Open Floor Scratch Night

Open Floor returns to the Studio Theatre on Friday 23 October, the festival's scratch night where theatremakers and companies from Edinburgh and beyond test brand-new work in front of a live audience for the first time. It's a room for ideas at their earliest stage of development, and the bill pulls from a few different directions: comedy, politics, movement and musicals. The night runs for about 90 minutes with no interval, so you'll see the whole line-up in one go.

Four pieces make up the bill. Natasha Robertson brings An [Almost] Completely Untrue Story, a biographical exploration of Charlotte d'Éon de Beaumont, the world's first transgender spy, which is currently in early development. Charity Trimm performs Wench, Bishal Roy presents Unmasked, and Thabo Mokolobate brings Rich Brown. Between them, they cover the ground the night is built for—comedy, politics, movement and musicals—so you'll get a fair mix of styles in a single sitting.

That's the point of a scratch night: it's a space for work that isn't finished yet, and the audience is part of that process. These are pieces being tried out in front of people for the first time, rather than polished shows that have already run. If you're into seeing how new theatre gets made, this is exactly where it happens.

It starts at 7.30pm at the Studio Theatre, part of Capital Theatres in Edinburgh. The whole thing runs for around 90 minutes without an interval, so you'll be in and out in one evening.