Newcastle University’s very own A Capella Society and Theatre Society (NUTS) both made exciting appearances at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last week.
The festival is renowned for being the largest arts festival in the world, and takes place throughout the month of August.
A Capalla busked along the Royal Mile to a great reaction from the crowd, in total raising over £300 for the Society. The Newcastle A Capella Fringe group consisted of 13 Newcastle University students, all going into their second and third years in September.
Image: Newcastle University A Capella Society
President of the Society, Ella Tennant said: “The response from the audience was really good, we attracted crowds of around 30 to 40 people when performing and had lots of people approach us afterwards telling us how much they’d enjoyed it and giving generous donations.”
Following their successful busks, they performed in the A Cappella Showcase at Greyfriars Kirk. The show took place at 6:30 on Sunday 10 August and featured seven of the UK’s top A Cappella groups sharing a selection of their best repertoires. Alongside Newcastle A Capella’s group, there was The Oxford Alternotives, Out of the Blue, All the King’s Men, Pitch Purple, The Bristol Suspensions and Semi-Toned.
Ella added: “next year our society is planning to have three groups at competition standard as well as the continuation of our non-auditioned group. With our mixed competition group Tune Army’s ‘Masters of Show Choir’ win under our belt we are hoping to do more competitions and attend Edinburgh Fringe with our own show next year.”
Image: Newcastle University A Capella Society
NUTS also made an appearance at the festival, performing their show Kurl Up and Dye. Written by Celia Legard, the play follows the staff of a Yorkshire beauty salon as they get caught up in a murder enquiry.
Image: Ross Lowton
Performing 2-10 August, they sold out six of their nine performances at theSpace@SurgeonsHall venue. The play was directed by Conor O’Hara, and produced by Yeva Creegan and Lucy Thompson. The cast consisted of Louise Nicholls, Sophia Simoes, Martha Johnson, Tara Worthington, Maria Ansdell and Fabien Bevan.
Writing for The Edinburgh Reporter, Rosemary Kaye gave the play four stars and called it “a fast, funny, feel good show”, praising the performance of all the actors and the humorous script. Marianna Melonia, a reviewer on everything-theare.co.uk, also called it “a loveable sit-com, which provides an hour of fast-paced and vividly delivered entertainment with an unexpected twist”.
Image: Fran Cattaneo
Producer Yeva Creegan commented, “Being able to take part in the Edinburgh Fringe was such an incredible opportunity! We were very fortunate in that the show we took up to be performed was a huge success, we sold out nearly every night and the audiences genuinely loved it! The part I enjoyed the most was just the atmosphere of the city which was amazing regardless of whether you were out on the mile, watching a performance or performing your own show!”
Image: Fran Cattaneo
Both Newcastle’s A Capella Society and NUTS are open for all students to join in the new term.
