Praise for Sheila Atim in Girl from the North Country at The Old Vic
“Sheila Atim makes the skin shiver” ★★★★★The Telegraph
“a name-making role for Sheila Atim” ★★★★★The Times
“Atim…is tremendous… She has her own time. And the time is now” The Guardian
Olivier award-winning actor Sheila Atim (The Old Vic’s Girl From The North Country) will bring her first-ever written play Anguis to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from 31st July to 26th August at 3:00pm at the Gilded Balloon, Dining Room.
“And they said that the walls had the stone of a heartbreak
And the soles of my shoes would be torn and it would take
All the hands of the world to bind them and hold them”
Written by Sheila and directed by Lucy Jane Atkinson (Vault Festival and Trafalgar Studios A Hundred Words For Snow), Anguis is set in a broadcast recording studio where an interview exploring alternatives to popular truth takes place between two women, the great pharaoh Cleopatra and contemporary virologist, Kate. The conversation unpacks the common myth of Cleopatra’s “death by asp”, and as they explore Cleo’s story, the reality of Kate’s own past is also called into question.
Anguis stars Janet Kumah (Edinburgh Royal Lyceum’s The Winter’s Tale; National Theatre of Scotland’s Rites) as Kate, Paksie Vernon (The National Theatre’s Network and Angels in America) as Cleo and Peter Losasso (Winner of The Spotlight Prize 2016) as David.
Told through a blend of theatre and original music, the play explores the complexities of womanhood and our shared responsibility to seek out the truth. Produced by Avalon and BBC Arts.
ENDS
For more information and press tickets, please contact: Lily Marriott at lmarriott@avalonuk.com or edinburghpress@avalonuk.com / 0207 598 7222
EDINBURGH FRINGE LISTINGS INFORMATION
Shelia Atim – Anguis
Venue: Gilded Balloon, Dining Room
Date & Time: 31st July to 26th August at 3:00pm (excluding 12th)
Duration: 60 mins
Web: www.gildedballoon.co.uk
About BBC Arts
The BBC is the biggest creator of arts content and is Britain’s creative partner – a stage for the nation to experience the very best arts; when they want, how they want.
- The nation’s stage: access to arts and culture programming for all through the licence fee – we create and showcase more arts and culture than any other broadcaster
- An Innovator: constantly finding new ways to bring the best quality culture to audiences; working with the arts sector as partner and acting as a hot house for new talent
- Britain’s creative partner: a bold force in the UK creative sector as creator and commissioner, also a platform for new talent
- An investor in quality: we only present the highest quality arts and culture programming, crafted by skilled production teams and shared with all audiences
- Bringing the nation together: like no other we create and amplify moments in arts and culture, cutting through with a broad audience
About Avalon
Avalon is a multi-award winning talent management, live promotion and television production group with offices in the UK and the USA.
The talent management arm has discovered and represents many artists which are household names, both in the UK, the USA, and around the world.
Through Avalon Promotions the group produced Newman and Baddiel: Live at Wembley, the UK’s first arena comedy show; Jerry Springer: The Opera, the first West End show to win all four UK Best New Musical awards; and has continued to produce live shows globally, as well as promoting more winners and nominees of the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Award than any other company.
In 2017 Avalon was named the top true independent television production company in the UK and has produced numerous ground-breaking television shows including: Emmy and Peabody award winner Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO), multi-award winning and Emmy-nominated Catastrophe (Channel 4/Amazon Prime), RTS and Rose d’Or winning Not Going Out (BBC1’s longest running sitcom currently on air), BAFTA and RTS-nominated Taskmaster (DAVE), multi-BAFTA award winning TV Burp (ITV1), Russell Howard’s Good News (BBC2), Fantasy Football League (BBC/ITV) and Workaholics (Comedy Central USA).
Avalon Television, Liberty Bell Productions, Flame Television and Topical Television form the television arm of the company and other shows currently in production include: The Button (BBC One), Not Going Out (BBC One) Taskmaster USA (Comedy Central), Man Down (C4), The Chris Ramsey Show (Comedy Central), Russell Howard & Mum: Road Trip (Comedy Central), Unspun with Matt Forde (Dave) and Stand Up Central with Chris Ramsey (Comedy Central); whilst the catalogue is sold worldwide by Avalon Distribution.
For Avalon news visit: www.avalonuk.com/press, @Avalon_Press and @Avalon_Theatre
