Brand new poetry collective, SHIFT/ tell us why they got together and what we can expect from them at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

So hello, we are SHIFT/, seven of Scotland’s most dynamic, provocative and lyrical spoken word artists (but by no stretch of the imagination, the only ones). Formed by Rachel McCrum and Bram E Geiben, we have joined forces – like some super-powered comic book phalanx – as an artist-led collective to create a platform for poetic performance in the Edinburgh Fringe that works for us.

As well as Rachel and Bram, SHIFT/ is powered by Rachel Amey, Harry Giles, Jenny Lindsay, Ali Maloney and Sam Small. Between us we have a wealth and diverse range of experience. Collectively, we have won slams, shattered boundaries, toured the world, won awards and broken hearts; promoted, wrought and slogged.

As the Scottish poetry scene is running on full, breath taking, power, SHIFT/ exists to take seven unique and exciting shows to Summerhall – crossing bridges between performance poetry and physical theatre, stand-up and live art, spoken word and music, solemn introspection and punk spit – a different show for each night of the week.

Right now, we are writing, devising, crafting our shows, which could touch upon anything including, but not limited to: cyberpunk dystopian opera, political analysis, BSL, love, clowning, messing around in boats, love on drugs, nihilism, optimism, Dadaism, borders and colonialism and Lovecratian tentacle apocalypses.

We’ll be in the Cairns Lecture theatre in Summerhall every night of the Fringe at 9:30. For full line-ups and updates, get SHIFT/ed at www.shiftword.com.

More: Website | Facebook | Twitter

//////

See more art & design collectives we’ve featured on the site. Think we should feature your collective? Get in touch.