Greenwich Theatre London Presents Three Plays at the Edinburgh Festival

Greenwich Theatre, one of London's foremost Off-West End theatres has over the past 5 years become one of the country's leading supporters of young and emerging theatre companies. With its Edinburgh profile rising year on year, five productions are supported at this year's festival across the Pleasance, C venues and Assembly.

Greenwich Theatre Artistic Director James Haddrell said "The Edinburgh Festival is undoubtedly one of the biggest showcase opportunities for theatre producers in the world, and after years of searching the programme for shows to bring back to Greenwich we took the view that we should start using the festival to show the world what Greenwich Theatre is all about."

Greenwich Theatre's profile in Edinburgh has risen from producing a single solo show in 2011 to producing or co-producing five shows at some of the most prestigious venues at this year's festival. Alongside three headline productions, Greenwich Theatre is also supporting acclaimed Leeds based company The Paper Birds as they return to Pleasance with new show BROKE, and undergraduate collective The Albion Company with their production of the Scottish Daily Mail commended show RED TAP/BLUE TIGER at Assembly.

"The Edinburgh Festival remains the great leveller," continued Haddrell "with new companies making their first steps into the industry competing for audiences with some of our most experienced theatre makers. However, it's a competition we're keen to be a part of, a competition that our young companies learn an incredible amount from, and one which ensures that Greenwich Theatre's reputation for seeking out, nurturing, developing and producing new work, whether it originates from the youngest or the most experienced theatre makers, remains strong."

KEEPING UP WITH THE JOANS: GREENWICH THEATRE AND PATRICK WILDE

VENUE: PLEASANCE COURTYARD |PLEASANCE BEYOND|60 PLEASANCE, EH8 9TJ

31st JULY - 24th AUGUST 2014 @ 14.30 (90 MINS)

A highlight of this year's Fringe, this bittersweet comedy about failing memory, friendship and mimicking martyrs comes from Fringe First winning writer Philip Meeks, "a whiplash wit" (The Guardian) and is co-produced and directed by award-winning writer/director Patrick Wilde. Stage and screen stars Susan Penhaligon (Bouquet of Barbed Wire) and Katy Manning (Doctor Who) play eccentric rival amateur theatricals manipulated by sinister care worker Gary into facing the traumatic past that ruined their once precious friendship. As they recall days gone by and hysterically settle their differences they soon start unearthing the startling secret - just who did play the greatest Saint Joan of all?

Katy Manning rocketed to fame as Josephine Grant in Dr Who alongside Jon Pertwee as the Doctor, returning some forty years on as Jo Grant in the new series The Sarah Jane Adventures opposite Matt Smith's Doctor.

Between the two her career has spanned television, film and theatre across three countries. Susan Penhaligon played Frank Finlay's spoilt daughter Prue in the hugely successful A Bouquet of Barbed Wire, Lucy in the BBC adaptation of Dracula and Judi Dench's sister Helen in four series of the award winning sitcom A Fine Romance. She has also appeared most recently in the regular role of Jean Hope in Emmerdale.

Philip Meeks' sell out Edinburgh Festival Fringe play Kiss Me Honey, Honey! won a Fringe First at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2013 before commencing on a successful tour of Scotland. Edith in the Dark, inspired by the ghost stories of E Nesbit, was a critical and audience hit at Harrogate Theatre last Christmas, where it was the first play to be commissioned for over twenty years. The hit play Murder, Margaret and Me about Margaret Rutherford and Agatha Christie completed a national tour during 2013 culminating in a brief West End season at the Ambassadors Theatre.

In 1993 Patrick Wilde's What's Wrong With Angry? transferred from BAC to the West End and subsequently became the award winning film Get Real, for which Patrick also wrote the screenplay. In 2006 he and Sir Tim Rice collaborated and revamped Blondeland with Patrick directing the first professional production of it for over twenty years at The Pleasance in London. In 2007 there followed the controversial, award winning Failed States at the Edinburgh Festival, and in summer 2009 Patrick was asked by the BBC to direct Scott Mills: The Musical at The Pleasance

HOT CAT: GREENWICH THEATRE AND THEATRE MOVEMENT BAZAAR

VENUE: PLEASANCE COURTYARD| PLEASANCE TWO, 60 PLEASANCE, EH8 9TJ

30th JULY - 25th AUGUST 2014 @ 15.30 (1 HR)

Welcome to the Deep South. Family politics, power, sexuality, greed and uncomfortable truths collide in "a comically surreal blend of text, dance and humour" (LA Times).

In August 2014 Greenwich Theatre is set to co-produce the European premiere of HOT CAT, the astonishing new production from Los Angeles based Theatre Movement Bazaar, a company that took both the 2011 and 2013 Edinburgh Festival by storm with five star sell-out hits Anton's Uncles and Track 3. Having picked up awards in both Edinburgh and Los Angeles, this eagerly anticipated return to Edinburgh marks the second Theatre Movement Bazaar and Greenwich Theatre co-production, illustrating a growing transatlantic relationship and shared passion for showcasing captivating international work and cultural exchange.

"If you're a fan of the formally daring and witty - you need to see this" (KCRW).

HOT CAT riffs on Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof creating a radical remix of Williams' sultry classic. Family politics, power, sexuality, greed and truth are explored in "a comically surreal blend of text, dance and humour" (LA Times).

THEATRE MOVEMENT BAZAAR is a company dedicated to creating original performance works with an emphasis on physical action, and HOT CAT, originally co-produced with Theatre of NOTE, Hollywood, CA, is a continuation of their unique approach to deconstructing literary classics. Tina Kronis and Richard Alger are the principal artists behind the award winning company and co-creators of HOT CAT. They have collaborated since 1997, winning the 2011 LA Weekly award for Best Choreography and the Garland Awards for best choreography, sound design and video design. ANTON'S UNCLES has thrilled audiences in Los Angeles, Utah, Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Center, China and played to sell-out audiences in Edinburgh in 2011 and London in 2012. The award-winning TRACK 3 opened to critical acclaim at Bedlam Theatre, Edinburgh in 2013 after a sell-out run at Bootleg Theater, Los Angeles.

Watch the trailer here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAh5XHf7rZ8&feature=c4-overview&list=UUdKRwcvDT7ZtrXF9qBJKrBA

THRILL ME: THE LEOPOLD & LOEB STORY

RICHARD WILLIAMSON AND CLIMAR PRODUCTIONS IN ASSOCIATION WITH GREENWICH THEATRE

C VENUES (VENUE 34) | CHAMBERS STREET | EDINBURGH | EH1 1HR

30TH JULY - 26TH AUGUST 2014 (NOT 11TH) @ 20:55 (80 MINS)

FIVE STAR SHOCKING TRUE STORY MUSICAL MAKES EDINBURGH DEBUT

'There is no production currently running in the capital that is more intelligent, atmospheric and haunting than this... There is an edgy, Sondheim-ian quality to Dolginoff's music and lyrics which draws one into the warped world of its two damaged and dangerous misfits' ***** Sunday Telegraph

Following a sell-out London premiere, Stephen Dolginoff's multi?award winning musical makes its Edinburgh debut.

How far would you go in the name of obsession?

The Lindbergh Kidnapping... The O.J. Simpson Case... The Great Train Robbery... so many events have been labelled the crime of the 20th Century, not one however engaged as much as the case of Leopold and Loeb, the self- confessed 'Thrill Killers'.

The shocking true story of two Chicago law students who kidnapped and murdered a 14 year old boy in their desire to commit the perfect crime: Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story has been captivating audiences since 2003. Nominated for numerous awards including 'Best Off-West End Production' by WhatsOnStage.com, the smash hit musical makes its Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut this summer.

Set in Chicago, 1924 (90 years ago this year - with the trial running through the whole of the month of August), Thrill Me explores how two wealthy and intelligent college kids signed a contract in blood that would destroy three families. Loeb - obsessed and fuelled by the philosophy of Nietzsche, feels he is a 'Superman' - beyond good and evil; and Leopold, a loner craving his partner's time, attention and conditional love, becomes a willing accomplice. Together they believe they have perpetrated the perfect crime - or have they?

Reuniting the creative team behind the hit London production, Thrill Me will be directed by Guy Retallack, with musical direction by Tom Turner, design by James Turner and lighting by Richard Williamson.

Household favourite and current Coronation Street star Les Dennis is joined by West End Star Lee Mead and worldwide cult figure Patricia Quinn (Magenta in both the original stage version of The Rocky Horror Show and subsequent film) in providing the voice overs of the parole officers central to the trial. Full show casting still to be announced.

Nominated for "Best Off West End Production" 2011 WhatsOnStage Awards

***** Sunday Telegraph **** Evening Standard **** WhatsOnStage ***** Gay Times

**** Fringe Review **** Attitude **** Fourthwall Magazine **** Exeunt Magazine

Tickets now on sale via www.edfringe.com