Help us bring 'FREAK OUT!' to VAULT Festival

Youth-led theatre company are remounting their play about communities affected by coastal erosion in the UK for a run at VAULT Festival in London.

We're Coin Toss Collective, a theatre company based in Bristol, and we are thrilled to be bringing our show, FREAK OUT! to one of our favourite theatre festivals this March.

FREAK OUT! is a show about community, coastal erosion and what home means to us, The show was previously performed at Bristol Old Vic, to an enthusiastic audience response. We can’t wait to share it with the audiences at VAULT!

We are raising funds to help support us on this amazing journey, as we are currently self-funding the project. The money raised via GoFundMe will be spent on hiring a Technician for the run of our show.

Our show is inspired by the UK’s disappearing coastline and draws on our research on affected communities. FREAK OUT! Was originally inspired by BBC documentary ‘The Village That’s Falling Into the Sea’. In it, the community of Happisburgh, Norfolk throw a fundraising party for building a sea wall, during which the devastating reality of coastal erosion takes away two homes on the cliff edge. Our show explores what community means to individuals and what responsibilities we have to each other.

Coastal erosion is a natural process for parts of the country, but climate change has accelerated this process. Britain has some of the fastest eroding cliffs in Europe, with land disappearing at a rate of 4 metres per year. Over the last two decades, at least 35 homes have been lost to the waves in Happisburgh, Norfolk alone. By 2080, an estimated 1.5 million properties will be located in areas with an annual risk of flooding, with 100,000 exposed to coastal erosion.

During the making of FREAK OUT!, we incorporated research on the effects of coastal erosion on communities, literary references, and artworks exploring similar themes to evolve and adapt our original R&D stimulus. We developed a relatable and relevant narrative using the story's framework to discuss issues of shared loss of home, ecological catastrophe denialism, and the tensions that arise in divided communities, which are apt in the face of the latest IPCC report. With predictions that parts of London will be underwater by 2050, the themes the show explores are highly relevant to VAULT audiences and to everyone in the UK.

Supporting FREAK OUT! will help us reach new audiences, raising awareness about this issue and highlighting that communities in the UK are already facing climate change-related issues that will only become more severe in the generations to come.

What's FREAK OUT! about?

Portsford is a seaside town fighting a losing battle with coastal erosion. When a sudden announcement threatens to tear the community apart in an attempt to raise spirits, everyone comes together for a night of drinking and dancing. But as the party becomes a pressure cooker, difficult conversations surrounding shared loss of home, and collective and individual responsibility rise to the surface. But wouldn’t you rather just dance the night away?

“A wild, surreal, and devastating celebration of loss”, FREAK OUT! experiments with theatrical styles and genres, blending human stories with live art elements into an offbeat, high-energy cocktail of a show.

The show has been devised and created by Coin Toss Collective. The collective operates in a non-hierarchical way. We chose our name in a fluke moment when one of our members suggested that we make a decision by tossing a coin. This reflects our approach to devising theatre - playful, endlessly curious, unconventional, and open to serendipitous moments that often take us to unexpected territory.

For more information and to book your tickets, head to https://vaultfestival.com/events/freak-out/

…and to keep up to date with what we're up to, head to our Instagram @cointosscollective, Facebook page, Twitter, or check out our website!

Thank you so much for taking the time to read our fundraiser, we appreciate all of your support!

Coin Toss xx