Stage

Like every other English Literature student in St Andrews, I had to read Oedipus Rex for the first week of a module advertised as...

Oedipus Rex, home to the original mummy's boy and influence to Sigmund Freud, is the notorious Greek tragedy by Sophocles. It follows the ill-fated...

St Andrews is known for its fashion shows and the displays of creativity and talent that they bring to large audiences. This year, the Byre brings an exciting and alternative addition to the town’s calendar of fashion shows. Fault Lines will take place on Saturday, 15 February at 7:30pm with tickets costing £12/£10. Fault Lines uses the framework of the fashion show, and space of the catwalk to celebrate equality and diversity. Five women performers will explore questions of identity and what it means to belong, against a pulsing pop soundtrack. Sometimes sad, often funny, and always engaging, this is a powerful performance for current times. Fault Lines comes from the minds of Alister Lownie and Katherina Radeva who make up the collective Two Destination Language. Lownie and Radeva share interests in a variety of contemporary performance practices, blurring the boundaries between art and theatre. Two Destination Language was created in 2011 and work on pieces ranging from site-specific experiences and installations to large community projects. Their works focus on ideas of community, identity and otherness and creating international dialogues in theatrical forms. Their mission is to encompass values of accessibility and collaboration. They aim to provide additional support to make their events accessible. 50% of their performances offer BSL support, including the performance of Fault Lines at The Byre. Fault Lines is part of Edinburgh’s Manipulate Festival 2020. Manipulate is produced by Puppet Animation Scotland and is an annual celebration of innovative visual theatre and animated film, which runs from 31 January to 8 October. The five performers will bring their stories to the catwalk. Audiences will meet Damyana Radeva, whose story was told so powerfully in Two Destination Language’s debut show Near Gone. Caroline Ryan, performer and award-winning BSL interpreter, who will be speaking her own script and her own dialogue throughout, privileging BSL and deaf audience members. Also performing are, Cindy Awor, Welly O’Brien, Hannah Yahya Hassan, and Rachel Glower, who performs in the show as well as manages the stage. The performers come from a range of different backgrounds and show Two Destination Language’s dedication to diversity. The clothes range from abandoned to loved, haute couture to bargain bin. In combination with the stories being told they encourage us to embrace the beauty in our differences. Be sure to bring your headphones and download the Listen Everywhere app to get the full experience of Fault Lines. This may sound mysterious, but is all part of the interactive storytelling of the fashion show. The use of the app allows you to navigate your own path through music and the stories and voices of the five performers all of which offer different perspectives of the garments and costumes coming down the catwalk. The result is that you curate your own journey through a runway show of people like you and people you will never be, with a soundtrack selected by you. It is “Susan Sontag meets America’s Next Top Model”. The Byre is also hosting a Fashion Swap earlier in the day of 15 February at 1pm. If you’ve fallen out of love with your clothes then bring them along to this event and reinvigorate your wardrobe in a sustainable way. Dr Katie Eagleton, the Director of Museums and Collections at the University of St Andrews, will also be at the Byre Café Bar. Dr Eagleton has a passion for mending and altering clothes to breathe new life into them. This is a chance to see an informal demonstration on how fix-up your wardrobe and the opportunity to ask some questions.

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