ED2018 Preview Edition ED2018 Theatre ED2018 Three To See

Three To See 2018: Three shows about big issues

By | Published on Saturday 28 July 2018

ThreeWeeks Co-Editor Caro Moses helps you navigate the Festival with her Three To See tips. This time three theatre shows themed around big issues.

Vessel | Underbelly Bristo Square | 2-27 Aug
There are always lots of plays dealing with topical and social issues here at the old edfringe, of course, because there’s always lots of new writing and people wanting to use theatre to create conversation around these things. So I thought I’d choose a few of those kind of shows. Starting with this, ‘Vessel’, the story of an Irish activist who uses her own unwanted pregnancy to bring a legal challenge against her government. Inspired by the recent abortion referendum in Ireland, and the ongoing lack of right to abortion in Northern Ireland, it examines the right to choose, women’s rights, motherhood, and inequality.

Fcuk’d | Gilded Balloon Teviot | 1-27 Aug
Somewhere in the region of 100,000 children run away from home every year in the UK, which is a pretty shocking figure, especially given many of those young people end up in extreme poverty and become socially excluded. This play is about that issue, exploring themes of loyalty, abandonment and family, and addressing the experiences of young working class boys in contemporary Britain. It’s an unusual format, being a one man show written entirely in verse, and tells the story of a teenager who kidnaps his younger brother in an attempt to get away from their difficult life and decrepit home. It’s already won praise down south for its treatment of the topic.

Brexit | Pleasance Courtyard | 1-26 Aug (pictured)
“It’s 2020 and The Gordian Knot of Brexit remains tightly tangled. To keep a united government and to achieve an exit deal remains incompatible … or is it?” So, finally, to a very very hot topic. Well, it’s a very, very hot topic if you’ve got my Twitter feed. And this is a very promising production, because it’s one of those shows cast with a line-up that includes lots of your favourite comedians – Mike McShane, Jo Caulfield and Hal Cruttenden – and is led by Timothy Bentinck, star of ‘The Archers’.

Photo: Grace Gelder



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