Beth has written 5 plays for Strange Town Youth Theatre and one short for the Young Company. Oxford University Press has published three of her short plays and drama lessons for their English language resource materials. As an actress she recently helped develop and perform a show with Puppet Animation Scotland and took it to France. Beth has performed with Strange Town Young Company 3 times in the Edinburgh Fringe to rave reviews, as well as in touring productions across Scotland. She performs street theatre internationally, helps devise and perform interactive, site specific theatre at festivals and dabbles with spoken word. She likes words.
0131 629 0292
info@strangetown.org.uk
Meet more of the Team
Sophia Irvine-Fortescue
Sophia is the Workshop Assistant for the Friday 5-7s Intro to Drama and Friday 8-12s Theatre Skills classes.
James Beagon
Youth Theatre Manager
James is a director, playwright and creative learning facilitator who has lived and worked in Edinburgh for over a decade.
He has worked with Strange Town since 2015 and has written and directed a number of Strange Town productions including Stolen Futures (Traverse Theatre, June 2019) Beneath the Surface (Traverse Theatre, June 2022), Heart of the Storm & Something Special (Scottish Storytelling Centre, Dec 2021), Over the Waves (Traverse Theatre, June 2023) and My Kind of Weird (Traverse Theatre, June 2024). In addition to his role as Youth Theatre Manager, he leads the Tuesday 8-25s and Wednesday 11-14s youth theatre groups.
Previous credits with his own group Aulos Productions include the award-winning Fringe productions First Class (2014) and Gobland for the Goblins (2017) and the award-nominated Women of the Mourning Fields (2015) and Antigone na hEireann (2018).
James has worked extensively as a freelance drama practitioner with companies including East Lothian Youth Theatre, Lyceum Youth Theatre, Youth Theatre Arts Scotland, Theatre Sans Accents and Acting Out Drama School.
He holds an MFA in Directing from Edinburgh Napier and an M.A. (Hons) in Ancient and Medieval History from Edinburgh University and has run workshops and guest-lectured at both institutions.
Pollyanna Esse
Pollyanna has worked with Strange Town for 2 years assisting various workshops. She graduated from Edinburgh University in 2022 with a Fine Art degree and is now training to be an Art Physiotherapist.
She has worked in theatre throughout her life and found her love for directing and producing in her final year of her undergraduate degree. In 2022, she wrote and directed her own Fringe show, going on to work for a New York based Theatre company. There she produced a programme for young and emerging playwrights as well as taking their show to Fringe in 2023. Some of the playwrights she mentored have now been commission to write for multiple theatres in New York. She has always had a love for arts education and giving people the space and opportunity to express themselves.
She has worked for Edinburgh International Festival for the past 2 years as their Digital Content Officer. So she has an strong organisation head too as well as being a creative at heart!
She recently set up Ophelia Hare Arts, where she aims to develop creative experiences that challenge the barriers of pay for early career creatives. She believes that no matter who you are, you should have access to the arts and experience the freedom of expression.
Daniel Orejon
Daniel Orejon is a theatremaker and performer. He has been commissioned by the Edinburgh Multilingual Stories Festival and collaborated with Scottish Youth Theatre and the Edinburgh International Science Festival. He is the artistic director of the Crested Fools, with whom he has created award-nominated show The Rotting Hart. He specialises in projects that focus on multiculturalism, queerness and mental health, with a special fondness for all things Hispanic.
Jenny Duncan
Jenny is a recent graduate from Edinburgh College. She loves performing and entertaining people and has a particular love for interactive theatre, feminist theatre and anything to do with Jodie Comer. She loves trying new things and taking herself out of her comfort zone.
Cara Watson
Cara Watson is a Scottish actor and emerging playwright. She holds a 1st (BA) Hons in Acting and has recently completed an MSc in Playwriting at The University of Edinburgh.
Recently, Cara was a co-writer and performer in a series of biopic films about the Scottish Suffragettes, which is now exhibited in Perth Museum.
She is also co-founder of New Writing collective Untie My Tongue Theatre. With her experience and passion within both theatre and filmmaking in Scotland, Cara is very excited to be working with Strange Town.
