THE UMBRELLA BIRDS, stars of BBC Radio 4’s The Ladies, return to Edinburgh for a third year with Sketches in a Shop Changing Room. Following the success of their cult hits, WC and Gym, they are back - with a show about vanity, delusion and how to steal things.
Presenting a collection of sketches that veer from clownishly comical to awkward and tender, THE UMBRELLA BIRDS bear witness to the obsessive, the deluded and the totally weird as they come and go clutching their five items.
An account manager chucks in her job and turns to burlesque dancing - "I feel completely liberated. That’s why I’m buying the corset"; a passive-aggressive wedding planner flattens self-esteem like a Blackberry-wielding bulldozer; and a pair of Christians wait hand in hand for apocalypse. Meanwhile a sex obsessed mother shares fellatio tips with her painfully shy daughter, women queue up to try on work wear - "I’m only topless for the darts playing bit - I still need a top to wear to work and come home again in" - and shoplifters try to outwit the bored shop assistants who only want to text their boyfriends under the desk.
Following their 2007 sell-out Edinburgh debut, it has been a non-stop two years for THE UMBRELLA BIRDS. They are currently in production with a second series of their critically-acclaimed BBC Radio 4 show, The Ladies, whilst working with Hat Trick Productions to develop the concept for television. Alongside this they continue to play to sell-out audiences at their London residencies, or when performing at one-off events like the Holon Women’s Festival in Tel Aviv.
EMILY WATSON HOWES is the writer for THE UMBRELLA BIRDS and stars in Sketches in a Shop Changing Room alongside KATE DONMALL, SUSANNA HISLOP and FRAN MOULDS. She has written both series of The Ladies, written and filmed Steve and Jenny’s Pregnancy Diary for BBC Online (now being developed for television) and is currently working on a sitcom script for BBC Radio 4. EMILY is also the Artistic Director of You Need Me whose debut show last year, How It Ended, was nominated for both the Total Theatre Awards (Best Graduate Company) and the Stage Awards 2008 (Best Ensemble). Their new piece, Certain Dark Things, is at the Underbelly at 9.05pm.
ends
What the press has said about The Umbrella Birds:
"There's a fantastic cast of characters here, and with tight writing, strong characterisation and snappy delivery, the sketches are laugh-out-loud funny."
Claire Smith, The Scotsman
"Imaginative scripts and very, very well-performed across the board…They are all great actresses and the inventiveness shines through."
Steve Bennett, Chortle
LISTINGS INFORMATION
Venue: Assembly Rooms - Wildman Rooms
Date: 6th - 31st August 2009
Time: 18:20
Box Office: 0131 623 3030
For more information and press tickets, please contact: Jo Cross, Ben Nolan, Jenny Stewart or Dan Lloyd. Tel: 08700 70 50 50 [Edinburgh office] or 020 7598 7222 [London office]. Email: joc@avalonuk.com, benn@avalonuk.com, jenny.stewart@avalonuk.com or danl@avalonuk.com
THE UMBRELLA BIRDS
The other UMBRELLA BIRDS are KATE DONMALL, SUSANNA HISLOP and FRAN MOULDS. KATE was nominated for Best Actress at the Stage Awards in 2008 for her role in Real Circumstance’s Lough/Rain. SUSANNA has just graduated from the London International School of Performing Arts, and FRAN is performing with You Need Me in Certain Dark Things at this year’s Fringe.
OTHER THINGS THE PRESS HAS SAID ABOUT THE UMBRELLA BIRDS:
"You quickly realise that this epitomises what the Fringe is all about: a four-woman sketch show set within the confines of these tiny toilets, filled with more creativity and originality than you'd see over a whole night in the Pleasance Courtyard. The show proceeds at a blistering pace, allowing the immensely talented cast to squeeze in countless hilarious sketches without a weak minute in sight. If you manage to get tickets, then this is one of the shows that you will remember long after the Festival is over."
Three Weeks
"A show in a portable toilet? It couldn't be more Fringe if it tried. Yet, for a show that could simply trade off as a gimmick, this piece is brilliantly fresh and quickly upends any cliched sketch stereotype. The somewhat cramped setting is actually very effective for this stream of character sketches- where else could the turnover be as quick or as varied as a public loo? This free rein allows the girls to gallop ahead with numerous characters…. The plethora of other visitors are warmly funny and they are ever mindful of succumbing to comedy traps."
Metro
AVALON PROMOTIONS
Avalon Promotions Limited is one of the leading promoters of live comedy in the UK. Productions include: NEWMAN & BADDIEL in the first comedy show ever to be staged at Wembley Arena; FRANK SKINNER’s record-breaking performance to an audience of 6,000 at the Battersea Power Station; Jerry Springer - The Opera at the National Theatre, at the Cambridge Theatre in London’s West End, on national tour and at New York’s Carnegie Hall; HARRY HILL at the Palace and Dominion Theatres in London; and Dave Gorman’s Googlewhack Adventure at the Sydney Opera House, at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, on national tour and at the Village Theatre, New York (nominated for Drama Desk Award 2004).
The last 12 months has seen Avalon Promotions: present multi-award winning comics JENNY ECLAIR, RICHARD HERRING, RUSSELL HOWARD and FRANK SKINNER on sell-out runs; produce AL MURRAY, THE PUB LANDLORD live at the O2 and RUSSELL HOWARD at Wembley Arena; introduce some of the fastest-rising stars in comedy such as RUSSELL KANE, KRISTEN SCHAAL & KURT BRAUNOHLER and ISY SUTTIE; produce stage shows, such as Frank Skinner’s Credit Crunch Cabaret and Grumpy Old Women Live, which has toured the UK three times and performed a highly successful run in Australia; and present 23 acts at the Edinburgh Festival, where it has promoted a total of five Perrier Award winners and 17 Perrier Award/if.comedy Award nominees in just 20 years.
