beauty

beauty by Claire Wood
Performances August 7th – 12th inclusive, The Royal Scots Club 9pm

Internationally renowned photographer and one time enfant terrible of the London art scene, Ty now resides in the quiet Perthshire countryside with his girlfriend, French model and actress, Heloise. His next exhibition is scheduled but he currently has nothing to show. Trying to capture the perfect image of beauty he begins photographing teenagers. Heloise senses trouble. His agent, Callum doesn’t care as long as he delivers the exhibition on time. With Operation Yewtree looming large on the horizon, down on her luck journalist Justine sets out to score a scoop.

This is a brand new piece of theatre for the Edinburgh Fringe by Claire Wood that takes a magnifying glass to the phenomena of celebrity in our 24-hour news cycle world. Wood describes her work as “A modern day witch hunt. I’m interested in the rise of fake news, the pressure journalists are put under to create a story out of nothing and the resulting endless fascination with celebrity. The halo effect of fame and the entourage that ensues; and what really constitutes beauty in a postmodern
world where everyone fights for their 15 minutes of fame.”

Claire Wood’s previous works include Likes, 2016 SCDA One Act Festival, a short film for National Theatre Scotland’s 24 hour theatre outing during the Scottish Referendum and La Cirque de Muerta, a piece written for the album launch of Edinburgh band The Stantons. Wood enjoys mixing mediums in her work and for last year’s Edinburgh Fringe directed a sell out production of a Midsummer’s
Night Dream which incorporated jazz covers of popular music.

Art, celebrity and censorship collide with disturbing consequences in this fast-paced new work. What price freedom? What price fame? And what price must we ultimately pay for love?