EGTG celebrates 70 years of amateur theatre in Edinburgh

Local amateur theatre company, Edinburgh Graduate Theatre Group (EGTG), will celebrate 70 years of producing theatre in 2024, with a bumper season of theatrical productions, drama workshops, and more.

EGTG was first started in 1954 by alumni of the Edinburgh University Dramatic Society, and has gone on to become one of Edinburgh’s most respected amateur theatre companies, presenting a versatile catalogue of challenging contemporary work through to crowd-pleasing classics. In 2024 the group will celebrate its 70th anniversary with the staging of six plays and an exciting calendar of events to run throughout the year.

EGTG kicks off its season at the SCDA One Act Festival with Martin Foreman’s Taiwan, directed by Claire Morand. It’s a question of survival. Welcome to Scotland in the near future, where all that could go wrong has gone wrong. As society collapses around them, two women confront each other in a remote country house. How far will each of them go to survive? Taiwan will receive its UK premiere at the Edinburgh district’s SCDA One Act Festival at the Church Hill Theatre in February 2024.

Later in the spring, EGTG presents the contemporary provocative drama The Fastest Clock in the Universe by Philip Ridley, directed by Abbye Eva (Pool (no Water)). Party preparations are underway for Cougar’s thirteenth 18th birthday. Everything is meticulously planned; there’s a very exclusive guest list, a delicious cake and a very sharp knife. Ridley’s multi-award-winning play caused a sensation when it premiered at Hampstead Theatre in 1992. A drama about ageing, love and delusion, this is a tense show set in a dilapidated room above an abandoned factory that happens to be filled with avian antiques.

EGTG will present two plays at the Edinburgh Fringe 2024, the first of which will be the oft-overlooked The Ruffian on the Stair by Joe Orton directed by EGTG newcomer Robert Wylie. First broadcast on BBC Radio in 1964, The Ruffian on the Stair is a one-act portrayal of a working class couple living in London, whose lives are intruded upon and disrupted by a mysterious young man who is seeking assistance to exact a very idiosyncratic revenge.

Also at the Fringe, EGTG will present the UK premiere of A Singular Deception, written and directed by Hilary Spiers (Bloody Wimmin’, Shakers). Developed in 2017 with support from Arts Council England, A Singular Deception tells the astonishing story of Margaret Ann Buckley, who masqueraded as Dr James Barry for nearly 50 years and rose to the highest medical rank in the British Army. A shocking flirt, skilled swordswoman and horsewoman, a social and medical reformer, who transformed the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, leprosy and mental illness, she was the first doctor to carry out a Caesarean where both mother and child survived. In this new work, Dr Barry and her faithful manservant Black John bring her extraordinary history to vivid life.

Following his writing credit earlier in the year, Martin Foreman (The Satyricon, Hay Fever) will direct Dangerous Corner by J.B. Priestley in the autumn. When the directors of a small publishing company together with family and guests relax after dinner, conversation turns to the suicide of one of their number a year ago. As the evening progresses and secrets are gradually revealed, one question must be answered: Why did Martin Caplan die?

To close the year, EGTG returns to its roots with a large ensemble play to celebrate the festive season. Written by cmfwood and co-directed by Hannah Bradley Croall and Claire Wood, baba is a sparkly frolic through the legend of Baba Yaga. Hidden deep within the forest in a hut atop a pair of moving chicken legs, Baba Yaga is a mysterious character from Slavic Folklore. At times fearsome and ferocious, at times a kindly old woman determined to aid heroes in their quest, baba explores the treatment and mistreatment of women throughout the ages.

Away from the stage EGTG will run a series of events celebrating 70 years of theatre in Edinburgh, including a series of devising workshops, an exhibition, and more.

To stay up to date with all of EGTG’s platinum plans, visit www.theegtg.com and sign up to receive news updates.