An international group of young democrats are working for an NGO called Democracy in Action in Zimbabwe in the run up to the elections.
Their goal, to educate and help register voters, but an increasingly violent run up to elections brings chaos their way testing the very reason for their commitment and presence in the country.
Trim? Fresh.
Skin? Glowing.
Vibes? Immaculate.
Nathaniel is a serious romantic who sees love as a fine art. He’s looking for the Mona Lisa to his da Vinci, and tonight is the night: his date with Destiny…’s Child.
Winner of the Bruntwood Prize for Playwriting 2022, Nathan Queeley-Dennis’ debut play is a love letter to Birmingham, exploring Black masculinity through Beyonce lyrics, techno raves and the deeply intimate relationship between a man and his barber.
Scroll down to see the full Roundabout @ Summerhall 2023 programme.
Welcome back to Roundabout, Paines Plough’s pop-up amphitheatre with state-of-the-art lighting and sound, and where every seat is the best seat in the house. 168 people are wrapped around the stage, watching new plays from the UK’s most exciting writers, in a thrillingly atmospheric, spaceship-like theatre.
Since its beginning, the big yellow tent has existed to serve our mission as a company; to showcase the breadth of new writing talent that the country has to offer, and to platform stories from all sections of society. There will be deep reflection, hope, righteous fury, and lived experiences you might never have considered before.
Oh, and there will be laughter as well. Lots of it.
We’d like you to take these stories home with you, to keep them with you for a while, and hopefully you will fly the flag for new writing wherever you are.
Come and join us in the Summerhall courtyard, from 2 – 27 August.
Read more about all the productions in the e-Postcard Pack here (scroll down to view pages):
Born in Denton Burn, Ric Renton had a troubled upbringing that led to him spending his young adulthood in prison. Whilst in HMP Durham he learned to read and crucially to write. This is his story. Relived and performed by him.
Three young men Knox, Brown and Shepherd pass their time in a prison with the highest suicide rate in the country. Energised by their friendship but with the walls around them getting smaller, haunted by the repeated pronouncements of another life lost, the arrival of a nightwatchman, Jock, offers Shepherd an unexpected way through the darkness.
Rich with emotion but sizzling with high energy and the blackest humour, One Off is one of the most urgent pieces of new writing you will likely see.
‘One Off was all the dignity afforded to those who could take no more. No names. Not even their number. One off.
I am DV7786.
And I write this for all the dead boys, and for night watchman Jock, who, without his invisible, persistent presence, unseen in the corridors of HMP Durham, I too may have just been another One Off.’
Ric Renton
In August 2022, our portable pop-up theatre venue Roundabout will take over Summerhall at Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Our in-the-round auditorium will host three premieres from trailblazing playwrights Dipo Baruwa-Etti (Half-Empty Glasses), Sami Ibrahim (A Sudden Violent Burst of Rain) and Laura Lindow (The Ultimate Pickle) and the return of Chris Bush’s critically acclaimed play Hungry which premiered at Roundabout in 2021.
These will be performed in rep alongside visiting artists presenting theatre, cabaret, comedy, family shows, drag and more from 3 – 28 August.
Visiting artists also presenting work include YESYESNONO, Ellie Keel Productions, Maimuna Memon, Francesca Moody Productions and Nouveau Riche.
Read more about all the productions in the E-Postcard Pack here:
We can’t wait to be back, welcoming the best in new writing to the big yellow tent.
‘I’m sticking with you. You, my chum, my little chipolata, have got yourself your very own, real life, wolf!’
Everything is awesome in Dill’s life. A loving mum, good mates at school, a granddad who plays the drums, and Jack Tornado: the oldest and best goldfish in the world.
But when a little ball of fluff falls from grandad’s book, everything changes forever. Could that be a… wolf!? Join Dill on an adventure through the unexpected surprises in life.
A new play by award-winning writer Laura Lindow, The Ultimate Pickle is about the importance of stories, the imagination, and how our little ones deal with grief. A show for all the family and any friendly wolves!
Toye is preparing for his piano exam to get into a prestigious music school. He’s doing it for the contacts, the opportunity, the love of art. But when he notices the lack of Black British history in his school’s curriculum, he begins to question himself and the world around him. Is this really his dream, or is he letting these institutions write his story?
He starts offering his own school lessons on Black cultural icons, but he quickly discovers that maybe not everyone wants Black history to be celebrated…
An empowering new play by Channel 4 bursary winner Dipo Baruwa-Etti about the pressures of being young, gifted and ready to change the world.
‘I still play to their chords.
Livin’ within conventions.
Livin’ within restrictions.
Livin’ within a structure.
Lettin’ someone write my story.’
‘We all live under the same sky.
It’s just that, beneath that sky, there’s some arsehole saying “don’t stand here, stand over there and shut your mouth”.’
Elif shears sheep for a rich landowner. Every other waking hour she spends queuing outside the palace, hoping that the King will let her live within the city walls.
She comes from a far-away land.
She is searching for sanctuary.
And this is what we call a hostile environment.
A Sudden Violent Burst of Rain from award-winning playwright Sami Ibrahim is a poetic fable of an impenetrable immigration system that mirrors our own. Directed by Gate Theatre’s Associate Director Yasmin Hafesji.
‘Forgive our roughness, yeah? Our uncouth, our untidy, our ugly. Forgive us for going a bit effing feral but when you’re in the wild, the wild gets in you.’
The rains came, the sky fell and all hell broke loose. An anarchic new show from Charlie Josephine about shaking off the shackles of society’s binaries and rejoicing in the unknown.
Following a five-star, critically acclaimed national tour, Black Love goes to Kiln Theatre for a strictly limited run.
Meet Aurora and Orion. Sister and brother. Constellations in time. More than blood. More than just fam.
Inside their small London flat, memories of their parents’ Black love surrounds them. When that love is threatened, they must first find understanding and connection before they can begin to find a way back to one another.
An explosion of form-busting storytelling, Black Love celebrates and investigates the Black experience through music, real-life stories and imagined worlds. This ‘beautiful ode to black society and home’ (The Guardian) is not to be missed.