Some of the St Catharine’s community were among those who headed to the Edinburgh International Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe to perform and produce shows. Read on to find out about their experiences this summer.
Hamlet
Sir Ian McKellen (1958, English; Honorary Fellow 1982) first played Hamlet at the Edinburgh King’s in 1971 and returned to the role this year in a new ballet collaboration with choreographer Peter Schaufuss and a company made up of performers from Edinburgh Festival Ballet.
Theatre Weekly reported, ‘This Hamlet‘s unrivalled excellence will secure its place in history as one of the finest re-tellings of the Bard’s work, and those of us lucky enough to see it will never forget the profound impact it had on its audience.’
Meanwhile, The Scotsman’s verdict was: ‘What we have, then, are the bare bones of Hamlet. But what bones they are. At the end of this Hamlet the audience were on their feet.’
Photo credit: Frederic Aranda
When We Were Normal
Written by recent graduate Maddie Lynes (2019, English), ‘When We Were Normal’ enjoyed a 12-show run in Edinburgh during 15–27 August, having debuted in Cambridge earlier this year. The costs of transferring the production to Edinburgh were in part supported by the St Catharine’s College Master’s Fund, established as a result of a generous donation of £100,000 from Jon (1983, Natural Sciences) and Ann Ardron.
Maddie’s play focuses on Max, who is on the cusp of leaving home and struggling to find her independence while supporting her mother with MS. When Ophelia turns up at Max's college, they strike up an unlikely and passionate friendship. A tale of forging communities of care that cross the boundaries of class, queerness and generation, ‘When We Were Normal’ welcomes the complexity and joy of modern love, family and friendship.
Maddie commented, “With many Cambridge students taking plays to Edinburgh this year, it was wonderful to see lots of friendly faces in the audience. We were lucky to receive some lovely audience feedback and a review from The Scotsman calling the play a ‘tender coming-of-age story’ with ‘strong performances all round’ and ‘promising writing’.
“I am grateful to have been able to enjoy putting on this play with the most wonderfully funny, kind, and sensitive cast and crew who were all so generous with their time, energy, and humour throughout the whole process. A special thank you to fellow Catz grad, Mikael Cognell (2018, Engineering), for his incredible work designing, constructing and transporting our beautiful set! A huge thank you also to the Master of St Catharine’s, Professor Sir Mark Welland (2016), for his support – we couldn’t be more grateful or more proud to have had the Catz community behind us in taking this show to Edinburgh!”
When We Were Normal company in an Edinburgh pub celebrating the end of their run
Calendar Girls
Helen Hayward (2018), Operations Director at St Catharine’s, is a trustee of Viva, an arts and community group based in Soham, Cambridgeshire. Viva’s offering at the festival comprised ‘Calendar Girls: The Musical’, ‘The Addams Family: The Comedy Musical’ and ‘Morcambe’.
Helen played the trombone in a six-piece band that accompanied ‘Calendar Girls’ during 8–13 August, including two sold-out shows in their 80-seater venue. She recalled:
“Our cast did amazingly and deserved the standing ovations they received, not least for their bravery stripping off each show! I will freely admit that I was glad to be fully clothed and safely tucked away with the rest of the band. I had a great time exploring Edinburgh, even if carrying my trombone case around in the heatwave was a bit of a pain.”
‘Calendar Girls’ is transferring Viva’s new theatre in Soham in September and is already sold out.
Photo credit: Edinburgh Reporter
Trial by Jury
Emma Dinnage, a final-year Natural Sciences undergraduate, was Assistant Musical Director for Gilbert and Sullivan’s ‘Trial By Jury’. This one-act operatic satire of the British legal system starred and was produced by alumni, friends and current members of the Cambridge University Gilbert and Sullivan Society, under the guise of Velocirapture Productions.
Emma said, “This was my first time at the Fringe and it certainly didn’t disappoint! It was exciting enough to be Assistant Musical Director but to be the winners of Broadway Baby’s Bobby Award, of which up to two are handed out every year to the best shows at the festival, was really special. Hopefully we’ll be back next year for more five-star reviews!”
The company was awarded five stars by Richard Beck, Editor-in-Chief of Broadway Baby, whose review concludes, ‘Stunning, imaginative, inspired, colourful, amusing, brilliantly performed and beautifully sung, this ‘Trial By Jury’ is Gilbert and Sullivan at its very best.’ This meant they were eligible (alongside any other five-star show, regardless of genre) to be considered for a Bobby Award, fashioned after the iconic Greyfriars Bobby statue.
Antigone: The Musical
Recent graduate Kit Treadwell (2019, Anglo-Saxon, Norse & Celtic) was the lighting designer for ‘Antigone: The Musical’, which is described as ‘a radical and fun musical retelling of an Ancient Greek myth, about one young girl standing up to tyranny, packed with humour and super catchy tunes that'll have you humming all the way!’
Kit reflected, “This was my first time lighting designing after nearly fifty shows of tech work, so it was a bit terrifying! Overall, I had an amazing time. This is my third time taking a show to the Fringe, and nowhere else do you get the same energy, get to experience such diverse theatre making, or have such joyful conversations with strangers. It’s just the best!”
Keith McKenna's review for the British Theatre Guide advised, 'This fast-moving well performed musical directed by Ella Joralemon may not quite fit with the bleakness of our current political climate, but like many of the Greek classics, it provides a moral compass for the way the world ought to be.'
