Forget Fire
Devised by the company with J.C.
Marshall
We needed somewhere to
put everything we have now. And everything we might create later."
Layers are put upon
layers. Myriad sources contribute irregular pieces. Can we make a structure
that will last?
Malibu, Calif., 23 May--Following the Fringe success of 2012's Why Do You Stand There In The Rain? and its subsequent 2013
tour, Pepperdine Scotland returns to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with another
Scottish-American world premiere.
This year's exchange explores additional new territory by partnering
with playwright J.C. Marshall to devise an original work together as a
company.
Initial exploration and development with the company took place in Malibu
in February, searching for the root philosophical challenges in our rapidly
changing relationship with technology and with each other via technology and
through the ages.
Now, under the leadership of J.C. Marshall and director Cathy
Thomas-Grant, the cast and design team will come together at the Royal
Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow to create an original piece of magical
realist theatre inspired by the company's personal experiences and
philosophical ideas.
The production's pursuit of truthfulness and solidarity in the age of the
internet moves through the crossing-over places and along the paths and walls
between worlds. It seeks sentries in this strange new landscape and explores
whether technology creates new challenges or just intensifies age-old
struggles.
Building on the success of the past two years, Forget Fire will draw on the strengths of both Scottish and
American theatre tradition, continuing Pepperdine Scotland's commitment to
international collaboration through co-creation by artists from both sides of
the exchange.
Notes to
Editors
J.C. Marshall
J.C. Marshall is has
written for numerous theatres including the West Yorkshire Playhouse (‘The Worm Collector,’ 'Tender Dearly,’ ‘Non
Contact Time’); The Tron (‘Plume’) and
Visible Fictions (‘The Hunted.’) As
part of Slung Low she won the Oxford Samuel Beckett Award with the show 'Helium.' She is currently exploring the
role of 'Artist As Public Witness' by being attached to both political campaign
trails in the lead up to the Scottish Independence referendum, as well as
writing a play for Aberdeen Performing Arts (APA) Young Persons Company and the
American Conservatory Theatre (ACT) in San Francisco. Her work explores how
theatre can engage with ethics and philosophy.
CATHY THOMAS-GRANT
Cathy Thomas-Grant
heads the Pepperdine Scotland exchange and has served as director of Pepperdine's
endeavours in Scotland since 2000. Edinburgh Festival Fringe directing credits
include Mr. Happiness/The Water
Engine by David Mamet (2002), Eve Ensler's Necessary Targets (2006) Robert Shenkkan's The Kentucky Cycle (2008), Karen Sunde's The Fastest Woman Alive and Naomi Iizuka's Language of Angels (2010), Why Do You Stand There In The Rain?
(2012) and Musical Direction for The
Grapes of Wrath (2004).
PEPPERDINE SCOTLAND
Pepperdine Scotland
is the award-winning cultural and artistic exchange between Pepperdine
University's Department of Theatre and leading members of the Scottish Theatre
Community. Pepperdine has been performing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
since 1985, and is proud to have expanded its presence in Scotland since 2012 with
this exchange, developed with support from Playwrights'
Studio Scotland and the Royal
Conservatoire of Scotland.
PEPPERDINE UNIVERSITY
Pepperdine University is an independent,
medium-sized university enrolling approximately 7,700 students in five colleges
and schools. Seaver College, the School of Law, the Graduate School of
Education and Psychology, the Graziadio School of Business and Management, and
the School of Public Policy are located on the University's 830-acre campus
overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Malibu. Courses are taught in Malibu, at four
graduate campuses in Southern California, permanent programme facilities in
Washington, D.C., and at international campuses in Germany, England, Italy,
Switzerland, Argentina, and China.
The University was founded in 1937 by George
Pepperdine, a Christian businessman who founded the Western Auto Supply
Company. For the first 30 years of its life, the institution was a small,
mostly undergraduate college. University status was achieved in 1970 as the
institution added graduate and professional schools. In 1972, the University
opened its new campus in Malibu.
