St Paul’s Returns to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival

This summer St Paul’s returns to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, with its recent production, ‘Grey Matter’.

The production, which enjoyed rave reviews, is planning to perform at C Nova 3 from 21 – 29 August and will feature a group of Eighth-Formers directed by Andrew Broughton, with Dan Staniforth as technical manager.

Saddened by the death of renowned neurologist Oliver Sacks (OP), the creative team questioned whether the exceptional humanity shown by Sacks in his writings might survive in a future where neurological research will play an increasing role in our every-day lives. To this end, the play introduces a victim of hemispatial neglect, a condition described by Sacks in ‘The Man who Mistook his Wife for a Hat’, into a dystopian future based on a proposal made by psychologist Adrian Raine in his recent book ‘The Anatomy of Violence’ where eighteen-year-olds are subject to mandatory neurological tests, with those assessed over 79% likely to commit an act of violence incarcerated in a secure neurotreatment facility. With a combination of naturalistic drama and physical theatre with projection on to the actors’ bodies, the play imagines what would happen when some of the nation’s most dangerous young men are locked up together, whilst asking questions about free will and the importance of risk-taking.

To learn more about the play and the team’s fund-raising campaign visit here.