Young actors from the Pauline Quirke Academy of Performing Arts will be performing
the world premier of ‘Wingmen’ at the prestigious Edinburgh Festival Fringe in
August. Eleven students will be taking the world premier of Wingmen, written
especially for the festival, to perform at PQA’s own venue on the Royal Mile.
Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the worlds biggest arts festival with nearly 2.5million people in
the city during August visiting some 56,000 shows.
The students will travel and perform as part of a theatre company, not just performing but
promoting the show by leafleting, putting up posters, talking to the public and staging ad hoc
performances when the opportunity presents too. In addition they will take in several other
shows to see a variety of different types of performance across the festival.
Julian Elcock, Principal of the pauline Quirke Academy at Wolverhampton said “After a
hugely successful run last year we decided to return this year with a show written especially
for the fringe. For those students wanting to progress their careers it is a fantastic
opportunity to work as part of a company, stretching themselves in more demanding material
and getting out and about promoting the show”.
Wingmen is set in the early days of World War 2 and revolves around 3 airmen who are
facing up to flying their 13th mission while attending a dance with local girls and civilians.
“Many of the flyers were barely older than the students and suddenly had to face up to the
pressures of wartime flying, it is great to see the students embracing this and working hard
to capture how it would have felt”.
PQA Wolverhampton hope to take the show on tour later in the year with venues in the West
Midlands and Shropshire areas.
Performing at PQA Venues, a special venue run by PQA hosting both student and
professional productions and voted best Fringe Venue 2018 the students will also perform
on the Royal Mile in two 20 minute promotional slots during the run.
