Tighten your goggles, tie your laces, test your brakes, and chalk up your hands because it’s time for…

TERRY’S TRIATHLON!

A race in support of BRILLIG Theatre’s debut run at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival!

We’ll be sweating for your support as we swim, run, bike (and climb!) the distance from France, where we all met, to Edinburgh, where we’ll give 25 performances of our very first show, Terry’s: An American Tragedy About Cars, Customers, and Selling Cars to Customers!

On your marks, get set… go!

Follow us on Strava to chart our progress!

Ellen (US) plunges into the chlorinated waters of her local pool, swimming 1,360 lengths to match the distance she’d have to swim to cross the English Channel. The water might be warmer than in La Manche, but 21 miles is still no joke!

Florrie (UK) will run a total of 80 miles to represent the journey from Dover to London. Even if she clocks these up on a treadmill, in her mind she’ll be sprinting through the garden of England, leaving the white cliffs in a cloud of dust, and maybe stopping to pick a few Kentish strawberries en route.

Seamus (UK) picks up the baton and tucks it into his (imagined) cycling bib, as he prepares to ride 400 miles on a single-speed bike to mark the distance from London to Edinburgh. Based in Cardiff, Seamus will rack up these miles by cycling the length of the valleys, over sleeping dragons, and past more than a few Welsh castles. But, it’s the thought of reaching Edinburgh Castle that keeps him pedaling…

Zénon (FR) is charged with the final, vertical stretch of Terry’s Triathlon, as he chalks up to climb the height of Arthur’s Seat. By completing bouldering routes at his local climbing gym in Paris, he’s going to mark the 251m he’d need to scale to conclude this epic journey.

With a triathlon under their belt, the team will be in good shape to head into a marathon of another sort… the Edinburgh Fringe!

Read on to learn more about who we are, what we’re doing, and why we need your support.

Who We Are

BRILLIG is an award-nominated company composed of four theatre-makers from the US, UK, and France. We formed in 2023 after training together at the Jacques Lecoq School in Paris. We deliver virtuosic, fast-paced, big-hearted performances, guided by our belief that laughter and silliness can provoke personal and political reflection. We work in a collaborative, non-hierarchical way; every member of the company writes, directs, and performs.

Our debut show, Terry’s, is an absurd, all-American tragicomedy which follows the motley, motor-mouthed sales team at Terry’s Cars and Automobiles in the fictitious town of Thessaloniki, Ohio, as they race to meet their sales target by the end of Memorial Day weekend. The show features original live music, physical theatre, and lots of balloons. It was nominated for the prestigious Charlie Hartill Award through the Pleasance London, as well as for Best New Show at Brighton Fringe.

Critics have praised it as “extremely funny” and “wonderfully original” (Brighton and Hove News) and “seriously unlike anything I’ve seen before… unique and ambitious… brimming with original ideas, songs, and general wackiness.” (Voice Magazine). Audiences have appreciated its “sharp humour” and “clever satire.”

Check out the trailer for Terry's here:

We have loved making this show, and we love performing it even more!

What We’re Doing

We’re taking Terry’s to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this August. The Edinburgh Fringe is the largest performing arts festival in the world, and the second-most ticketed event in the world after the World Cup. There are thousands of shows and acts programmed each year (3,356 registered for 2025!). The Fringe attracts programmers and arts leaders from the UK, US, and Australia, making it an essential destination for emerging companies in the English-speaking world. We are thrilled to have been programmed at the Pleasance, one of the Fringe's "Big Four" venues. We will give 25 performances between July 30 and August 25.

Why We Need Your Help

The Fringe provides the opportunity to show our work to a huge audience. A successful run would enhance our company’s visibility, bolster our artistic credibility, and set us up for long-term economic viability. However, the Fringe also presents challenges. Namely, substantial upfront costs. Our budget estimates 10.5k of upfront costs, including festival registration, venue deposit, marketing fees, PR representation, travel, accommodation, and production costs (props, sets, costumes).

If our show sells well, it is possible to draw a profit at the Fringe. However, it’s a highly saturated market and therefore hard to predict how a debut show from an emerging company will sell. To mitigate this risk and to offset our upfront costs, we are looking to raise 6k. Funds raised through donation will ease the financial stress on our company members, allowing us to focus on giving the best performance possible, in turn helping to bring in larger audiences.

Your donation helps us in tangible, material ways! Here are some examples of what different donation levels can support:

£20: 1 spare red polo shirt for 1 company member (sparing the audience our stench, however, is priceless).

£51: 1 night’s stay for 1 company member at our accommodation near Pleasance Courtyard!

£150: 5,000 flyers!

£200: Extra balloons, extra paint, extra anything that might break unexpectedly over the course of a month-long run!

£250: Return train tickets from London to Edinburgh for two of our company members

£400: Insurance, in case a moment of stage combat gets a little too real…

£500: Our listing in the official Pleasance brochure (in print and online), to be distributed throughout Edinburgh and London

£625: 50% of our PR fees as part of Chloe Nelkin Consulting’s “Emerging Edinburgh” roster

£714: Housing for one company member for half the run! (14 nights)

£1428: Housing for one company member for the full run! (28 nights)

Our Journey

We’ve enjoyed taking the scenic route as we’ve researched, developed, and tested Terry’s. Now, we’re leaving the bucolic country roads behind and are headed pedal to the metal towards Scotland! Take a look at the different stops we’ve made along the way:

January 2023: BRILLIG’s very first meeting in Rue du Faubourg Saint-Denis in Paris (before we’d even settled on a company name!)

September 2023: Our first residency at Le Rebours Artist Residency in the beautiful Normandy countryside, where we made the first sketches of Terry’s.

November 2023: We continue our research in Paris during a ten-day residency by the Canal Saint-Martin.

April 2024: Back in Paris again, we spend a fortnight devising scenes that start to form what you’ll see onstage in Edinburgh.

July 2024: A month-long retreat to Le Burg in the Dordogne region of France. Tucked away in the idyllic countryside, we finish writing the first draft of Terry’s in a dusty but charming barn. We give 3 performances at the Chateau de Bonneval for friends and family, where we receive feedback invaluable for developing the show, and learn how fun it is to play.

January 2025: In our first UK residence, we spend a week rehearsing and rewriting in rural Gloucestershire.

February 2025: We travel to the Pleasance Theatre in London to take part in Try-Outs for the prestigious Charlie Hartill Award. This is our first time sharing the piece with a substantial, public audience - feedback is positive and enthusiastic.

May 2025: More rehearsals and our first festival performances at Brighton Fringe, where we are nominated for “Best New Show,” get strong reviews, and have great audience feedback.

June 2025: Terry’s hops back across the Channel for its official French premiere at the festival Les rencontres de l’Ogre in Tours.

And now, looking ahead to August 2025… EDINBURGH!!!

Please be aware that NO raffles, sweepstakes, giveaways, or promotions can be offered in exchange for any donations made to our GoFundMe.