In many ways, 2019 has been our biggest year yet as a company, because we finally fulfilled out longstanding ambition to share our own work, with the staging and tour of Jock Tamson’s Bairns.
In February 2019, we took Jock Tamson’s Bairns on a seven-date national tour, including performances at the Big Burns Supper, Paisley Arts Centre, the CCA and Assembly Roxy – all part of the official LGBT History Month programme in Scotland. Barry was subsequently awarded Creative Scotland funding to develop and elevate the show, and in the summer of 2019 we were named a finalist at the inaugural Proud Scotland Awards for our community engagement work with Jock Tamson’s Bairns as well as our public debate series at Fringe Central.
Another highlight early on in the year was our work on the Stigma project, when HIV Scotland commissioned us to create and perform a site-specific, immersive experience for the launch of their annual review. This interactive performance aimed to engage unsuspecting event attendees, exploring the role of medical professionals in either alleviating or reinforcing stigma and alienation around HIV and Aids.
In August 2019, we delivered three performances of Jock Tamson’s Bairns at Ghillie Dhu as part of the Free Fringe programme, in addition to supporting a full programme of brilliant artists/shows, including: stunning musical smash hit Josephine, about Josephine Baker; breathtaking Spirit of the Fringe-winner Interbeing; Carys Eleri’s hilarious Lovecraft: Not the Sex Shop in Cardiff (supported by the Wales Millennium Centre); Alex Curtis’ sweet and imaginative clown storytelling, Chalk; Pittsburgh Theatre of Music’s beautiful, multi-discipline love story The Gray Cat and the Flounder, and Kirsty Law’s magical, Made in Scotland-supported Young Night Though.
For the second year running, we also created and hosted three busy public debates at Fringe Central, in partnership with the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society. This year’s series (called Pick Up a Brick) marked the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall uprising and looked at queer art as activism, LGBT education, and women’s representation in the arts, with some truly amazing guest panellists, including Kirsten Vangsness (Criminal Minds), Ben Walters (Time Out, The Scotsman) as well as our own company member and go-to drag artist, Ewan James Armstrong (of X-Factor, Bugle Boys and Jock Tamson’s Bairns fame).
Find out more about our 2019 Edinburgh Fringe highlights.
Finally, to top things off, in the autumn of 2019 we found out that Civil Disobedience had won the Scottish Enterprise Award 2019 for Leading Producers in Performance Art.
2019 highlights:
- Staging in-house show, Jock Tamson’s Bairns
- National LGBT History Month tour of Jock Tamson’s Bairns
- HIV Scotland Stigma commission
- Finalist in the 2019 Proud Scotland Awards
- Performing own show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
- Winning Scottish Enterprise 2019 ‘Leading Producers’ award
wearecivildisobedience.com 