Preview: Talk Show – Cockpit

Talk Show is an exciting new addition to The Lyceum programme, in which artists, authors, and thinkers are invited to come and watch a performance before taking to the stage themselves to share their response to the themes of the play with the audience.

Expect ideas, insight and stimulation through short talks, song, music, poetry and conversation – beginning with the special guests attending Bridget Boland’s Cockpit, directed by Wils Wilson, on Saturday 28 October at 5pm.

Bridget Boland’s Cockpit is set in the immediate aftermath of the Second World War, and was written only a few years later in 1948, when much of Europe still lay in ruins. The great hope the age was that the nations of Europe, whether victors or vanquished, could work together in the pursuit of lasting peace.

In this Talk Show, Lyceum Theatre Artistic Director David Greig ask our guests about the hopes they hold today for the Europe of tomorrow.

Accompanying David Greig will be special guests Dan Rebellato, Richard Demarco, and Christine Bovill, discussing the theme of Europe on Cockpit’s set, immediately after the matinee performance on Saturday 28 October.

Playwright, teacher, and academic, Dan Reballato initially encouraged David Greig to read and programme Cockpit. His plays include Chekhov in Hell (Plymouth Drum), Static (Suspect Culture & Graeae), Here’s What I Did With My Body One Day (Lightwork), Mile End (Analogue), Beachy Head (Analogue), Theatremorphosis (Suspect Culture & CCA), Outright Terror Bold and Brilliant (National Youth Theatre & Soho), and A Modest Adjustment (National Theatre).

Professor of Contemporary Theatre at Royal Holloway, an Associate Editor of Contemporary Theatre Review and New Theatre Quarterly, and co-editor of the Theatre & series for Palgrave Macmillan, Dan has further written books including 1956 and All That, Theatre & Globalization, Contemporary European Theatre Directors, and Decades of British Playwriting: 2000 – 2009. His book The Suspect Culture Book, co-written with Graham Eatough, explored the work of the Suspect Culture theatre company, co-founded by David Greig.

Richard Demarco is a celebrated artist and promoter of the visual and performing arts. He has been one of Scotland’s most influential advocates for contemporary art through his work at the Richard Demarco Gallery and the Demarco European Art Foundation, as well as his professorship at Kingston University in London.

His contributions to contemporary art internationally have been recognised on numerous occasions, receiving the Polish Gold Order of Merit, the Cavaliere della Republica d’Italia, the Chevalier des Arts et Lettres de France, and the Order of the British Empire.

Co-founder of the Traverse Theatre in 1963, Richard later established what became known as the Richard Demarco Gallery, promoting cross-cultural links, both in terms of presenting artists, such as Marina Abramovic, within Scotland, and in establishing outgoing connections for Scottish artists across Europe. He has further been extensively involved with the Edinburgh International Festival and Fringe Festival since their inceptions.

Christine Bovill is a renowned songwriter and jazz chanteuse. A previous winner of the Glasgow Festival of Songwriting, her debut album, Derby Street, was selected as BBC Radio Scotland’s Album of the Week. Her acclaimed sell-out show, Christine Bovill’s Piaf, has been performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for the last five years, and subsequently toured internationally. Christine recently completed her second album, A Roots Affair, which combines vintage pop, chanson and Americana, and last year she launched her new show, Christine Bovill’s Paris, at the Edinburgh Fringe, garnering rave reviews.

This project is supported by James and Morag Anderson.

Talk Show is an entirely free initiative, though donations are gratefully received.

Click here to book tickets for Talk Show - Cockpit
Royal Lyceum Theatre
Following 2pm Matinee Performance of Cockpit
Saturday 28th October, 5pm-6pm