Edinburgh Classic!

Another Edinburgh Fringe production with some Brontë content:

CLASSIC!

Produced by Hope Mill Theatre and HER Productions.

Written by Lindsay Williams & Peter Kerry

Directed by Joyce Branagh

Venue 33,  Pleasance Courtyard - Pleasance One

14:40  Aug 3-7, 9-14, 16-21, 23-29

CLASSIC! is a 60 minute romp through tons of classic novels – that you’ve never had the time to read – a silent movie, a pantomime, a melodrama, an American film noir and featuring comic songs – this hat-swapping, lightning speed show is fun for everyone. 

CLASSIC! is classic novels on stage; a tonic for those who feel classic literature is… just a bit much.

Voice and The Edinburgh Reporter has some more information:

Manchester’s Award-winning Hope Mill Theatre is set to makes its Fringe debut with Classic! a new comic play, that races through a multitude of classic novels in 60 minutes. At lightning speed and utilising multiple costume changes, Classic! races you from Black Beauty to Wuthering Heights via Moby Dick and many, many more …

Classic! has been written by Coronation St and Emmerdale writers Lindsay Williams and Peter Kerry and is directed by actor and director Joyce Branagh (recently seen in Oscar winning film Belfast directed by her brother Kenneth).

A cast of 6 (Louis Blair, Althea Burey, Amy Drake, Amy Gavin, Robin Simpson and Gareth Tempest) will romp through all those classic novels you never had time to read at Pleasance One from 3-28 August.

The play is set around a group of actors coming together to break a record for the most novels ever shared on stage. In doing that, they share the stories in extremely unexpected ways: Moby Dick becomes a sea shanty, Jane Eyre is a silent movie, Oliver Twist is a film noir and Black Beauty a pantomime… and that’s just scratching the surface! (Simon Franklin)

EDIT: The Stage publishes a review:

In truth, much of the mayhem here is a hectic fusion of pantomime and cod-improvisational comedy. There’s plenty of audience participation, as bonnets are plonked unceremoniously on unsuspecting heads to pad out scenes for Wuthering Heights and Little Women. It’s a simple idea, given legs by some genuinely funny performances that will undoubtedly appeal to average Edinburgh Fringe audiences in search of belly laughs. (Paul Vale)