Dance-theatre artist Charlotte Mclean of Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2022 smash-hit show And to bring new experimental work - Futuristic Folktales - on tour internationally to Scotland, the UK, and Switzerland
Created in collaboration with a groundbreaking creative team, including genre bending trans composer Malin Lewis and trans, disabled writer activist Nelly Kelly
International Tour: 5 - 27 April 2024: The Space, Tojo Theatre, The Place, & Tramway
The Futuristic Folktales International Tour will be followed by a 6-day run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024 as part of Made In Scotland
If you could dance for HOPE, what would you dance for…?
After critical acclaim for her eruptive dance show And at the 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe (‘jaw droppingly bold and clever: ✩✩✩✩✩ ’ - The Scotsman), contemporary experimental dance-artist Charlotte Mclean returns to direct Futuristic Folktales for an International Tour, April 5 - 27.
Co-created by an exciting multi-disciplinary creative team including Helen McIntosh, Nelly Kelly, Malin Lewis, Astro Scheidegger, Orrow Bell, Alison Brown, Emma Jones, and Rob Evans, Futuristic Folktales is a collaboration-driven show that aims to disrupt and refresh expected formats of performance through radical and emotive explorations of reproductive justice and injustice, body politics, bodily autonomy, and identity.
Futuristic Folktales tells the momentous story of the first womb - an environment where life and death intimately coexist. Humbly attempting to unify humanity through the infinite narrative of birth, the show experiments with contemporary, breaking, and Scottish Highland dance to probe questions of tradition, preservation, myth, and identity.
The performers share their unique perspectives, as Orrow and Astro intimately birth and unbirth each other. Inviting audiences to feel resistance as the performance imitates the hostile, terse environment of the womb, the show seeks to further dance as a form of political protest - otherwise, why dance?
Director Charlotte Mclean commented:
“Although every human is inherently different, the profound connection we all share is our origin from the womb. In Futuristic Folktales, we boldly reimagine the creation narrative, casting the resilient womb as the hero - journeying with it through realms of birth, unbirth, death, rebirth, portals to another world then back into the future, with hope and togetherness.”
Touring internationally to The Space (Dundee - 5 April), Tojo Theatre (Bern, Switzerland - 11, 12, & 13 April - World Premiere), The Place (London - 18 April - UK Premiere), and Tramway (Glasgow - 26 & 27 April - Scottish Premiere), Futuristic Folktales will then continue on to the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe - performing as part of Made in Scotland at Dance Base (13 - 18 August).
Produced by Helen McIntosh (Farah Saleh, Solene Weinachter, Shotput) and written by Nelly Kelly (68 Months in Waiting; The Dogwood; Untitled 2009), Malin Lewis (Malin Makes Music) will create a futuristic womb-like world using experimental bagpipes, synths and voice for the performance, with performers Astro Scheidegger (Colour Jam Crew; Acapa Tilburg), and Orrow Bell (TOMBO(Y)LA; Splayed; Fuel/Travis Alabanza; Hussein Chayalan & Damien Jalet) bringing Mclean’s concept direction to life; and industry icons Alison Brown, Emma Jones, Lynn Wiseman, and Rob Evans leading Costume, Lighting, Technical Management and Dramaturgy.
Producer Helen McIntosh said:
“At the heart of Futuristic Folktales lies collaboration, with over 30 artists involved across the project, each with unique and varied perspectives on politics, identity, culture, sexuality, and artistic practice. Together, we've woven a modern folktale for the future, exploring what reproductive justice should and could be, with hope at its core.”
Futuristic Folktales has been supported by Creative Scotland, Stadt Bern, Kanton Bern, ProHelvetia, The Place, Schweizerische Interpretenstiftung SIS, Burgergemeinde Bern, Ursula Wirz Foundation, Tojo Theatre, The Space Dundee and Angus College, Dance Base, Dampfzentrale, Dansomètre, Sadlers Wells, Vakuum Bewegungsraum.
Made in Scotland is a curated showcase of high-quality performance from Scotland at the world’s largest arts festival, made possible by support from the Scottish Government’s Expo Fund. It is a partnership between the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, the Federation of Scottish Theatre, the Scottish Music Centre and Creative Scotland.
Listings:
International Tour (April 5-27, 2024)
The Space, Dundee (Friday 5 April - 7pm; PREVIEW)
Tojo Theatre, Bern (Thursday 11, Friday 12 & Saturday 13 April - 8:30pm; WORLD PREMIERE)
The Place, London (Thursday 18 April - 7:30pm; UK PREMIERE)
Tramway, Glasgow (Friday 26 & Saturday 27 April - 7:30pm (Fri) & 2pm (Sat); SCOTTISH PREMIERE)
Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024
Dance Base at Assembly Roxy, Edinburgh (Tuesday 13 - Sunday 18 August, part of Made in Scotland)
Creative Team:
Concept and Director: Charlotte Mclean (she/her)
Creative Producer: Helen McIntosh (she/her)
Writer: Nelly Kelly (they/them)
Composer: Malin Lewis (they/them)
Lighting Designer & Production Manager: Emma Jones (she/her)
Costume Designer: Alison Brown (she/her)
Dramaturg: Rob Evans (he/him)
Performer: Astro Scheidegger (he/him)
Performer: Orrow Bell (they/them)
Technical Manager: Lynn Wiseman (she/her)
PR (UK): Storytelling PR
PR (Switzerland): Camille Jamet (she/her)
International Consultant: Nadja Dias (she/her)
Project Collaborators: Annable Cooper (she/her), Amarnah C Osajivbe-Amuldun (she/her), Chanai Bradley Fofanah (she/her), Domenico Angarano (he/him), Gina Lorenzen (she/her), Ichai Carre (he/him), Irodriel Costello (they/them), Jac Reichel (they/them), Kate Hall (she/her), Kirsty Nicolson (they/them), Lucy Suggate (she/her), Molly Scott Danter (they/them), Neil Dewar (he/him), Rebekka Hoelzle (she/her), Rhys Dennis (he/him), Sunniva Moen Rørvik (they/them)
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