Returning to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Hello!

I'm Lottie Walker and I run Blue Fire Theatre Company. Our first venture back in 2018 was to visit the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, we went back there in 2019 and intended to make it an annual event, but in 2020 disaster struck worldwide and all our plans were pretty much cancelled for two years.

We're back on the road now trying hard to work our way out of the financial losses we accumulated during the pandemic. And we're planning on returning to Edinburgh for the Fringe's 75th anniversary this year and to take all of the shows that we'd planned on taking with us in 2020 and 2021. But it's an expensive exercise and we would really appreciate your help to get there.

Our £5000 crowdfunding target will cover approximately half of the cost of taking the shows to Edinburgh. The costs associated with the project include:

Accommodation

Venue Hire

Registration fees

Travel

Production costs

Rehearsal room hire

Publicity

Everything we have produced to date has been totally self funded. We don't have financial backers and haven't been awarded any grants or subsidies. I only have my own money to spend so I don't waste it. Costs are kept to an absolute minimum and if you are kind enough to help us a little I promise to spend your money wisely. If we are fortunate to receive funds over and above our target they will go straight into the "Fringe Fund" to ease that particular financial burden.

Whilst planning for the Fringe we will also be touring our established plays, "Kemp's Jig" and "Marie Lloyd Stole My Life", along with the new version of "Beemaster", all of which I am funding myself. We're hoping that this tour will help to cover the cost of the Fringe experience so that we can come home from Edinburgh financially no worse off and able to continue touring in the Autumn feeling a little more optimistic.

During the pandemic we've kept the company going by working on new shows, broadcasting our podcast and recording a couple of albums. All of this, along with general operating costs has cost money that we've not yet recouped, so a helping hand with the costs associated with the Edinburgh Fringe would make a huge difference to both our bank account and our morale.

Our Edinburgh shows will be:

Beemaster, by Chris Harris

A tale of a monk and his bees in a changing environmental landscape. The show, a previous success for its author is reimagined for a new artist in a world with a heightened sense of environmental awareness.

Gilbert & Sullivan's Nightmare, by J.J. Leppink

Ever wondered about the people who were NOT leading lights in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company? Old Adam tells his tale of life in the back row of the chorus, complete with G&S popular songs.

The Diary of a Nobody, by George & Weedon Grossmith, adapted by Tim Shaw

The "funniest book in the world", according to Evelyn Waugh comes to the stage in this new adaptation of the classic tale of social mobility in Victorian London.

Thanks so much for reading thus far. We live in perilous times for the Arts, which are just not a priority for the Government and are being diminished every day. It has been a terribly difficult two years since Covid first struck and those of us "of a certain age" are incredibly aware of just how much time has been lost. We are running very hard to make some of this time up and do hope you are able to help us.

If you'd like to keep in touch please follow us on Social media (we're on Insta, Facebook and Twitter) to see what we're up to. If we're touring to a town near you we'd love to hear from you!

You can buy our CDs and book tickets to our shows here: https://linktr.ee/BlueFireTheatreCo

And finally do please share our information far and wide; nothing works better than word of mouth!

Thank you for your time

Lottie & the team