Taking our theatre piece 'Look At Me' to Brighton Fringe

Hi, we are Blue Chrysalis Productions and we're raising funds to take our theatre piece 'Look At Me' to Brighton Fringe.

'Look At Me' is a movement-based theatre piece telling a powerful narrative about the suffocating expectations surrounding female bodies and the mental health challenges arising from it. The piece explores the topic of body image and incorporates elements of the experience of body dysmorphic disorder.

It was developed in affiliation with the Body Dysmorphic Disorder Foundation.

Blue Chrysalis Productions are an emerging female-led production company that was founded by actors Catarina Grangeon, Rebecca Bidwell and Christina Leitner at East 15 Acting School with the common aim to bring truthful and empowering theatre to life, break boundaries and change social perceptions.

As women we have grown up with and lived through many social constrictions and continue to experience how much impact those can have on our own mental health and on a lot of people's around us.

We have had many conversations about these topics with fellow creatives, friends and family and we feel that this is a very important topic for many. We believe in the power of theatre to tackle these topics, help us carve a more positive impact on our society and encourage a shift in perspective. Out of all these conversations, discoveries, experiences and inspirations 'Look At Me' was born. It was first performed at East 15 Acting School as part of our theatre making module in spring 2024.

Because of our deep connection to the piece, dedication to the subject matter and very moving audience responses, we wanted to give the project a future life beyond drama school. So we developed it further and premiered it professionally at The Lambeth Fringe in September 2024 to wonderful audience feedback about its "truthful and relatable portrayal of living with BDD" and its "raw illustration of what it is like to grow up as a woman in the 21st century."

"People should go and see the show as it is the only play I have seen that truly represents the torment of living with Body Dysmorphic Disorder. It is so powerful and will hopefully spread understanding of an often misunderstood condition." - Body Dysmorphic Disorder Foundation

We want to take our piece 'Look At Me' to Brighton Fringe - England's largest arts festival - to introduce it to new audiences, to continue raising awareness and to gain invaluable feedback and reviews for future stages of the project.

As our artists are mostly international performers, currently based all over the country, we'll be using about a third of the funds to bring them together in the rehearsal room to develop the project. Another third of our funds will go towards production costs and venue hire fees, and the last third will be split between paying our creatives and marketing.

If you want to follow along on our journey, check out our Instagram and our Linktree.

Please share this project - on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, via email or over a cup of tea - with anyone you think would like to offer their support.

If you have a quid or two to spare, we'd greatly appreciate your contribution - however small - to bring this raw, moving and powerful story to life.

Here's to women in theatre, female stories and everyone who feels impacted, seen and inspired by our subject matters as a result!

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Blue Chrysalis Productions