Rhymes with Purple Productions was formed in 2005 to produce thought provoking theatre that entertains and delights todays audiences rather than distancing them. We want to bring people back into the theatre and create work for Scottish artists that leaves Scottish audiences feeling entertained again.
A new writing company which also stages classic texts with a contemporary twist, Rhymes with Purple has produced four critically acclaimed plays over the last 5 years. Our debut production, A Work in Progress - a fast-paced and irreverent re-interpretation of some of the key moments in theatrical history - sold out its preview run at the Tron Theatre and went on to be the top-selling show at its 2005 Fringe venue.
In 2006 RwP's second project was a production of Lazybed by Iain Crichton Smith which again sold-out its week long run at the Tron Theatre. Rhymes with Purple then debuted its second piece of new work at the Edinburgh Fringe 2007 – the piece, Waiting for Groucho, was an imagined conversation between Harpo & Chico Marx as they await the return of their brother Groucho. This well-researched history of The Marx Brothers told through an imagined, anarchic and slowly fading memory enjoyed a hugely successful Fringe run before selling out on the opening night of a week at the Tron Theatre the following October. The show was in such demand it war reprised at smaller venues across the country over the following six months.
2008 saw Rhymes with Purple's first commissioned play, Man in a Bath, for Glasgow festival of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues, Glasgay! - an exploration of those intimate thoughts we have when carrying out the most mundane and regular of activities, when we are totally alone in our own headspace, Man in a Bath was a parallel run between the dull & the downright dirty.
Rhymes with Purple also maintain an active role in cabaret and variety entertainment and run regular sell-out cabaret and comedy nights across central Scotland and manage the Glasgow branch of worldwide art/cabaret phenomenon Dr Sketchy’s Anti-Art School at The Arches. In 2009, Rhymes with Purple produced the first Glasgow Cabaret Festival, a week-long celebration of cabaret as a legitimate art form which will return in Summer 2011.
In order to continue producing diverse and ambitious work, we need support. There is limited
funding for the arts in Scotland and although we work tirelessly to raise money for each project,
it is still not enough. We need your help.
If you or your company are passionate about the arts and want to help a young, developing company through direct funding, sponsorship, investment or negotiable assistance, please contact us.
Images from Lazybed, Waiting for Groucho, The Rocky Horror Tribute Show,
Dr Sketchy's Anti-Art School, Tease & Cakes & Rock Radio 1st Birthday