The Stage

Edinburgh Festival City Theatres Trust to stage first in-house show

Published Friday 26 June 2009 at 10:35 by Thom Dibdin

Edinburgh’s Festival City Theatres Trust is to create its first ever completely in-house production this winter, with the staging of The Corstorphine Road Nativity by Tim Firth, and directed by Joanna Read, at the Festival Theatre.

This is the first in-house production from the trust since it was created by the merger of the Edinburgh’s Festival and King’s theatres in July 1998. It has increasingly become involved in consortia productions in recent years and, notably, this year’s co-production of Jolson & Co - The Musical with the Churchill Bromley.

John Stalker, the trust’s chief executive told The Stage: “Corstorphine Road Nativity follows on from Jolson really, we want to get directly involved in productions to make sure we can reflect local interests with work that we think will be of particular appeal to our audience.”

He said that the trust has plans for two or three in-house or co-pruductions a year in the future, including a major drama for the Scottish Theatres Consortium in 2010. He stressed, however, that there are no plans to become a full-scale producing theatre.

Stalker added that the increase of work originating with theatres that are primarily seen as receiving houses is a sign of the times.

He said: “As some producers have pulled back on some of the range of work they are putting out - either because of the economic recession or because of changes in the way they work - I have experienced a reduction in the choice available. It is sometimes necessary to act either alone or with other close colleagues to ensure that there is a flow of work: of original and new ideas or work that might not have be seen in this city before.”

The Corstorphine Road Nativity, Festival Theatre, Edinburgh, December 3 to 19.