NATIONAL Theatre of Scotland, Theatre Royal Stratford East, Citizens Theatre, Pachamama Productions, Richard Jordan Productions Ltd in association with Merrigong Theatre Company (Australia) present
WORLD PREMIERE
Glasgow Girls
Inspired by a true story
Conceived for the stage and directed by Cora Bissett
Book by David Greig
Music and Lyrics by Cora Bissett, MC Soom T, Patricia Panther and John Kielty
Set design by Merle Hensel, musical direction by Hilary Brooks, choreography by Natasha Gilmore, lighting design by Lizzie Powell and sound design by Fergus O’Hare
31 October to 17 November 2012 at the Citizens Theatre, Glasgow
Press performance on Friday 2 November 2012
8 February 2013 to 2 March 2013 at the Theatre Royal Stratford East, London
Press performance on Tues 12 February 2013
THE Scottish performances of Glasgow Girls are sponsored by ScottishPower.
Sample the single track We Are The Glasgow Girls by MC Soom T & Hilary Brooks via the link below (please do not remove the files but copy them for use).
https://www.dropbox.com/home/FUR001%20Promo%20Kit
Glasgow Girls is a brand new life-affirming Scottish musical with seven strong female leads and a vibrant multi-cultural voice at its heart. The musical promises to be a celebration of Glasgow and the power of teenagers with a cause.
Scotland 2005. A High School in Glasgow. A community which has learned to accept the new wave of asylum seekers in its midst for the past six years. Friendships build, bonds are formed. Life seems settled, until one family is ripped from home in a Glasgow high rise flat, and driven away in the middle of the night to be deported.
Driven by a fierce sense of injustice, the girls fight together for the life of their friend, for their families’ rights, for the rights of children. Despite the risks to their own safety, they take on the Scottish Government and Home Office and, as a team, succeed where adults and politicians often fail.
Based on a true story, in 2005, the real life Glasgow Girls became one of the most vocal and powerful pro-asylum seeker campaigners in the country, appearing in two television documentaries and hosts of interviews.
At the peak of their success, they won a clutch of awards for their appeals, including Best Public Campaign at the Politician of the Year Awards in 2005.
Glasgow Girls will feature all original songs from the diverse talents of the musical creative team; featuring electronic grime from Patricia Panther, reggae-dub from Scots-Asian Rapper MC Soom T, folk/rock from Cora Bissett and additional songs from John Kielty (co-winner of Cameron Mackintosh’s Highland Quest for a New Musical).
Glasgow Girls is conceived and directed by Cora Bissett, the award-winning actor/director/musician who previously created and directed RoadKill.
RoadKill recently won the Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre, when the production played at Theatre Royal Stratford East, London in 2011. Cora Bissett’s relationship with Theatre Royal Stratford East continues with Glasgow Girls. This is the first time that Theatre Royal Stratford East has co-produced with the National Theatre of Scotland.
Cora Bissett says:
“It was working with a real story in creating ‘RoadKill’ which fuelled my passion for creating drama based on real and current events. The more I read around The Glasgow Girls, the more I felt that this wasn’t to be just a sad tale of injustices in a system. For me, there is something incredibly inspiring and life-affirming in this story too.
“With all the discontent among our youth, I want a show which aims super high…and shouts to the rooftops about what young people are capable of, with support and opportunity, respect and belief.
“I also want it to be a show that reflects our newly evolving multi-cultural Scotland and the way in which Glasgow, in particular, is adapting to that. But it’s about any place dealing with a new generation of migrant people.
“It’s about a fiercely defiant and united community, something we are constantly told doesn’t exist anymore. On a simpler level, it is a big, bold, pulsing musical show, about seven feisty 15 year-old girls, trying to live, trying to grow up, and trying to work out what they can believe in, in this world.”
Cora Bissett is a director/actor and artistic director of Pachamama. Following a career in music, she has worked extensively in theatre, TV and films including the Palme D’Or winning feature Red Road and in David Mackenzie’ s latest feature You Instead.
She won the Stage Award for Best Actor for her role in the Traverse production of David Grieg’s hit rom-com Midsummer which toured to Canada, the US, Brussels, Ireland and Australia.
She won the ‘Arches Award for New Directors’ in 2008 and devised and directed her Amada based on an Isabel Allende short story. Pachamama was launched with RoadKill at the Edinburgh Fringe 2010 garnering nine major awards.
RoadKill has played Edinburgh, Glasgow, Paris and London. Roadkill’s London season was a co-production between Pachamama Productions, Richard Jordan Productions Ltd, the Barbican and Theatre Royal Stratford East, in association with Traverse Theatre.
The full cast is: Callum Cuthbertson, Ameira Darwish, Roanna Davidson, Stephanie McGregor, Myra McFadyen, Amaka Okafor, Patricia Panther, Dawn Sievewright and Frances Thorburn.
Callum Cuthbertson is best-known for his television work in Comedy Unit/BBC’s Gary: Tank Commander. Other television credits include How Not to Live Your Life (BBC), Dear Green Place and Still Game (Effingee/BBC). Callum’s recent theatre credits include Scrooge (Digital Circus Events), Top Table, Bunnies (Oran Mor) and Tobacco Merchant’s Lawyer (London Finborough).Previous work with the National Theatre of Scotland includes Futurology, Home; Dumfries and Mary Stuart.
Amiera Darwish recently graduated from Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (previously RSAMD) where she appeared in many productions including Aladdin, Medea and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Recent television credits include Waterloo Road (Shed Town/ BBC) and Casualty (BBC).
Roanna Davidson’s recent theatre work includes The Folk Contraption (Rogues Gallery Theatre), My Dream Hackney Home (Time Warner/Old Vic New Voices), Citizens (The Romany Theatre Company), Medusa and Come and Go (Come and Go).
Myra McFadyen’s has worked extensively in theatre, film and television. Myra’s work for the National Theatre of Scotland include Macbeth, Roman Bridge and The Missing, Home: Caithness and Elizabeth Gordon Quinn.
Stephanie McGregor recently appeared in Romeo and Juliet with Bard in the Botanics. Other theatre credits include The Fumidor (Pants on Fire), Midnight at the Hotel Beauregard (Rose Bruford/Paines Plough), The Love of the Nightingale (The Unicorn Theatre) and The White Devil (The Globe).
Amaka Okafor’s recent theatre credits include The Snow Queen, The Three Musketeers, Beauty and the Beast, The Tempest (Unicorn Theatre) and Flathampton (Royal & Derngate). Amaka last worked with the National Theatre of Scotland in The Bacchae.
Patricia Panther is a Glasgow based soulful electronic independent artist who writes, arranges and records all her own work. Patricia is currently studying a Masters in Music Business and works as a self-shooting producer for BBC Radio Scotland online.
Dawn Sievewright theatre credits include Letters From Everyone (Lonesome Schoolboy Productions) Legally Blonde (Savoy Theatre), Quadrophenia (UK Tour), Cinderella (The Scoop).
Frances Thorburn has recently worked with Cora Bissett in Whatever Gets You Through The Night (The Arches/Vital Spark). Other recent theatre credits include Ana (Stellar Qunines/Imago Theatre), Marilyn (Citizens Theatre) and The Cherry Orchard (Dundee Rep Theatre). Frances last worked with the National Theatre of in The Wolves in the Walls (Improbable).
Musicians performing on stage also feature Hilary Brooks (piano), Sandro Ciancio (percussion), Ricky Standley (bass) and Ewan MacPherson (guitar).
This production has been supported by the Scottish Refugee Council.
GLASGOW GIRLS LISTINGS INFORMATION FOR GLASGOW PERFORMANCES
Dates and Times: Wednesday 31 October – Saturday 17 November, 2012
Tuesday – Saturday, 7.30pm/Matinees: Saturdays, 2.30pm
Previews: Wednesday 31 October and Thursday 1 November
Press Performance: Friday 2 November at 7.30pm
Venue: Citizens Theatre, Glasgow
Tickets: www.citz.co.uk/ Box Office 0141 429 0022
Ticket Prices: Previews: £8/Tuesdays £12/ All other performances: £12-£19 (concs available)
Accessible Performances: Audio Described: Wed 7 Nov/Signed: Thu 8 Nov/Captioned performance: Thu 15 Nov
Age: Recommended for 12+
Post show discussion: Thu 8 Nov: Meet the ‘real’ Glasgow Girls and explore issues raised in the show with director Cora Bissett.
Further information: www.nationaltheatrescotland.com and www.stratfordeast.com
GLASGOW GIRLS LISTINGS INFORMATION FOR LONDON PERFORMANCES
Dates and Times: 8, 9, 13-16,19-23, 26-2 March 2013 at 7.30pm
Matinees: 14, 16, 23 February & 02 March 2.30pm
Press Performance: Tuesday 12 February 2013
Venue: Theatre Royal Stratford East, London
Tickets: www.stratfordeast.com/ Box Office 020 8534 0310
For further information contact:
Clare McCormack, Press Officer
Tel: +44 (0)141 227 9497/ +44 (0)7989 950871 E: clare.mccormack@nationaltheatrescotland.com
Press contact at Theatre Royal Stratford East: Sally Goldsmith
sgoldsmith@stratfordeast.com 0208 2791121
For further information about We Are The Glasgow Girls by MC Soom T & Hilary Brooks please contact manager@renegademasters.com or Clare McCormack (via the details provided above).
You can follow the National Theatre of Scotland’s press office on Twitter @NTS_press
Press images available for download from www.nationaltheatrescotland.com/press
Please contact the press office for a password.
NOTES TO EDITORS:
- The National Theatre of Scotland is supported by the Scottish Government. Since its launch in February 2006, the National Theatre of Scotland has been involved in creating over 160 productions in 125 different locations. With no building of its own, the company takes theatre all over Scotland and beyond, working with existing and new venues and companies to create and tour theatre of the highest quality. It takes place in the great buildings of Scotland, but also in site-specific locations, airports and tower blocks, community halls and drill halls, ferries and forests. The company has performed to over 710,000 people, across three continents.
- Theatre Royal Stratford East, London, is a prolific developer of new work, attracting artists and audiences often not represented in many other venues. An important aspect of its work is the development of new musical theatre. The Theatre’s vision is to break new ground with musicals that bring contemporary and urban music into the mainstream of British theatre. This has led to the production of a broad spectrum of acclaimed sell-out musicals with its work transferring nationally and internationally. These include Baiju Bawra, Da Boyz, The Big Life, The Harder They Come, The Blacks, Come Dancing, Takeaway, Clockwork Orange, Reasons to be Cheerful (with Graeae Theatre Company and New Wolsey Theatre), Britain’s Got Bhangra (with Rifco Arts & Warwick Arts Centre) and the Olivier Award winning Pied Piper (with Boy Blue Ents).
- ScottishPower operates and maintains an extensive power delivery network and provides energy to over five million homes and businesses in the UK. As part of the Iberdrola Group, it is one of the top five energy companies in the world and a global leader in wind energy. Understanding and managing the impact of their business in the community and striving for continuous improvement, is a significant part of ScottishPower’s overall approach to Corporate Social Responsibility. Between 2006 and 2010 the partnership between ScottishPower and National Theatre of Scotland has supported the creation of Transform, 15 large-scale community projects across Scotland. And from March 2010 to March 2012 Creative Communities, three large-scale community projects across Scotland.
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