Storytelling PR

Winter 2022/23 Update

by

Author: Ambrose Kelly

After a busy and brilliant 2022 Festival Fringe here in Edinburgh, we’re back! 

We’ve re-charged out batteries and can’t wait to tell you about our current winter season and early 2023 plans. From the Lyceum Theatre’s much-anticipated upcoming programme to new immersive performance, multiple festivals and a UK/Ireland book tour, the Storytelling team has been hard at work with some brilliant creatives to support their latest projects and creative vision. 
Having worked with some much-loved friends this autumn (such as Wonder Fools and their Scottish theatre tour of 549: Scots of the Spanish Civil War; Stellar Quines’ beautiful new play on migration, loneliness and siblings, Sister Radio; Dropped Tea Theatre’s performance and culture promenade weekend, Knock Down – Brixton; Jordan & Skinner and their lively feminist re-imagining H.G.Wells, Time Machine – and much more), the remainder of the year, through to early 2023, is set to be just as exciting.

Actress Melanie stands next to a red wall staring intently at something the audience cannot see. She wears a blue and pink paisley shirt with grey jeans, and has a flower tattoo on her left arm.
Copy of Melanie Jordan in Jordan and Skinner’s The Time Machine, 2022. Image Credit – Tommy Ga-Ken Wan.
Actresses Lanna and Nalân embrace each other on a floral blue sofa, their foreheads touching. Lanna has curly dark brown hair and is wearing a dark blue cardigan; Nalân also has curly dark brown hair and is wearing a paisley blue dress with a blue under-shirt.
Lanna Joffrey and Nalân Burgess in Sister Radio, 2022.
Image credit – Fraser Band.
Tim and Matt of Pianodrome sit side-by-side in their amphitheatre made of recycled pianos. Antique lights sit on either side of the men, illuminating them in a warm light. Matt looks across to his right at Tim, who looks behind his right shoulder at the wall. On the wall behind their heads reads, 'Throw Caution to the Wind.'
Tim Vincent-Smith and Matthew Wright of Pianodrome sitting in their world-first amphitheatre venue.
Image Credit – Elliot Caunce Photography

An ongoing project that started in late-October, 2023 will see the team close out theatre-maker, slam poet, screenwriter – and now, Scottish BAFTA nominee! – Leyla Josephine’s current UK/Ireland book tour in celebration of her debut poetry collection: In Public/In Private, published by Burning Eye Books. We’re excited to be assisting Leyla in her shift from stage to page, and can’t wait to see how In Public/In Private is received across Scotland, England and beyond. As a deeply introspective examination into the personal and the private, Leyla’s debut work has already grabbed the cultural scene’s attention; PR highlights so far include a fantastic interview with The National, a brilliant first review from The Scotsman, selection by The Times for her King Tut’s set as a must-see for Scottish end-of-year events, and a live interview with BBC Scotland’s Afternoon Show on her artistic journey so far. 

Book cover for Leyla Josephine's debut novel, 'In Public/In Private'. The cover is mostly black and white, an orange rip effect across the centre. Behind the centre rip effect is a black and white photo of Leyla looking to her right, her face obscured by the rip effect. In larger light pink writing reads, 'In Public/In Private', with 'Leyla Josephine' written underneath in smaller white text in a scratchy, handwritten font.
In Public/In Private cover. Image Credit – Emily Wylde, 2022.
Black and white photograph of author Leyla Josephine. Leyla wears a silk dressing gown and looks off to her left with a calm expression. She has long brown hair, long eyelashes and is wearing two small necklaces.
Leyla Josephine. Image Credit – Marilena Vlachopoulou, 2022.

In festivals, the new year will see our team work with a variety of brilliant large-scale events, including the iconic visual theatre and animated film festival MANIPULATE, and Scotland’s longest-running greenfield festival, Knockengorroch, celebrating its 25th year. Returning for its 16th iteration, MANIPULATE Festival will bring an ambitious line up of existing and new work – enjoyed online, inside and outside – to Edinburgh this February 2-12, 2023. We look forward to supporting the MANIPULATE team as the festival untangles themes of human resilience, migration, memory, life, death and climate change via an impressive group of performers and creatives, including Katherina Radeva, Long Green Jaws, Kasia Zawadzka, Gavin Glover, VOX Muziektheater, and many more. 

Long Green Jaws male actor sits in the middle of a black stage with an abstract orange and light blue pattern background. He is wearing a light blue linen shirt with light brown trousers, and has short wavy brown hair. His right leg is bent towards his chest as he pours water from one fish bowl into another. A glass vase half-full of water sits next to his right foot.
Long Green Jaw by Fergus Hall & Sarah McWhinney. MANIPULATE Festival 2023. Image Credit – Long Green Jaws

The firmly-rooted Knockengorroch Festival will return to the Carsphairn Hills, bringing a vast spread of local and international music to some of Scotland’s most beautiful natural scenery. Running 25-28 May 2023, Knockengorroch will see Mungo’s Hi Fi, Zentone Chapter 2, The Drystones, The Langan Band, and many more perform on their iconic – and eco-friendly – stages. 2023 will see a continued focus on environmentalism within the festival, including banning single-use-plastic, encouraging the use of local transport for ticket buyers, and using local materials to craft the festival’s structures. 

We’re also excited to work with our friends Swamp Motel on their latest theatre project, Saint Jude – showing from 24 January to 11 March 2023. Mysterious and wonderfully dark, Saint Jude blends expert performance, AI technology and storylines of a mysterious government building to form a unique, vivid audience interaction that inspires as it puzzles – a futuristic deep-dive into secret organisations, morality and medical technology. Also running from 31 March – 15 April 2023 is contemporary Gaelic theatre company Theatre Gu Leòr’s new Gàidhlig Western, Stornoway, Quebec – on tour across Scotland. A performance filled with everything we love – creativity, mystery, excellent writing and the Gaelic language – Stornoway, Quebec will bring audiences a drama based on the life of Canadian outlaw Dòmhnall Morrison, Canada’s most-wanted man, who emigrated from Lewis; and the Barra woman and bounty hunter, Màiri MacNeil, who pursues Morrison to a Quebec saloon, where they and three others become snowed in by an ominous blizzard.

Swamp Motel male actor sits behind a panel of green-tinted warped glass with a menacing stare. His face is partially obscured by the glass, and he is wearing a green jumper to match the tint. He sits on a partially-obscured blue chair.
Swamp Motel’s Saint Jude. Image Credit – Guy Sanders.

Similarly, we can’t wait to work on Surrogate Production’s brilliant theatre show, Who Killed My Father? – returning after a sell-out run as part of Mayfesto at Glasgow’s Tron Theatre from 27 – 30 May 2023. Exploring a series of important social themes, we meet Édouard – a gay man who has endured years of violence and homophobia from his alcoholic, right-wing father – and witness his courageous decision to unravel years of social brutality, political decisions and anger. We will also work with the fantastic Adrenalism Theatre in April on their upcoming family-friendly ‘Chicken Western’ – The Good, The Bad and The Poultry – which will tour across Scotland from 18 April – 7 May 2023. We absolutely love working with touring theatre, and can’t wait to see this joyful piece of work flourish. 

As long-standing friends of Storytelling, our team will continue to work with the Lyceum Theatre on their upcoming spring season and brilliant array of talented theatre-makers in 2023. The coming year is set to be an exciting one for the Lyceum, with productions from both well established and up-and-coming theatre makers set to share their work on the Lyceum’s iconic main stage between February and May. 

In February, Shakespeare’s most iconic female character takes centre stage in Zinnie Harris’ brilliant new work – Macbeth (An Undoing), showing 4 – 25. Intertwining the Bard’s original text with Harris’ new material, the play explores the dark ambitions of Lady Macbeth and her twisted desperation to make them a reality. 

Running 7 – 18 March 2023 is You Bury Me – an explosive, political play from Ahlam that tells the story of six young Egyptians navigating loss, friendship and forbidden love. Created by Linda McLean is the deeply introspective Castle Lennox – an examination into the trials of Annis, a young girl with autism, who finds herself trapped in the brutal Lennox Castle Hospital in East Dunbartonshire, known for its notorious treatment of its residents between the 1930s and 1990s, showing 30 March – 1 April 2023. 

Writer and director Zinnie stands next to actress Nicole. Zinnie stands slightly in front of Nicole's right side with her arms crossed. She is wearing a dark purple and red shirt with a large stripe pattern. She wears large circular glasses with a thin black frame, and has short blonde cropped hair. Nicole stands slightly behind Zinnie and is wearing a pink leopard print dress with 3/4 sleeves. She has short cropped brown curly hair with a slightly long fringe. Her right hand is on her hip. Both women are smiling and looking directly at the camera.
Zinnie Harris (writer and director) and Nicole Cooper (Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (an undoing). Image Credit – Stuart Armitt.

In April, the Lyceum will show Kidnapped – a National Theatre of Scotland production and eclectic reimagining of Robert Louis Stevenson’s historic novel, adapted by Isobel McArthur with John McCarthy. Showing 11 – 22 April 2023, Kidnapped reframes the relationship between Stevenson’s original characters – Davie and Alan – as a romance, set in a Scotland still reeling from the 1745 Jacobite rebellion. In May, Russian-born director Polina Kalinina and Scottish playwright Lesley Hart’s world premiere of Tolstoy’s classic masterpiece – Anna Karenina – will debut from 13 May – 3 June 2023. With a new Scottish text and a strong feminist perspective, this production is firmly focused on womanhood -examining Anna’s attempts to avoid a family scandal by embarking on a risky course of action set to tear her life apart – joining scores of other women throughout time who are punished for not being ‘just so’. 

Storytelling PR's wonderful office dog Polar - owned by Director Miriam Attwood - sits next to a Christmas tree with gold lights in the Royal Lyceum Theatre reception area. Polar has dark brown eyes, a black nose and white wavy fur with a long tail. He is wearing a blue collar and orange walking harness whilst looking to his right with a calm expression.
Storytelling PR’s resident Chief Publicity Sniffer and Gravy Bone Connoisseur
Polar approving The Lyceum festive programme

We can’t wait for the upcoming year – exciting times await us all! If you’d like to work with us on your upcoming venture, please do get in touch via our CONTACT page. Whether it be theatre, music, books, touring shows, festivals, experimental performance, visual art, or anything in between, we’re always on the lookout to expand our scope and work with new creatives to achieve their creative visions and milestones. 

From all of us here at Storytelling PR – stay creative, have a lovely festive season, and we’ll see you next year!