Fringe collaboration between leading Scottish playwright Davey Anderson and award-winning American theatre company
Leading Scottish playwright Davey Anderson will transport audiences into an American Alt-Right fantasy world in his new work The Abode, which premieres at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The drama, presented by double Fringe First award winners Pepperdine Scotland, follows the story of Samuel who is young, working class and angry.
Disenchanted with an empty life and dead end jobs he is seduced by the alternative reality of The Abode, a place that offers camaraderie and a sense of purpose for a lost generation. Its credo is that white is right, women are trash and hate gives strength.
Only Samuel’s sister Wendy has sufficient belief in him to risk entering this retro-futurist labyrinth to retrieve him from the grip of its Troll King. Despite being a story of contemporary politics, society and technology, The Abode sits firmly within a tradition stretching back to Orpheus in the Underworld.
A writer, director and musician, Anderson’s past plays include Snuff, Wired, Rupture, Liar and Blackout. His work with the National Theatre of Scotland includes To Begin, Enquirer, Peter Pan, Architecting, Be Near Me, Mixter Maxter, Black Watch and Home.
Anderson said: “I find the rise of the far right and its appeal to growing numbers of young white men deeply fascinating and disturbing. Views and behaviours that were considered extreme, even taboo, only a few years ago are quickly becoming part of mainstream politics and culture.
“I feel like we’re witnessing a new generation get recruited into groups that revel in racism, sexism and homophobia, who take joy in brutality and intimidation, enabled by new technologies and emboldened by certain politicians and media outlets. Those who oppose the far right, have either been slow to respond or ineffective.
“When someone has been won over by the ideology of white supremacy, for example, we find it difficult to win them back and easier to write them off as a lost cause. But if we want to do more than shout down our political opponents, or punch them in the face to make us feel better, how do we engage in a constructive dialogue without ceding ground or giving these hateful ideas the oxygen of publicity?
“The question is becoming more and more urgent.
“In this country we haven’t experienced the level of extremism that is plaguing the US and parts of Europe, but in researching this play I’ve become convinced that it’s on its way and we don’t yet have the critical tools to combat it.”
Pepperdine Scotland is a theatre company belonging to Pepperdine University in the USA. It has an outstanding track record of cultural exchange and collaboration with renowned Scottish theatre professionals to create award-winning productions.
The play’s director is Cathy Thomas-Grant, Professor of Theatre, who has served as director of the university’s endeavours in Scotland since 2000. In 2016 she directed Pepperdine Scotland’s acclaimed Fringe production The Interference (★★★★★ Broadway Baby, ★★★★★ British Theatre Guide, ★★★★ The Scotsman, ★★★★ The List) which won a Scotsman Fringe First and Broadway Baby Bobby Award and was later staged at the Hollywood Fringe.
Thomas-Grant said: “Coming to the Edinburgh Fringe and staging a play by a writer of the calibre of Davey Anderson is a very powerful experience for our students.
“The Abode will build on our tradition of collaborating with leading Scottish playwrights to create new works that address key issues affecting the modern world.”
The students will travel to Scotland in July where they will visit the Highlands learning about the country’s history, languages and culture. They will also spend time working on the play in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
Listings Details
- Venue: Underbelly Big Belly
- Dates: 2-16 August
- Time: 12:30pm (75 mins)
- Ticket prices: Preview £7.00. Concessions £9 and £10, full price £10 and £11
- Underbelly box office: underbellyedinburgh.co.uk/whats-on/the-abode or 0844 545 8252
- Fringe box office: edfringe.com/whats-on/abode
- Advisory: Contains strong language and material that some people may find offensive.
About Davey Anderson
- Anderson is a writer, director and musician whose plays include Snuff, Wired, Rupture, Liar, Blackout, Clutter Keeps Company, Playback, Scavengersand The Static. His work with the National Theatre of Scotland includes To Begin, Enquirer, Peter Pan, Architecting, Be Near Me, Mixter Maxter, Black Watch, Home, and most recently (as writer and Associate Director), Anything That Gives Off Light which was co-produced with the TEAM and premiered at the Edinburgh International Festival 2016.
- Adaptations include Dead Man Dyingby Estebán Navajas Cortés, Thieves and Boy by Hao Jingfang and The War Hasn’t Started Yet by Mikhail Durnenkov. In 2014 he co-created and performed How to Choose with Trigger and was co-writer of The Jean Jacques Rousseau Show, Demons and The Deficit Show for A Play, a Pint and a Pint at Oran Mor, Glasgow.
- His short plays for Theatre Uncut include True or Falseand Police State, a co-production with Theatre Dot, Istanbul.
- He has worked with many theatre companies across Scotland and the UK, including The Arches, Traverse, Tron, Citizens, 7:84, Grey Coast, Ankur, Birds of Paradise, Visible Fictions, ThickSkin, Donmar Warehouse and the National Theatre of Great Britain. Recent international collaborations have taken him to Limerick, Lisbon, São Paulo, Beijing and Montréal.
About Cathy Thomas-Grant
- Thomas-Grant heads the Pepperdine Scotland exchange and has served as director of Pepperdine’s endeavors in Scotland since 2000.
- Edinburgh Festival Fringe directing credits include Happiness/The Water Engine by David Mamet (2002), Eve Ensler’s Necessary Targets (2006) Robert Shenkkan’s The Kentucky Cycle (2008), Karen Sunde’s The Fastest Woman Alive and Naomi Iizuka’s Language of Angels (2010), Why Do You Stand There In The Rain? (2012 Scotsman Fringe First Award winner), Forget Fire (2014), The Interference (2016 Scotsman Fringe First and Broadway Baby Bobby Award Winner) and Musical Direction for The Grapes of Wrath (2004).
About Pepperdine Scotland and Pepperdine University
- Pepperdine Scotland is the award-winning cultural and artistic exchange between Pepperdine University’s Department of Theatre and leading members of the Scottish Theatre Community.
- In 2016 Pepperdine Scotland presented The Interference, by Scottish playwright Linda Radley, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which later went on to be staged at the Hollywood Fringe.
- In 2012 Pepperdine Scotland’s inaugural project was a collaboration with playwright Peter Arnott and actor/musician John Kielty entitled Why Do You Stand There In The Rain? Which also won a Fringe First.
- Pepperdine has been performing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe since 1985 and is proud to have expanded its presence in Scotland through the Pepperdine Scotland exchange.
- Pepperdine is a Christian university committed to the highest standards of academic excellence, where students are strengthened for lives of purpose, service, and leadership. To learn more about Pepperdine’s Department of Theatre or about the University in general please visit pepperdine.edu
- See pepperdinedrama.com
For media information contact Matthew Shelley at [email protected].