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At C ARTS, a dynamic slate of female solo artists explore complex themes in the search for hope and joy at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe. Returning live this year to the Fringe, C ARTS has curated a wide-ranging collection of award-winning work, including a diverse slate of female solo performers, many making their Fringe debuts.
A powerful line-up of women from across the globe offer a wide range of performances. In genres from musical/cabaret, comedic storytelling, solo theatre, clowning, and puppetry, each artist takes a different approach to addressing personal and societal challenges, with the common thread of searching for levity, even in the darkest of human moments.
C ARTS’ venue C cubed, on the Lawnmarket (Royal Mile) is home to many of the solo performances. From Los Angeles-based Unmuted Participants solo collective, Elise Robertson’s Imagining Rachel uses puppets and found objects to explore the life and work of environmentalist Rachel Carson, searching for inspiration in facing today’s climate emergency. In Irish performer Aoife Fagan’s Glimmer of a Rainbow, a vintage jewellery shop is the backdrop for an examination of society’s fixation with image and material things. From Brighton, UK-based performer Anjali Singh comes A Matter of Time. Part cabaret, part history lesson, her show explores the ways we measure and experience time in an attempt to understand why time often feels so oppressive. From Norfolk, UK artist Beverley Bishop’s Finding Magic incorporates magic into her story about surviving her son’s tragic death, offering hope to those suffering loss.
C ARTS’ venue C aquila, on Johnston Terrace/Royal Mile, hosts playwright Eloise Coopersmith (California)’s My (Unauthorized) Hallmark Movie Musical is a creative collaboration of theatre and cinema. Addicted to rom-coms, our heroine, with the help of cliché singing and dancing film characters, finds her voice. C ARTS’ newest venues add the mix of voices. At C piccolo, on Cockburn Street, Verona Verbakel (Belgium) brings light to patriarchal stereotypes, dated gender role-patterns, and the loneliness of dating. At C place, on York Place, Diana Varco’s Shattered, is a satirical, searing and moving piece of personal storytelling about dating and relationships.
The award-winning C ARTS digital programme, launched at Edinburgh Fringe 2021 where it won the Infallibles Awards for Best Venue and Best Show, and winner of the LiveWire Innovation and Excellence Award for Digital Arts Programme of the Year, 2022,features even more female solo artists. Terra Taylor Knudson premieres Willy’s Lil Virgin Queen, about finding strength and a voice as a woman through the words of William Shakespeare. Also making their debuts digitally at this year’s Fringe from the Unmuted Participants collective are artistic director Ann Noble (Little Parts Hunts a Baby-Daddy), Ann Loud (Hot Dog Play), Kelsey Siepser (Antennae), Jo Dellapina (Boy Crazy Psycho Slut), and Cecelia Settem (I’m Just Saying).
C ARTS aims to bring the best independent theatre, dance, music, live performance, film, visual and interdisciplinary arts to audiences and followers of culture worldwide, and to enable creative companies and artists to connect across the globe for sustainable and meaningful exchange of ideas and artistic collaboration. For this reason, C ARTS is proud to host this rich collection of female voices that widen and deepen our understanding of the human experience.
Part history lesson, part cabaret, part heart-rending personal quest, this theatrical, musical show attempts to come to terms with a world in which the clock is always ticking.
Instagram: www.instagram.com/anjaliksingh/
C ARTS | C venues | C cubed 3-28 August (not 16) 17:50 (1 hr) Theatre (Solo show, Cabaret) (recommended for ages 12 +) Language: Performed in English
Bookings: https://res.cthearts.com/event/34:3674
When a gender nonconforming praying mantis named E appears in Kelsey’s study, she is forced to take a twisty trip down memory lane into a more uncomfortable realm. Consequently, she explores the binaries she has chosen to occupy and considers leaping past her old behaviours into the possibilities of the unknown.
C ARTS | C venues | C digital on-demand (40min) Theatre (Solo show, Contemporary, New writing, Multimedia, Theatre, Storytelling) (recommended for ages 16+) Language: Performed in English
Digital bookings: https://res.cthearts.com/event/34:3475
Jo has been called a lot of things during her life – but which ones are true? And who gets to decide that?
C ARTS | C venues | C digital on-demand (1hr05) Theatre (Solo show, Contemporary, New writing, Multimedia, Theatre, Storytelling) (recommended for ages 16+) Language: Performed in English
Digital bookings: https://res.cthearts.com/event/34:3477
A remarkably uplifting true story of personal survival and triumph. Following her son’s death Bev thought she’d lost her magic forever. Magic and captivating storytelling help demonstrate how she continues to survive her grief and find new hope.
Website: www.beverleybishop.com/finding-magic
C ARTS | C venues | C cubed 10-13 August 14.00 (1 hr) Theatre ( solo show, Universal, New writing, Theatre, True-life, Storytelling( (recommended for ages 15 +) Language: Performed in English
Live bookings: res.cthearts.com/event/34:3666
Digital bookings: res.CtheArts.com/event/34:3414
Set against the backdrop of a vintage jewellers, Orla struggles with a malicious boss and her own internal dilemmas in this thought provoking exploration of what beauty is and what society deems valuable.
C ARTS | C venues | C cubed main space 19, 21, 23, 25 August 15:10 and C ARTS | C venues | C digital on-demand (1hr06) Theatre (Solo show, Contemporary, New writing, Multimedia, Theatre, Storytelling) (recommended for ages 16+) Language: Performed in English
Live bookings: https://res.cthearts.com/event/34:3710
Digital bookings: https://res.cthearts.com/event/34:3479
Hot Dog Play is a candid examination of what it means to live in a post-Dumpling world. Part love letter, part hate mail, this short confessional wrestles with the difficulties of accepting oneself and living life bravely.
C ARTS | C venues | C digital on-demand (1hr05) Theatre (Solo show, Contemporary, New writing, Multimedia, Theatre, Storytelling) (recommended for ages 12+) Language: Performed in English
Digital bookings: https://res.cthearts.com/event/34:3480
Explore Silent Spring author Rachel Carson’s nature in this wildly inventive solo show. Fellow Pittsburgher Elise Robertson uses puppets and stagecraft to unravel her own messy coming-of-age alongside Rachel’s in this poignant, comedic journey into environmental activism.
C ARTS | C venues | C cubed main space 20, 22, 24, 26 August 15:05 and C digital on-demand (1hr15) Theatre (Solo show, Contemporary, New writing, Multimedia, Theatre, Storytelling) (recommended for ages 12+) Language: Performed in English
Live bookings: res.cthearts.com/event/34:3698
Digital bookings: res.cthearts.com/event/34:3400
What do you do when you don’t know whether to laugh or cry? Take a journey with Cecelia as she works through adulting, discovering her parents are just humans as she wonders how to be an adequate parent herself.
C ARTS | C venues | C digital on-demand (44min) Theatre (Solo show, Contemporary, New writing, Multimedia, Theatre, Storytelling) (recommended for ages 16+) Language: Performed in English
Digital bookings: https://res.cthearts.com/event/34:3481
An always-pregnant, over-intellectual clown decides it’s time to interview a series of potential Baby-Daddies for her Maybe Baby aka “the baby that might never come”. Part confessional, part Bachelorette wannabe, part puppet show, the selection process swings from absurdly funny to brutally honest as the identity of the real Baby-Daddy dares to come into view.
C ARTS | C venues | C digital on-demand (1hr12) Theatre (Solo show, Contemporary, New writing, Multimedia, Theatre, Storytelling) (recommended for ages 16+) Language: Performed in English
Digital bookings: https://res.cthearts.com/event/34:3483
Hallmark meets Broadway: a match made in heaven! Technical wizardry abounds in an innovative combination of live theatre and cinema. A Writer, with the help of cliché Rom-Com characters, realizes a lifelong dream. Enjoy utterly delightful ditties in this frivolous, fractured and fun musical where love always wins!
Website: www.lovealwayswinsmusical.com
C ARTS | C venues | C aquila 3-21 August 2022 (not 15) at 14:00 (1hr30) Musicals and Opera (Multimedia, Performance art, Contemporary, Musical Theatre, Storytelling) (recommended for ages 12+) Language: Performed in English
Live bookings: https://res.cthearts.com/event/34:3678
A fast-paced, comedic and heartbreakingly raw solo show – about dating, dysfunction, and sexual devastation, told through the voices of 35 characters.
Website: www.dianavarco.com
C ARTS | C venues | C place 25-28 August at 16:10; C ARTS | C venues | C digital on-demand (1hr00) Theatre (Solo show, Satire, Drama, Theatre, True-life, Storytelling) (recommended for ages 16+) Language: Performed in English
Live bookings: https://res.cthearts.com/event/34:3712
Digital bookings: https://res.cthearts.com/event/34:3452
A madcap comedy about discovering love, overcoming tragedy, and finding your voice through the words of Shakespeare. Award-winning actress and playwright Terra Taylor Knudson brings enormous wit, heart, stamina, and frankness to the stage.
Website: www.terrataylorknudson.com
C ARTS | C venues | C digital on-demand (1hr15) Theatre (True-life, Satire) (recommended for ages 12+) Language: Performed in English
Digital Bookings: res.cthearts.com/event/34:3716
A shameless ode to puppy love in all its mundane, absurdist glory, featuring toads, sperm banks and carrots. A tragicomic true-life theatre monologue examining patriarchal stereotypes, dangerous gender role-patterns, and the loneliness of dating.
Website: www.veronaverbakel.com/well-behaved-women-seldom-make-history.html
C ARTS | C venues | C piccolo 5-28 Aug at 18:55 (11-12 Aug at 22:35) (0hr55) Theatre (Comedy, Cabaret, Solo show, Contemporary, True-life) (recommended for ages 16+) Language: Performed in English
Live bookings: https://res.CtheArts.com/event/34:3689
Bookings for all C ARTS shows at: www.CtheArts.com
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Michelle is a musician and composer from the UK. She has performed across the UK and Europe and is passionate about arts education and opportunities for women and girls.
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