Tayo's two shows to EdFringe 2016
The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is the largest arts festival in the world. It is at once a fun festival and a huge performing arts market, as in addition to literally hundreds of thousands of ordinary arts-loving revellers, thousands of producers, directors, funders, agents and absolutely everybody in the arts go there in search of new work and new talent.
Edinburgh is where Call Mr. Robeson started in 2007. I took the play there again in 2010. Both times, the reception was wonderful, and thanks to those performances, I was booked to tour the play at several venues around the UK, and it now has a life of its own, with performances currently lined up all the way through to February 2017 in Canada!
August 2016 is a good time to go again, mainly to introduce the world to my new play, Just An Ordinary Lawyer. Here's the blurb on it:
"He is Britain’s first Black judge, a fine singer and keen cricket lover. Finding himself stranded in the Heart of Empire, Nigerian Tunji Sowande muses on Black liberation struggles worldwide. He insists he is no political aficionado, but is content to contribute only through his music and songs."
As with Call Mr. Robeson, this is a play that combines entertainment with history and politics, and will hopefully generate such reviews from the press and the public as the following:
“Aluko does a fine job … First-rate … an admirable introduction to a great pioneering performer” 4 Stars The Guardian
“A brilliantly put together history lesson delivered as art.” Dirt & Candy
“One of the most memorable plays … of 2013” Clive Anderson, presenter, BBC R4 Loose Ends
“…According to my sister and friends YOU WERE SUPERB and her friend asked “Why is he not going round schools teaching history that way – no one will ever forget history lessons taught like that”. E M, Liverpool
"Masterful… I urge you, from somewhere within me that I haven’t been in touch with for a long time, to go and experience [this production] for yourself." 5 Stars Three Weeks, Brighton Fringe, May 2010
"The best live theater I’ve seen since Nathan Lane in “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum”. Mike Wise, WJFK 106.7FM, Washington DC
"The first time I’ve ever cried on duty." Male usher, Bristol Old Vic
Edinburgh 2010 was also where I met the gentleman who would eventually help get Call Mr. Robeson into New York's Carnegie Hall on my 50th birthday in February 2012, so I return this year with big dreams for Lawyer and Robeson - you never know where it might lead!
I'll be performing plays for the entire run of the festival, and the space rental alone is £4,000! I am also raising money to pay the director and and designer's fees, for publicity, accommodation and many things - too many to list here, but the total budget is £10,000; £8,000 of which I intend to raise here. With your help, WE WILL DO IT!
Thank you so very much!
Tayo Aluko
