Aberdeen Song & Darlings Head for Edinburgh Fringe

Aberdeen
audiences are to get the chance to catch the productions once again,
with a week of pre-festival performances at His Majesty’s Theatre
from 21 July. The invitation to take the productions to the Edinburgh
Fringe is a coup for APA coming less than three years since the
company began producing work on a large scale.

APA
chief executive and producer for both shows, Duncan Hendry, said he
was delighted and proud to be taking the productions to the festival.
He commented: “It’s Assembly Theatre’s 30th anniversary and they
are planning to put on the best of Scottish theatre at The Assembly
Rooms this year. Our productions will be their mainstay in the
biggest of their spaces within their George Street venue.

Mr
Hendry continued: “We were approached by Assembly Theatre, to
take these productions to the Fringe – they had seen them when they
were touring last year and the year before and were obviously
impressed. I think that is a great compliment to the people who have
been working on these productions that they will be showcased in this
way, at the world’s largest arts festival.”

Mr
Hendry added that both plays – Lewis Grassic Gibbon‘s Sunset
Song, adapted by Alastair Cording, and Neil M Gunn‘s
The Silver Darlings adapted by Peter Arnott –
are iconic Scottish stories; huge narrative works that explore the
massive themes of land and sea.”

APA
are confident that the epic stories will work well in Edinburgh, and
could work well internationally. The company hopes to use the
festival to showcase the works to the international promoters and
producers who attend the Festival.

Assembly
Theatre artistic director William Burdett-Coutts said: “Assembly
aims to set the standard from major drama at the Edinburgh Festival
Fringe and we are delighted to be working with Aberdeen Performing
Arts to bring two great Scottish plays to the festival taken from two
fantastic books.”