#and therefore appeal to the current era of 12-16 year olds that are still into disney moives

[starslung]

bro dcoms are like princess movies for tweens/teenagers send tweet

[neverreallythoughtaboutthefuture]

I have a (slightly) bad feeling about this...

Alright, after watching the teaser and the first trailer for “Pacific Rim: Uprising”, I have to admit that I’m still very confused regarding how I feel about the upcoming sequel…  Or how I’m “supposed to feel” regarding its current marketing strategy... First, I know that, within 10 years, there probably would have been some significant technological advances in the world since the war, and it’s likely normal that the new Jaegers would look the way they do – i.e. all shiny, sleek and new, and more or less built from the same overall platform. Still, those Jaegers (and the pilots inside) are moving so fluidly and effortlessly that it’s difficult for me to believe that they are huge, heavy pieces of complex machinery piloted by two tiny human beings. Some of the buildings surrounding the Jaegers also look a bit like what you’d expect to see in a videogame…  I’m not sure if that’s because they wanted to give the new post-war world a more futuristic look, or because they spent a little less time on animation and special effects than they did with the original movie (especially that scene here from 1:50 to 2:15 approx.).

 And you can pilot a Jaeger with just some kind of backpack suit and gloves now?  Once again, alright, I know, new technology, but still!

(Okay, I get that this character is a hacker (I think), and probably a genius, and she seems to have more or less built that Jaeger herself (or with some help) from scrap parts or something, because it appears to be much smaller and have a more rugged look with her feet stuck in some types of boots (as opposed to newer models), etc.  But even that idea seems the tiniest bit too much for me...).

I did expect the Jaegers themselves to be different, and able to do some new stuff (like yes, flying, and perhaps joining together to create a larger robot, etc.), but I think I was still expecting the pilots themselves to require to be a little more solidly strapped in, and still move like their bodies are the size of a skyscraper! Here, they just seem to be able to jump around in the Conn-pod and do acrobatics, and their Jaegers just… copy them?  I dunno…  Perhaps it will make more sense and look better in the actual movie when we get to see more than just quick bits and pieces of some scattered scenes, but I’m having a slightly hard time understanding how you can keep your balance in there doing a round kick with seemingly nothing attached to your feet or even the rest of your body!

Where’s the Conn-pod situated?  In the chest?  The head?  If you’re round kicking and the Jaeger is round kicking with you as well... Assuming you’re in the head of the robot, wouldn’t the platform you’re standing on be sharply shoved to the side while you’re trying to perform that move?

There was already a pretty huge level of suspension of disbelief required in “Pacific Rim” when it came to how well the pilots were able to sustain being thrown around in such large robots…  All you have to do is watch the scene in the beginning where Gipsy Danger collapses on the beach, and imagine that there’s a tiny human being in that head when it hits the ground from such height to know what I mean. Actually, the laws of physics didn’t quite seem to apply to the first movie in general, but the way it was filmed still made it feel so tangible that I was perfectly fine with stopping asking questions, and just going with it! Here, I’m not so sure… Unless they’ve somehow completely altered the gravity inside the Conn-pods?  Otherwise how are you two jumping like this with the lashes and staying suspended mid-jump in the air?  What’s going on?  How are you connected to the Jaeger’s body and sharing a common “nervous system” with it?

Or perhaps they are held in place by some sort of rig in their backs that is also allowing them to pivot? I’m trying to be open to these changes, I really am...  But one of the things I really loved about Guillermo Del Toro’s approach was how he was able to make fantasy look like it was firmly grounded in reality by giving us a solid sense of size and scale, and the illusion that it took a great amount of both physical and inner strength to pilot a Jaeger. Here, it somehow looks like you could easily put the two pilots in a Conn-pod that’s situated outside of the Jaeger to control it remotely, and it would basically do the same thing. I’d have an easier time believing that they’re inside their Jaeger if the Conn-pod was pivoting with them, at the very least...  Perhaps that’s what’s not visually working for me. From the looks of it, the floor of the Conn-pod is still perfectly aligned with the ground, and the ceiling with the sky....  But isn’t the big robot doing the same move as the pilots?  So why is the Conn-pod still perfectly leveled if it’s inside a Jaeger that no longer is? Does that mean the the Conn-pod itself is pivoting inside the Jaeger to compensate for the Jaeger’s movements at all times; therefore ensuring that the two pilots are in an environment where the floor they are standing on remains perfectly leveled, no matter what the Jaeger surrounding them does? Hopefully, the movie will expand more on this... Also, how old are those pilots? I feel like I’m going to be watching “Ender’s Game” meet “Pacific Rim”. Then again, with the previous generation of pilots now either dead, retired, or I suppose assuming positions of command, like Mako Mori, it makes sense that the new recruits could be pretty young… Chuck Hansen did start piloting a Jaeger when he was 16, so it seems that the PPDC does accept candidates that are younger than 17. I guess that, with pilots in the first movie aged 21 to 44, and the relationships between them being diverse (ex: father and son), I just didn’t expect this to be an all teenagers / very young adults (I doubt any of them are older than 25) team of pilots this time around. Actually, everything from the younger main cast to the music choice in the trailer (and the teaser) seems to be geared towards attracting a younger audience.  I’m not sure if that’s because they believe that most people who fell in love with the first movie were teenagers, or because they are hoping to make “Pacific Rim” more appealing to them by having new pilots that are easier for kids to relate to. Even the fact that the only movie novelization I’ve seen so far is called “Pacific Rim Uprising: The Junior Novel”, with the products details listed on Amazon as:

Age Range: 8 - 12 years

Grade Level: 3 - 7

Paperback: 160 pages

Publisher: Insight Kids (March 27, 2018)

Language: English

has me greatly concerned that the targeted audience of the sequel is indeed going pre-teens to teenagers, with very little thought given to more mature audiences. It also makes me question if they are going to be willing to take as many risks as they did in the first by sacrificing so many pilots to the war this time around... I mean yes, “Pacific Rim” was an homage to anime and kaiju-era movies...  But it was a very dark and gritty homage with the perfect balance between drama, humor, tragedy and hope...  People call it “silly” and a movie about “big robots punching monsters in the face!”, but you are given a 15 minutes opening that features two tightly bonded young pilot brothers that deeply kicks you in the guts! Then, the first time you see Cherno Alpha, Crimson Typhoon, and Striker Eureka all get together on a mission out there, two of those teams gets dispatched right away! I remember sitting in the theater looking at the screen in shock and disbelief while asking my friend “Wait.  Did that just happen?  Did they just kill those 2 teams after having barely introduced them - just like that?” And my friend, equally stunned, just going “Yes.  Yes they did.” That’s when shit for me got 100% real for me, and I knew that the movie wouldn’t fuck around.  Yancy had just been the beginning, and no one in this universe was safe.  The stakes got crazy high! So, I can’t believe I’m saying this, but as much as part of me hated the “there are no heroes in a world where heroes can’t die” mentally, it still profoundly resonated with me and gave the movie some weight. Because back then, I happened to be in a situation where I was very sick and disabled, and had to learn a very important lesson in order to be able to cope with and accept my condition - life isn’t fair, anyone can fall.  Bad things happen to good people, and sometimes nothing can be done about it no matter how hard you try to prevent it. (For everything else, there is fanfiction!  Lol!  And thank the PTB for that!) But yes, it broke my heart into a thousand tiny pieces to watch Chuck Hansen die before he was ever given a chance to finally figure out who he was, among others...  But all those things also had a profound psychological and emotional impact, and it did add to that sense of realism in an otherwise very unrealistic universe and movie. Guillermo Del Toro made me believe in the unbelievable.  He made me forget that it was a movie about giant robots punching giant monsters in the face, and experience that movie first and foremost through my heart.  I am also heavily crediting Travis Beacham for the screenplay, the actors for having brought those characters to life, and everyone else that took such great care in building that universe (set designs, costumes, etc.)... But I think that GDT is hugely responsible for giving the movie its soul in the way he directed the actors, and seemingly got involved in every little detail of the movie’s production, including the 3D conversion. This was a work of pure love, and it showed. And even today, the movie is still helping me cope with a certain level of survivor’s guilt, given that I now have access to proper medical cares and treatments; including monthly injections that have gotten rid of about 70% of my symptoms, and allowed me to start living again. .  Meanwhile, I still have friends, that are as ill as I was a year and a half ago, that are still looking for a diagnosis, are left without resources, or then again, share the same diagnosis but don’t respond well to the same treatment I’m taking, etc. It wasn’t fair that I was unable to leave my room most of the time for 7 years, and depended on others to prepare my meals and care for me...  And yet, it’s no more fair that I’m getting better now, when so many of those that are in similar situation aren’t getting better, or can’t... Anyone can fall...  Meaning all I can do is continue to care about those people, and help where I can.  Otherwise, I have to accept that sometimes, things are the way they are.  Life is not about what you deserve, or being fairly rewarded for your efforts; but simply about your ability to live with and take advantage of the resource you do have, while ideally finding ways to share those resources with others, when and if you can. Raleigh’s journey in “Pacific Rim”, to me, heavily reflected that.  Actually, pretty much every character shared a similar journey where they had to learn to trust in others, and let go of the things beyond control. Beyond the Jaegers and the Kaiju themselves, one of the key elements of “Pacific Rim” was that it was, in Del Toro’s words, a movie about “the world saving the world”: “I just wanted to show small stories of people trying to come together to survive, because I didn’t want to make a war movie.  I wanted to make an adventure movie about people who come from all over the world.  We have an African American leader, we have a Japanese girl, we have Korean-Chinese guy, we have an Australian team.  I wanted to show all the world coming together.  It’s not just two characters; among them all they don’t understand each other.  All of them have great differences.  And the thing is as the movie resolves you see these characters be above all those differences.  I wanted that.  I didn’t want to make it just, “Oh if these two guys only got along.”  Everybody, everybody, which is like a movie set.  On a movie set if you don’t come together, we are all very different, but it works.  I really love the idea of coming together without a certain jingoist or, you know, this or this side saved the work.  Everybody did.” That’s why I find many debates regarding who’s the protagonist of the original movie sort of silly, and, like I’ve expressed before, I see Raleigh Becket as being more or less a leading character in a supportive role.  i.e. The story is no more about him than it is about any other character.  Once again, anyone can fall, and anyone in life will do what they can with the internal and external resources they have. Sometimes, someone just happens to be at the right place at the right time with the right resources, and they wind up getting the credit for something that was built through the efforts of countless others before and/or with them. Though history and society will generally tend to remember the leaders, and/or those that used what was done before them to innovate and come up with something groundbreakingly new, we are all connected. Raleigh basically just happens to be the character introducing us to the world of “Pacific Rim”, and whose story arc we are invited to follow first.  But every character in the movie has their own stories, doubts, and issues to come to terms with before they can all save the world together.  And that’s why I’ve connected with this movie so strongly, and why I love it so much. So, regarding the teaser that was first presented to us, for me, in terms of marketing strategy, it heavily missed the mark of what the first movie had been all about. I’m wondering if that was meant to show that, while the Kaiju were gone, world leaders have all been essentially patting themselves on the back on a job well done and taking credit for it.  Were they trying to convey that humanity, once again, has learned very little from history, and its ego has inflated to the point where suddenly Jaegers became all about “Look how awesome we are, and always have been!”, and “Why pilot a Jaeger?  Because YOU’re worth it!” Were they trying to convey that, in the future, humanity has gone back to the mentality of the “glory days” where Jaeger pilots used to be rock stars, and people thought Kaiju no longer posed any significant threat? Was that teaser meant to be an actual recruiting video that would fit within the mindset of that universe, 10 years in the future (which could make sense, and would therefore sort of make up for how weirdly self-centered it was)? Or was it simply how the marketing team in charge of “Pacific Rim: Uprising” chose to promote the movie, thinking that this is what audiences, nowadays, would get massively excited about? Because, yes, I do love Jaegers.  And, of course, John Boyega is a wonderful actor and a pure treasure that can totally rock that drivesuit! But where is the sense that Jaegers are only as good as their pilots (plural), and the stronger the bond between them, the better they fight?  Why having made the choice to show a single Ranger alone (unless that teaser was made very quickly to present fans with some form of publicity, and he was the only actor available to shoot it)? And quite frankly, I don’t personally give a single damn about Jaegers being “me” times a thousand! What is a Jaeger? A Jaeger is the very embodiment of the deep trust and empathy shared by two (or more) people who genuinely love each other regardless of the type of relationship they share.  A Jaeger is that love and that bond times a thousand – two (or more) beating hearts made one that burn as bright as the sun, and have the power to move mountains! You become the most heroic version of yourself through your connection with others – through learning to balance your own needs with theirs, and using the potential you have been gifted with to serve the common good. This is what “Pacific Rim” was all about to me, and this is the message that the teaser, as far as I’m concerned, has sadly failed to convey. And while the actual trailer does show pilots fighting together, and present them all working together as a team and joining forces to survive, once again there’s something slightly off about the vibe I’m getting from it.  Like it’s a movie that is a lot more about new cool Jaegers, and how they and the Kaiju have evolved, rather than the complex human connections that are required to power up those Jaegers. I know I’m probably overthinking this, and most people are likely just going “Whoohoohoo!  NEW ROBOTS, WEAPONS AND KAIJU!  COOL FIGHTS! AWESOME DUDE!” And, like my partner told me, “No matter what they do, given everything the original represents for you and why it means so much, I’m not sure anything else they could ever come up with will ever measure up.” And maybe he’s right. But still, instead of getting me all excited for the sequel, what the teaser and the trailer have managed to do is confuse the Anterverse out of me! Now, I’m sort of scared that they essentially took shortcuts with this movie by using elements of what they thought made the first one so popular with the (apparently young) public, but without understanding the deeper message behind the story, and/or Guillermo Del Toro’s vision of that universe. Every little detail in “Pacific Rim”, from the set pieces to the colors that were used, were filled with tons of symbolism and meaning.  4 years later, I still continue to discover and notice new little things every time I watch it. I’m not expecting the new director to copy Guillermo Del Toro’s style or use the same symbolism, but I’m hoping he’ll find ways to put nearly as much love and thought into every scene, and that the sequel will hopefully have as much depth and soul to it, too. Offer us beautiful robots, monsters, and actions scene, yes; but don’t forget what the movie was about first and foremost – the power, beauty and complexity of human connection. Another thing that sort of completely turned me off about the teaser is the choice of music. The Pacific Rim’s main theme is one of the most addictive and distinctive movie themes I’ve ever heard. The first few notes start to play, and that’s it!  I’m back in that world!

Even the movie trailers of the first installment chose a soundtrack that had strong elements of pure epicness to it.

For example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5guMumPFBag , and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUR1IoPdBg8 Everything felt like it was larger than life and imposing. While that “I’m a Beast” song, combined with the would-be flattering message “a Jaeger is YOU times a thousand and tall as a mountain”, seems to have been put out there to appeal to self-centered and easily influenced kids in search of thrills who are supposed to go “Oh yeah man!  I’m a Jaeger, I’m a beast, I’m so cool, dude!” Maybe I’m getting too old for this (I was born barely 6 months after Herc Hansen, after all).  But, to me, it basically looked like the teaser was meant to be the equivalent of a sports car line publicity, with Jaegers replacing the cars! I just…  I don’t get it.  Yeah, this worked for the PPDC’s glory days, I suppose; and if the world has reverted back to that mentality, then please, by all means!  But still, I’m hoping it’s just a phase, and they’ll move out of it soon. And, while the music in the trailer itself takes back some elements of the original soundtrack, it’s weirdly mixed with a rap song, and combined with videogame looking CGI.  Somehow, this makes me feel like I’ve just stepped into a completely different world that has very little to do with the massive scope and depth of the original. Don’t get me wrong, I can appreciate a good rap song remixed with a movie theme every now and then...  But here, I find it to be heavily distracting, and it makes me disconnect from that sense of awe I get every time I watch those huge robot titans appear on screen in the trailers the original “Pacific Rim”. It works for movies like “The Fast and the Furious”, but here it messes with the overall tone, and gives me the impression that the robots are once again an oversized version of a sports car and next thing you know we’ll be watching them racing each other for thrills! If they keep at it, I’ll start nicknaming that sequel “Pacific Rim: Tokyo Drift”. That being said, there are a few things I’m excited about. Like the return of Mako Mori, Newton Geiszler, Hermann Gottlieb, and the fact that Gipsy Avenger looks like the child Gipsy Danger and Striker Eureka would have had together if Jaegers could make little Jaegers.  Although I am slightly concerned about how they will be using those beloved characters in the new installment. I’m also glad that John Boyega seems like such a huge fan of the first movie, and therefore hoping that’s a good sign, and the storyline will remain true to the first movie, and the extended universe that we’ve gotten thus far. I’m also curious regarding how they will be explaining Jake’s Pentecost backstory, and why Stacker and Mako have never mentioned him in the original movie.  Was Stacker even told he had a son (otherwise, I would have expected him to have some parting words for him as well, regardless of whether Jake was there or not, considering that the missions are usually recorded and/or Mako, Herc, or anyone else who would hopefully survive the mission could have relayed his father’s words to him), and how old was he when his father died? And looking at Stacker’s own backstory, i.e. his father having been killed in a fight with a club owner (where his mother was performing) when he was only 10, and little 10-year-old Stacker burning that club down and attacking the club owner in response… Well… It seems that little Pentecost babies tend to take losing their fathers very seriously, and will come after whatever is responsible for their death with everything they’ve got, apparently.  Which I do find rather interesting. Otherwise, I’m also a little concerned regarding how they will handle Raleigh, Herc, and even Tendo’s absence from the movie… Basically, I still plan on going to see it, but I’m having huge mixed feelings about it, and trying to keep my expectations as low as humanly possible (going down to the breach deep under the Pacific ocean to be sure...). That being said, please don’t let my own doubts, concerns, and personal preferences keep you from being all psyched about the new sequel, and loving the teaser and trailer to death! Truth is, if the original had never existed, and that trailer had been my very first introduction to anything “Pacific Rim”, there’s a possibility I would have been jumping up and down, cheering, and unable to wait to see that movie! I do love “Transformers” (in general), used to be a huge fan of “Power Rangers”, and my favorite TV show as a small child growing up was “Goldorak” (in English “UFO Robot Grendizer”). But “Pacific Rim” had a very different and unique feel to it that felt inspired by those series, without exactly becoming them.  “Go Go PPDC Rangers!” doesn’t sound quite right in my mind... Except here.  Probably the only place where I want to see those two related.  Lol!

[vileart]

Dramaturgy Blooms: Patrick Morris @ Edfringe 2018

Menagerie Theatre Company  presents

bloominauschwitz Leopold Bloom breaks free from Joyce’s ‘Ulysses’ to travel through history and re-discover his Jewish roots Winner – Best New Play Award, Brighton Fringe By Richard Fredman, Something is going very wrong for Leopold Bloom, the hero of James Joyce’s great novel ‘Ulysses’ and a worldwide phenomenon. He is plagued by visitations from the future, ghosts from the past and the burning question ‘Who am I and where do I belong?!’ His only clues lie in the 24 hours of life he occupies on 16 June 1904, as written for him by Joyce. So to discover the answers, his answers, Leopold escapes the pages and confines of his famous book, embarking on a rampage through the storm of 20th century European history. Bounding back and forth through time and crossing Europe he attempts to discover his true identity and his Jewish roots. In doing so he bumbles into the dark heart of the 20th century and the dangers that lurk within.

What was the inspiration for this performance?

The inspiration for playwright Richard Fredman was twofold: a visit to Auschwitz in the same summer as he first read 'Ulysses' by James Joyce.  As a playwright, he was fascinated by Joyce's central character in 'Ulysses', Leopold Bloom, a man of indeterminate identity whose father had been Jewish and who had come to Ireland from Hungary following pogroms in the 19th century.  

His father converted and had Bloom baptised 3 times.  However, Bloom holds on to these distant memories, and is often referred to as Jew by other characters in the book - even though, he's not Jewish!  So Richard, our intrepid playwright, was inspired to bring these two experiences together to create a piece about how we construct identity, about how we remember and forget, and about belonging: all highly contemporary concerns, and clearly ones which have an enduring appeal.  Bloom is at the centre of our play, as a man divided between his self from the book (set in 1904) and his future self from 2018 - between the two lies the European Jewish experience of the 20th century.  

Menagerie, our company, commissioned Richard to create the play and we have been developing it for the past 4 years, with the same creative team at the heart of it - Rachel Aspinwall, director, and myself as the performer, both working with Richard to evolve the script and its realisation on stage. Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas? 

Performance itself does not 'discuss' ideas - at best, it distills them into the stories, the characters, the bodies and the fictional worlds that we create for the stage.  Sure, the aftermath of any performance worth its salt should be brimming with ideas - we know that 'bloominauschwitz' is crammed with ideas, often competing with each other.  It is a piece inspired by a great novel, which was itself inspired by Homer's Odyssey, so it comes from good heritage!  I would like to think that the piece makes old ideas new - ideas about migration, about home, about family, as well as the themes mentioned above.  

Performance can often seem like a space for playing out personal neuroses - nothing against that in principle, but it's rare to find a play/performance which really digs into ideas which matter, which play into people's lived experience. How did you become interested in making performance?

It's almost too long ago now - it's such an accretion of influences, experiences and chance events.  From experiencing the first thrill of the live interaction as a teenager, to getting first few meaningful audience experiences such as the Market Theatre's 'Woza Albert', or seeing Dario Fo's performance of 'Mistero Buffo', to my own development and unpredictable route as a performer & director, my interest has so many roots.   Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?

We are dealing with a script which is complex, deep and constantly revealing itself to us (Rachel and me) even after 4 years.  We made some early decisions which have stuck - such as seeking inspiration for the set, and therefore for the mode of storytelling, from Joyce's book.  The piece requires so much from the performer that it doesn't resort to just one approach - there are elements of vaudeville and music hall, there's comedy  there's horror, there's epic drama, there's audience participation.  

The role requires me to play up to 16 different characters, yet within the rehearsal process we have to remember that it's really about the one character of Bloom, and the voices, the demons, the angels, and the ideas, that he is entertaining.  

In one way, it reaches back to the ancient storytelling tradition that Dario Fo - him again - employs in 'Mistero Buffo'.  The subject is deadly serious, yet the play employs comedy as one of its weapons.  And that comedy is often cheek by jowl with tragedy, being fought out in the body of Bloom as he seeks out his true identity and what that actually means for him as he experiences the 20th century. 

Does the show fit with your usual productions?

Menagerie always creates new work - our choices of production are dictated by our responses to writers' ideas and work.  If there is one thing which runs through our work, it is a deep concern with asking questions about contemporary human experience.  There isn't a  'usual' stylistic or aesthetic approach, at least not one which is articulated.  What 'bloominauschwitz' does is appeal to my own senses of what theatre is best at doing: reaching deep inside our individual and collective experiences to join us together in a fictional experience which resonates with our lives both in ways we can articulate and in ways for which we have no words.  More than any other play I've worked on, it creates its own world so completely and so convincingly.  It is the most difficult play I have ever encountered as a performer, partially because it is for a solo performer - but also because of where the story takes us.  

We are bringing some very sensitive historical material to the surface - it is not documentary theatre though.  Quite the opposite - as I said, it creates its own world, its own rules, which transport the audience on a journey that constantly surprises.  It takes joy in its fiction while holding out a hand to real life. What do you hope that the audience will experience?I would like them to experience the heart, guts and brains of the play.  There is an overwhelming quality to the play - I don't want to say anything more about that, except to approach it with an open mind.  Some might hear that it's a play inspired by James Joyce's 'Ulysses' and immediately be turned off.  But as I said above, its greatest quality is that it creates its own rules and its own world, and whether people have read Joyce's novel or not is immaterial within the first ten seconds.  I do not wish to impose a particular experience on the audience - it will be what it will be.  

But I believe that the performance has the capacity to create strong reactions from audience members - it has the capacity to awaken all the body's emotions, sometimes simultaneously.  What can I say?  Take a look at the title: 'bloominauschwitz' - simply put, it will not be what you might expect from that title.  It will be so much more.

A celebration of defiant open-heartedness, bloominauschwitz is an explosive piece of theatre that confounds audience expectations mixing clownish antics with high drama, rich text and powerful imagery. As Bloom confronts his chief antagonist – his future self from 2018, it resonates powerfully with the current migrant era and the rise of xenophobic nationalism in parts of Europe. ‘Theatrically on point and cleverly written, this play has the potential to be a huge hit’ A Younger Theatre New writing specialists Menagerie return to the Fringe for the first time since 2014. Their own Patrick Morris delivers a Herculean performance as Bloom in this brilliant new play written by Richard Fredman and directed by Rachel Aspinwall. bloominauschwitz won the Best New Play Award at the 2015 Brighton Fringe. In addition to the Brighton Fringe and selected UK dates bloominauschwitz was invited to play the DSB International Festival in Czech Republic. It will perform more international and UK dates following in 2018 and into 2019. Menagerie Theatre Company is the leading independent new writing theatre company in the East of England. Based at Cambridge Junction the company has been creating theatre for over eighteen years and enjoys a regional, national and international reputation for the development of first class new writing for the stage. They seek out and support talented writers in order to develop and produce innovative new theatre. As well as touring widely, they run workshops, writer development courses and produce the annual Hotbed Festival of new writing in Cambridge. bloominauschwitz was created and developed at the Hotbed Festival in association with Cambridge Junction. ‘charming, funny, and heart-warming theatre’ Everything Theatre on Menagerie www.menagerietheatre.co.uk Listings information: bloominauschwitzVenue: The Just Festival @ St John’s  (Venue 127)    Dates:  3-25 Aug (not 5, 12, 16, 19) Tickets: £12 - £10 (preview 3 Aug £6) Time:   17.10 (80 mins)    Box Office: 0131 226 0000 Online: www.edfringe.com     

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