National Theatre of Scotland brings next generation theatre to Macrobert Arts Centre

The National Theatre of Scotland in partnership with Macrobert Arts Centre presents: Exchange 2016 theatre festival.

Article Source: National Theatre of Scotland
Last Updated: 22 June 2016 13:27

The National Theatre of Scotland in partnership with Macrobert Arts Centre presents:

Exchange 2016 theatre festival at Macrobert Arts Centre.

Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling from 5 to 9 July 2016.

Stirling will once again play host to the National Theatre of Scotland’s vibrant Exchange festival, bringing together the next generation of theatre making talent from across Scotland and across the world. Over 100 16 to 25-year-old theatre makers from Scotland, New Zealand and the USA will converge on Macrobert Arts Centre for an intensive residential programme of creative learning and performance, giving audiences the opportunity to enjoy a week of new devised work from some of the best young theatre talent from Scotland and beyond. Participating companies include Macrobert Arts Centre’s own young company, Macrobert Collective, alongside Epic NEXT from New York City, Massive Nui Ensemble from Auckland, Beacon Youth Theatre from Inverclyde, Collision from Buckhaven, Eden Court Collective from Inverness, Firefly Arts from West Lothian, Ignite Theatre from Glasgow, Creative Electric and Strange Town, both from Edinburgh. A double bill of hour-long performances will take place each evening between Tuesday 5 and Saturday 9 July 2016.

Supported financially and artistically by the National Theatre of Scotland, over the past few months each group has been given access to leading creative artists and encouraged to take risks in the creation of a brand new piece of theatre, exploring issues that are important to them. The 2016 programme presents ten celebratory, honest and inspiring new stories of love, life and identity, painting a rich and varied picture of the world as seen through the eyes of the young people of today. Stylistically, the shows include elements of movement, verbatim, music, comedy and video projection.

In addition to performing for a public audience each evening, Exchange participants will also take part in a series of theatre masterclasses and workshops each day, learning new techniques, exchanging ideas, sharing cultural perspectives and making new friends. The learning programme features 15 different workshops, including movement, devising, visual art, sound design, stand-up comedy, improvisation, clowning, emotional memory and many more. Workshop leaders include: Viv Gee, acclaimed stand-up comedian and writer; Fiona Manson, Associate Artist at Fish & Game Theatre and clown doctor with Hearts and Minds; Colin Bradie, former CEO of Youth Theatre Arts Scotland and Scotland’s first National Youth Arts Strategy, “Time To Shine”; Brigid McCarthy, choreographer and movement director, whose recent credits include the National Theatre of Scotland’s production of Granite.

The festival also sees the return of ExchangeTV, a dedicated online highlights channel produced by a group of aspiring young local filmmakers, providing daily highlights from both the daytime and evening programme, including performance, interviews and features.

National Theatre of Scotland's Learning and Outreach Manager Gillian Gourlay says:
“From its inception in 2006, I have been delighted to see how not only the festival itself has grown and flourished, but also how the young theatre -makers involved have developed over the years, raising the bar year on year. To be able to bring such a mix of ideas, talent and enthusiasm together from all over the world, and to see them immerse themselves in sharing and creating their own form of theatre, is just amazing to witness. Exchange is an opportunity for everyone to bring something with them to the festival as well as to go away with not just new skills and experiences, but genuine friendships too - and you just can’t buy that.”

Macrobert Arts Centre Creative Learning and Engagement Manager Vanessa Paynton says:
‘’Macrobert Arts Centre is really excited to be hosting Exchange 2016. We’re so lucky to be based on a university campus which lends itself to residential opportunities. We’re really looking forward to seeing the range and depth of work created by young people in such an intensive, creative and supportive environment.’’

Participant feedback from Exchange 2012 at Macrobert Arts Centre:

What does Exchange mean to you?

“An incredible seven days, life-changing.”

“The opportunity to meet with others, particularly from abroad and see the difference and similarities in creative works.”

“Experiencing new types of theatre, meeting new people and having fun.”

“It means I get to do something I love, learn different techniques and make new friends to share the experience with.”

Join the conversation: #Exchange2016

LISTINGS AND BOX OFFICE INFO

Macrobert Arts Centre, University of Stirling, Stirling FK9 4LA
Box Office: macrobertsartscentre.org and 01786 466666
Double bill performances each evening: Tue 5 – Sat 9 July, 7.30pm + 9.00pm
Interval of approximately 30-45mins between performances
Double bill tickets: £6 full price / £4 concessions

Tuesday 5th July
7.30pm: Bloody Girls by Firefly Arts (West Lothian)
9.00pm: You + Me, Us + Them by Ignite Theatre (Glasgow)

Wednesday 6th July
7.30pm: Only the Brave by Strange Town (Edinburgh)
9.00pm: Hector Moray by Beacon Youth Theatre (Greenock, Inverclyde)

Thursday 7th July
7.30pm: Fragility by Creative Electric (Edinburgh)
9.00pm: Typecast by Eden Court Collective (Inverness, Highlands)

Friday 8th July
7.00pm: The Island by Massive Nui Ensemble (Auckland, New Zealand)
9.00pm: 10467 by Epic NEXT (New York City, USA)

Saturday 9th July
7.00pm: The Tide Creeps In by Collision (Buckhaven, Fife)
9.00pm: The Observer Effect by Macrobert Collective (Stirling, Forth Valley)

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PARTICIPATING THEATRE COMPANIES

Beacon Youth Theatre in Greenock is led by Andy McGregor and Marianne Yeomans, who specialise in facilitating, making and directing theatre with children and young people. This dynamic and creative group is always adventurous, making every one of their performances unique. They may decide to take audiences on journeys into fantastical worlds or they may have a burning desire to explore social media and its effects on young people. Whatever topic, story or genre, the group decides the creative process will always be a collaborative one. Participants are encouraged to use their imagination, share ideas, tell real life stories and together they make them come alive on stage.

Collision is a collective of Fife-based young theatre makers and is produced by Claire Bloomfield. They create work that responds to the everyday and explores the world in which they live.
Since its inception in 2013, Collision has presented work at The Royal Lyceum Theatre, Rose Theatre London, Edinburgh International Fringe Festival, the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme, Glasgow, various theatres across Scotland, and in non-traditional performance spaces, including parks and nursing homes. The company has created work with the National Theatre of Scotland, the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain, Kingston International Youth Arts Festival, Hearts and Minds and Scottish Book Trust.

Creative Electric is a critically-acclaimed, award-winning theatre company, which creates contemporary performance based on real experiences. Often their work is interactive, sometimes it’s personal, at times it’s one-to-one. The company creates socio-political work with an intentional emphasis on the social and an often unintentional emphasis on the political. Creative Electric aims to engage with young people who may not traditionally attend arts events and do so by producing theatre in non-traditional spaces including nightclubs, skate parks, trains, abandoned buildings and even on rooftops. They are currently working with a group of young men aged 16-24 to explore the themes of fragility and masculinity through verbatim and physical theatre supported by Dance Base and Artcore Edinburgh.

Eden Court Collective is a group of young actors from all over the Highlands, who were brought together to participate in a performance project that would challenge us as young performers and theatre makers. We are an exciting, talented, modest, friendly, cooperative and awesome group of young people. We are up for anything and we are all committed to being part of something brilliant, pushing creative boundaries and challenging the common expectations of what youth theatre can be. We were first brought together in 2014 for a project called A Century Untold, and we are delighted that Exchange 2016 is our next challenge.

Epic NEXT is Epic Theatre Ensemble's flagship youth development program, a multi-year mentorship that builds tomorrow's American arts leaders. Epic NEXT transforms young economically-disadvantaged artists from passive participants into agents of change – first of their ways of thinking and working, then of their personal academic and economic situations, then of the inertia endemic to their communities. Through in-depth mentorship with professional artists, skill-building courses during a six-week annual Summer Intensive, opportunities to create relevant performance pieces on social issues, and in-depth college preparation, Epic NEXT participants enter college with the drive and capacity to use theatre to change their world.

Firefly Arts provides quality theatre, film and arts activity in venues across West Lothian, working with over 300 children and young people each week. Our programme embraces classic and contemporary text, new writing, devised, physical and multi-media work. Recent productions have included devised pieces These Shores and Humming for Contact and Chrysalis festivals, adaptations of Kafka’s Metamorphosis, Aristophanes’ Women in Power, Golding’s Lord of the Flies and Molière’s Tartuffe.

Ignite Theatre was founded in 2010 by writer/director Aileen Ritchie and an original group of young asylum seekers and refugees, and is an award-winning Glasgow based charity which engages with a diverse range of children and young people who face multiple challenges in life. Through free weekly workshops and innovative drama projects, Ignite Theatre offers its members a supported environment in which they can fulfill their creative potential, develop confidence, forge new friendships and build their life skills.

Macrobert Collective is an exciting new opportunity for talented young people from Stirling and the Forth Valley to get involved in theatre-making. Created especially for National Theatre of Scotland Exchange 2016 by Macrobert Arts Centre, this new company is open to 16 to 25 year olds.

Massive Company is a professional theatre company with youth at our heart and is a recognised leader in developing emerging performing artists in New Zealand. Specialising in creating new theatre for emerging and professional actors, the work performed by Massive springboards from real New Zealand stories and real people, and expresses authentic emotions. Our work is curious, playful, inventive and energised.
At the core of the company is Massive Nui Ensemble a committed group of emerging artists who are selected to develop, create and perform dynamic and personal theatre pieces. From this group Massive will bring 6 cast members to perform at Exchange 2016. 2016 will be the 25th year since Massive Company was founded by artistic director Sam Scott MNZM. The company’s work has reached critical acclaim both in New Zealand and overseas. Some highlights have been touring Sons of Charlie Paora to The Royal Court in London; touring Up Close Out Loud to Contacting The World Festival in Manchester; Touring their acclaimed work The Brave to Hawaii in 2015.

Strange Town is a performing arts company for 5-25 year olds based at Out of the Blue in Leith, Edinburgh. Strange Town consists of a “youth theatre that really works” (8-18s); a “startlingly gifted young company” (18-25s) (Joyce McMillan, The Scotsman); Young Actors’ Agency (5-25s) and schools outreach programme (5-12s). All the plays produced by Strange Town are original, written by young, emerging writers. These productions (70 new plays to date) have reached large audiences in Scottish venues (Scottish Storytelling Centre, Rothes Halls, Royal Lyceum, Traverse, Roxy, Summerhall and Edinburgh Castle) to critical acclaim.