Storytelling PR

Theatre

Yours Sincerely

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Quick Duck Theatre presents

Yours Sincerely

Soho Theatre
Monday 14 March – Saturday 19 March
Press Nights: Tuesday 15 & Wednesday 16 March

We’re going back to 2017. Average graduate debt is at £50,000, Kylie Minogue is making a comeback, and Will Jackson has accidentally stolen 300 second class stamps from the Post Office. But he’s making them count. He’s writing letters. 

Yours Sincerely is a queer comedy about the complications of modern-day communication that brilliantly explores the joys and pitfalls of the lost art of letter writing. Based on real-life correspondences and told through a mixture of storytelling and lipsync cabaret, Will guides us through everything from reconnecting with old friends and ex-boyfriends to run-ins with the John Lewis marketing department. Stamp collecting has never looked more sexy… 

A five star hit of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2019, Yours Sincerely comes to Soho Theatre for one week this March, following an English tour throughout February.  Though plans for a full UK tour in 2020 were halted due to the pandemic, Will has adapted this solo show to work on different scales, instead performing in hyperlocal venues – from libraries to community halls – throughout 2021; during a time where a show about the importance of human connection and keeping in touch feels more vital than ever. Soho Theatre will see the show back in a theatre as it was originally imagined.

Written & Performed by Will Jackson (BBC Arts New Creative & Bush Theatre Emerging Writer 2019-20) Yours Sincerely was originally produced by Birmingham REP as part of their Foundry Artist development programme. This year, the show will celebrate its 4th birthday, as well as reach its 90th performance. 

Quick Duck Theatre is a Birmingham-based theatre company. Their work is ridiculous, openly queer, has a lot of heart and always has a killer soundtrack. They have recently been appointed as one of the New Vic Theatre’s KILN Associate Companies and were one of New Diorama Theatre’s Emerging Theatre companies in 2019. Their third show Fashion Spies – a queer, choose-your-own adventure show for families – debuted as part of Coventry UK City of Culture 2022 and will run ath the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this August at Assembly Venues. 

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Yes! Yes! UCS!

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Townsend Theatre Productions

in association with University of Manchester, The Place Bedford,
E.I.S. and Unite the Union present

Yes! Yes! UCS!

UK National Tour, February – May 2022

A new musical play by Neil Gore celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the
Upper Clyde Shipbuilders’ “Work-In” of 1971-72.

Townsend Theatre Productions present Yes! Yes! UCS!, a brand-new, musical play which chronicles the story of the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders “Work-In” of 1971-72, in celebration of the 50th anniversary. Powerful theatrical storytelling combines with live rock and folk music from the early 70s and graphic art animated projection to bring a meaningful message of hope, social justice and the fight for the right to work. 

Based on verbatim interviews with shipyard workers, Yes! Yes! UCS! is the story of two women workers in an industry facing imminent closure, drawn into the monumental, heroic battle to save thousands of jobs across Glasgow and the West of Scotland. At the time, women in pivotal roles made up little more than 5% of the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders’ workforce, and their history is far less well known. Townsend Theatre Productions’ trademark gritty drama depicts the traditions and skills of Scottish shipbuilding, while shining a light on the role women played in the fight for the right to work, the power of community solidarity, collective resistance and workers’ control. 

The show will tour from 12 February 2022 – 1 May 2022, across the UK, with dates in Salford, Sheffield, Clydebank, Irvine, Dalbeattie, Newcastle, London, Bristol, Manchester and many more. The venues for the Highlights rural touring across the north of England will be confirmed early next year. 

With the refusal by the incumbent Tory government in 1971 to invest in what they called “lame-duck” industries came the threat that the massive Glasgow and Clydebank shipyards, that made up the Upper Clyde Shipbuilders (UCS), would face closure. Shop Stewards – including well known Scottish Trade Union Activists Jimmy Reid and Jimmy Airlie – tried a new tactic from the usual union strikes and sit-ins, resulting in the now famous UCS “Work-in”, designed to show that workers were not just willing to work, but that demand for their work existed. They argued that unemployment was a political choice made by a government more interested in maintaining the profits of corporate capitalism and breaking up a semi-nationalised industry, than in protecting the interests of their citizens. 

Yes! Yes! UCS! aims to deliver greater social, cultural and educational impact by generating complementary activities that will creatively return the spirit of the ‘Work-In’ to the communities who were actively involved in this piece of important working-class history. In addition to touring, the company will work with communities across the UK to explore historical and contemporary themes and issues that the show raises, including: workplace exploitation; redundancy; lost communities and self-esteem. Local choirs will join the production throughout the regional tour, adding their voices to the rousing songs and music that was generated at the time conveying the power and unity of the working class speaking up for themselves.

Louise Townsend directs and produces, alongside writer and performer Neil Gore. The two have collaborated across all Townsend Theatre Productions past projects. The cast are young actor/musicians Janie Thomson and Heather Gourdie; musical direction is provided by well-known cellist, Beth Porter of the Bookshop Band and Eliza Carthy’s Wayward Band; Daniella Beattie returns as lighting designer; graphic art animation is provided by Scarlett Rickard and Jonny Halifax; and emerging artist and recent RCS graduate Ruth Darling is stage and costume designer. 

Townsend Theatre Productions have an outstanding reputation for producing imaginative, entertaining, socially relevant live theatre and community education of the highest quality that reaches new audiences in areas of low cultural engagement. Previous work includes Rouse, Ye Women! (2019) – a folk ballad about Mary Macarthur and the women chainmakers of Cradley Heath striking to achieve a living wage in 1910, and We Are the Lions Mr Manager (2017) – the remarkable story of Jayaben Desai who led the 1976-8 Grunwick Film Processing Factory Strike. 

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Quick Duck Theatre presents Fashion Spies

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VAULT Festival
Saturday 5 – Sunday 6 February 2022

A queer choose-your-own, family adventure filled with deception, divas and catwalk crooks comes to London’s Vault Festival on Saturday 5 – Sunday 6 February 2022

Quick Duck Theatre presents the London debut of Fashion Spies  – originally premiered as part of Coventry City of Culture 2021 – with three performances at VAULT Festival, Saturday 5 – Sunday 6 February. 

At fashion weeks across the globe, expensive must-have items have been stolen, and every top-secret agent sent to investigate has been kidnapped! With the infamous annual Burnwell upon Twynne Fashion Week around the corner, the Secret Agency Service has no other option but to send in the spy academy’s entire undergraduate class to solve the case – that’s you!

A queer, choose-your-own adventure made for families, Fashion Spies puts audiences right into the heart of the show. Find yourself on an undercover mission as you travel around the world with Quick Duck Theatre – your choices will help to thwart the biggest threat that fashion has ever seen. The stakes and the shoulder pads have never been higher. 

Fashion Spies is written and directed by Will Jackson, co-founder and artistic director of Quick Duck Theatre. Abigail Greenwood, Eleanor Rattenbury & Jack Davies will lead the audience through the adventure, each performing multiple roles. Quick Duck Theatre has recently been appointed one of the New Vic Theatre’s Associate companies. Fashion Spies is their third production.

The company’s first show, Magic Hour: The Murder Mystery Disco! won the Best Ensemble & the Singularity of Vision awards at the National Student Drama Festival 2019. This immersive drag farce engaged with families of LGBTQ+ children at a critical point during the protests against LGBT-inclusive education, and bucked the trend for drag murder mysteries which now sees Death Drop touring the UK with stars of RuPauls Drag Race. Their second show, queer coming-of-age comedy Yours Sincerely has toured over 70 performances across the UK including a five star hit run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2019. The show will tour again from February 2022. 

Fashion Spies is produced by Quick Duck Theatre with support from the New Vic Theatre, Peggy Ramsay Foundation & Arts Council England. Fashion Spies’ early development was supported by PILOT Nights, China Plate & In Good Company.

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Puppet Animation Scotland announces MANIPULATE Festival’s 15th anniversary programme for 2022

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28 January – 5 February 2022
Tickets on sale at 6pm, Thursday 4 November 2021

Today, Puppet Animation Scotland is excited to announce the programme for MANIPULATE Festival 2022 – a year that marks its 15th anniversary, and sees Scotland’s international festival of visual theatre, animated film and puppetry return with its first live series of events in two years.

Presenting a dynamic programme of live performance, film, installation, workshops and events, and additional content online, the 15th edition of the award-winning MANIPULATE Festival will run from Friday 28 January until Saturday 5 February 2022 across Edinburgh’s Festival Theatre and Summerhall; bringing together leading Scottish and international artists from 15 countries including Canada, China, Brazil, England, Egypt, France, Germany, Indonesia, Ireland, Latvia, Norway, Scotland, Slovenia, Spain and the USA.

Acclaimed for presenting outstanding visually-led work that engages and challenges audiences, the 2022 edition of the festival will centre its artists and audiences with a curated programme from around the world. The programme will see MANIPULATE favourite artists return, alongside brand-new artists who will present live performances, work in progress, film, immersive installations and industry-focused workshops and events. 

MANIPULATE will mark its anniversary year by looking at the current and future landscape, with a programme of cutting-edge and boundary-pushing work that surrounds timely themes including feminism, gender, identity, queer culture and sexuality, alongside relevant issues including the environment, faith, mental health, power and war. Together, the programme explores the relationship between the individual and society, asking of its artists and audiences, how do you build back better as we move forward as one?

Programming her first live festival since taking up the helm as Puppet Animation Scotland’s Director in 2020, and talking about MANIPULATE Festival, Dawn Taylor said:
“We are so thrilled to bring live work back to Scottish audiences in 2022 and also to continue developing the digital programme initiated in 2020. As we progress through to this next phase of the global pandemic, it’s clear that artists are interested in questioning the status quo and asking big questions about the society we are part of and each of our place within it. Questions of identity, climate, global unrest and the contract between individual and collective resonate through the work and in our conversations around it. 

MANIPULATE 2022 is a moment for audiences, artists and industry to come back together for moments of escapism and joy as well as provocation and challenge. We’ll share spaces, both live and virtual, and engage in dialogue, learn from one another and explore questions about our shared future. That’s why for the first time this year we invite our audiences to connect in new ways, whether walking together or sharing a meal, and we’ll host more open spaces than ever to demystify the work of MANIPULATE and create points of access for emerging artists. We can’t wait to welcome you back.”

The 2022 Programme includes: 

Live performances throughout the festival comment on economic, political and social issues. The festival will open with Edinburgh born artist and performer Sadiq Ali who presents his first-full length show The Chosen Haram,  dealing with themes of addiction, connection, faith and sexuality. The Chosen Haram tells the story of two queer men and their chance meeting through a dating app, portraying the highs and lows of their relationship and the barriers they face, both social and cultural, in seeking happiness and personal fulfillment.

Each weekend, the festival will see a special new strand Dinner with… which invites audiences to a two course meal in Summerhall’s gallery bar, hosted by some of our favourite Scottish performance artists. Audiences are invited to Dinner with LARDS, an ensemble of Scottish theatre artists with specialisms in clown, bouffon and character work who celebrate liveness, risk and joy in their work. The following weekend, join MANIPULATE for Dinner with Plutot La Vie, a mesmerising evening of intimate performance, an evening of illusion where everything may not be what it seems.

Jean Daniel Broussé (JD) explores themes of family, queer culture and sexuality in his performance (Le) Pain – a show about breadmaking, physical heroics, growing up queer in a boulangerie in the south of France, endings and new beginnings. It includes circus, dance, storytelling, Béarnaise folklore video, karaoke and laughter.

From sexuality and queer culture, to celebrities and drag culture, award-winning Rambert-trained British dance theatre company Thick & Tight take influence from a wide range of historical, political, literary and artistic subjects, with a focus on promoting queer culture and accessibility within dance. Created by Eleanor Perry and Daniel Hay-Gordon, the company present Short & Sweet; a modern variety show that mixes dance, drag, lip-syncing and satire, bringing together a host of famous and infamous characters to life including Sid Vicious, Twiggy, Grace Jones, Rasputin, Edith Sitwell and everyone’s favourite avant-garde duo, John Cage & Elaine Paige.

From icons to idols, Scottish-based dance artist Suzi Cunningham presents double-bill Rules to Live By // EIDOS that veers between anarchy, punk music, heroism and how idolatry and loss can shape a life. The idea for Rules to Live By came in 2018 after the death of one of Suzi’s teenage idols, Mark E. Smith of the band The Fall, whose collaboration with Michael Clark led her to train as a dancer. It is a requiem for heroism, hedonism, rebirth and dark disturbing humour.  EIDOS is a tribute to Suzi’s grandmother, who was a punk in-her-own-right. She is the hero, the stalwart, Suzi’s personal Vivienne Westwood, the treasure hunter and the curio-with-a-cause. 

Scottish female-led theatre collective Snap-Elastic is led by Alice Mary Cooper, Eszter Marsalko, Isy Sharman and Claire Eliza Willoughby, and together they create bold physical performance work. Exploring themes of predatory behaviour, EAT ME is a luscious, incendiary theatre show about unconventional love, chaos, control and the shifting complexities of power.

Also exploring themes of power and control are festival favourites Ljubljana Puppet Theatre / Lutkovno gledališče Ljubljana who return to MANIPULATE two years after their visit with the extraordinary Open The Owl. An intimate puppet-object miniature exploring power, weakness and control, Moč / The Power draws the audience into a strange, distorted world, asking the question: ‘Who is manipulating who in this work, which plays with varying notions of power and weakness, as well as of public and private?’

Looking at the impact of war and displacement is the world premiere performance of The Yellow Canary that opens following its work-in-progress presentation as part of the MANIPULATE digital festival in 2021, and animated documentary My Favourite War (MANS MĪĻĀKAIS KARŠ).

Presented by performance maker Tashi Gore, with visual theatre expert Ross MacKay and playwright Will Gore, The Yellow Canary will be presented in a hybrid format of live performance and digital animation. It is both an epic true story and a leap into the imagination of a young child desperate to escape the horrors of war, exploring love, loss and what it means to flee your home.

From stage to screen, Ilze Burkovska Jacobsen’s My Favourite War (MANS MĪĻĀKAIS KARŠ) – tells the personal story of its director, Ilze, about growing up in the Cold-War USSR. Winner of awards including Annecy Contrechamp Competition, French Critics Prize and Latvian National Film Prize- Animator Of The Year, it is an exciting coming-of-age story about finding one’s own identity, truth and loyalty.

The theme of displacement is also pertinent to the work of theatre company Agrupación Señor Serrano, Spanish masters of micro-cinema Señor Serrano who blend live feed video, scale models, text, performance, sound and objects, and return to MANIPULATE following their critically acclaimed performance of A House in Asia in 2017. Presenting the Scottish premiere of their theatre work Birdie, the multimedia performance highlights the plight of refugees through the lens of migrating birds, and includes live video, objects, Hitchcock’s The Birds revisited, scale models, 2000 mini animals, wars, smugglers, a massive migration and three performers handling this messy world with wit, criticism and commitment with humankind.

In another performance which asks searching questions about the relationship between the individual and society, physical theatre artist Lewis Sherlock and performance writer Ali Maloney present After Metamorphosis; a dramatic reworking of Kafka’s classic which puts toxic workplace culture and its effect on the individual under the lens. The piece weaponizes the surrealism of the original text into a wild rumpus, unveiling a satire of identity and conformity. Scuttling around between micro-cinema, physical theatre, and spoken word burlesques, it explores imposter syndrome, individuality in the corporate hive mind, and our relationship with the insect ecosystem.

From physical to aerial theatre, Ill Lit is a powerful performance that uses the Japanese art of shibari (rope bondage) exploring mental health, cycles of repetition and the struggle to break out. Performed by Kasia Zawadzka, one of the pioneers of world self-suspension rope performance who has worked with some of the world’s leading rope practitioners including Kinoko Hajime, Saki Kamijoo, Garth Knight and Esinem.

For the second year running, the festival will platform and celebrate the work of womxn and non-binary animators from around the world. First initiated in 2020 to champion the work of women (cisgender, transgender, non-binary, genderqueer or intersex), with the aim of improving visibility for women in the film sector and addressing the current gender imbalance in animated film, the programme features work employing a wide range of techniques, textures and styles and includes some of the most decorated shorts in this year’s festival season.

Looking to legends of the animation world, Animated Women: Aaronimation will include a compilation of seven short experimental animated films by legendary American artist and animator Jane Aaron (1948-2015). Aaron’s experimental animations, compiled in the half-hour Aaronimation, are quintessentially cinematic. One frame at a time filmed with her Bolex camera, the films explore qualities unique to pre-digital movie-making augmented by Jane’s own handmade production tools and techniques. The works capture an era of 16mm filmmaking that is now frozen in history by obsolescence of the film medium.

With a dizzying array of animation styles and a packed programme of untold stories and exciting talent, MANIPULATE once again partners with Edinburgh Short Film Festival to bring audiences award-winning short animated films from around the globe. Featuring new work fresh onto the festival circuit, the programme offers something for everyone whether new to animated film or an avid fan.

All animations in the programme will be available for audiences to watch online as well, keeping the programme accessible to those outside of Scotland, or who cannot attend in person.

From film to installations, French artists Adrien M & Claire B present two immersive digital experiences that use interactive augmented reality in Acqua Alta – The Crossing of the Mirror and FAUNA. Acqua Alta is an interactive virtual reality installation that invites audiences to look through a tablet or a smartphone to discover the story of a woman, a man and a house. It traces the odyssey of those involved, facing the rising waters, among storms, ink seas, breaking waves and jellyfish. 

Visual artist and scenographer Claire Bardainne and computer scientist and juggler Adrien Mondot also showcase their creativity and skill in second installation FAUNA, which allows people to go on a treasure hunt to find and explore the imaginative worlds hidden behind the graphic prints. Fauna is a series of ten large-format posters with a custom-built Augmented Reality application that can be discovered via your smartphone, and presents animals roaming in beautiful landscapes and subtle soundscapes hiding behind city walls. 

Continuing  the programme of installations, audiences can discover Forest VIDEOLAB in the Meadows adjacent to Summerhall. Led by Mettje Hunneman, a Scottish-based videographer/editor and video artist hailing from Amsterdam’s dynamic art and VJ scene, the installation is a series of unique, site-specific, public artworks using immersive video projections with original soundscapes to highlight and transform public green spaces and question our place in nature.

Celebrating and supporting artists who play with form and challenge perceptions is central to the work of Puppet Animation Scotland, and this year’s MANIPULATE will see 3 programmed work-in-progress performances, working once again in partnership with SURGE and their bursary programme.

Firstly is Between Earth and Moon by Noah Thomson – a Surge bursary award recipient who will present this Scottish-Argentinian work-in-progress collaboration, performed live between the two countries using livestream technology. The piece is inspired by Italo Calvino’s short story ‘The Distance of the Moon’ and will explore relationships across distance.

Secondly is Sand, presented by multi-skilled artists Petre Dobre & Daniel Livingstone which tells of a very old mythical being – the Sandman. Sand is a highly visual work-in-progress performance that blends theatrical styles to bring the Sandman’s world to life through movement, object manipulation and shadow puppetry. Through this lens, they’ll explore dreams and face nightmares. 

Next up is MANIPULATE’s SNAPSHOTS that gives audiences a first look at exciting new visual theatre works from five Scottish artists, presented in the early stages of their development. Featuring puppetry, object theatre, physical theatre and dance, the lineup promises insight into the process of a diverse group of artists working with a wide range of techniques. Presenting work at this early stage is an invaluable opportunity for artists to share their work with an audience and receive feedback which can play a key role in shaping the work as it evolves. 

From work-in-progress to professional development opportunities, MANIPULATE Festival has 2 workshops from leading practitioners Al Seed and Green Ginger.

Al Seed presents What Makes a Good Idea for a Show? This is a question that can be deceptively difficult to answer at any stage in one’s career, but more so when there is the agenda of creating a show that is visually / physically driven. In this workshop Al will work with participants to explore approaches to identifying, developing and pitching concepts for future shows with presenting partners, audiences and collaborators in mind.

Green Ginger presents TRASH-HACK Puppetry Workshop, a full day workshop for both experienced and emerging puppeteers with the inimitable Chris Pirie of leading UK puppetry company Green Ginger. Trash-Hack is a masterclass in re-purposing domestic and industrial junk to create and animate instant puppet creatures.

And finally, in a series of events programmed to help artists, practitioners and producers connect with other puppeteers and enthusiasts, MANIPULATE Festival presents Netwalk (puppetry) – a practical way to connect with other professionals by walking and talking around Edinburgh’s iconic Meadows. Proven to increase creative thinking, as well as to encourage honest and productive conversations, one member of the Puppet Animation Scotland team will join each walk with ticket holders entitled to a free hot chocolate to keep them cosy as they stroll.

Tickets for the 2022 festival go on sale at 6pm, Thursday 4 November and can be booked by visiting MANIPULATEfestival.org.

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Positive Stories for Negative Times – the national participatory project gifting free plays and resources to young people across the world returns for a second season

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Open to schools, colleges, youth theatres or anyone working with young people.
Sign ups open now at positivestories.scot

Positive Stories for Negative Times created by Wonder Fools in association with Traverse Theatre is back with an incredible lineup of the UK’s most exciting voices. Seven brand new plays, written specifically for the times we are living in, will be made free and available to young people from September 6 through to March 2022, with groups from anywhere in the world being encouraged to join in. 

Working with those from isolated areas, marginalised groups and vulnerable young people, Positive Stories for Negative Times is providing a new outlet to nurture creativity, encourage the exchange of new skills and ideas and provide a safe space online that could have a genuine impact on young people’s experience of the world as they recover from the effects a global pandemic has had on their education, their connections and the world around them as a whole. 

The first season – launched in August 2020 as part of the digital Traverse Festival Programme – was created as a direct response to the lack of physical spaces for young people to participate in performance, and the detrimental impact this is having on their mental health and wellbeing. A staggering 2,607 young people and 282 groups spanning from the Outer Hebrides to Madrid, and York to Quebec performed the first season’s plays, which ended last month – making way for a new raft of artists and groups to get involved from this summer onwards. 

Season Two, aimed at engaging an even broader network of people aged between 6 and 25 has been created with a focus on coming together, embarking on new processes and changing the way we think about theatre for young people. Wonder Fools and the Traverse Theatre have again co-commissioned a new group of the UK’s most prominent artists to create new work relevant to the here and now, which will act as stimulus for creative projects for young people around the world. 

As students in Scotland and across the UK return to schools, colleges and universities, 948 young people have already registered since the initial announcement was made back in June. 

On the projects return, Wonder Fools said: “Being able to engage so many young people around the world through Season 1 was an utter joy, but the project has been designed with the aim of responding to the current times we are living in no matter whether young people are in or out of the classroom. Theatre provides huge benefits to children in all creative environments. Season 2 has been designed to help bring young people back into that physical space to explore their creativity, as well as adapting to the ways education has been changed throughout the pandemic and how young people are recovering from that, reembracing their creativity, communication and connection with others. 

“This season we have opened up the project to invite submissions from all kinds of groups across different art forms allowing young people to flex their creative muscles and celebrate the process of what they make. That may be performance, film, creative writing, blogs – you name it. We have also responded to the needs of youth group leaders and incorporated a programme of free professional development into the programme for them to engage with remotely throughout the project, learn new skills and share best practice. We can’t wait to meet groups from around the world and to see what they come up with.”

All participating groups will be sent their chosen script to perform rights free and a handbook of exercises to help their group explore the play. No set outcome or end result has been defined, it’s all about celebrating creativity inspired by the plays and sharing what is made. Groups have the freedom to create anything they want: a piece of music, a film, creative writing, poetry, outdoor work – there are no limitations. For those brand new to performance, the handbook provides a step-by-step guide through the process. The plays are a starting point created to inspire different kinds of work. These can live either live in the space, through blended learning or completely online.

Works include: 

Spyrates (Spies vs Pirates) 2: Journey to the Forbidden Island by Robbie Gordon and Jack Nurse (6+) – From the Co-Founders of Wonder Fools, comes Spyrates, a play for up to 100 6+ year olds.  Featuring spies, pirates, robots, talking animals and everything in between, in an interactive, playful and imaginative adventure story. 

At First I Was Afraid (I Was Petrified!) by Douglas Maxwell (11+) – When things feel too tough moving up into a new school, to manage her anxiety, Cleo starts to get creative in an old Descendants’ diary – her worry book – but everything she writes starts to come true, so she tries writing down positive ideas…. A fast-paced comedy drama with loads of bright characters, big set pieces, twists and turns and a huge sing-a-long happy ending… oh, and a mad bit with a Fairy Godperson.

The Raven by Hannah Lavery (11+) – Lament to Sheku Bayoh writer and director Hannah Lavery’s The Raven is both an adventure and an exploration of what shapes and what divides us, exploring issues of blended families, bullying, depression and isolation.

Thanks for Nothing by The PappyShow (11+) – Celebrating life’s quiet moments of gratitude and joy, Thanks for Nothing will be a blueprint for a show encouraging loads of devising and playing with narrative and form from the playful, physical and visual ensemble that is The PappyShow, created in collaboration with award-winning playwright Lewis Hetherington. 

Revolting by Bryony Kimmings (13+) – Multi-Award winning playwright, performer, documentary maker and screenwriter Bryony Kimmings’ Climate Crisis play Revolting asks, if we’re agents of the revolution – how do we revolt? This ‘paint-by-numbers’ play will put the control firmly in the hands of the creators – let’s imagine a new system (there may be flying cars and free money and loads of dancing and pizza parties) but also positive solutions to climate change. 

The Skirt by Ellen Bannerman (15+) – Traverse Young Writer Ellen Bannerman’s The Skirt is an absurdist parable for the next generation of feminists, based on Gogol’s short story: ‘The Nose’. Wearing a short skirt to school on the day of the Head Girl election should be an irrelevant outfit choice – but when Kay is sexually harassed on her way to school, she pulls out of the race, but her short skirt has other ideas and much like Gogol’s The Nose, enters the race for Head Girl in its own right. 

Write to Rave: Step Pon by Debris Stevenson (18+) – Grime poet, dyslexic writer and working-class academic Debris Stevenson presents Write to Rave: Step Pon – a play about the political power of rave. Who has the right to rave, to dance and move freely? What is it to feel truly free in their own skin? It tells the story a queer group of humans trying their best to rave whilst the world tries its best to stop them.

Each writer has been working with the newly established Positive Stories Youth Board to ensure that the plays are not only made for young people, but with them too, the aim to create something for everyone no matter their size, age or experience of making theatre. 

As part of the project, participating group leaders will have access to regular online workshops with the seven artists and the Wonder Fools team to build on ideas, provide some pointers on best practice and allow for sharing and discussion between groups and their projects.

Wonder Fools are inviting any teachers, groups or organisations working with young people to get involved and utilise the free resources. Participating groups  will be given a pin on a virtual map and page on the project’s bespoke website where their work will be celebrated with other participants around the UK and beyond. 

To sign up or to find out more visit positivestories.scot.

Positive Stories for Negative Times Season 2 is produced by Wonder Fools in association with the Traverse Theatre and is supported by Creative Scotland, Chance to Succeed, Foundation Scotland Response Recovery & Resilience Fund, William Syson Foundation, Gannoch Trust, Christina Mary Hendrie Trust, Hugh Fraser Foundation, Gordon Fraser Charitable Trust and the Inchyre Trust. 

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