Fringe benefits

ALL budding playwright Alexander Gerald Wright wants to do at the moment is put his work on stage and see what the public makes of it. "I'd like to talk to all the audience to see if they liked it. At present, it's trying to find out the style that people like," he says.

No doubt vocal Scottish audiences will not be slow telling him what they think of his play Tapestry, which is being staged at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

The 19-year-old from York has set up what's labelled "a young and enthusiastic" theatre company, Belt Up (Nothing To See/Hear) to stage a show that blurs the boundaries between traditional theatre genres and live art happenings.

Tapestry, the company's first major theatrical production, takes the audience "on a journey through love, life, loss, religion and addiction". Something for everyone, you might say.

It mixes poetry, monologue dialogue and prose with the help of six actors.

The play was first performed two years ago at Easingwold School, near York, when Wright was a pupil there. "It went really well there and I was really pleased," he says.

"Last year I went to university and got the chance to do the play at the Newcastle University Theatre Society drama festival, so we took it up there.

"Again, the Edinburgh show is a new production and with a new cast. We had to cut it to 45 minutes because of the time slot, which is nice because it keeps it really fresh," says Wright, who's just completed the first year of his degree course in writing for performance at York University.

"Belt Up has loads of new ideas how to excite an audience and make theatre really exciting again. At the moment, it's trying to find out what people like."

Taking a show to the Fringe involved a lot of fund-raising to finance the trip for Wright, the six-strong cast and three or four technicians.

"We had a lot of support from people who saw the play the first time round, including people from school. We don't have one major sponsor, but a lot of donations from a lot of people," he says.

Belt Up Theatre is also co-producing, and Wright directing, a new production of Irvine Welsh's Trainspotting at the festival. It's a risk because the story, based on the book famously filmed by Danny Boyle, is set in Edinburgh. "It's quite an old play and can be quite dated," says Wright.

"We've tried to rejuvenate it and make it exciting and fresh, visually and emotionally. The characters are really energetic and easy to listen to, and get thrown into the underground drugs world. It's a little known play compared to the film, so it's getting people interested in the play and living up to the film."

Wright has been involved in theatre "for a long while" and has been directing since he was in the sixth form at school. His first directorial job was on the Northern-set drama, Road, by Jim Cartwright, an author he much admires.

He wants to continue in the theatre after finishing his degree, as a writer and director and devisor. "I do act as well," adds Wright, who already works in the theatre - part-time in the box office at York Theatre Royal.

He's an advocate of mixing media like theatre and other arts in one package. "It's wanting to bring a lot of different media together. People enjoy them in separate situations and it's good to put them together," he says.

"I haven't performed at Edinburgh before. I visited last year and managed to cram a lot of choices into a few days. It's such a great place to do things because there are so many people there to watch theatre."

While he won't be appearing in Tapestry, he will be in another festival show, as the drummer in the band for White Rose Theatre's Tony! The Blair Musical, which was previewed at York Theatre Royal before heading over the border to the Scottish arts fest.

* Tapestry is at C SoCo Venue 348 until Saturday. Trainspotting is at C Venue 34 and Tony! The Blair Musical is at C Venue, both until August 27.