Sherman Theatre is supporting two brand new productions made in Wales to perform at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Polly & Esther is a high-camp, chaotic drag cabaret written and performed by iconic Welsh mother and daughter drag-duo Polly Amorous and Esther Parade; a celebration of self-expression, a joyfully queer blend of drag, musical theatre and cabaret and a tale of finding family in unlikely places. It is written by Polly Amorous, Esther Parade and Nerida Bradley, and performed by Polly Amorous and Esther Parade. The show is presented by the Pleasance and Sherman Theatre and supported by Arts Council of Wales/Wales Arts International through the Wales in Edinburgh Fund, as part of the Pleasance Theatre’s annual Edinburgh National Partnerships initiative. This is Sherman’s third year supporting a Welsh artist or company to take work to the Fringe through this initiative.
Sherman Theatre is also supporting Paul Jenkins and Theatr3’s Moscow Love Story; an untamed exploration of love and memory, bringing audio diaries made on an old Walkman to life, paralleling personal boundaries with geopolitics in a world on the brink of transformation.
Moscow 2001. Echoes of Soviet Russia linger and young Putin is flirting with the West, when two rebellious souls lose themselves in a vodka-fuelled romance.
Moscow Love Story is developed with support of Alma Alter Theatre Laboratory, Bulgaria and Sherman Theatre.
Both shows will be performed at Sherman Theatre 18-20 July, in a Studio double-bill.
Announcing the two shows, Sherman Theatre’s Chief Executive Julia Barry said: “Giving artists in Wales a platform for taking their work to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is integral to our work creating pathways for creatives at all stages of their careers. We have built a strong track record of helping innovative and daring new shows make this important step, and the two we’ve chosen to support this year are no exception. Fringe audiences are in for a treat.”
This will be Sherman Theatre’s third consecutive year taking part in the Edinburgh National Partnerships programme, which is led by The Pleasance, one of the biggest producing theatres at the Fringe.
In 2023 Sherman supported StammerMouth’s CHOO CHOO! (Or… Have You Ever Thought About ****** **** *****? (Cos I Have)). The show, a silly and surreal insight into obsessive compulsive disorder, went on to win a Fringe First Award and the 2023 Mental Health Foundation Fringe Award. It will be performed at the Southbank Centre on 8 Sept this year, as part of the Centre’s Unlimited 2024 festival.
In 2022, with support from The Other Room, Sherman supported difficult|stage’s An Audience With Milly-Liu. François Pandolfo’s one-man cat drag show was a hit with audiences and critics alike, winning the inaugural David Johnson Emerging Talent Award.
This year, Sherman Theatre once again joins an illustrious list of theatres including Bristol Old Vic, Leicester Curve, Theatre Royal Plymouth, Pitlochry Festival Theatre and The Lyric Belfast, all of whom are taking part in the Pleasance’s Edinburgh National Partnership. The initiative sees the Pleasance working with partner theatres across the UK to identify and support exceptional artists and companies local to them who want to take work to the Fringe. Each partner is a leading national producing house, with a commitment to supporting and developing new artists.