Edinburgh Fringe 2023 - Once Upon a Crime - Gruesome Grimm Tales!

Fringe TNThe performance year came to a fitting end, as at the start of August, eight of the LVI girls travelled to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to perform three pieces from the anthology series of Grimm Tales. Their show Once Upon a Crime – Gruesome Grimm Tales! presented a selection of some family-favourite fairy tales in a physical, theatrical and thrilling feast with their own inimitable brand of storytelling. Superbly martialled by Mrs Rebecca Cochran-Patrick, the inventive production featured a murder of crows as narrators, and had three sold out performances - a real achievement at that most crowded of showcases!  The seven-strong cast were sensational and were ably supported by Lottie S on lighting! 

Some quotes from audience members:

“Well done Twisted Tales! A thoroughly enjoyable hour spent watching an entertaining and funny take on three familiar childhood stories. This wasn't just for children though - it worked on many levels.”

“Fast, fun ….and very funny. A brave and challenging interpretation of three well known tales. Delivered quick-fire with poise and confidence from an able and young cast. Difficult, but more than successfully done. Hugely entertaining.”

“Cracking family-friendly show that is as entertaining as it is well-performed. Three mini-Grimm tales, brought to life in a way that leaves no option but to laugh.”

IMG 8012Edinburgh Fringe 2022 - Second Person Narrative

After an absence of three years, St Mary's, in the guise of Twisted Tales, returned to perform at the world's largest arts festival in Edinburgh. The school's entry to the Fringe was the moving and engaging play Second Person Narrative by Jemma Kennedy.

This play contains scenes showing moments in a character's life starting from their birth and was written to be performed by an ensemble cast.

 

Edinburgh Fringe 2019 - Mobile Phone Show

IMG_0357.jpgSix members of the UVI (Year 13) accompanied by their director, Mrs Cochran-Patrick and producer Miss Dickinson arrived in the beautiful city of Edinburgh to perform Mobile Phone Show by Jim Cartwright at Space on the Mile for five days.

The cast donned their mobile phone costumes and handed out flyers on the Mile every morning prior to the performance, which certainly paid off as attendance this year was the best to date. The play was well received and the cast worked very hard to produce a witty and sometimes, poignant production of which they should be very proud. They even managed to get the audience participating by sending in texts of anonymous ‘confessions’.

'Fab show. Great script - very poignant in this day and age…serious undertone brought hilariously and brilliantly to life through amazing direction, great sound effects and wonderful acting….'

'It was a very good show. The actresses were very talented and the direction was extremely slick. Absolutely incredible!...'

'Loved the show. Very apt in today’s world.'

 

Edinburgh Fringe 2017 - The Unravelling

2017's Edinburgh Fringe Show was The Unravelling by Fin Kennedy;" In an urban fabric shop, a dying mother challenges her daughters to weave her the greatest tale, using nothing more than pieces of cloth. Little do they realise that their prize is far more than the shop itself – it is the power to write their own futures."

Final rehearsals took place at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond in July. The cast endured four days of intense rehearsals to polish our show to Edinburgh Fringe standards. Mrs Cochran-Patrick lead rehearsals with Miss Darling and Miss Dickinson assisting. Our festival experience began with a late night technical rehearsal, which was our only chance to practise in our venue and arrange our lighting and sound cues. We then began our five-day run of the show and were lucky enough to receive full or near-full audiences every day - a real triumph at a festival where the average audience size is eight!  We were visited by a number of Old Girls and parents who kindly came to support the show. The girls' hard work to promote the show, by flyering every day on the Royal Mile and our efforts to set up our purple monster (the king of the underground) on the Royal Mile had clearly paid off. One reviewer posted: "This performance by a troupe of teenage girls is highly polished and definitely worth seeing. Stars of the future. Highly engaging and entertaining. Really enjoyed this rendition. Go and see for yourself." The group had the opportunity to make the most of all that the Fringe had to offer, enjoying a range of performances from  Theatre Ad Infinitum’s production of The Odyssey to the popular Education, Education, Education by the Wardrobe Ensemble. A huge thank you to the friends and family who came to support us and to Mrs Rebecca Cochran-Patrick for all her hard work in bringing the show to life.

 

Edinburgh Fringe 2016 – Twisted Tales presents The Company of Wolves

Mrs Cochran-Patrick lead the direction on this project with Miss Holly Darling taking the role of assistant director / producer. Rehearsals took place at school and at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond during the summer holidays. The cast of eight LVI girls and a UVI sound designer performed Angela Carter’s The Company of Wolves. We performed under a new theatre company name – ‘Twisted Tales’. This marked a new era in Edinburgh Fringe shows for St Mary’s. The girls performed at The Space on the Mile at 12:35 pm every day between the 8th and 12th August. We re-imagined the play as a kitsch 1950’s educational, cautionary tale for girls. The show featured a guest actor in the play in the role of the wolf. 

The performances were a great success; here is a selection of quotes from the reviews that we received over the week:

The play visually is absolutely spot on. All dressed in reds, whites, and blacks, the ensemble clearly embody the original Red Riding Hood story. Snow White also shines through, another bloody fairy tale with a more dark edge than seen in mainstream tellings. The group have succeeded in evoking Carter’s point that whilst folktales function as cautionary tales, they also show a darker human impulse to stray from the path.”

Holly Darling’s script is beautifully written. The narration comes alive in the rich descriptions of snow falling and of the everyday rural life. The play is full of innuendo for the audience to chuckle along with, and reflects Carter’s love for double-entendre.”

“Carina, this play’s Red Riding Hood, is also a talented performer. At once wide-eyed and coy, she perfectly gets across the young girl’s naive innocence that masks a budding sexuality her grandmother finds frightening.”
(TV Bomb)

This is an enticing production cleverly staged with some wonderfully fresh ideas. There is a physical theatre element to the performance which brings it to life with very few props. The motorbike in the first story is particularly clever and works excellently with the aesthetic of the predator of that tale.”
(edinburghguide.com)

The work of the ensemble is pleasingly collaborative and generous, with performers gelling together harmoniously.”

In line with the historical oral tradition of fairy tales, the piece celebrates the very art of storytelling. As with Carter’s satirical style, the performance does not take itself too seriously, and therein lies much of its charm
(Broadway Baby)

The full reviews can be found here:

TV Bomb

Broadway Baby

GeekChocolate

ThreeWeeksEdinburgh

Edinburgh Fringe 2015 – Comedy Sketch Show with Trestle Masks

In August 2015, three LVI girls; Hebe, Anna and Romily, under the direction of Mr Edward Cousens, performed a four-day run of their show Comedy Sketch Show with Trestle Masks at the Space on The Mile. This was following a two-day workshop in school with the renowned Trestle Theatre Company, where the girls learnt the masked performance skills needed to create their show. The experience which included the girls flyering on the Royal Mile to drum up an audience for their show gave the girls a real insight into the wider performing arts industry.