Royal Conservatoire of Scotland ready for another five star Fringe run

Published: 27/07/2018

Following rave reviews and sold-out audiences, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland returns to the capital this August for another five-star run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Scotland’s national conservatoire, consistently recognised as one of the world’s top ten performing arts education institutions, will take a trio of musical theatre productions to the Fringe, staged by students from the Musical Theatre Masters programme. It is a unique experience for students who travel from across the globe to study on the course, which offers an exclusive opportunity to be at the centre of one of the world’s most famous arts festivals.

The Royal Conservatoire’s 2018 Fringe showcase will feature the main stage musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and two world premieres, Legacy: A Mother’s Song and Legacy: The Book of Names, which have been created in partnership with the American Music Theatre Project at Northwestern University in Illinois.

The two institutions joined forces for the first time for last year’s festival with two critically acclaimed and thematically linked productions Atlantic: A Scottish Story and Atlantic: America and the Great War. Completing the 2017 bill was Sondheim’s Into the Woods.

This year’s main stage musical brings the glitz and glamour of the French Riviera to Edinburgh in a comedy crime caper that’s set to be one of the most entertaining afternoons at the Fringe.

Expect outrageous antics, catchy tunes and lots of laughs when Dirty Rotten Scoundrels breezes into town. Based on the 1980s’ movie starring Michael Caine, Steve Martin and Glenne Headly, this upbeat musical is packed with high jinks and hilarity as two scheming swindlers compete to scam an American heiress ”¦ may the best (con)man win.

Professor Jeffrey Sharkey, Principal of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, said: “Being part of the Fringe is a unique experience for our Masters students. Our curriculum is built around performance and there’s no better way to immerse themselves in the industry than with a run at one of the world’s greatest arts festivals. Whether they’re performing or producing, students get to shine in front of an international audience.”

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is directed by Dougie Irvine, Artistic Director of Visible Fictions and a graduate of the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland when it was known as the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama.

Dougie said: “It’s a fun, feelgood, romp of a show ”¦ a great afternoon at the theatre where you get to laugh and enjoy big song and dance numbers and a chance to think about what’s truly important. It’s a hugely entertaining piece with a big heart.”

Dougie performed at the Fringe in his own student days and said the three-week run will provide an intense, and invaluable, insight into professional life: “The students will be juggling Dirty Rotten Scoundrels as well as the two platform shows, flipping back and forth between them. It will be challenging but it gives them the consistency of staging a long run. They’ll get the chance to dig deep technically and learn how to sustain their performances as well as making sure every audience has a really good time.”

Dougie, who has directed Royal Conservatoire productions of The Snow Queen, Little Shop of Horrors and Betty Blue Eyes said he enjoys being a part of students’ creative journeys.

“It’s always wonderful to work with the students and to see their hunger and passion and when they have that ”˜lightbulb moment’ of understanding it’s incredibly gratifying. My own student days feel like a lifetime ago – when I did a BA in Dramatic Studies – but I remember vividly being opened up to new ways of how theatre could work and how artists made it. It just blew my mind.”

Visit the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland’s dedicated Fringe website www.rcsedfest.co.ukfor information on performances including alumni events, reviews, media galleries and ticket details.