Hint Of Lime Productions Present AUTHOR, COMPOSER, SOLDIER-OF-A-SORT

"Author, Composer, Soldier-of-a-Sort" is Jan Carey's first play to be staged at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The production opens on Saturday 4 August at The Pleasance at 14.00, following previews from Wednesday 1 August and runs until Monday 27 August.

In the early 2000s a full-length version of "Author, Composer, Soldier-of-a-Sort" was performed at music festivals throughput the country and sell out performances at the Purcell Room, South Bank. Celebrating the intriguing friendship between Ivor Gurney the greatest British poet/composer known the 'English Schubert' and Marion Scott, a champion of women musicians, the production featured two actors and two musicians, with live music from tenor and piano.

For this year, the centenary of World War 1, Jan Carey has re-written the play as a solo performance telling the extraordinary, gritty, tragic and moving story of Ivor Gurney and Marion Scott; featuring Jan Carey as Marion Scott, directed by Michael McCaffery and illustrated by the recordings of Ian Partridge, tenor and Jennifer Partridge, piano.

The story is brought to life through the rich material of Ivor Gurney and Marion Scott's memories, poems and letters, interweaved with some of Gurney's most loved songs from the recordings.

Marion Scott and Ivor Gurney met in 1911 and despite the difference in age and social position, they formed an enduring friendship. When Gurney began writing poetry during World War I, Scott encouraged him acting as his business manager and editor and after the war she continued to champion his music and poetry. In 1922 Gurney was committed to the City of London Mental Hospital suffering from severe bipolar disorder and Scott remained close to him, dealing with his doctors, making decisions about his care, taking him on day trips and providing financial support. On his death, as his legal representative, Scott had in her possession the vast quantities of his work which he had sent ger over the years. Her passionate belief in his talent remained with her until the end of her life.

Marion Scott was a significant force in reshaping women's roles in classical music, and in promoting and championing the work of several generations of British composers and musicians. Her pioneering work as a music critic and musicologist encouraged other women to work in fields

previously closed to them. It was to Scott that Gurney sent his music and poetry from the trenches with war raging around him and she was the instigator of their performance and of the publication of his first book of poetry in 1917 'Severn and Somme', born of his passion and inspiration - the Severn valley. Scott came from a wealthy intellectual family. Her American mother was born in St Petersburg and her father an eminent lawyer, she trained at the Royal College of Music and as a violinist, writer and lecturer was held in high esteem by her fellow musicians. She was Founder and President of the Society of Women Musicians and the first woman music critic who was surrounded by a wide circle of colleagues and friends of all ages until her death.

Ivor Gurney was born into a relatively poor family. He was a pupil at Gloucester Cathedral School and won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music. In 1915 he volunteered and joined the 2nd/5th Gloucesters as a private soldier and was gassed in the Passchendale offensive and sent home; spending a year in various hospitals where his mental condition began to deteriorate. In 1919 he returned to the Royal College of Music but was sent to a mental hospital in Gloucester, and from there, was transferred to the City of London Mental Hospital where he died in 1937.

Edinburgh born Carey has strong Scottish connections and various family members still live in the city. Her uncle who served in the Scots Guards in WW1, was killed in September 1918 and the Scots Guard's memorial is in the Castle. After Ivor Gurney was gassed at Passchendaele, he was sent to the Edinburgh War Hospital at Bangour, West Lothian.

"Author, Composer, Soldier-of-a-Sort" is presented by Hint of Lime Productions. This the company's sixth year at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe but their first time at The Pleasance.

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