell us of Dark Deeds in darkly humorous cabaret featuring the music of Kurt Weill, Cole Porter, Tom Lehrer and more, or you could Choose to be Happy with Proper Show, a collection of comedy sketches, stories and poems. For sheer joie de vivre join the sparkling French company La Petite Famille for Tomorrow's Dawn, a musical about love, friendship and youth in all its complexity.

Mental Health has been a theme of drama in recent Fringes. Diabetic Penguins by Frantic Sleepers set in a teenage mental health ward is urgent and witty. In Extreme Withdrawal is Manifest Scrunchie Theatre Company trying to understand the intricacies of a clinically unstable mind and in Chris Neville-Smith's The First Sign of Madness, Joanna sits on a park bench with Craig, about to tell him everything....

There is also plenty of laughter to be found. Head up to the five creaky floors of Scrivener's bookshop for The Ghosthunters' Club, a spooky, tongue-in-cheek interactive show from Cul-de-sac Theatre, or if you prefer the natural world, join The Harpington Toad Fanciers' Social from Nuts & Bolts Theatre Company as they embark upon their first ever social event. Perennial Fringe favourites Planet Rabbit Productions invite you to another nostalgic comedy eavesdropping on a Seventies' family as they buy a dilapidated holiday cottage on the Yorkshire coast, whereas Present Apologies by All Singing All Dancing is a fast-paced satire on committee meetings promising oodles of innuendos and local in-jokes. If your taste is darker, try The Last Motel by Sheepish Productions: Abalone has crossed a gang of criminals and has a woman in his boot..., for something a bit different there is NoLogo Productions' Casual Encounters: James wants to try wife swapping, Jennifer doesn't want to be swapped. Remember classic 80s hit, Vienna? Gerundagula's production of the same name follows Ultravox fan Barry as he visits his ex and faces a dilemma. What would Midge Ure do? The Foundry Group's Seven Studies in Salesmanship, replacing the unfortunately cancelled 'Big Daddy Vs. Giant Haystacks', is a string of short, comic plays on the 'buy/sell' of human relations and comes straight from Brighton Fringe with rave reviews and a Best Female Performer Award.

Overcoming tragedy and disaster is fertile ground for drama. The tragedy is sometimes domestic; in Broken by Organised Chaos Productions some people get so lost, they don't find their way at all. Following an inexplicable tragedy in Breathe Out Theatre's In a Land Much Like Ours, a couple is slowly torn apart by the corrosive need to understand why, and after a teenage girl's car accident, her live-in boyfriend and her single-parent father meet in Waiting For by Sudden Impulse Theatre Company. At times, the disaster is rooted in war; in A Dance with the Devil by Delirious Theatre Company, it's not God who answers two survivors' prayers but Lucifer.

Time waits for no man, and it's certainly true for Momentum Theatre as they fight against the clock to get 'The Show' ready on time, and also for Quilter who sews lost stories into a 'patchwork quilt of lives' with the help of Ghost in Patchwork Lives from Arletty Theatre. In the Off-Off-Off-Broadway Company's Peaceful by Polis Loizou, there are more ghosts as an old woman hires an exotic medium to help her make peace with the dead. Also looking back at how the events and incidences of our lives shape us is A Sense of Falling by All Things Considered Theatre Company.

Great stories are at the heart of most great theatre; in Rampant Plays' The Gambit by Mark Reid, the world's greatest chess players agree to a reunion 25 years after an encounter which tore their friendship apart; Organised Chaos Productions bring A Lot Of It About in which after failed sex aversion therapy an older man argues with his younger self, Soften the Grey from 6FootStories sees a man who believes he has died arriving in a bizarre Citizens' Advice Bureau for the deceased, and in The Zoo Story from Sudden Impulse Theatre Company, Peter escapes from home once a week to read, but a stranger appears determined to tell him all about his trip to the zoo

The Fringe wouldn't be itself without room for something a little different! So for an evening of mayhem and mirth try Volga Olga's Night of Russian Culture from Crowd of Two Theatre Company for some reworked Chekhov as you've never seen it before. If you are missing the football try Dreamshed Theatre's humorous, nostalgic, multi-media tribute to City's now demolished old home in Maine Road Blues. In Confessions of a Waitress, Stephanie Claire and Teacup Theatre remind us that while people laugh, cry, make up and break up, most forget there is another guest at the table. Finally, for something really unique pick up your headphones, slip on a stranger's coat and head out to explore the park as never before in Dog Rough, an audio piece from Anna Beecher.

The Fringe is hugely grateful to its many supporters including its main sponsor The University of Derby Buxton as well as The Osborne Group, High Peak Borough Council, The Old Hall Hotel and The Cavendish Shopping Arcade.

For further information or interviews about the Fringe Send message to Press or tel: 07974 385767.