In this issue:
Rendition Monologues - Photo by Ben Kelly
iceandfire are taking Rendition Monologues to the Edinburgh Fringe
! Rendition Monologues weaves together four first-hand accounts of victims of extraordinary rendition: the CIA’s practice of transferring people to prisons for interrogation as terror suspects in countries where there is a known risk of torture. The play is also a pertinent investigation of issues such as Britain's complicity in torture, which is in the news again this week.
The fab people at Reprieve will be there with us for each show to take questions from the audience and encourage them to take action.
This is our first foray into the craziness of the world’s largest fringe festival and we are super excited – although also a bit nervous about having to fill a 350-seat venue in such a competitive environment!
If you are in Edinburgh, or you know anyone who will be, be sure to come along and/or spread the word. Especially welcome is anyone who can offer an hour or two to help us hand out flyers.
- Rendition Monologues – True Stories of Torture and Abuse in the Name of the War on Terror
- August 17 – 23, at 4:00pm
- St John’s Church (Venue 127), Princes St, Edinburgh
- Tickets £8/5, Bookings edfringe.com
Any advice you can give (perhaps you’re a seasoned Edinburgh performer or punter?) to help us get noticed in the crowd and pull in the audiences would be much appreciated. Email us your thoughts! Oh and HUGE thanks to all who generously contributed to getting us up there in the first place – we love you!!
We have been lucky enough to receive some good press so far about our Edinburgh show. We were featured as a "top pick" by WhatsOnStage and Fringe Review
, as well as receiving a good preview on the FringeGuru blog and a mention in the Edinburgh Fringe's official press release.
Congratulations to our patron, Juliet Stevenson (pictured), who was awarded a London Citizen of Sanctuary Award by co-Artistic Director Christine Bacon for her work promoting the cause of refugees and asylum seekers in Britain.
We’re please to announce three new funders who have come on board to support us in the last few months: City Parochial Foundation (CPF), Lankelly Chase and
Unity Theatre Trust. CPF have provided some all-important core funding for 3 years for iceandfire to focus on poverty and inequality in London; Lankelly Chase are supporting our Sheffield-based Regional Co-ordinator, Clea Langton, for 2 years; and Unity Theatre Trust will help us launch our new PlayRights script submission service.
Welcome to new trustee Jill Green! Jill is a highly-respected casting agent, working particularly in the West End (The Jersey Boys, The Producers). Jill is also a volunteer co-ordinator for the Mayfair and Soho Amnesty Group Stop Violence Against Women Campaign.
We are excited about our new focus for 2010 and beyond, which we were able to come up with thanks to an Away Day in Norfolk! Each year we will be design a season of work around a central theme, with 2010 focussing on Freedom of Expression. Our mainstage production will be about journalists who have taken great personal risks to challenge the official version of the truth in their own countries. STAY TUNED FOR MORE!
iceandfire’s 2008 show Welcome to Ramallah has also just completed a successful run at the Compass Theatre in San Diego, described as “gut-wrenching and unforgettable… a stimulating, unnerving piece of work” by Pat Launder at the San Diego News Network.
Co-Artistic Director Sara Masters is off to Canada for 6 weeks in September to research theatre for young people and to meet with lots of exciting Canadian theatre companies (thanks to the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust!)
Read more about our productions»
Our Outreach work continues to grow with more than 5,000 people having seen an Outreach play so far this year!
If you’re in London, be sure to come along to one of our four free performances at Amnesty International’s Human Rights Action Centre – every Thursday in September. Each show will be followed by a Q&A with an Amnesty campaigner/expert as well as someone from iceandfire and a person whose story is featured in the play. The first performance on 3 September is Rendition Monologues, followed by Seven Years with Hard Labour (10 Sept),
Palestine Monologues (17 Sept) and Asylum Monologues (24 Sept). Book now to ensure you don’t miss out!
In addition, we will also be performing all over the UK in the coming months. Have a look at the sidebar on the right or on our Coming Up page for a performance near you. And remember, we respond to requests, so if we aren’t yet coming to a town near you, invite us!
Click here for iceandfire's Outreach network »
iceandfire’s new play for young people, Bind, is almost finished and we are now taking bookings from schools for our tour in November – December. With strong ties to the Citizenship at Key Stage 3 curriculum, Bind
explores the links between human rights and the hotly contested MMR debate, posing the question, ‘What duties does an individual have to their community?’
Supported by the Wellcome Trust.
Further information about our education workshops and resources »
What is a human rights story? We are asking you to help us answer this question in the lead up to the launch of our new rolling script submission service, PlayRights. We hope to have a launch later this year, but we want your feedback on our own idea of a human rights story, as defined by co-Artistic Director Sara Masters in this blog piece.
Is this definition helpful? Too loose/too specific? Too daunting/not challenging enough? Make your opinions heard by writing your comments.
More about participation»
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