Cora begins with the first hurdle – how does one discuss swear words on the BBC? Phonogram number crunched the sales figures, and dropped them. She is Associate Director at the National Theatre of Scotland where her productions include Room (with Theatre Royal Stratford East / Abbey Theatre / Covent Garden Productions), Rites (with Contact) and Glasgow Girls (with Theatre Royal Stratford East/ Citizens, Glasgow / Pachamama / Richard Jordan Productions).
It toured to Glasgow, Paris, Chicago and New York, winning an Olivier Award for Outstanding Production. The show has struck a chord with audiences of all ages, and wowed the critics, but bringing it to the Adam Smith is something special. It’s the story of her rollercoaster journey from growing up in Glenrothes to sharing a stage with Blur and Radiohead. They signed a record deal – reportedly the biggest in Scottish music history – toured with the biggest names, and recorded an album before Phonogram dropped them from a mighty great height. ★★★★★ 'Pure joy from Cora Bissett' The Herald ★★★★★ ' Euphoric and deeply moving autobiographical gig theatre' The Stage ★★★★★ '(a) euphoric, empowered, hard-won high that makes you want to wear the T-shirt, read the book, see the film of it all'.The Telegraph ★★★★ 'joyful and radiantly energetic' The Scotsman ★★★★ 'feel-good rock’n’roll theatre' The Times ★★★★ ' a roaring, exhilarating show' The … Darlingheart went from rehearsing in Dave Arcari’s studio up in the Gallatown in Kirkcaldy, to cutting their debut album and landing prestigious support slots with the biggest names in the industry. It’s these final twenty minutes … So Cora runs a list past BBC Scotland’s head of editorial standards to see what she can get away with. The stage show is also going international with dates in Brazil. That’s me!” she recalled. The stage show – complete with a live band which actually performs Darlingheart material along with some great songs of the era as well as playing key roles in the story – tells the story of what happened next. It’s a great story – it cracks along at a proper pace too” she said. Conceived for the stage and directed by Cora Bissett. I know too much about the industry, but I would have to let her make her own mistakes and have that journey.”. “I’ve got a young girl now. Fife theatre celebrates landmark anniversary with look back at its stars, Farmers’ market returns to Fife town this weekend. Their songs were on the radio. Looking back, she recalls how her parents took an incredible huge leap of faith and let her pursue her dream. I’ve no idea if I’ll look out and see loads of my old school pals!”. She is Associate Director at the National Theatre of Scotland where her productions include Room (with Theatre Royal Stratford East / Abbey Theatre / Covent Garden Productions), Rites (with Contact) and Glasgow Girls (with Theatre Royal Stratford East/ Citizens, Glasgow / Pachamama / Richard Jordan Productions).. After 15 years of … “It’ll very surreal going back, and being up on stage singing my old songs from the band 25 years ago,” said Cora.
Next up is a visit to the Scottish National Library in Edinburgh to see William Dunbar’s epic poem The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedie, which contains the first recorded use of the F-word. “I was giving up university to start touring with people in a rock band they barely knew and a manager they’d never met.
I also help in the broad planning of programming. That’s pretty tough.”. We re-examine the controversy and reaction of the literary establishment in London, who called Kelman a ‘literary savage’. You go from being the hot potato to no-one wanting to speak to you. Tramway, Glasgow 3 - 7 June 2014 . For the best part of two years they lived in a transit van, criss-crossing the country to gig after gig, and doing everything to make this dream come true. “I was really into music at the time – Patti Smith’s Horses album had a huge impact – and I really, really wanted to sing in a band. Cora is a director, actor and songwriter based in Glasgow. Michael Alexander speaks to Fife-raised theatre director, actor and former 1990's 'indie kid' Cora Bissett about her autobiographical gig-theatre show What Girls Are Made Of. “The advert in the classified section for an indie band mentioned The Pixies and REM . I choose subjects to make shows and direct them for NTS. Cora takes a bleep-and-you’ll-miss-it tour of swearing in the past three centuries, from the Reformation to the early days of Scottish broadcasting, up to more recent times, where she reveals how comedian Billy Connolly got around the censors with his concert LPs. It’s also a story of growing up, and finding the path you always wanted to explore. I thought ‘Yes! Watching a live show where we empathise and try to understand others decisions, situations and lives is vital to being human. Mull Theatre 20 - 22 … She wrote half of the songs for the recent adaptation of Room along with Kathryn Joseph, and composed six of the songs in her musical Glasgow Girls. My mum and dad did it! They didn’t stand in my way!”. The big-time beckoned. ©JPIMedia Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved. IMAGE GALLERY: IN REHEARSALS. All things come together.”.
The clippings include those very early cuttings from the Fife Free Press, each one telling a story of a step on a journey some 25 years ago. What Girls Are Made Of was one of the big hits of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe last August – critical acclaim and full houses every single night.
Written by Kieran Hurley. “They must have been terrified for me, but they still did it. We played the Adam Smith. “I was 17, and just out of school – I wasn’t even legally old enough to sign my record deal.
The guys had been working hard playing in bands for 10 years and this was their big push. When James Kelman won the Booker prize in 1994, his novel had over 4,000 F-words. So who better to present a celebration of Caledonian cursing? Show more Schooled in Fife, coming of age in a rock ’n’ roll band, then finding her forte was directing temperamental actors, Cora Bissett is no stranger to theatrical Scottish swearing. Now a mum herself, Cora admits she looks at her daughter and wonders how she’d react if the roles were reversed. Though there’s no shortage of humour in her tale, nor is there any attempt to sugarcoat any aspect of it, and Cora’s raw honesty means that by the time we get to the business end of proceedings we’re well and truly invested. The discovery of her teenage diaries along with a box of cuttings, carefully collated by her dad, began the journey that led to this show. TOUR DATES. My job is Associate Director at NTS. Theatre matters because humans need stories to understand the world. My dad has gone. Darlingheart were part of a thriving indie music scene in and around Kirkcaldy circa 1990. Cora is a director, actor and songwriter based in Glasgow.
Schooled in Fife, coming of age in a rock ’n’ roll band, then finding her forte was directing temperamental actors, Cora Bissett is no stranger to theatrical Scottish swearing. “We got on the radio, we got a manager … it happened so quickly.”. Now 25 years on from indie-rock outfit Darlingheart’s tours with Blur, Radiohead and The Cranberries, Cora Bissett is to turn the daily diaries she kept into a major new stage show. After 15 years of Acting across stage, film and radio (winning The Stage Best Actress Award for her role in David Grieg’s Midsummer), Cora started up her company Pachamama in 2009 and launched her first production Roadkill at the 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe which won nine major awards including an Amnesty International Award for Freedom of Speech. Cora has a passion for experimenting with new forms of music-theatre, as seen in the Arches collaborative project she directed Whatever gets you through the Night featuring a wealth of Scotland’s most eclectic and original songwriting talent, GRIT-The Martyn Bennett Story celebrating Scotland’s folkdance maverick and two Fringe Runs of Janis Joplin -Full Tilt.