This Summer Stellar Quines will present the full trilogy of plays by acclaimed Quebecois writer Jennifer Tremblay at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2015. This is the first time the trilogy will have been performed in English in the UK.

Creative Team

• Writer: ["Jennifer Tremblay", "Jennifer Tremblay"]
  

  Jennifer Tremblay was born in 1973 in Forestville on the North Shore of the St-Lawrence River. In 1990, she published Histoires de Foudre, a collection of poems. In 1995, she graduated in Creative Literature from the University of Québec in Montréal and went on to publish short stories and articles for various magazines. She began her masters in literary research and devoted herself entirely to the works of Dany Laferrière. A long conversation with the author convinced her to leave her studies and focus on her own writing projects. She wrote close to 100 episodes of the children’s television show Les Chatouilles (Radio-Canada) and a few episodes of Bouledogue Bazard. In 2004, she founded Les Éditions de la Bagnole. She published her first novel Tout ce qui brille and several children’s books such as Un secret pour Matisse (A Secret for Matisse), Deux biscuits pour Sacha (Two Cookies for Sacha), Sacha et son sushi (Sacha and his Sushi), Miro et les canetons du lac Vert (Miro and the Green Lake Ducklings), Madame Zia and Matisse et les vaches lunaires, (Matisse and the Moon Cows). In 2008, she was awarded the Governor General’s prize, the most important literary prize in Canada, for her play La Liste (The List) published by Les Éditions de la Bagnole.

• Translator: ["Shelley Tepperman ", "Shelley Tepperman "]
  

  Shelley Tepperman is a translator and dramaturg with a long history in Canadian theatre specializing in script development, project development and translation for the stage. Her thirty translations—two of which were nominated for the Governor General’s award—have been produced by CBC radio and on stages throughout North America.  One of her specialties is intercultural dramaturgy and helping cultural works travel to new contexts. Ms. Tepperman translates from several languages and much of her work in theatre has involved helping audiences discover other cultural landscapes. From 1994 -1998 Shelley worked for CBC Radio Arts and Entertainment developing, adapting, directing and producing radio dramas for national broadcast. Ms. Tepperman also works in documentary film and television as a writer, story editor and director in several languages.

• Director: ["Muriel Romanes ", "Muriel Romanes "]
  

  Muriel has over thirty years of experience in theatre both as an actor and director. She was Associate Director of the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh and is one of the co-founders of Stellar Quines theatre company, where she has been Artistic Director since 1996. Her many directorial credits include The Clearing by Helen Edmondson, The Reel of The Hanged Man by Jeanne-Mance Delisle, Sweet Fanny Adams in Eden by Judith Adams, the critically acclaimed The Memory of Water by Shelagh Stephenson and the world premier of Three Thousand Troubled Threads by Chiew Siah Tei.

  In February 2007 Muriel co-directed The Unconquered by Torben Betts, which was presented in Scotland and New York. She then went on to direct Judith Adam’s theatrical adaptation of Muriel Spark’s The Girls of Slender Means which played at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2009. Muriel won the Critics’ Awards for Theatre in Scotland Best Director award for Stellar Quines’ next production Age of Arousal by Canadian playwright Linda Griffiths, which was a co-production with the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh.

• Design: ["John Byrne ", "John Byrne "]
  

  John Byrne was born in Paisley and grew up in Ferguslie Park housing scheme – at the time pretty much the worst slum in Europe. He quit school in his fifth year and, having failed to secure a job painting cinema posters with Mr Brown, Paisley’s only commercial artist, started work as a ‘slab boy’ mixing powder colour for the designers at A F Stoddard, carpet manufacturers in nearby Elderslie.

  Byrne was accepted at the Glasgow School of Art – specialising in drawing and painting. In his final year at GSA he won the Bellahousten Award, the school’s most prestigious painting prize.

  Following many a trudge around the galleries of London without anyone showing that much interest in his work, Byrne took the bull by the horns and sent a small picture of a man in a panama hat to Mayfair’s Portal Gallery, claiming it to be the work of his father, a one-time Glasgow busker and at this particular time, a newspaper seller at Paisley Cross.  The gallery asked to see more of ‘Patrick’s’ work. Byrne junior sat down and painted another half-dozen in the ‘naive’ style of the first – result, a one-man Mayfair show and instant acclaim.

  From the early seventies John Byrne’s biography reflects his diverse talents, as a designer of theatre sets and record covers.  His first play Writer’s Cramp(1977) was followed by The Slab Boys (1978) and won him the Evening Standard’s most promising playwright award.  In 1986 John wrote the immensely successful, six-time BAFTA award-winning television series Tutti Frutti. This was followed by Your Cheatin’ Heart and countless other plays and films.

  John has designed record covers for Donovan, The Beatles, Gerry Rafferty and Billy Connolly. His work is held in major collections in Scotland and abroad. Several of his paintings hang in The Scottish National Portrait Gallery, the Museum of Modern Art and the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow.

  In 2001 John was awarded an MBE for services to literature and the theatre but returned it in protest at the British Government’s joining forces with the US Administration’s invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq. In 2004 he was made an associate of the Royal Scottish Academy and a full member in 2007.

  John is an Honorary Fellow of the GSA, the RIAS, an Honorary Member of the RGI and has Honorary Doctorships from the universities of Paisley, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Strathclyde.

• Music: ["Philip Pinsky ", "Philip Pinsky "]
  

  As Associate Artist at the Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh, Philip Pinsky has worked as composer and sound designer for many of their productions including Wondrous Flitting, Educating Agnes, Age of Arousal, The Importance Of Being Earnest, Romeo and Juliet, Everyone, Peter Pan and Confessions of a Justified Sinner. Other theatre work includes ANA (Stellar Quines), Humanimalia (Janis Claxton Dance), Spring Awakening (Traverse Theatre and Grid Iron ), Decky Does A Bronco 2010 (Grid Iron and Traverse Theatre), Huxley’s Lab (Grid Iron and Lung Ha’s) and Equus (Dundee Rep).Philip’s TV credits include Art & Soul, Ninewells, Harley Street, Seaside Rescue, What Not To Wear (BBC). He has also worked on education projects for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and NTS Learn  (You Tell Us What Was We Tell You What Is). He won the Critics’ Award for Theatre in Scotland 2005 for best use of music in theatre and a Sony Music Award for Extraneous Noises Off (BBC Radio 3). Previously Philip was founder member of electro-acoustic group Finitribe, releasing five albums and performing over a period of fifteen years.

• Lighting Design: ["Jeanine Byrne", "Jeanine Byrne"]

  Jeanine works regularly in theatre and dance. Her previous productions for Stellar Quines include Age of Arousal, The Unconquered and Perfect Pie. Jeanine has also worked for the Royal Lyceum in Edinburgh, The Citizens Theatre in Glasgow, Dundee Rep, the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh, West Yorkshire Playhouse, Birmingham Rep, Chichester Festival Theatre and the Barbican.

  Jeanine’s dance credits include Uncharted Waters (All or Nothing Aerial Dance Theatre and Strangebird Zirkus), Curious Seed’s debut Almost But Not Quite (Dance Base/Edinburgh Festival); Parallel I Parallels (Plan B/Dance Base); Raw (Fidget Feet); Proband (Caroline Bowditch); Uncanny (X Factor Dance Company) and Off Kilter (Dance Base). Jeanine is also a fully qualified Pilates matwork teacher, accredited by The Pilates Foundation.

• Artist: ["Roland Fraser ", "Roland Fraser "]

  My wooden constructions are a synthesis of assemblage, collage and traditional craftsmanship. Timber is culled from old furniture carcases, farm buildings and skips. I select pieces that have an accumulation of surface markings and general evidence of human traffic. Traces from missing locks, hinges and structural joints also have a particular resonance for me as they refer to previous incarnations. This visceral combination of wear and history imbues the material with an almost totemic quality.

  The titles of each work refer to the various locations where the fragments used in the work were found, as in ‘Prestongrange’ and ‘Longthorne’. In some of my pieces, the connection between the place and the mood of my work is significant, in others it is more arbitrary.

  The splicing and editing of original patinated surfaces to create a recontextualised single entity throws up serious formal challenges. As a musician, these dynamics of rhythm, tension and discord are familiar territory.

   

   

• Artist: ["Celie Byrne", "Celie Byrne"]
  • BP Portrait Award Finalist 2011
  • Cork Street Open Exhibition 2013
  • King’s Theatre Dome Public Artwork 2013
  • Paisley Artists Surfaces Award 2014

  Biography

  • King’s Theatre Dome Mural 2013
  • Shortlist Cork Street
  • Open Exhibition 2013
  • BP Portrait Award Final Exhibition 2011
  • The Grand Gestures
  • Ramshackle Rose School of the Art
  • Institute of Chicago
  • Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art Edinburgh College of Art
• Assistant Director: ["Claire Willoughby", "Claire Willoughby"]
  

  This post is supported by the Federation of Scottish Theatre with funding from Creative Scotland.

  Claire is a theatre maker, performer and musician based in Glasgow. She creates devised work and re-imaginings of classic texts, that are often inquisitive, visually stimulating and darkly humorous.

  She enjoys making solo and collaborative theatre and cabaret using live music, physical movement and storytelling, and is one half of children’s theatre company Giddy Aunt with Sarah Macdonald.

  In Scotland she has worked with Catherine Wheels, Conflux and Magnetic North and A Moment’s Peace.

Cast

• ["Maureen Beattie"]
  

  Maureen trained at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama and graduated with the James Bridie Gold Metal. Her career started with four years at the Dundee Rep and Royal Lyceum Theatre in Edinburgh. Since then Maureen has gone on to play many roles in theatres around the UK including the National, the Globe, the Lyric Hammersmith and the Crucible as well as touring internationally.

  Maureen spent the 2003/2004 season with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) playing Queen Elizabeth in Richard III and Tamora in Titus Andronicus. In 2008 she was part of the much acclaimed Histories company for the RSC playing the Duchess of Gloucester in Henry VI Part 2, the Duchess of York inRichard III and III and Mistress Quickly in Henry IV 1 & 2 and Henry V, all directed by Michael Boyd. She has recently starred in 27 and The Enquirerfor the National Theatre of Scotland.

  Maureen’s television and film work includes Casualty, Lewis, Midsomer Murders, Taggart, Bramwell, The Bill, Hard to Get, The Worst Week of My Life, Doctors, Moving On and Decoy Bride.

  Maureen won the Herald Angel Award for Best Actress in 2000, the Manchester Evening News Award for Best Actress in a Visiting Production in 2002 and the Pye Radio Best Actress Award in 1981. She has also been nominated for Best Female Performance 2011-12 by the Critic’s Award for Theatre in Scotland (CATS) for her performance in 27.

  Maureen’s previous work for Stellar Quines includes starring in Muriel Spark’s Girls of Slender Means at the Edinburgh Festival 2009. She also directed the company’s production of Perfect Pie by Judith Thomson.

Downloads

• The Trilogy Press Release (pdf)
• Made in Scotland Technical Information (pdf)