HEAD GAMES Fringe Press

“Bold, sensitive, and brilliantly witty...honest, outrageous, and screamingly funny..." – Edinburgh Evening News

"very funny romp, cleverly written" -- Edinburgh Guide

THE EDINBURGH Festival Fringe is still over a week away from opening, but it has already run into its first controversy.

Theatregoers - most especially those with children - popping into the Festival Theatre for a lunchtime sandwich were shocked yesterday by the sight of three naked men loitering around the foyer. Of course it transpired that the nude men in question were in fact actors from the Strawberry Theatre group, promoting their play Head Games. But the move has drawn fire from former Conservative councillor Moira Knox.

"I am absolutely appalled that shocking theatre should be inflicted on the public in this way," Edinburgh’s answer to Mary Whitehouse fumes.

"Three totally nude men is hardly what you expect to see in the foyer of a theatre at lunchtime, especially if you have young children. I am sure the council have some jurisdiction over this and it may well be a matter for them to look into.

"I am actually beyond anger but just very sad, especially as we tried so hard to get the Festival Theatre in the first place to replace the old Empire. Modern theatre is so vibrant do they really feel the public need such titillation?"

Dubbed, "an extremely clever play within a play", the naked gay comedy is in fact a piece about the merits of staging a naked gay comedy. Martin Hunt, head of Tartan Silk, who were showcasing the act, said steps were taken to ensure the play was seen by adults only.

"The Festival has always been about allowing everything in moderation and the nudity was done in the best possible taste. We did announce beforehand that this particular act was not suitable for those with children and security was in place to stop people who might be offended by the show.

"The Festival has always given the chance to everyone to express themselves in whatever way they like, and long may that continue."

In the first of his festival reports, our reporter finds you've got to get naked to be noticed

The Edinburgh Festival began last Wednesday with a full moon. The moon in question belonged to Sam Heughan, one of the leads in David Greig’s new play Outlying Islands. For 20 minutes an audience of theatre critics was treated to the sight of his naked bottom as it bobbed up and down on top of his nude co-star Lesley Hart. From a certain angle you could see his outlying islands too.

This unexpected bit of nudity has set the tone for this year’s most unlikely festival theme. The weather may be chilly, but currently there are more naked bodies to be seen in Edinburgh than on a beach in Ibiza.

At least the unrobing for Greig’s play at the Traverse was essential to the plot. At the launch of their show Head Games, the members of the Strawberry Theatre Company were much more direct. After the three leading men treated their audience to a full-frontal display, one of the players laid bare their reasoning: “We need cash!”

Naked bodies in Edinburgh are normally well hidden behind chintzy Morningside curtains but the festival has traditionally allowed a temporary suspension of Calvinist decency. One of the most famous events of the 1960s, the International Writer’s Festival, was enlivened by the appearance of a naked woman being wheeled on a dolly around the balcony of the Usher Hall. At the time the dollybird on the dolly caused outrage. Now she would have to do more than just stand there; there’s plenty of competition in town.

In Edinburgh this year the bodies tend to gyrate, be painted odd colours, or be pierced with more items of ironmongery than your granny’s cutlery drawer. The selling power of the scantily clad is a showbiz sure bet, but still the naive need to be protected. The fringe programme insists that suitable Keep Away signs are posted so that the easily offended will choose less gamey fare.

Some shows, such as Telling Wilde Tales, a reworking of Oscar Wilde’s fairy tales performed at the Southside Venue, coyly note that they contain “some brief nudity”. Others are more frank. “Not for the squeamish!” boasts Anky Park Productions’ version of Brendan Behan’s Borstal Boy. “Nudity and strong language.”

Like the warnings that precede Friday night films on Channel 5 these public-service announcements may pretend to protect the morals of theatregoers, but they’re intended to whip the public into a frenzy, not turn away the innocent.

Normally this chilly Northern capital is not a place that one associates with libertinism. Until recently Edinburgh had its own guardian of public morals. The appropriately named Councillor Moira Knox was a one-woman decency patrol who could be relied upon to fulminate against blasphemy, nudity or profanity. She always had her work cut out during August.

When the Jim Rose Circus rolled into town a few years ago, all her Sodom and Gomorrahs had come at once. The thought of a man lifting heavy weights with the aid of his membrum virile was too much for even Councillor Knox and she quit the public scene soon after.

Sadly no one has taken her role. Nowadays the city fathers prefer to turn a blind eye in public to such antics, and may even try to sneak in to see what all the fuss is about.

It’s not just on stage that performers can be seen unclothed. Martin Hunt, the promoter behind many of the rudest acts on this year’s fringe, enjoys adding spice to the many parties which occur in the next few weeks. Last year he was accompanied to the Galleries bash, which had the theme of “Heaven and Hell”, by two half-naked young men, one dressed as a devil, the other as an angel. This year’s theme is “Gold” and there are already concerns at the amount of body paint which will be splashed about. As Shirley Eaton showed in Goldfinger, just remember to leave a patch where the skin can breathe.

Insulated by the rush of adrenalin or the glow of a few drinks beforehand, few festival performers seem to feel the chill. By week four, when energy levels start to flag, there will be a few nasty colds doing the rounds if all this public unveiling carries on. Whatever happens, until the weather clears up I’m keeping my vest on.

THERE was a time when the Edinburgh Festival Fringe was guaranteed to shock. Whether it was Jim Rose skewering himself live on stage or a blasphemous interpretation of the Bible, there was always one show that would have the moral majority incandescent with rage.

Three years ago that was the case when the play, Corpus Christi, dubbed the "Gay Jesus Play", was performed at the Bedlam. There was such outrage that it even provoked a Fatwa - a death sentence issued by the Shari’ah Court of the UK - to be passed on playwright Terrence McNally.

And last year Scott Capurro allegedly notched up a record number of walk-outs at the Assembly Rooms with his play F****** Our Fathers, which according to one reviewer contained "shameless references to paedophilia and incest (which) were blatantly voiced to shock and offend."

But this year, with the exception of drag queen, Tina C whose act is a questionable tribute to the September 11 attacks on the Twin Towers and the play Stitching, which has been accused of exploiting the Moors murders, the guardians of the Capital’s morals have had a fairly quiet time.

And even though there’s a definite increase in the number of productions featuring sex and nudity, there have been few walk-outs or "shocked of Morningside" letters to the papers.

In previous years, former Tory councillor and champion of decency and common sense, Moira Knox, could have expected her phone to be ringing off the hook by now, but this year she’s only had one tip-off and even she believes the edge has gone as the public get fed up and immune to "filth on the Fringe".

"I’ve not actually had many calls in the last couple of years, and that’s wonderful," she says. "However, the one I have had this year concerned nudity. Three naked men were walking around the restaurant of the Festival Theatre to advertise their play while people were there with their children. I’m not a prude but if nudity was acceptable we’d all be walking around without any clothes on, wouldn’t we?"

Ironically, Head Games - the play to which she refers - revolves around a theatre company who deliberately set out to outrage by staging a gay play with gratuitous nudity to put bums on seats and get them out of a financial crisis.

It seems the line between art and reality is increasingly blurred, and with just one call to Ms Knox, it might also seem nudity is no longer shocking.

Ms Knox says: "I am appalled that shocking theatre should be inflicted on the public in this way, but I mean, I’ve got gay friends and they are lovely but they don’t shove it in my face."

She adds: "Last year there was an incident on the High Street where an actor lay in the street covered in blood to promote a show. One lady got terrible upset and it ended up in the papers. I think people were so disgusted by that stunt there has been a definite reaction and they’re not going to these shows.

"We have the best International Festival in the world and these people are coming in on the back of it, but I’m past being angry, it’s pathetic if this is what they have to do to get people in to see them."

Of course there’s no such thing as bad publicity, as Ms Knox discovered when she described one theatre company as "a load of dirty bissoms." They put her castigation on their poster and promptly sold out.

A point festivals tsar, Councillor Steve Cardownie, is quick to pick up. "There was a time when people would come to Edinburgh intent on shocking and making money. The first person they would contact was Moira. Maybe now there’s less place for these companies because they know that Moira - who hasn’t been in politics for four years - is no longer around."

This year, since the Fringe started, Cllr Cardownie reveals he is yet to get a complaint. "Because people can put on what they want, there are some years when there will be more controversial productions than others.

"However, I would never step in because a show was deemed by some to be offensive. I’ve always said if a show is breaking the law it is a matter for the police and there are tried and tested legal methods for getting that play removed.

"I’m not in the business of censorship, adults should be free to go and see what they want to as long as scenes likely to shock are brought to the attention of people before they purchase a ticket."

That stance, he believes, lends the Fringe its vibrancy. "People know they are free to come up here and sink or swim depending on the strength of their production," he says.

Surprisingly, Fringe director Paul Gudgin is reticent about suggestions that the Fringe has finally cleaned up its image.

He says: "It almost feels as if there is more controversial stuff than ever this year, even though boundaries have definitely been pushed further over the years."

He admits nudity alone no longer causes controversy, but adds: "In terms of cutting edge productions I think the Fringe still delivers. If you look at all the shows dealing with September 11, it goes right from your big Hollywood stars to students doing their take on it, and then you’ve also got comedians. That is pretty edgy really."

HE adds: "Then there’s the Traverse which is a serious venue that is still managing to find work that is so challenging people feel the need to walk out, like Stitching."

He reveals though that there is one show, he refuses to name it, which involves frozen faeces being passed around in condoms - which is the sort of stunt theatre critic Thom Dibdin says is being used this year in a bid to break societies remaining taboos. He says: "The play of the moment is Stitching. It focuses on a couple having a violent confrontation about whether they should have a baby. They talk about things in real life, about disturbed acts by very disturbed people, but art has always addressed issues like this."

And Mr Dibdin stresses that, unlike other shows, Stitching isn’t about putting bums on seats. He says: "We find it is disturbing because it makes us think. The difference is, in the past to be cutting edge a piece like that would have involved nudity. It would have depicted the brutalisation, but nowadays we don’t need to see any of that because through the media we already know what all that looks like."

And he suggests that perhaps the reason there appears to be less controversial shows on this years Fringe is because we are maturing as an audience.

Mr Dibdin adds: "Our imaginations are now capable of going to places that maybe they couldn’t before. On the Fringe there is always going to be mainstream bulls*** people are going to go and see, but every year there is still something really groundbreaking. Something that surprises, and that’s the beauty of the Fringe. At the beginning there were six shows and five of them were good. Now there are 600 . . . but obviously there’s not 500 of them that are going to be good."

Director of Head Games, Jeff Moody, also believes the viewing public has grown up. "As the Fringe has gone on and there has been more nudity or controversial works out there, people have got used to it. We’ve got seven naked actors on stage and when we did the showcase there were people who hated it, but at least they saw it before condemning it out of hand.

"It’s sad but people will go to see a show because it has nudity. But we are not peddling pornography. It’s comedy."

So it would seem that rather than the Fringe become less controversial, the Fringe audience has grown up. Dour old Presbyterian Edinburgh has relaxed and found its sense of humour.

WITH just 48 hours’ notice to appear in a Fringe play, Alan Hunter did not have time to ask about his role in detail before he accepted.

But as the script was dictated by mobile phone as he travelled from London to Edinburgh, he was told he would have to strip naked.

Jeff Moody, the director of Head Games, said the original leading man dropped out when a close relative fell ill. Hunter was auditioned on Saturday night and got on the first train on Sunday.

Mr Hunter, 22, from Paisley, said: "I thought, ‘OK I’ll give it a shot.’ I had absolutely no idea there was nudity in the play. The first I heard of it was when Jeff dictated to me on the train the stage direction, ‘Eddie walks on naked’. I can honestly say it is a day I will never forget."

Speaking of playwrights, St. Louisan Scott Miller is in Scotland, where his comedy "Head Games" is on the bill at the prestigious Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Miller, artistic director of New Line Theatre here, said he is thrilled with the popularity that the play - a satire of the growing gay comedy genre - has enjoyed since it debuted three years ago at the old St. Marcus Theatre. After the four-week run in Edinburgh, it will tour Britain.

In August 1999, New Line Theatre’s Out of Line Productions presented the world premiere of the adult comedy, Head Games, written by New Line artistic director Scott Miller, at the St. Marcus Theatre here in St. Louis. Now Miller and Head Games have been invited to Scotland to be a part of the prestigious international Edinburgh Fringe Festival. “Head Games” will run for four weeks in Scotland, opening August 2. For more info about New Line Theatre, visit www.newlinetheatre.com.

For information on producing Head Games, call us at 314-773-6526 or e-mail NewChaz64@aol.com. Head Games contains adult language and content, and full frontal nudity. For info on Out of Line Productions' 1998 production of Party click here. For information on New Line Theatre's regular season, visit the New Line Homepage.