Menagerie's SWIMMING to Float Into Edinburgh Fringe, Aug 2-25

Menagerie/Mercury Theatre Colchester/Escalator East to Edinburgh present SWIMMING by Jane Upton. BONES writer returns to the Fringe with a show that is very close to home.

Jack's going to be somebody - just as soon as he escapes this crappy tourist trap he calls home. For now he's working in a seaside cafe, smoking away his wages and wanking over girls on Chatroulette. One more summer then life starts.

Three teenagers trapped on the Isle of Wight, desperate to make their mark on the world. But is the pull of the past too strong? A bittersweet comedy about grief, growing up and the paralysing pressure to be somebody.

Under starry skies and seaside lights, Swimming follows Jack, Lucy and Milly through their final summer working at a greasy seaside café. Behind the banter, bravado and hangovers, the characters address the audience in order to express their grief, disconnection and anxiety for a future they just can't seem to start living. In her second Fringe outing, Jane Upton delivers punchy and powerful dialogue in a show that is dirty, funny and heartbreaking. The cast includes Jack Bence who plays Grayson in BBC 3's Bad Education. His previous TV credits include Misfits, Sherlock and Waking The Dead.

Following the success of her first play Bones, Jane Upton left her marketing job of eight years in 2012 and decided to write full-time. She moved from Nottingham to the Isle of Wight and got a job in a beachside café. Swimming, was written between shifts and she used the process to work through her own grief at the death of her grandmother. Jane is currently writing several commissioned plays including Watching the Living (a version of Daphne du Maurier's The Apple Tree and The Little Photographer) for New Perspectives Theatre Company.

Menagerie is one of the UK's leading independent new writing theatre companies, and has been seeking out and supporting talented new writers for over twelve years. As well as touring widely, Menagerie curates and produces the annual Hotbed New Writing Theatre Festival in Cambridge. Swimming was first developed as part of the Hotbed Festival 2013. Menagerie has previously produced seven productions at the Fringe; all were met with high critical acclaim and three went on to national and international touring: Four For Jericho (2011), Stand By Your Van (2009), Correspondence (2008).

Swimming has been selected for Escalator East To Edinburgh. Each year Escalator East to Edinburgh helps artists and arts organisations to raise their profile and perform to new audiences as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
www.menagerietheatre.co.uk.

DETAILS:
Venue: Pleasance Dome (Venue 23)
Dates: 2-25 Aug (not 12)
Time: 15.00 (60 mins)
Tickets: £11 - £7.50 (previews 30 Jul-1 Aug £6.50)
Venue Box Office: 0131 556 6550 www.pleasance.co.uk

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