I'LL TAKE YOU TO MRS. COLE Comes to Pleasance Beyond

Marking Complicité's return to the Fringe after more than twenty years, and the first time they have made theatre for primary school aged children, this co-production with Polka Theatre is a fun and frenetic adaptation of a beloved children's book. Long-term Complicité collaborator, Catherine Alexander, directs I'll Take You to Mrs Cole!, fusing original Ska music and animation to tell the story of Ashley, the child of a hard-working single mother from Barbados. Exhausted by her child's endless imagination, she threatens them with a visit to their terrifying neighbour whenever they misbehave. But one day Ashley is magnetically drawn to Mrs Cole's door and taken into her noisy, messy, chaotic world... A story of cultural differences, fear of the unknown and the power of a child's imagination. I'll Take You to Mrs Cole! is one of two shows Complicité brings to the Fringe this year along with The Last of the Pelican Daughters, a co-production with The Wardrobe Ensemble.

Director Catherine Alexander said, "In 2016 Complicité asked me if I had any projects brewing and I suggested creating a show for families with young children. As a happy single mum and a child of divorced parents, I wanted to make a show that celebrated solo parenting. One wet winter a friend put a colourful picture book into my hands. I read it to my son and we immediately fell in love with it.

I am setting the show in Coventry at the height of two-tone music: this was the soundtrack to my early teens and gave my generation a sense of hope that racism could be challenged. I especially loved The Specials, The Beat and Ian Dury and the Blockheads, and we're writing songs for the piece that are influenced by these artists. This show will have the energy of a gig combined with visual storytelling and exquisite original animation. I hope it will be a nostalgic trip for parents and grandparents and be a funny, scary and anarchic show for children."

Peter Glanville Artistic Director Polka Theatre said: "Polka is delighted to be co-producing this innovative new work I'll Take You to Mrs Cole! with Complicité, one of the UK's leading theatre companies. It builds on Polka's significance as a specialist children's theatre in a year where we celebrate our 40th birthday and start a 7.5 Million Capital development on our building."

Complicité is an international touring theatre company based in London. Founded in 1983, the company is led by Artistic Director Simon McBurney OBE. Complicité has played in more than 40 countries across the world and won more than 50 awards, including the Perrier award for comedy in 1985 for More Bigger Snacks Now, the first theatre show ever to win the award. This year they come to the Fringe with two new facets of work:

Complicité Associates is a strand showcasing the extraordinarily talented artists and theatre makers who have worked with Simon McBurney over the years, and presents I'll Take You to Mrs Cole!

'Developed With Complicité' is a programme of work that supports exciting artists to develop a project in close collaboration with the Company. The Last of the Pelican Daughters (also premiering at Pleasance Beyond) is Complicité's co-production with The Wardrobe Ensemble which has been created through this strand.

Pleasance Beyond, Pleasance Courtyard, 60 Pleasance, Edinburgh EH8 9TJ (Venue 33)

31 Jul - 26 Aug (not 12), 13.45 - 14.45

www.pleasance.co.uk | 0131 556 6550

To post a comment, you must register and login.