The University of Nottingham's student theatre company, New Theatre, will be flying the flag for the city at this year's Edinburgh Fringe festival.
 | | Shoe Story artwork by Ollie Hymans |
There they will be putting on their new production, The Shoe Story, which is written, directed, produced and performed by the students, every morning for a three week stint in August. The producer, Laura Dexter, says : "We came up with the idea when the previous production fell through - Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - the rights couldn't be granted - Johnny Depp got there first. So, we thought we'd make our own children's story - making it even better and even more magical." Why aim a play at children? "For us doing a children's project is so much fun. You get involved with so many more people. It's something they don't do so much of at the Edinburgh Festival or in our theatre company. So we decided to do something new. It allowed us to do a lot of puppetry and mime and physical theatre in a colourful and exciting way."
How do they know it'll go down well with youngsters? Well, the company have given their new production a test run in Nottinghamshire, by holding workshops at Dunkirk Primary School and Beeston Fields School.
 | | Fiona Hamilton as The Shoemaker |
"It went down a treat. We ran some workshops, running through some different ideas with the children in groups. They performed one of the sketches from the play and the children just loved it, they just sat there completely captivated... it was just absolutely awe inspiring." The play is part of a more long term programme of community outreach work. The students hope it'll show a new commitment by Nottingham's student population to give something back to the community from the experiences that they have gained. The Shoe Story is at City 1, SWEET on the Grassmarket at the Apex City Hotel, Edinburgh. Performances will be at 11.30am every day from Friday, 5th to Monday, 29th August 2005. For tickets ring either the Fringe Box Office (01312260000) or the Sweet Box Office (08702410136). Alternatively, visit The Shoe Story website for more information about the project, cast and crew.
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