(image Mihaela Bodlovik)

By Zoë Bullock

Shō and the Demons of the Deep is a visual adventure story about overcoming fear, climate crisis and how the actions of one generation can affect the next. Designed for everyone aged 8+, the show is inspired by the picture book of the same name by Annouchka Gravel Galouchko.

Shō’s city has been plagued by nightmares for as long as she can remember, but hers are the worst of all. One day, Shō has had enough. She throws her nightmares away into the river, where they wash out to sea. Soon people start copying her; the city is rid of its nightmares, and everyone is delighted. But sixty years later, when the river becomes poisoned, Shō’s granddaughter Hana must face her greatest fears in order to save her home.

(image Tommy Ga Ken Wan)

By Sylvia Dow, music by Kim Edgar

A new mini-musical comedy that shines a light on the pleasures and perils of dating as a mature grown-up.

Three acquaintances, who take the same bus every day, go for a coffee after a pesky strike and end up bonding after realising they are all single.

Each week at the pub, they retell stories of their dating lives, from the good, the bad and the downright awful, and share their hopes of still finding ‘the one’.

(image Pamela Raith)

By Paul Morrissey

On 26th December 1900, a small ship was making its way to the Flannan Islands in the remote Outer Hebrides. Its destination, the lighthouse at Eilean Mor; a remote island which - apart from its lighthouse keepers - was completely uninhabited. When the ship arrived on the island, the lighthouse was unlocked and two of three oil skinned coats belonging to the men were missing. The fire was out, there was half eaten food on the table, the chairs were overturned, and the clock had stopped. More importantly, the light was out. The three men had vanished.

(image Tommy Ga Ken Wan)

By Frances Poet

Mikey has been having visions for years now, but it wasn’t until he predicted the Coronavirus that he started to take note…
While his pals have returned to normality, Mikey remains in isolation, unable to prevent the rigged election in Tuvalu and, arguably, the even bigger disaster of Harry Styles getting a full-face tattoo.
But now Mikey has to act. He has seen Britain’s bleak future and must force it to change course!
The Prognostications of Mikey Noyce is a big-hearted new comedy that reflects upon our collective experiences of living in Britain over the last three unprecedented years.

(image Tommy Ga Ken Wan)

Created by Alan Cumming and Steven Hoggett

Featuring Robert Burns’ own words and the music of Anna Meredith. This brand-new piece of dance-theatre challenges the ‘biscuit tin’ image of Scotland’s National Bard and goes beyond the poetry to focus on the man himself - his poverty, his personal tragedy, his struggles with mental health and his spectacular success.

“And still my motto is: I dare!”

(image Tommy Ga Ken Wan)

By Brian James O’Sullivan

Oscar has never had any trouble writing music. It comes naturally. But when his brother and writing partner dies suddenly, he is lost and creatively blocked. His solution? Move to a remote Scottish island where he’ll have the time and space to breathe and grieve, and crucially to finish writing his suite of music. But when Oscar and his new landlady, Miriam, meet, it seems that solitude and time to write are the last things he’s likely to achieve. He goes seeking creative sanctuary, but in Miriam’s friendship, gets much more than he bargained for. A new musical about friendship, music and inspiration.

(image Mihaela Bodlovik)

By Mariem Omari

Revolution Days follows Samira, an Aid Worker from Scotland, who goes through a baptism of fire during the ‘Revolutions’ in the Middle East. Believing she can make a difference, she takes on every mission, until, against a backdrop of war and violence, she is confronted by her own vulnerability.

Staged as the 10th anniversary of the Arab Spring uprising draws to a close, this powerful play is told through the eyes of a young woman straddling both ‘her Scottishness and Arabness’.

(image still from film, Fraser Scott)

By Laurie Motherwell

Wife, mistress, mother, opportunist, friend. The life of Roxana and her maid Amy is as scandalous an adventure as you could find and a morality tale like no other. Bringing Daniel Defoe’s 1724 novel and its surprisingly contemporary debates on marriage, wealth, sexuality and autonomy to the stage, this is a provocative re-telling of the journey of a woman and her maid as they grapple with the world and the choices they have to make. Originally written for the stage, this version of Roxana is a unique theatre-film hybrid filmed in Paisley by Fraser Scott.

(image Robert McFadzean)

By Fin Kenedy

When life starts to become too much for young marketing executive Charlie, he turns to pills, drink, and finally a new identitiy in his search for meaning in life. Punctuated by visions of a pathologist who claims he is already dead, he sets out on a whirlwind journey through a harsh world where moments of kindness are rare and the meaning of existence is called into question. Stuck in this limbo watching himself relive his last moments, he is pulled ever forwards edging closer to the beyond.

(image Mihaela Bodlovik)

By Zinnie Harris

The General Strike is in full swing when, on a stifling Midsummer’s evening, Miss Julie, the Laird’s daughter, and John, the Laird’s manservant reach out to each other. Set alight by the promise of revolution escalating outside, the pair grasp at the possibility of a different life until only one desperate choice remains.

(image Mihaela Bodlovik)

By Isobel McArthur

A unique and audacious retelling of Jane Austen’s most iconic love story. Men, money and microphones will be fought over in this irreverent but affectionate adaptation where the stakes couldn’t be higher when it comes to romance.

By Jenny Gilvear

Once upon a time there was a dragon, who lived on an island in the middle of a wide, blue ocean. When her island comes under threat from pirates, she is forced to drop her precious jewelled egg into the deeps of the sea, entrusting it to the care of her friends, the whales.

After hatching, the fledgling dragon begins to grow up among the kind-hearted whales. But all dragons’ feelings come from the fire in their hearts, and because the baby dragon is born underwater, her fire cannot burn. Swept by the ocean currents around her, the dragon starts a blazing adventure to find out how to ignite her heart and discover her true self.

A tale for young audiences about growing up, celebrating your differences and finding your place in the world, with imaginative fantastical puppet creatures, projections, music and charming storytelling.

Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2018: The List’s Best Kids Shows.

By Jenny Gilvear and Shilpa T-Hyland

Atlas was created for Hidden Door Festival 2018, taking place in the basement of the beautiful old Leith State Cinema.

The project explores people’s connections to the festival's surroundings in Leith, and their personal experiences, untold stories and hidden places there. In Atlas, we want to encourage the audience to reconsider the way we look at our physical surroundings, and see the stories that dwell there, nestled amongst the brickwork of the everyday.

For this project, we used people's real life stories from around Leith, using stories we gathered in person and online. We also used archive material from the Museum of Edinburgh and the Living Memory Association, interspersing historical accounts of everyday Leith with the contemporary ones we captured.

These stories were brought to life by sound designer Adam McCallum, and performed with with live visuals and shadow puppetry using an over-head projector.

By Jenny Gilvear and Shilpa T-Hyland

When Erin’s brother disappears she sets out on an adventure to find him. With a good pair of wellies, a curious will o the wisp as her guide and a sharp pair of ears, Erin soon meets some peculiar creatures and discovers that she is not the only one to have had something taken from her. Inspired by folk stories and our changing relationships with the earth, this is a tale of give and take, of the call of the earth, and of the little girl who began to listen.