Bedlam Theatre is a fully operational, 90 seat theatre housed in a former Neogothicchurch at the foot of George IV Bridge in central Edinburgh. It is owned by the University of Edinburgh, and notable for being the oldest student-run theatre in Britain. During the summer, Bedlam Fringe is run as a separate enterprise, Bedlam being a long-standing Edinburgh Fringe venue. Outside the Fringe, Bedlam is run by and home to the Edinburgh UniversityTheatre Company. They are so associated with the building that its members are often termed "Bedlamites", though the EUTC can and has staged performances in other venues since moving into Bedlam Theatre. Bedlam and the EUTC have hosted Edinburgh's longest running improvised comedy troupe, The Improverts, since their inception.
History
Bedlam Theatre is the former New NorthFree Church, which was built in the 1840s and designed by Thomas Hamilton, an architect involved in the creation of Edinburgh's New Town. It is on the site of the old city poorhouse, and the name "Bedlam" is a to the nearby site of the city's first mental health hospital, where the poet Robert Fergusson died. After the building was abandoned by the church in 1937, the building was given to University of Edinburgh, who used it for various purposes including a furniture store and a Chaplaincy building. During the 1977 Festival Fringe, whilst the building was still under control of the Chaplaincy, a musical adaptation of Master and Margarita written by Richard Crane and directed by his wife Faynia Williams was presented at the venue by the University of Bradford Drama Group. It went on to win a Fringe First award, garnering excellent reviews and became an iconic tale of success at the Fringe. This production showed that the building had potential as a theatre. The EUTC was founded in 1896 as the Edinburgh University Drama Society. It adopted its current name in the 1970s. The EUTC were given sole residency of the Bedlam Theatre building on 31 January 1980.
The EUTC is one of several amateur dramatics societies affiliated to the Edinburgh University Students' Association.. The EUTC is responsible for most aspects the theatre's administration and produces the vast majority of its shows. Most members of the EUTC are students or former students of the University of Edinburgh. Shows are proposed to the EUTC at a General Meeting, where they are selected by a general vote. All show proposals must have, at the very least, a director, producer, technician and stage manager or set manager. Once a show is selected, it will be fully supported by the EUTC, who also provide a block grant depending on the show's classification. The company stages a show most weeks during term time. The standard schedule consists of Lunchtimes, Mainterms and Festivals. The most important Festivals take place in Freshers Week and early January. These can be supplemented with Extraordinaries, which are usually one of performances which do not fit easily into any of the previous categories. The EUTC runs the Bedlam Youth Project aims to introduce children to the various disciplines of theatre. In 2009, they visited Brussels to help run 'Featlets', a youth theatre subsidiary of the Festival of European Anglophone Theatre Societies. In 2016, children were involved in a week long Easter camp at Bedlam Theatre, where they devised and performed their interpretation of The Jungle Book, with the assistance of the Youth Project Team.
The Improverts
Bedlam's longest running show is the acclaimed improvised comedy troupe The Improverts. They perform every year at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and every Friday night at 10:30 during termtime. They are Edinburgh's longest-running improv troupe.
Alumni
Friends of Bedlam is the alumni association for the EUTC and its predecessors. Well known alumni include:
Bedlam Fringe (Venue 49)
Bedlam Theatre has operated as Venue 49 in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe since it was given to the EUTC in 1980. Today, Bedlam Fringe is almost completely separate from the termtime EUTC, who hand over control of Bedlam on 1 June each year. It is run by a Fringe Venue Manager, who for historical and liaison reasons is technically a member of the termtime EUTC Committee. However, they and other members of the senior management team are technically volunteers for the Edinburgh University Students' Association, who report to EUSA and receive a EUSA honorarium rather than a wage. Other Bedlam Fringe staff are EUSA employees. The Fringe Venue Manager must allocate at least one slot to productions selected by the EUTC. The EUTC usually has two slots allocated to it; one is traditionally taken up by The Improverts , and the other by a theatrical production. Many award winning Fringe shows have been hosted by Venue 49. In 2008, Eight, a piece of original writing by EUTC member Ella Hickson, produced by the EUTC, won a Scotsman Fringe First Award, the Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award and an NSDFEmerging Artists Award going on to play London, New York and Florida Theatres to critical acclaim.
