An Insider’s View

20th July 2016
By Ruth Hollyman

Read all about what it’s actually like working at Strange Town from someone who experienced one of our busiest, most creative times of the year: Oliver Quinn, aged 16.

Oliver Quinn Work Experience Blog

News

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May 24

This past weekend, we had an exciting collaboration with @vicreatorsscotland and @greenstoneaudio

Our young members of the Thursday 14-18s have been working alongside Kirin Saeed of VICS to write and record their own short audio descriptions for each of their characters in our June show "Haribo Wedding"

Once written, each group member made their own recording with James of Greenstone Audio this past weekend.

We're very proud to announce that Haribo Wedding will be our first ever show with audio description, with AD performances on Friday 16th and Saturday 17th June at the Traverse Theatre.

Tickets for Haribo wedding (and our other Traverse shows, 'Over the Waves' & 'The Kind Complex') are available online now!

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May 24

We're delighted that two productions featuring Strange Town Agency clients have been shortlisted for Broadcast Digital Awards!

🌹RED ROSE featuring @silviefurneaux1 & @ruaridhmollica is shortlisted for Best Drama Programme

💍THE WEDDING featuring @nandihudson is shortlisted for Best Short-Form Scripted

Winners to be announced on 5th July! 🤞🌟

https://www.broadcastdigitalawards.co.uk/shortlist-2023

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May 19

📺 ANNIKA, starring Agency client @silviefurneaux1, is moving to BBC1 this weekend! You can watch Episode 1 tomorrow, Saturday 20th, at 9:15pm.

🕵️ Series 1 follows witty and enigmatic DI Annika Strandhed (@Nicolawalker Walker) as she heads up the marine homicide unit, tasked with solving murders in and around Scotland's waters.

🧍‍♀️Silvie plays Annika's daughter Morgan.

🌟The show previously aired on Alibi, and will have a second season later in 2023.

@bbc @blackcamelpictures
#annika #annikastrandhed #morganstrandhed #bbc #bbcone

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May 17

Break a leg to Agency client and Strange Town Patron @@tallulahgreive and the rest of the ANNA KARENINA company, who have their press night tonight at @lyceumedinburgh - We are so excited to see it! 🤩🎟🎭

The production runs in Edinburgh until Saturday 3rd June, and will then transfer to @bristololdvic1766.

#annakarenina #lyceumtheatre #lyceumtheatreedinburgh #bristololdvic

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May 17

KIDNAPPED (National Theatre of Scotland) is also amongst the CATS nominations announced today. The show is nominated for 4 awards, including Best Production and Best Ensemble.

Congratulations to Agency client Fatima Jawara (ensemble member) and the whole team!

📷 Mihaela Bodlovic

https://criticsawards.theatrescotland.com/2023-shortlist/

@ntsonline @fatima.jawara #catsawards #catsawards2023

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May 17

We are delighted to say we have been nominated for a CATS award this year for our Touring Company production of Storm Lantern for "Best Production for Children and Young People".
Huge congratulations to all our fellow nominees also! #CATS23

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May 15

A wonderful time was had at the @bafta Television Awards last night in London, huge congratulations to all the winners!!

What an incredible accolade for SOMEWHERE BOY to be amongst such amazing nominations, a real achievement by a fantastic team and show! 👏🤩🌟@channel4 @clerkenwellfilms @gribbenlewis #baftatvawards #baftatv #baftas2023 #bafta #somewhereboy #clerkenwellfilms

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May 14

Hooray, hooray, it's BAFTAs day! 🤩

Ruth is off to the ceremony with our wonderful Agency client and Strange Town Patron @gribbenlewis, as SOMEWHERE BOY (in which Lewis plays lead role Danny), is nominated for Best Drama Series.

Everyone at Strange Town sends huge good luck wishes to Lewis and the team! 🤞🌟

@bafta @channel4 @clerkenwellfilms

#baftatvawards #baftacraftawards #somewhereboy #clerkenwellfilms

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May 12

⭐️Our final SSC show this June is:

🧜‍♀️ Lola is Alone (And She Likes It) by Josie Young
🎭 Performed by the Friday 8-10s
🏅 Directed by Catherine Ward-Stoddart

Lola the fox has always been alone… and she likes it. She can eat what she wants, go where she wants and go to bed whenever she likes. But one morning, her world is turned upside down when her home is destroyed!

On the hunt for a new, cosy den before the night is up, Lola is determined that she can do it by herself. Along the way, however, she meets some friendly faces that might just convince her that having some helping hands (and paws) isn't so bad.

🗓Dates & Times⌚️
Saturday 10th June, 3pm
Sunday 11th June, 11.30am
Scottish Storytelling Centre

🎫Tickets are available at:
https://scottishstorytellingcentre.online.red61.co.uk/event/913:4710/

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May 11

🙌 Congratulations to Agency client Aaron MacGregor and the whole team behind animated film KENSUKE'S KINGDOM, which has been announced as one of the selections at the Annecy Festival 2023!!

🌊 Aaron voices lead role Michael in the film, which is based on the much-loved children's novel of the same name, written by Michael Morpurgo.

🎬The Annecy Festival is a global event dedicated to animation, and the 2023 Festival takes place from 11th-17th June.

https://www.awn.com/news/annecy-2023-official-feature-film-selections-revealed

@annecyfestival @lupusfilms @neil.boyle.film
#annecyfestival #annecy2023 #kensukeskingsom

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May 11

⭐️Our second SSC show this June is:

🧜‍♀️ Wild Tides of Clíodhna by Naomi Westerman
🎭 Performed by the Wednesday 11-14s
🏅 Directed by James Beagon

What makes a monster?

When a disparate group of young people spend the summer at a youth camp on the Isle of Clíodhna, unexplained violent deaths send the camp into uproar. As the campers realise they are stranded with a killer who may not be human, they battle to save their friends and themselves. All the while, one girl faces both her past and a devastating decision about her future.

🗓Dates & Times⌚️
Friday 9th June, 9pm
Saturday 10th June, 7pm
Scottish Storytelling Centre

🎫Tickets are available at:
https://scottishstorytellingcentre.online.red61.co.uk/event/913:4708/

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May 10

⭐️Our first SSC show this June is:

🚢I Was Here by Katie Fraser
🎭Performed by the Friday 11-14s
🏅Directed by Amy Wilson

"We were there. We know what happens next."

One ship and two groups split by time. As one group prepares to evacuate at the height of WWII, another explores their shipwreck in the modern day. A third group watches over all of them: sea spirits, who have been there long before the ship and will outlast the wreck as well.

The outcome is inevitable – or is it? As the modern group investigate, the mystery of the wreck draws them closer to the past – much closer than they intended.

🗓Dates & Times⌚️
Friday 9th June, 7pm
Saturday 10th June, 9pm
Scottish Storytelling Centre

🎫Tickets are available at:
https://scottishstorytellingcentre.online.red61.co.uk/event/913:4709/

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May 9

You can now watch Agency client Mimi Robertson in THE DUMPING GROUND! Mimi appears as guest role Maisie in Episode 13 of Series 10, available now on @bbciplayer 🌟

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001ll6z/the-dumping-ground-series-10-13-natural-habitat

#thedumpinggroundcbbc
#thedumpingground

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May 9

Create your own play in 5 days with the Strange Town Summer Holiday Projects! Sign-up is now open for all three projects:

🎭8-10s
🗓Monday 3rd - Friday 7th July
⌚️9am-4pm
🏣Out of the Blue Drill Hall
----------
🎭11-14s
🗓Monday 10th - Friday 14th July
⌚️9am-4pm
🏣Out of the Blue Drill Hall
----------
🎭14-18s
🗓Monday 17th - Friday 21st July
⌚️10am-5pm
🏣Out of the Blue Drill Hall
----------
💷£155, but discounted and free spaces are available

📧To sign-up, please contact James at james@strangetown.org.uk

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May 4

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Apr 28

🎬 Agency client and Strange Town Patron @gribbenlewis has recently wrapped on new psychological horror film THE DAMNED, which shot in Iceland earlier this year.

THE DAMNED follows Eva, a 19th-century widow who is tasked with making an impossible choice when a ship sinks off the coast of her isolated fishing post. Eva and her crew must choose to either rescue the shipwrecked or survive the winter with their last remaining food. Facing the consequences of their choice and tormented by their guilt, the inhabitants wrestle with a mounting sense of dread and begin to believe they are all being punished for their choices...

Written by Jamie Hannigan and directed by @thordurpalsson, the film also stars Odessa Young, @theotherjoecole and Siobhan Finneran.

More info here: https://variety.com/2023/film/news/joe-cole-odessa-young-the-damned-1235596349/

📸 credit: David Reiss
@protagonistpictures @elationpicturesltd @wildatlanticpictures @leylineentertainment @variety

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Apr 28

Last Saturday, our Youth Board had their final meeting of the academic year!

The Youth Board has been an excellent addition to the Strange Town team. Made up of young people aged 11-25, they have chaired their own meetings and come up with their own agenda.

Their ideas and enthusiasm have helped direct and guide our goals this year in ways we wouldn't have imagined at the start of this process. We owe them a great deal of thanks for all their hard work!

The Strange Town Youth Board was part of the National Youth Arts Advisory Group programme of work, supported by the National Lottery through Creative Scotland.

After a brilliant pilot project in 22/23, we are very much looking forward to continuing the success of our Youth Board into next year.

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Apr 27

Our third and final Traverse show this June is:

Haribo Wedding by Andy Edwards
Performed by the Thursday 14-18s
Directed by Bradley Cannon

Kids and grown-ups love it so…

Memories of ‘the big day’ pull tightly at the heartstrings of Niamh and her friends. After graduating high school, they plan to recreate the magic. Time for the ultimate Haribo Wedding.

As darkness falls, they gather at St Anthony’s Chapel in Holyrood Park. Back where it began, to celebrate the end … but they get more than they bargained for. If Nostalgia’s angels call, you can’t refuse the invite.

Was the Haribo Wedding ever as cute as it seemed in primary? What really happened that day? Were they the same people back then … and who were the unfortunate souls they left behind?

Award-winning playwright Andy Edwards makes their Strange Town debut with Haribo Wedding. This creeping horror about nostalgia explores how our childhood memories are the ones most susceptible to a collective self-edit.

Charlie Houston will be Audio-Describing both performances, supported by Visually Impaired Creators Scotland.

Dates & Times:
Friday 16th June, 7pm
Saturday 17th June, 8.30pm

Tickets are available at:
https://www.traverse.co.uk/whats-on/event/haribo-wedding-summer-23

Get 25% off for booking two Strange Town shows and 33% off for booking all three!

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Apr 26

Our second Traverse show this June is:

The Kind Complex by Isla Cowan
Performed by the Tuesday 14-18s
Directed by Catherine Ward-Stoddart

Tell me about your childhood.

Welcome to the Kind Complex – the factory of the future, where only the best and brightest teenagers of the tech generation are selected to work.

When Agnes joins the design team, she enters the manufactured world of human-Kin: artificial intelligence humanoids created for hospitality and service jobs humans don’t want. The Kin go through a rigorous development process, equipped with childhood memories to replicate individuality, and provide a better customer experience.

But Agnes isn’t here to make Kin; instead, she’s here for answers, for change and, if necessary, revolution.

Award-winning playwright Isla Cowan returns to Strange Town to conjure up a new world of sanitised tech and sinister ambitions, glimpsing five minutes into the future to ask what truly makes us human.

Dates & Times:
Friday 16th June, 8.30pm
Saturday 17th June, 3pm

Tickets are available at:
https://www.traverse.co.uk/whats-on/event/the-kind-complex-summer-23

Get 25% off for booking two Strange Town shows and 33% off for booking all three!

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Apr 26

We are so thrilled that short film BLACKWOOL featuring Agency client William Alexander (@_william.petrie_) as Jonny will have its world premiere as part of the 2023 @tribeca Film Festival in New York!

The film (written and directed by @eubhaakilade ) tells of a London teenager who, on her first day at a high school in rural Scotland, is targeted for her afro hair by cocksure class bully and must harness her inner power.

The Tribeca Film Festival will take place from 7th-18th June. Huge congratulations to William and the team for this huge achievement! 🤩🙌

#tribecafilmfestival #tribecafilmfestival2023

Full details here: https://deadline.com/2023/04/tribeca-festival-sets-2023-short-film-lineup-complete-list-1235335916/

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