PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
 TWO NEW PRODUCTIONS IN SCOTLAND, ABOUT TRANS LIVES, IN 2016
 AN INTERNATIONAL CALL OUT FOR TRANS PEOPLE TO TAKE PART INTHE ADAM WORLD
CHOIR
WORLD PREMIERES
The National Theatre of Scotland presents
EVE/ADAM - two stories about trans lives
Supported by the Mental Health Foundation
The National Theatre of Scotland is proud to announce the world premiere of Eve/Adam, a new
double bill of productions exploring two extraordinary lives in transition, created by a team of
leading Scottish and UK theatre artists including Cora Bissett, Chris Goode and Jo Clifford.
Eve/Adam is a timely and theatrical exploration of the complexities and challenges facing trans
people, using an innovative intertwining of personal testimony, storytelling, composition and mass
digital media.
Touring to Glasgow and Edinburgh in October 2016
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EVE
Written by Jo Clifford and Chris Goode
Performed by Jo Clifford
Eve, performed by acclaimed playwright and performer Jo Clifford, offers audiences an authentic
and intimate insight into the real life experiences of a trans person. The performance is a profound
reflection on one trans woman's life, from an oppressive 1950s boyhood to the present day.
Following her turbulent life journey through a time of huge personal, social and political change, Eve
celebrates the victories of survival and self-actualization.
A deeply personal piece that speaks generously to, and for, a much wider community, Eve is a
performance in which the smallest details of everyday life can open up cracks through which
memories, dreams and reflections flood in. Performed with warmth and humour, passion and anger,
Eve invites audiences into the most intimate relationship with the story of an individual’s life.
Eve is created by ground-breaking writer and performer Jo Clifford (The Gospel According to Jesus
Queen of Heaven) and the award-winning theatre-maker Chris Goode (Men in the Cities and Sisters).
Jo was the first openly transgendered woman playwright to have had a play produced on London’s
West End stage. Jo Clifford and Chris Goode are also collaborating on Jo’s play Every One which
receives its English premiere at Battersea Arts Centre, London in March 2016.
ADAM
Conceived for the stage and directed by Cora Bissett, written by Frances Poet, music score
composed by Jocelyn Pook and video design /set design by Jack Henry James
Adam is directed by award-winning theatre director Cora Bissett (co-creator of Glasgow Girls, Rites
and Roadkill) with a score composed by Jocelyn Pook (Stage Works British Composer Award winner
in 2012 for her soundtrack to DESH) and written by playwright and dramaturg Frances Poet. The
production delves into the true story of a young trans man and his journey to reconciliation, with
himself, those closest to him, and the world as he knows it.
Adam was born into a girl’s body in Egypt. But Adam always knew that he was really a boy. A boy,
trapped in a girl’s body. In a deeply conservative society, Adam had no way to describe this feeling.
In a place where falling in love with the wrong person can get you killed, Adam had to escape.
Fleeing alone, Adam finds himself in a tiny room in Glasgow on the edge of despair. He manages to
get online and ask the question; ‘Can the soul of a boy be trapped in the body of a girl?’ What
happened was beyond Adam’s wildest dreams. A catalyst to begin the epic journey for the right to
change his body, to the boy he knows himself to be. Adam is the remarkable, true story of that
journey.
Featuring a score sung by a virtual choir of trans and non-binary individuals from across the world,
Adam is both a bold exploration of the experience of a young transgender person and an ambitious
experiment with theatrical form, blending storytelling, classical composition and mass digital
elements from participants from around the globe.
The National Theatre of Scotland is inviting trans and non-binary individuals to take part in the
production. The Company is seeking to create a global digital community choir – The Adam World
Choir. The Adam World Choir will bring together voices from the online trans community to be an
integral part of Adam.
All Singers are welcome to join, whatever their level of experience. The deadline is 21 March 2016.
For any questions regarding participation in The Adam World Choir, and for details on how to join,
please contact the Choir Project Manager, Leonie Gasson leonie.gasson@nationaltheatrescotland.com
Transgender experiences, and stories of trans men and women have become increasingly
highlighted in recent times through the media and high profile TV programmes and films including
biographical-drama film The Danish Girl and the Amazon TV Series Transparent. Eve/Adam is
supported by the Mental Health Foundation and will be part of the tenth year programme for the
Scottish Mental Health Arts and Film Festival, which runs from 10-31 October. Further details about
the partnership will be announced later this year.
Cora Bissett, director of Adam says
“I first saw Adam perform a short monologue about his incredible journey as part of the 'Here we
Stay' Community performance organised by the Scottish Refugee Council and the Citizens learning
team at the Citizens Theatre in 2013. It made a deep impression on me and I approached Adam and
maintained contact over these years.
I am delighted to bring Adam’s story, which is one not only of struggle, but inspiration, bravery,
survival and love, back to the Citizens to a far wider audience at this pertinent time in our society's
evolution.”
Jo Clifford –writer and performer – Eve says
Being trans has informed all my work in the theatre but this opportunity to share my own story as a
writer and performer is unique. I am so fortunate to have the gifted theatre-maker Chris Goode to
guide me through the challenging experience of creating this incredibly personal piece of work. It
matters so much to me that my story should be told the same evening as Adam’s, and that this
amazing project is being produced by the National Theatre of Scotland. As a nation, Scotland is also
on a journey of discovery and grappling with the issues of how to create a welcoming country that is
committed to ending all forms of discrimination.”
Andrew Eaton-Lewis, arts lead for the Mental Health Foundation, says “The negative impact of
stigma and prejudice on the mental health of transgender people is well documented, so we’re
delighted to support a project which is about telling stories of transgender lives in a positive and
empowering way. We will be working with the National Theatre of Scotland throughout this year to
find ways of telling even more of these stories – and to highlight issues around community,
representation, human rights and mental health.”
Join the conversation: #EveAdam
On sale and venue information available at www.nationaltheatrescotland.com
NATIONAL THEATRE OF SCOTLAND PRESS OFFICE CONTACTS:
Emma Schad - Press Manager – emma.schad@nationaltheatrescotland.com
Tel: +44 (0)227 9016 M: +44 (0)7930 308018
Flora Mackeddie - Press Office – flora.mackeddie@nationaltheatrescotland.com
Tel: +44 (0)227 9016 M: +44 (0)7889381492
Follow the National Theatre of Scotland’s press office on Twitter @NTS_press
Press Images: there is a selection of images for current productions available for download from
www.nationaltheatrescotland.com/press - please contact the press office for a password.
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. The National Theatre of Scotland is dedicated to playing the great stages, arts centres,
village halls, schools and site-specific locations of Scotland, the UK and internationally. As
well creating ground-breaking productions and working with the most talented theatremakers, the National Theatre of Scotland produces significant community engagement
projects, innovates digitally and works constantly to develop new talent. Central to this is
finding pioneering ways to reach current and new audiences and to encourage people’s
full participation in the Company’s work. With no performance building of its own, the
Company works with existing and new venues and companies to create and tour theatre
of the highest quality.
Founded in 2006, the Company, in its short life, has become a globally significant
theatrical player, with an extensive repertoire of award-winning work. The National
Theatre of Scotland is supported by the Scottish Government.
www.nationaltheatrescotland.com
2. The Mental Health Foundation is a UK charity aiming to inform and influence the
development of evidence-based mental health policy at the national and local
government level. In tandem, they help people to access information about the steps they
can take to look after their own mental health. The charities work stems from their long
history of working directly with people living with or at risk of developing mental health
problems and wants continue to empower people to take action when problems are at an
early stage. The Mental Health Foundation is a UK charity that relies on public donations
and grant funding to deliver and campaign for good mental health for all.
www.mentalhealth.org.uk , For more information regarding the Scottish Mental Health
Arts and Film Festival please visit www.mhfestival.com
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ARTIST BIOGRAPHIES 2016
Cora Bissett - Director- Adam
Cora is a director, actor, songwriter and Artistic Director of her company Pachamama which she
launched in 2010 with the multi-award winning Roadkill (Pachamama/ Ankur Productions). Roadkill
won an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in an Affiliate Theatre, 2012, as well as various
other awards including an Amnesty International Award for Freedom of Speech. Her production of
Janis Joplin: Full Tilt opens at Theatre Royal Stratford East in February 2016.
Cora has previously worked with the National Theatre of Scotland as co-creator/director of Rites
(2015), Glasgow Girls (Theatre Royal Stratford East, Citizens Theatre, Richard Jordan Productions Ltd
and Pachamama Productions, in association with Merrigong Theatre Company) winner of Best New
Musical 2013 at the Off West End Theatre Awards and as an actor with The Wolves in the Walls.
Other artistic co-creating/directing credits include Whatever Gets You Through the Night (The
Arches) and Janis Joplin: Full Tilt (Òran Mór) and GRIT-The Martyn Bennett Story (Pachamama
Productions), a large scale cross-form production for the Glasgow 2014 Cultural Programme which
celebrated the life of the late Scottish musical maverick.
Frances Poet - Writer- Adam
Frances is a Glasgow-based playwright with fifteen years of experience working in theatres across
the UK as a dramaturg and Literary Manager. Her debut play, Faith Fall, was presented at Oran Mor
and Bristol's Tobacco Factory in 2012. Since then she has completed two “Classic Cuts” for Oran
Mor; The Misanthrope (after Moliere), and a version of Racine’s Andromaque which also played at
The Byre Theatre, St Andrews. Frances's radio drama, The Disappointed, aired on BBC Radio Scotland
in 2015 and her short film, Spores, starring Maureen Beattie and Lorraine McIntosh is due to
premiere in 2016. Frances is also adapting a new version of August Strindberg’s Dance of Death
which will be produced at the Citizen’s Theatre Studio in April 2016.
Jo Clifford - Writer and Performer- Eve
Jo Clifford is the author of about 90 plays, adaptations and translations, many of which have been
performed all over the world. Work Includes Losing Venice, Ines de Castro, Light In The Village, Life Is
A Dream, Celestina, Every One, Faust Parts One & Two, & The Tree Of Knowledg and Great
Expectations. Revivals of her work in 2015 include Great Expectations (Dundee and Tokyo); Anna
Karenina (Manchester’s Royal Exchange and the West Yorkshire Playhouse) ; Ines de Castro The
Opera (music by James MacMillan) at Scottish Opera; The Gospel According To Jesus Queen Of
Heaven (Summerhall, Edinburgh Festival Fringe). Also in 2015, her new play: Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde,
toured the UK, produced by Sell A Door Theatre Company. In 2016 she is performing Jesus Queen Of
Heaven at the Queer Contact Festival in Manchester; at the Festival Internacional de Teatro in Belo
Horizonte, Brazil, and the Outburst Arts Festival, Belfast. She is an Associate Artist of Chris Goode
and Company. She is a proud father and grandmother. She lives in Edinburgh. More info on
www.teatrodomundo.com
Chris Goode - Writer- Eve
Chris Goode is a writer, director, performer and musician, and lead artist of Chris Goode & Company.
His diverse body of work has been seen in venues ranging from Sydney Opera House and Tate
Modern to the most marginal spaces on the London fringe. His credits include four Fringe First
award-winning shows: Men in the Cities, Monkey Bars, Kiss of Life, and (with Unlimited Theatre)
Neutrino; he also won the Headlong/Gate New Directions Award for his radical version of Chekhov,
...SISTERS, at the Gate Theatre. Chris is a former artistic director of Camden People's Theatre and he
now directs the all-male ensemble Ponyboy Curtis. His first full-length critical book is The Forest and
the Field (Oberon), and he is the host of the theatre podcast Thompson's Live, now in its third
season. In March 2016, Chris will direct Jo Clifford's play Every One at Battersea Arts Centre.
ENDS