Runshaw College’s in-house theatre company MuchMuchMore Theatre returned to the Edinburgh Fringe this month with its latest production for the world-renowned festival.
As always, a show from this year’s catalogue was adapted to fit into one of the festival’s many pop-up venues and reduced to slot into the jam-packed schedules that the venues run throughout August.
This time it was the adaptation of the classic text, Lord of the Flies, which had already received the full Runshaw treatment in January in the Amanda Roocroft Theatre, and was reduced and compacted into a tight, well-rehearsed 55-minute version of the tale of the schoolchildren fighting to survive on a desert island.
A mix of first and second year Vocational & A Level students made up the cast of 17 who spent valuable time before and after each performance, walking the city streets with flyers, engaging with festival-goers in friendly and characterful ways to drum up interest and hopefully persuade them to come along in the afternoon to see them perform.
Their efforts on and off the stage were rewarded with average attendances over 50% of the capacity of the venue and close to 300 people seeing the show over its week-long run – an outstanding achievement given the huge number of shows at the Fringe, all fighting for audiences. It also received a five star review, “The young players in this production made the increasing sense of menace become real. Their intensity of acting also made the sheer terror become real. The choreography using just a few boxes and planks was flawless”.
On top of the experience of performing in a professional setting, the students also got a taste of life beyond Runshaw, with self-catering accommodation being provided at Queen Margaret University, a short train ride out at Musselburgh. Many of the cast are now preparing to start their training at prestigious dance and drama academies across the country in the coming weeks, whilst a handful will return to Runshaw to continue their training on the Professional Performance Programme and take part in many of the shows over the next year.
