Bunbury Banter and The Theatre Royal, Dumfries Launch 'A Play, A Poet & A Pastry'

Brand new theatre and poetry is on its way to Scotland's oldest Working Theatre thanks to a series of events called A Play, A Poet & A Pastry.

The first event will see a "semi-staging" of The Square Mile/Y Filltir Sgwar by Glasgow-based playwright Andrew Edwards on 29 September at The Theatre Royal Dumfries.

It will be the world premier of the two-hander which explores a father and son relationship.

The audience can then hear poetry written and performed in response to the play by Liz Niven.

This year Andrew won the ART Award for emerging Scottish artists for his one act play Scribble which was performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Liz, who is based in Dumfries, is a widely published poet working in English and Scots.

The play and poetry will be followed by pastries and a public Q&A in the bar with Liz and Andrew and the cast while enjoying pastries specially supplied by Marchbank Bakery.

The initiative is a collaboration between Dumfries and Galloway's Bunbury Banter Theatre Company and the Theatre Royal, with four bi-monthly events planned between September and the end of March.

Ali Anderson-Dyer, Director and co-founder of Bunbury Banter, said: "A Play, A Poet & A Pastry is a chance to be the first to enjoy completely new theatre and poetry.

"It couldn't be getting off to a better start with a work by a young playwright as talented as Andrew Edwards. And to then have a poetic response by someone of the calibre of Liz Niven will make it a very special occasion.

"Drama and poetry are all about making us question the world, so we're sure the audience love the chance meet them afterwards for a relaxed discussion about their work.

"We are especially pleased to be collaborating with Scotland's oldest Working Theatre to bring fresh work, and innovative ideas, to new audiences."

Bunbury Banter, based in Thornhill, are specialists in new and experimental theatre. They have recently produced Blackout to much acclaim, worked with the National Theatre of Scotland on the Five-Minute Festival, and a web-based audio production called Mortar which starred Timothy West, Prunella Scales and Nichola McAuliffe.

The Square Mile/Y Filltir Sgwar is about the boundaries of home, about human roots and family relationships. Set around a kitchen table, in a rural house where England meets Wales, and where flatlands start rolling into mountains, it focuses on a father and son - Dylan and Allan - and a struggle that lies ahead of them.

Lyndsay Walker, Marketing and Communications Officer for the Theatre Royal, said: "We are delighted to be once again working alongside Bunbury Banter Theatre Company in their new venture, A Play, A Poet & A Pastry.

"We are confident that this new bi-monthly event will bring in fresh audiences to the theatre and, by offering the opportunity to watch new studio plays and take part in discussions, new writers and performers may be encouraged to develop their own work. We hope that this partnership with Bunbury Banter will continue into the future."

A Play, A Poet & A Pastry is being supported by the Holywood Trust and DGU's Regional Arts Fund.

Book online at theatreroyaldumfries.co.uk, and at Midsteeple Box Office on 01387 253383.

About the Director

Ali Anderson-Dyer has directed Blackout (Theatre Royal, Dumfries), Ego et Al (Hidden Door Festival 2017), Freedoms Cut (National Theatre of Scotland's five Minute Festival), Moon On A Stick & Fancy Meeting You Here by Lisa Fulthorpe (Bunbury Banter), Rain Stops Play (Bunbury Banter, starring Timothy West and Prunella Scales) The Bonk (Bunbury Banter, starring Nichola McAuliffe), Handmaidens of Death (University of Hertfordshire), Memories of Loss (Riverside Studios), The Fastest Clock in the Universe by Philip Ridley (Battersea Arts Centre), Stiff (Rosemary Branch Theatre), Settled (Rosemary Branch Theatre) and Gaelic Storytelling; The Bravery of Love (St Mary's University College).

About Bunbury Banter

Bunbury Banter's artistic work combines the dynamic intensity of audio with the theatrical traditions and excitement, found in performance. Often working with new writing, the company also experiments with other forms of drama and storytelling, outside the realms of a theatre space. Recent work includes Blackout, by Davey Anderson, Freedoms' Cut, a verbatim theatre piece for the National Theatre of Scotland Five Minute Festival; Mortar, a web-based audio experience which peaks behind the curtains of a shared townhouse in modern day Britain and shines a light on each inhabitant's existence, starring Timothy West, Prunella Scales and Nichola McAuliffe; The Dark Outside, a site-specific transmission of select pieces of their past audio work in the UK's first dark sky forest.

About Andrew Edwards

Andrew is a Glasgow-based playwright, dramaturg and artist making work for stages, galleries and digital spaces. His most recent play Scribble, a one-act play about gravity, anxiety and breakfast cereals, won the Assembly Roxy Theatre (ART) Award for emerging Scottish artists. Developed under Playwrights' Studio Scotland's mentoring programme, Scribble was performed at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Other recent work includes contributions to Nowhere (Dir. Andy Arnold, Take Me Somewhere Festival, Tron Theatre), The ground, The highest point (Emergency Festival, Z-Arts, Manchester) and the publication of talking dramaturgy: a zine.

Besides The Square Mile/Y Filltir Sgwar, Andy is currently developing two projects: In Burrows, a solo choreography about language, and JENNIFER, a quietly explosive performance about nouns.

About Liz Niven

Liz Niven's poetry collections (Canongate then Luath) and pamphlets are in Scots and English. Titles include Stravaigin, Burning Whins and The Shard Box. She has collaborated with artists to locate text in public places as well as books such as 'Anything you say', a collaboration about the island of Barra with Tasmanian conceptual artist, Fiona Lee. She has held numerous writing residencies including one at Inverness Airport about which a documentary film was made entitled 'Poet on a Plane'. Awards include McCash/Herald for Scots poetry, TESS/Saltire for groundbreaking work in Scots language and she has received several Scottish Arts Council/Creative Scotland awards for writing projects. She wrote the first Scots dossier for Mercator, European Bureau of Lesser Used Languages (2000) and its update (2017) and has written and edited a wide variety of education resources for the Scots language. Liz is an honorary Fellow of the Association of Scottish Literature and an Executive Board member of Scottish PEN.