Pick of the Fringe

The story of three Yorkshire women today, all with very different stories to tell, all heading to the biggest arts festival in the world.

Last Thursday we gave you a few tips for shows you should see in Edinburgh if you get the chance, all shows emanating from the strongest region for theatre outside of London (confirmed in so many different reports and surveys that we don’t even need to qualify it any more).

Today we look at Pauline Mayers, Selina Thompson and Elizabeth Godber, three very different women all with powerful stories which they will be sharing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

If you’ve ever been to Edinburgh during the festival, you’ll know the biggest difficulty, aside from the risk of ending up accidentally appearing in a street performance, is choosing what to see.

If you are heading North for August, these three shows should really be on your ‘not to miss’ list, and you don’t need to take our word for it – Vogue magazine this week also recommend two of the three tips I’m sharing today.

First, Pauline Mayers.

Trained at the world renowned Rambert dance company, I first came across Mayers when she was choreographing for the Red Ladder show Promised Land. In the five years since then, Mayers has undertaken a personal journey that culminated in a show called What If I Told You, developed at Bradford’s Theatre in the Mill under the stewardship of the pioneering Iain Bloomfield.

The piece began its life at the West Yorkshire Playhouse during the Summer Sublet season, so when it goes to Edinburgh it will bear the mark of Yorkshire like Blackpool through a stick of rock.

What if I Told You is Mayers’ exploration of her own personal story as a black woman living in Britain and of being a dancer and choreographer.

Directed by multi Fringe First winner Chris Goode, one of British theatre’s most highly regarded artists, Mayers weaves in other narratives to her own story in the show. “I’m used to people making assumptions about me based on my gender, background and skin colour,” she says. “It’s happened all my life, but I’ve defied those expectations at every turn, tearing up the narrative that society has tried to impose on me. Last year I hit a crisis point. Perhaps not that unusual for a woman in her mid-40s, but it’s a pretty big deal when it happens to you.”

Looking back and retracing the routes of her life was step one, relating it to a wider context was step too. Mayers also tells the horrific story of James Sims, the American physician who operated on black female slaves to develop surgical techniques – without anaesthetic, believing that black bodies didn’t suffer pain in the way white bodies do.

Even if you don’t get to the Fringe, what is worth noting is that Mayers, along with the other two artists I’m about to mention, are making work in Yorkshire that you can see in the region when it’s being made before being shared at the festival. Yet another reason to be proud of our county.

The second artist comes with a name you might recognise. Elizabeth Godber, yes, daughter of, is taking a show to the Fringe.

Growing up with John Godber and Jane Thornton as her father and mother, it’s perhaps little surprise that Elizabeth is following the pair into the world of theatre, but she is going to quickly learn that your name means nothing if your work doesn’t stand up to scrutiny, particularly in the bunfight that is the biggest arts festival in the world.

What’s encouraging is that Godber, a smart young woman, is staying true to her own story with her self written and directed piece. The Loneliest Girl in the World, produced by and starring Elizabeth’s sister Martha (obviously it runs in the family) tells the story about what happens when a university student leaves her halls and doesn’t return.

“The play focuses on anxiety in young people, particularly generalised anxiety disorder,” says Elizabeth. The Godber daughters have worked with Beverley singer-songwriter Grace Christiansen who recently released her debut album.

It’s a brave move to go into theatre when you carry such a name, but having met young Godber, she’s clearly inherited a lot of no-nonsense good sense and plenty of ambition from her parents.

The final show to recommend – and again, this is based on the artist, working in our region, as much as anything else, is Salt by Selina Thompson.

Yorkshire audiences are likely already familiar with the work of Thompson, an artist whose work and stature has grown at a steady rate over the past few years.

Chewing the Fat was a particularly powerful piece – and extremely difficult to watch – that dealt with overeating.

This year Thompson is sharing Salt, an extraordinary piece of work that saw her retrace a voyage of the transatlantic trade triangle and spending three months on a cargo ship.

She says: “Last year I got on a cargo ship and retraced the transatlantic slave triangle to investigate just how it has impacted our lives today: To embody the afterlife of slavery. This show is the story I brought back from that journey.

“I wanted to take it to Edinburgh because it is politically urgent, and is that rare thing of a show that contains a piece of my soul, which I want to share. Expect a show that is haunted by the past that takes you to the very bottom of the Atlantic, and that sees us emerge from the ocean, ready to fight for a better world.”

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What If I Told You: Army at the Fringe in Association with Summerhall. August 11 to 26.

The Loneliest Girl in the World: Oliver Studio, Greenside, Infirmary street. August 15-19 and 21-26.

Salt: Northern Stage at Summerhall. August 5 to 26.

Mayers, who this week was longlisted for an Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award, is currently running a crowdfunder page to fund her Edinburgh show. For details visit www.crowdfunder.co.uk/what-if-i-told-you

The Fringe runs August 4-28. www.edfringe.com