Idle Hive Studios open today at Edinburgh Fringe with All In, a “gripping, tense two-hander about love, power and the fallout of addiction. Before the new name. Before the clean slate. There’s one night left to face everything that still hurts.
On the eve of entering witness protection, Henry and Marianne are allowed a final reckoning. Locked in a pressure cooker of memory and desire, they pick at wounds that never healed.
Secrets spill. Power shifts. The line between care and control begins to blur. Some things can’t be buried. Some people can’t be left behind. So do you stay or go?”
Where: Olive Studio at Greenside @ George Street
When: 2 – 16 Aug
Ticket link: https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/all-in
Director Imogen Gray and writer Imogen Strachan tell us more.
What was the process of developing All In, and what inspired it?
All In at the Edinburgh Fringe is the word premiere of writer and actor Imogen Strachan’s debut play.
On writing the play, Imogen Strachan says:
‘Addiction has been close to me most of my life, especially through relationships, and it’s often the silence around it that’s the most damaging.
A couple of years ago, I began researching gambling and was struck by how rarely we talk about it in women (particularly high-functioning women) who seem to be coping. I found something uniquely devastating about an addiction that hides behind competence, care, and control.
I first began writing All In while taking classes at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. I was really inspired by Martin Crimp’s dialogue at the time, his sharpness and rhythm. The first drafts were definitely echoing that. But over time, the voice shifted to sound more like mine, and I won’t lie it was a very cathartic process.”
Working collaboratively with the actors in the rehearsal room, we continued to work dramaturgically through the play, creating new iterations and making new discoveries. The play you see onstage at the Edinburgh Fringe has been organically crafted with and by our actors and the process has been incredibly exciting and fulfilling.
Why should people come and see it and what might they expect?
‘Women are uniquely skilled at keeping it all together while falling apart’ says UK charity Gordon Moody who, in 2021, set up the world’s first rehabilitation centre for women struggling with gambling-related issues.
Last year numbers of applicants to their women’s residential programme doubled, demonstrating the urgency of this under-discussed and under-funded issue.
All In is a gripping two-hander, exploring the silent realities of female gambling addiction, and the breakdown of a relationship as a result of it. It is a fast-paced drama, with humour and poignancy.
At our preview at the Drayton Arms in London on the 29 Jul, audience responses included ‘heart wrenching, hilarious and devastating’, ‘exhilarating’, ‘shocking’, and ‘you have to see this’.
25% of profits made on the show will be donated to Gordon Moody.
How did you make a start in the business? Do you find Fringe festivals inspiring?
Idle Hive Studios is a theatre company conceptualised by Imogen Strachan to promote new work from emerging artists.
We are all recent graduates starting out in the business and thought there was no better place to come and make that happen than at the Edinburgh Fringe.
For the majority of us it’s our very first time not only at the Festival but in Edinburgh, and so far it has been an absolutely amazing experience – inspiring, exciting, and a true delight to perform amidst world-class talent at the most iconic theatre festival in the world!
What are you looking forward to most in Edinburgh?
Connecting with other inspiring creatives is a huge one for me – the Fringe is such a melting pot of people from all over the world working across different artistic disciplines, and getting to see boundary pushing, innovative, and incredibly original work all in one city is simply awesome.
We’ve only been in Edinburgh for a couple of days, but already the people we’ve met have inspired us and excited us even more for what’s to come. This definitely won’t be our last Fringe!
What’s next for the show?
Maybe more performances, maybe a tour, maybe taking over the world?!
Jokes aside… we are so excited to be in Edinburgh, and writer Imogen Strachan is keen to further develop the play after the festival.
She says that Edinburgh has given her the perfect platform to learn and experiment with her writing and is interested in expanding the current 40-minute show into a full length play. Watch this space!