It’s now February, and obviously that means one thing and one thing only. You’ve had the dates in your calendar since the beginning of the year, and you’ve been slowly counting down the time, day after day, week after week until you can seize the opportunity of a lifetime and audition for The Greenhouse!

Now, we know that you’re all just jumping at the chance to join The Greenhouse team and go on this crazy adventure with us, but that doesn’t mean you don’t also want to know a bit about which shows might be a good fit for you before you come on over to auditions between the 11th-18th February. And there’s no need for you to worry, because we’ve got you covered!

You can read a little synopsis of each show if you head on over to the audition events on our Facebook page, so to really give you an insight into what each show entails we spoke to each show team and asked them to give their own personal accounts of the shows and why they think you should audition!

Evaluation- Caelen Mitchell-Bennett (Writer and Director)

Evaluation is a short play that focuses on a conversation between a human and a machine. It is a simple concept made complicated by the fact that all lines delivered by the machine are pre-recorded and queued live.

The conversation is essentially an interrogation – the machine’s critical and hypocritical questions are in fact meant to judge humanity as a whole, bringing into context environmental degradation, human conflict, and other anthropocentric crises, which the human must defend against. I wrote this play with the intention of impressing a single idea: that in order to make things better, humanity must undertake the daunting task of combining unflinching optimism with constant, objective self-criticism. That doubt must always accompany progress, and vice versa. If not misguided or at least over-simplified, the idea was to portray this as a literal argument between human doubt and logic itself.

Evaluation loosely draws on a few select episodes of the 1987 television program, Star Trek: The Next Generation, mainly those episodes which involve semi-omniscient beings and their evaluations of humanity. While the play has nothing to do with Star Trek, it does utilize many of its themes and a few selections of dialogue. Admittedly, I did write this play because I love Star Trek, but I also wrote it for its size – for the challenge of cramming such a wide scope of ideas into such a small package. I definitely did not succeed. While it may be just small enough to say both everything and nothing, somewhat appropriately, I really doubt it.   

From The Wind – Eilidh MacKinnon (Playwright)  

  

From The Wind follows the development of renewable energy on the Fair Isle, a small island half way between Shetland and Orkney. Discussing the attitude of the Scottish government towards funding and aiding renewable projects on the islands and mainlands of Scotland. The people of the community speak their mind in this verbatim play, as their relationship with the island and how it provides them energy, changes over the lifetime of the Fair Island inhabitants.

My experience of writing the show has led me to interact with many interesting people. As it is verbatim I had to make contact with actual residents of the Fair Isle.

Additionally, I learned a lot from Community Energy Scotland and made contact with a prominent Scottish renewable energy project developer who was happy to take the time to explain the current political and financial barriers facing renewable energy projects. It has been an incredibly educational and eye opening experience in the process of writing this play.

The Greenhouse is the ideal platform for this play due to its renewable nature and the emphasis it is placing on the environment. The incredible work of the Scottish based Greenhouse team has helped not only with providing full support for the show but in encouraging me as a writer to pursue larger scale projects and keeping me to a time schedule!  

Daphne, or Hellfire – Isla Cowan (Playwright and Director)    

I am a Scottish playwright and director, currently based in Edinburgh. I graduated from St Andrews with MLitt Writing for Performance earlier this year. Most recently, I was Assistant Director on the NTS / Traverse Theatre production of GUT by Frances Poet and my environmental play, ‘The View From Portobello’, was commissioned by David Greig for the Lyceum Youth Theatre’s 20th anniversary production in November. I am also currently on attachment at Hampstead Theatre in London (read more: islacowan.com): “I’m really excited about bringing ‘Daphne, or Hellfire’ to the Greenhouse. I feel really passionately about this project and what it means for changing theatre today. While I have a strong sense of the play, I am always interested in ‘playing’ with the script once I have actors and creatives in the room (and we’re already assembling a kick-ass production team!!). This means that rehearsals will be a process of exploring and experimenting together – we’re looking for two strong actors who will embrace the opportunity to really dig deep into their characters and develop this play”.    

The Earth Untold – Georgia Luckhurst (Playwright)

The opportunity to stage a show at the Greenhouse is truly once in a lifetime. It’s rare to find a group of people as committed, efficient, supportive and passionate as the team at BoxedIn, and the chance to work on this project with such a talented network was irresistible.

The Untold Earth may seem conceptually simple – what is more ancient than the urge to tell stories? – but it is for that reason that I’ve loved working on it; remembering how much I loved sitting and listening to a well-told tale as a child. This show is for families, but it isn’t pandering: ultimately, we want to remind people how much we owe to our earth, and thereby prompt our audience to do their best to protect it.

More so than writing, I’m loving the research. I’ve been delving into old myths, reading historical anecdotes, even taking my first ever trip to the Science Museum… My goal is to make a show that feels warm and positive about our relationship to the environment, while still being pointed, because even just in the process of writing I’ve realized exactly how indebted we are to our physical surroundings, and how much we take them for granted.   

Shellshock – Louis Catliff (Playwright and Director)

 

Creating Shellshock has been really fun. I’m working with a very talented musician in Joseph “Bowow” Baker to help write the music for the show. We’re working on establishing its specific genre and ‘sound’ which is currently a mixture of folk and blues. The setting is Louisiana so we’ve decided to really draw inspiration from the musical history of that part of the world which I think fits both the story and Greenhouse venue nicely.

The idea to do a comedy about a lowly intern starting out in the oil industry came up when I was chatting with a friend at the last fringe. I’ve always wanted to direct a musical and the idea seemed to really suit the form. In combining the squeaky-clean sensibilities and aesthetic of a musical with the morally dubious corporate setting of a large oil company I wanted to highlight the hypocrisy and the humour in each. Also, it helps round out our exciting and varied programme. Whether you’re into dance, drama, verbatim or music The Greenhouse has got something for you.    

Swallows – Oli Savage (Director)     

For me, Swallows was the beginning of this project. It started in the basement of a wine-bar in Tottenham Court Road almost two years ago. Henry pitched me a show about eco-terrorism, and slowly, it grew and grew. See, we know what we’re doing is important – we know that the planet is dying, and we know that we need to treat it better. We know that leading by example is one way. But what if that isn’t enough?

This is an incredibly hopeful and beautiful piece of writing that looks at the self-obsession inherent in the environmental crisis. It carefully explores the fact that it isn’t nature and it isn’t some multifarious existence but it is, in fact, fundamentally individuals that have caused the mess we are currently in. It looks at all that and then it asks: honestly – what are we meant to do?   

The Voices We Hear – Louis Catliff (Co-Director)    

The idea for voices came out of wondering what would be the most inconvenient way to meet the love of your life? It’s a meet cute like any other really. But in this the setting is a world ravaged by an environmental apocalypse, the couple only communicated via a two way transistor radio and the inconvenience is that one character, after being totally alone for a good few years with no hope of finding other human life, commits suicide just as the radio sparks to life.

Oli and I thought it would be a unique way of exploring a familiar concept. We wanted to take a subject matter like the apocalypse, one that is frequently used as an excuse to blow up landmarks onscreen and humanise it, creating a story that looks specifically at loneliness and intimacy in the most extreme of situations.  

 

So there you have it, a little bit more about all of our fabulous shows!

Now, we’re sure you want to audition for them all, and don’t worry you can do just that! Make sure you’re following us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to keep on top of all audition updates over the next couple of weeks.  

 

Your chance to audition to join The Greenhouse at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is just around the corner and we thought we’d make you even more excited by giving you some fun fringe facts! (And enjoy the accompanying pictures from the team’s previous experiences at the fringe!)

1. The Edinburgh Fringe Festival was founded by gate crashers.

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is a completely different event to the Edinburgh international Festival. In 1947 eight theatre companies came to Edinburgh with the hope of performing in the international festival, but they were not permitted to enter.

This rejection, however, didn’t stop them from performing, and they decided to put on their own shows anyway, creating a new kind of performance that grew into today’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

2. It would take you five years to watch every performance.

Think you’ll have time to see all the shows if you’re staying for the entire month of The Fringe? Think again. With over 30,000 performances taking place you would need a time machine to watch everything that the festival has to offer.

3. The Fringe is one third comedy.

The Edinburgh Fringe is renowned as a place where a number of famous comedians got their big break (e.g. Miranda Hart, Graham Norton, Mel and Sue), and consequently many comedians flock to the festival in hopes that they too will be ‘discovered’.

4. A quarter of the shows in 2018 dealt with social issues.

42 shows in 2018 talked about mental health, 29 explored women’s position in society, and 11 focused on the #MeToo campaign.

This is really exciting for us at The Greenhouse, and we see it as a positive step forward for using art to further discussion and action on social issues.

5. Edinburgh’s population almost doubles during August.

The Edinburgh Fringe is one popular event, and this is demonstrated by the significant increase in the city’s population.

6. The Edinburgh Festivals contribute £260 million to the Scottish economy.   

Due to the influx of visitors to the country who travel from all around the world to attend the festival, The Fringe currently contributes hundreds of millions of pounds to the Scottish economy and provides over 5000 jobs.

7. The Royal Mile isn’t a mile long.

What?!?! They were lying to us ALL. THIS. TIME???

Turns out the Royal Miles is actually one mile and one hundred and seven yards.

(I feel like I just found out my favourite love song was written about a sandwich – prizes for those of you who get that reference).

8. Only the Olympics exceeds the number of tickets sold for Edinburgh’s festival events.

The Fringe attracts more than 4.5 million people every year, the same amount of people as those who go and see the world cup. And while the world cup only happens once every four years, The Fringe attracts this crazy number of people every single year!

9. The Fringe has its very own time zone.

This is known as Fringe Time. Days at The Fringe begin at 05:00 and end at 04:59, meaning shows which are on in the early hours of the morning are actually listed as occurring the day before.

10. Anyone can perform at The Fringe.

Which is why we love it. There are weird, wacky, and wonderful acts who perform anything and everything you could possibly imagine. It’s a melting pot of crazy creative talent!

The Fringe is SUCH an amazing experience, and so auditioning for The Greenhouse really is an opportunity you don’t want to miss!

Set alarms/reminders/write the dates for Auditions on your arm so that you don’t forget. Or maybe just head on over to our Facebook page instead …

Unless you just haven’t been paying attention to our social media for the past month (which, if this is the case, we’re slightly offended), you’ll know we are holding auditions for our shows from 11^th– 18^thFebruary. Hopefully you’ve had the chance to look over each show’s individual page and get an idea of which ones you might want to audition for. If you haven’t had this opportunity yet, what are you waiting for? Head on over to out Facebook page now!

Have you had a look?

Good.

Now we’re all on the same page. We’re all up to date, know everything we need to know about the shows, and you have an idea of which shows you want to audition for. (By all means if you want to audition for all of them please do!) There, understandably, may be one thing holding you back. That small niggle at the back of your mind which keeps asking you, ‘but if I do audition for this slightly crazy project and get a part, what will I ACTUALLY be signing up for???’

Don’t worry, we’ve got your back. We know our main focus so far has been publicising the project and all the things that make it so cool, like the fact that we’re building The Greenhouse ourselves, that the building, our shows, and our marketing will all be sustainable, that we’re also focusing on making theatre accessible, and that we’re a group of young people working with other young people to really create a positive social change. But there we go again, not actually telling you what life will entail being an actor at The Greenhouse. So, here are the top four things you need to know:

1. What your time commitment will be    

Already dreading the boredom which you will inevitably succumb to after one week of being stuck at home with nothing to do during that long, long, long summer break? Well, have no fear because we have the solution to your problem!

The main body of the project will be taking place over the summer (July and August) which means you won’t have the chance to get bored. Exact rehearsal periods will vary, but the majority of our shows will look to start rehearsals on 1^stJuly in St Andrews to give you all plenty of time to perfect your performances, and then it’s off to Edinburgh for The Fringe for the entire month of August!

N.B. Most shows will also require a couple of rehearsals during the semester. Again, the amount of rehearsal will vary show to show, but they will probably require a couple of hours a week.

2. You will be joining the BoxedIn family   

When you sign up to The Greenhouse, you join the BoxedIn family! And you know what families do? They work together. The Greenhouse is a big project, which means we’re going to need you to give us a helping hand from time to time.

Now, don’t worry we’re not asking you to build The Greenhouse all by yourself! But here at BoxedIn we like to foster a collective atmosphere. You can expect to be doing things like helping to plan and organise (and attend) fundraising events or publicising the project on your own social media platforms. We won’t be asking you to do anything too taxing, and ultimately we think it’ll be fun as you get the opportunity to get to know the team better and form new friendships.

3. What you will do day-to-day during The Fringe   

Surely you didn’t think that all you’d do during a day at The Fringe is act in one show? Of course you didn’t, that would be silly! The Fringe is simultaneously one of the most draining and energising experiences you could ever have.

No one day at The Fringe will ever be the same. Obviously, you will have to perform your show once a day (not including Tuesdays), but there are many more activities to do besides that! There will be at least a couple of hours of ‘non-flyering’ (walking around the streets, meeting people, recycling old flyers and trying to get people to come to our shows) as well. And then once that’s done, it’s all about seeing shows, going to workshops and having a really good time. The city of Edinburgh comes to life in such a beautiful way during The Fringe – there are people spilling out of all the pubs, and everyone you meet is just walking on clouds. It’s lovely.

4. Your financial commitment   

Now we understand that as students we don’t exactly have an unlimited budget. In fact, we know most of us have a very, very limited budget, so it’s only natural you might have some financial concerns about getting involved with this project.

Show teams will find accommodation, however, you will have to pay for it yourself and this normally costs between £300 – £400. You will also need to be able to pay for all your daily essentials (e.g. food, drinks, toiletries, emergency umbrellas etc.) AND ensure you can go and see as many of the shows you want to see as possible! (Because, come on, you can’t go to The Fringe and not see shows) – There are a number of great Free Fringe shows, so you won’t have to splash out for every show you see, but budgeting for tickets is something you will need to consider.

So, there you go, that’s the low down on what to expect if you want to be an actor at The Greenhouse! We really hope we will see you at our auditions, and if you want a little more of an idea about how exciting performing at The Fringe is, there check out Part 1 and Part 2 of BoxedIn’s Edinburgh experience 2018.

You’ve seen our posts on Facebook and Twitter, you’ve been inundated requests to ‘APPLY NOW’, and you’ve sat and wondered what the whole project is about. Why should you apply? What is so great about ‘The Greenhouse’?

Well funny you should ask that because there are a couple of reasons ‘The Greenhouse’ is so great. Firstly, it’s a completely new venue at The Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2019 which we’re building ourselves. Secondly, it’s main focuses are our relationship with the environment, and financial and disabled access to theatre. And thirdly, there’s a super passionate team who all working really hard to make this dream a reality.

So, now the sales pitch is over, and you’re wondering, ‘but why should I get involved in this project?’ Let me tell you 5 of the reasons why ‘The Greenhouse’ is your ultimate summer 2019 project:

You like theatre    

 

If you’re reading this blog, it’s 99.9% certain (not a scientific statistic) that you like theatre. So, why not get involved in something where everyone is super passionate about creating awesome theatre?

At BoxedIn we love pushing theatrical boundaries, whether that be with different dramatic forms, interesting scripts, cool tech, whatever you want to try and achieve, rest assured we will try our absolute best to ensure you can realise it.

We want ‘The Greenhouse’ to be a space which houses some really cool stuff. So, this means that if you were to join us you’d have the opportunity to work with some very talented people and see lots of great shows. It doesn’t matter if you’re not a director or writer or you don’t have a specific show you want to pitch to us. Just apply, let us know what your skills are, and what aspect of the project you want to get involved with, and we’ll find a job for you.

You care about the environment

One of the main focuses of the project is exploring our relationship with the environment. Scientists have recently discovered we only have 12 years left to stop the effects of global warming and save our planet. ‘The Greenhouse’ aims to try and promote awareness of this through a selection of environmentally-focused plays, which will hopefully make people more conscious of their environmental impact, and consequently we can all work together to be more eco-friendly.

In addition to this, here at ‘The Greenhouse’ we are going to lead by example. The building itself will be made almost entirely from recycled and reclaimed materials, we’re going to have a zero-waste marketing plan, and no mains electricity in the building. Protecting our environment is so important, which is a massive part of the reason why we’re so passionate about this project.

It’s a cheaper way to get involved in The Fringe.  

You won’t have to pay anything to perform in ‘The Greenhouse’. Yes, that’s right, we’re giving you a completely free performance venue. Aren’t we kind?

You will still have to cover the cost of your show, which we estimate to be between £500 and £1000. If you want more details on how to fund your show and possible costs involved, head over to our last blog post.

But that being said, the fact that you won’t have to pay venue costs will significantly reduce your overall spend. The Edinburgh Fringe can be very expensive, so trust us this free venue is a god send.

You will make some new (awesome) friends and memories.  

We all like to think that we’re pretty friendly here at ‘The Greenhouse’. I mean, the core team have agreed to spend the next 10 months working together so we must get on pretty well. And the Fringe is a great time to meet new friends. Everyone around you shares a passion for performing and working together really builds friendships.

The Fringe is also an experience like no other. You can walk down the street at 10:30pm and come across a singing magician doing a show on the pavement or end up in a tiny hut at 2:30am while a clown does an interpretive dance about love. The Edinburgh Fringe is the perfect time to create memories that you’ll cherish forever.

It’s a once in a lifetime experience

Yes, we get it, this is a really crazy idea. We’re building our own venue at The Edinburgh Fringe, we’ve never done anything like this before. But this challenge is what makes our project unique and exciting. We can safely say that you will never have the opportunity to join in with something like ‘The Greenhouse’ ever again.

If nothing else, getting involved with ‘The Greenhouse’ will give you some incredible stories to tell, and you will win best anecdote at every social occasion you go to. Unless, of course, you hang out with people like Meryl Streep on the regular. In which case, you will never win, but at least maybe you’ll be able to impress Meryl by telling her about this unique theatre experience!

So, what are you waiting for? Apply to join our team now!

 

As part of The Greenhouse, we’re offering all the shows that work with us a totally free performance space, and marketing support galore. We reckon there will also be a fair amount of cross-over for set, props, and costumes between different shows, so you can cross that off the list as well!

Once you remove some of those costs, we reckon each show will end up costing between £500 and £1000. That’s going to cover things like fringe registration, any set or props you want, and if you want to create your own individualised marketing campaign. And we’re offering teams the chance to raise that money themselves! All the shows that are a part of The Greenhouse will need to raise their own money to cover their own costs.

Yes, we get it, that can sound a little daunting. £1000? That seems a lot at first. But don’t worry, fundraising absolutely doesn’t need to be scary. You don’t have to do something crazy like run a marathon, the clue’s in the name it’s ‘fun’-draising! So, if you’re worried about the finances, keep your cool, because here are our top 5 tips for raising money for your shows during the fringe.

1. Bake sale   

An oldy but a goldy! Who doesn’t like cake?

Everyone underestimates the power of a bake sale, but in a town full of hungry students who will do just about anything to justify buying themselves a sweet snack during their study break, you can actually raise an impressive amount of money from a bake sale. It’s not too difficult either. Just get together a group of friends, find a spot with a good footfall (either outside the library or the union are good ones), each bake something tasty, and you’re set.

Extra monies for those of you who include vegan and gluten-free items into your cake selection. In an increasingly health-conscious age, people are much more likely to buy cake if they can console themselves with the fact that maybe it’s healthier than if they were to just buy a regular cake!      

2. Pub quiz   

Now, students don’t need an excuse to go to the pub, so by holding a pub quiz you’re already catering to your potential donors’ desires. And more than anything, a pub quiz is a bit of fun. Pick whatever theme you fancy. Maybe have completely different themes for each round, or pick an overarching theme, like film, and go a bit more specialist. Consider adding things like a picture or a song round to really engage your audience, and there you go, a good-old time and lots of money for your cause.       

 

3. An auction of promises    

This fundraising idea requires a bit more effort. But it is a lot of fun, and if done properly could earn you a lot of money, even more exposure, and consequently more money on top of that. An auction of promises may sound like an auction where what you buy never actually materialises, but come on that’s not going to get you any money is it?

An auction of promises is like a massive, public version of those ‘cute’ cheque books you can get as presents that promise people things like, ‘1 free cooked breakfast’, or ‘I promise to fix anything you need around your house when it breaks for free’. But instead of promising to do all these things for someone you know, you offer one of your services to a stranger on a one off. This could be anything from doing their ironing for them, to carrying their shopping back from Aldi for them.

It’s surprising how much people will pay for you to do the little jobs for them that they really can’t be bothered to do. Especially once deadline time hits! 

4. Bring and buy sale  

Students like things that are cheap. That’s an undisputed fact. So, a bring and buy sale is great place for them to get new items to brighten up their room, or their wardrobe without breaking the bank.

The chances are that this would be a lot easier for you to organise than you think. If you have a team behind you, it’s highly likely that you’re going to have a selection of stuff between you all that you don’t really want anymore but can’t justify throwing away. You know how the saying goes, ‘one man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure’, or something like that. This fundraising method is super practical as it kills two birds with one stone. You raise some money, whilst getting rid of your unwanted stuff! (It’s also a lot more environmentally friendly than sending things to landfill!  

5. Marathon events

No, don’t panic. I’m not asking you to do an actual running marathon. Marathon events are things such as a movie marathon (e.g. watching all the Harry Potter films in one go), or a dance marathon (when you have someone dancing consecutively for 24 hours, it’s a bonus if you can get more than one person because it is more fun that way!). By adding marathon into the title of the event, people automatically think you’re putting in more effort than you actually are, which translates into more pennies in your pocket!     

So, there you have it, 5 handy tips to raise money for your show in The Greenhouse! £1000 is our top end estimate, and in all likelihood you’ll really be spending far less than that, but it’s a good place to aim at. So what are you waiting for? Head over to our application form and apply now! 

 

Hopefully you will have seen that we’ve released applications to join us on our crazy summer project, the creation of a new venue at The Edinburgh Fringe 2019. Although we are currently looking for directors, writers, and other production team members to join our teams for the shows that will be housed in the building, we do already have a core team of 6 who have been driving the creation of this project. So, we thought now was as good a time as any to introduce them to you all.

Oli Savage 

Role in the project:   

Artistic Director

What this role entails:    

I’m responsible for the overall artistic planning – it’s a lot of big picture thinking, developing the initial concept into a more cohesive idea, and making sure that everything is moving along in the right direction as we get closer to crunch time. On the one hand, it’s about setting deadlines and working out what needs to be done, but on the other hand, it’s also about balancing that with the artistic aims for the project so we can deliver both logistically and creatively.

How did you get started doing this kind of role?:    

I’ve been trying my hand as an Artistic Director for a few years now – after we founded BoxedIn Theatre in 2017, it seemed like a natural progression for me. So, I started looking at other opportunities to take up a similar role. I think the experience I’ve gained from that puts me in a fairly good starting position for this particular project, but like everything that BoxedIn works on, there’s going to be a lot of learning on the job. And that’s something I really enjoy doing!

What aspect/part of the project excites you the most?:    

For me I’m most excited about the big picture for this project. Making and supporting some really hard-hitting work and sparking real conversations about the environment. I think that’s something which is really important at the moment, and I’m excited to see how successful we are in actually making a difference. The project is big, scary, and ambitious, which makes it hard, but it also lends a sense of seriousness – and I’m confident that will carry our message through!

Emily Hepher   

Role in the project:    

Executive Director

What this role entails:    

I’m heading the finances as well as the production side of the project, which involves things like venue management and logistics.

How did you get started doing this kind of role?:    

I started off in theatre as a stage manager and eventually moved into producing. This new project is going to require and challenge both those lines of experience, so I’m glad that I have both these skill sets under my belt.

What aspect/part of the project excites you the most?:      

I am most excited about taking on this huge challenge and working with my most talented friends to create a welcoming space! I want to push our creators to think outside the box and really use this opportunity and our flexibility to help create the shows they’ve always wanted to put on.

Louis Catliff   

Role in the project:    

Creative Director

What this role entails:   

I’m in charge of making sure the 5 to 7 shows run smoothly, that casts and crews are happy and that the content of the shows, the marketing material and the overall look of the project is coherent and engaging for audiences.

How did you get started doing this kind of role?:  

I directed plays for four years while I was at University and co-directed the university playwriting troupe, SAND in my final year with Oli. As for getting involved with The Shed Oli and Emily coerced me over a 4pm bacon roll at the most recent Edinburgh Fringe. I simply couldn’t say no. And why would I want to? The project is going to be amazing!

What aspect/part of the project excites you the most?:     

The aspect of this project that most excites me is the sheer possibilities of our show line-up, in terms of genre, form and performers. Everything’s linked by the theme of the environment but within that there’s such huge breadth in which to get creative. I’m really looking forward to seeing what people pitch. Get weird!

Also, our shows will all be a fiver or less and I think that’s great because it helps to reduce the financial barrier that is often stops people from being able to experience theatre.

Sarah Chamberlain   

Role in the project:    

Creative producer

What this role entails:   

I will be working with the production teams to help with the logistics of putting on their show in the venue, acting as the liaison between the teams and the exec team. I will also be working with the Creative Director to ensure our venue is as accessible as possible to all patrons and will be developing an education programme that will run alongside our shows.

How did you get started doing this kind of role?:    

I started getting involved in producing and production coordinating as the producer of Twelfth Night in the Mermaids Freshers Drama Festival. From there I have produced 8 shows including a Fringe Show (Polaris, Edinburgh Fringe 2017) and two BoxedIn productions (Romeo and Juliet, The Stage, 2017; WOOD National Tour, 2017) and a show in The Byre Theatre in St Andrews.

What aspect/part of the project excites you the most?:    

I’m really excited to work on making theatre accessible, and to create a workshop programme so that as many people as possible can experience the Fringe and be involved in our project.

Lucy Reis  

Role in the project:    

Designer

What this role entails:    

For the role of designer my job will be to research safe and sustainable building options, and, design and create a building that harnesses the essence of the project, while making use of discarded materials. Along this process I will discuss options with architects and create drawings and models to illustrate ideas and then the final design. Along with the structure of the venue, my role will be to design the overall aesthetic and visual concept to the building.

How did you get started doing this kind of role?:    

I have always been drawn to designing spaces whether set designs for theatres, installations or curating exhibitions. While I have experience designing sets, designing the theatre itself is going to be a serious challenge but one I’m extremely excited tackle.

What aspect/part of the project excites you the most?:     

I am most excited about being able to see the project through from the early design stages to actually building the venue itself and to have the opportunity to work on something of this scale. The challenge of making use of discarded and scrap materials is also something I’m looking forward to.

Grace Thorner

 

 

Role in the project:    

Head of marketing

What this role entails:    

I coordinate our marketing strategy and schedule, making sure we’re engaging with our audience and prospective new team members on social media, and run our blog. I am also in charge of getting in charge with press and other publications to make sure that our project gets as much coverage as possible so that people know about it!

How did you get started doing this kind of role?:    

I started as publicity assistant for the production of ‘The History Boys’ that went up in The Byre Theatre in February. I then joined the BoxedIn team for the ‘Back of the Van’ tour we did this summer just gone and ended up as head of social media and publicity because we needed someone to fill that role. Turns out I really enjoy it! So when Oli offered me this opportunity I couldn’t really say no.

What aspect/part of the project excites you the most?:    

I think it’s the causes that it stands for. I think it’s incredibly important to present environmental issues in a slightly less conventional way because it offers a unique way to start an important dialogue. I also believe that accessibility to theatre is such an important thing, and so I am so excited to be working on a project that promotes that!  

Lara Tillotson  

Role in the project:    

Graphic Designer

What this role entails:   

I design the graphics, all the graphics.

How did you get started doing this kind of role?:    

I got involved in theater because of graphic design. In my first year of uni I was in Art Society and was asked to design a poster for my friend’s play. I enjoy playing around in photoshop so I kept doing it and here we are now!

What aspect/part of the project excites you the most?:   

I’m excited for sort of the uncertainty and the troubleshooting nature of “how are we going to build our own venue at the fringe?” It’s sort of like a puzzle and once the pieces are all in place it’s going to be so epic!

So, this is the team  we have so far, but we want it to be even bigger and better. There are loads of skills required in making this project happen, from working on individual shows to helping us with the everyday set up and running of the venue. No matter what your skillset, we’d love to have you involved – so head over to our applicaiton form and apply to join our team today!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This summer, we’re doing something a little different. There’s a lot of the same at the fringe. It’s expensive, it’s wasteful, and we reckon it’s probably time for a change. So, we’re incredibly excited to announce our project for next summer – The Shed.A site-specific performance venue at the heart of the fringe, created and inspired by the environment, and our relationship to it.

Sounds exciting doesn’t it? We thought you might think so – you can apply here, or read on to hear a little more about the project!

The Plan

This year, we will be building, designing, and managing our own venue at the fringe – a venue that will showcase between 5 and 7 shows, demonstrating some of the most amazing talent that St Andrews (and beyond) has to offer. These shows will cover a variety of different styles and genres,  but will be united by a common goal – to spark a real-time discussion on how we can actually start implementing environmental change, and stop destroying the planet before it’s too late.

The Space

The space itself will be designed and built using only found and recycled materials, and we’re looking in to even more ways to make the build and execution of the space itself carbon neutral.

The Initiative

We’re aiming to implement this waste free initiative across all areas of production. This means a zero-waste marketing policy–no posters, no flyers, nothing that’s going to end up in the bin. We’re going to have to get creative with this – lots of digital marketing, QR codes on t-shirts and much, much more.

Tied in to that will be a notion of education and accessibility– all tickets to shows in our space will cost £5, and a select number of tickets will be free for young peoplebelow the age of 18. We want to make sure that everyone will be able to see the shows, regardless of income bracket. Alongside this, we’ll be running an educational programmethat will allow anyone to come and discuss our process and how we made our work.

The Future

The project begins now – over the course of the next 10 months, we’re going to be financing, planning, and executing this project. It’s insane. It’s ambitious. It’s incredibly exciting. And we want you to be a part of it.

At the moment, we’re looking for pitches from individuals or teams who might be interested in working with us to make this project a reality – if you want to apply as an individual, we’ll be matching you up to like-minded people to work on a project. If you want to apply as a team then that will be the team that you work with through the project. Read on for a little bit more information about what we are looking for and how to apply!

Your Projects

Here are the basics that you need to know if you’re thinking about working with us:

• The project itself will run for the entire length of the Edinburgh Fringe (the month of August). We’d also like to have all the shows rehearsing through July.
• The Shed will not charge you for hire of the venue – at the moment, we believe the venue will be keeping all the ticketing revenue in order to fund the endeavour, but we are open to a discussion on this to help the productions and the teams cover their costs.
• The Shed is giving each team the opportunity to finance their own project in any way they see fit. We anticipate that shows will average out costing between £500 and £1000 – and we will be on hand throughout the year to help you every step of the way in raising that money.
• Teams will be partially responsible for their own marketing, although there will be significant support from The Shed’s marketing team in terms of developing strategy and active marketing of shows.

Creatives

 So, you’re a creative. You might be a director, a choreographer, a writer – or something entirely different. But no matter what you are, you’ve got an idea for a show. Something fun, something important, something that ties in with our themes about the environment and our relationship too it.

That’s really fantastic, and we’d love to see that show get put on in The Shed this summer! Applications are now open, so head over to the form and tell us a little bit about yourself and the project that you have in mind. Don’t worry if you don’t necessarily have a team together quite yet – you can apply as an individual, and we’ll pair you up with production teams that are like minded. Be prepared to debate and discuss your project with them as it is brought to reality.

Production

Maybe you’re a producer, a stage-manager, a technician, or a whole host of other awesome behind-the-scenes roles. You’re the life blood of this project, and you’re what’s going to really make it sing!

Head over to the ‘Production’ section of the form and tell us a little bit about yourself and why you’d like to work on this project. We’d love to hear a little bit about who you are and what you’re interested in, to make sure that we set you up with a team that you really love!

 Teams

 You’ve found a fantastic team of great people and you’re passionate about your project? Great! All you need to do is fill out the ‘Creatives’ section of our application form, letting us know that you also have a team together.

This is an incredibly exciting project, and we’d love to have you involved. We know it’s a lot to take in, so keep an eye on the website and our social media over the next few weeks to learn a little bit more about what the project is and why you should apply. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us at info@boxedintheatre.com.

We absolutely cannot wait to hear from you!

 

So, when Oli left you he said the next update would be coming very soon. It’s safe to say at this point that it definitely has not come as soon as he thought it would! What can I say, we both severely underestimated the temporal and energy drain that is the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. But here I am, better late than never, with a little update for you about all our goings on at the world’s largest international arts festival.

We ‘Play on’ the mile.

Oli promised you an exciting day when he ended the last blog post, and Saturday was most certainly that! Ana, Oli and I met in the living room of our flat (did we mention we now live in a flat instead of a van, it has WALLS and there are STAIRS!! If you don’t know why that’s not incredibly exciting for me, you evidently haven’t been reading all our blog posts. No gold star for you!) for some last-minute rehearsals to add some harmonies into the ‘Play On!’ songs, before they made their second appearance on tour (we are performing a trilogy you know). Then we headed out onto the mile, our first performance on a stage, our first time to properly showcase our vocal abilities with microphones and everything, we walked down the five hundred flights of stairs from our top floor flat all hyped with excitement (okay and also stress because we were running a bit late) right into the pouring rain. Now, this is something we definitely should have expected what with being in Edinburgh and all that, but I mean the rain could have waited one more day before making an appearance. Or at the very least held off until we’d done our outside performance. When we got to the mile it was no surprise to anyone that the bad weather had put many people off, and everyone walking had their heads firmly down, hoods up, trying to get out of the rain as quickly as possible. We didn’t let this stop us, however, and we put on a great performance for those people who were there, and hopefully brought a bit of sunshine into their otherwise very dreary walk along the mile!

Once we had performed it was time to grab our lunch and head over to The Space @ Symposium Hall to get ready for ‘To The Ocean’, call time was 2:20 so we needed to make sure we were relaxed and well-fed in time to get all warmed up. This time though the warm up did include scooping water out of the tent and a heck of a lot of hand towels to dry the floor. Thankfully this was only a necessity on this singular occasion, and there were no other near floodings of the tent during our fringe run. And yes, don’t worry we made lots of puns about how we were literally bringing people ‘To The Ocean’. Once the tent was nice and dry, we were ready to let people in, once again we had a lovely audience and have had really positive reviews.

Then it was time for a break before we performed ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, as you can imagine with two shows a day we got into a bit of a routine of flyering, lunch, performance, break, performance, so I don’t want to bore you with the details. So instead I thought I’d give you my highlights from the fringe.

It’s a laugh and a half

I’m going to make a bold suggestion and say that if you don’t know what you want to see at the Fringe then pick a comedy show. It’s hard to sum up what a piece of theatre is in just 50 words, and so by picking a show based solely on its short summary you run the risk of spending your hard-earned cash on a show that you really don’t enjoy. But, the way I see it, if you go and see comedy you are guaranteed to have a good time. Comedy is funny by definition, so if you go and see a comedy show there is about a 90% chance you’re going to find the material amusing* (*this is a completely made up statistic), and there’s a 100% chance you’ll laugh at least once because laughter is infectious. If everyone else in the room is having a good time, it’s basically impossible for you not to have fun.

Now I’m sure you’re all dying to hear who my favourite comedy acts this fringe were, well I didn’t go to that many (only the ones my Dad paid for), but I had a brilliant time at all of them. The standouts for me were: The Sleeping Trees, Josh Pugh, and Rob Oldham. Oldham is the perfect example of what I mean when I say that if you’re not sure what to go and see, go see a comedian. It was the last night my family were in Edinburgh and we wanted to go and see one last show together. The act we’d originally picked was sold out by the time we went to buy the tickets, and so we picked one of the only comedians left who’s show wasn’t on ridiculously late. I was very, very sceptical of a comedian who used poems in their set, however, these were actually my favourite part. At only 23 years old, Rob Oldham’s content was very relatable for my brothers and I, and this just made the content even funnier.

This is a theatre blog you know?

The Fringe, ultimately for us at BoxedIn, will always primarily be about theatre. And so, without further delay here are my top picks from the selection of drama I saw: ‘Freeman’, ‘Flushed’, ‘Hollywood Effect’, and ‘Thaw’. It was lovely to see our friends from St Andrews in ‘The Hollywood Effect’ and ‘Thaw’. It’s crazy that there are so many talented people in one tiny town, and it was great this talent had the opportunity to be showcased in Edinburgh!

Though my favourite show out of everything that I managed to see over the two weeks I was in Edinburgh was without a doubt ‘Forbidden Stories’. A multimedia performance that explored the theme of borders in the separated island of Cyprus. The performance took me on a rollercoaster of emotions, it was an exceptional masterclass in how to tell stories and create a totally meaningful work of art. I honestly cannot stress enough how beautiful, poignant, and spell bounding ‘Forbidden Stories’ was, and if any of you get a chance to see this, I can promise you you’re in for a treat!

Food Glorious Food!

In case you hadn’t seen/heard/had filtered into your brain by osmosis, we were performing both ‘To The Ocean’ and ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ every day. This of course meant that we needed lots of sustenance to keep us going. On the day of our first performances a lovely little coffee hut just off of Nicholson Square, Cheapshot Coffee, was giving out a FREE coffee for every person who was working at the fringe. Now, if I’ve learnt anything about myself this summer, and believe me I have learnt a lot. One of the main things is how much I love coffee. Like seriously, I’m not just saying it, my life would be decidedly less good without coffee. So, a free coffee during the break between our shows made it one of the best days ever!! Also, the coffee was great, so 10/10 recommend Cheapshot to coffee lovers visiting Edinburgh.

The ‘foodie’ fun did not stop there, however, as we all enjoyed a real culinary delight on the last Wednesday of our run. Rowan’s sister Jess had come up to visit for her 18^thBirthday, and so in celebration we all went out for a meal. The restaurant that was chosen for this joyous occasion was Cosmo, an all-you-can-eat buffet. They had every single kind of food you could want from a classic British Roast dinner, to Pizza, to curry, and did I mention they had vegan sushi?? HEAVEN. Now, please all heed my warning, DO NOT, and I repeat, DO NOT go to an all-you-can-eat restaurant with Mr Oliver Savage, because there is no way that you are not rolling out of the building on some weird kind of food high. The man is a machine, and god knows where he puts it all! It was a fab evening though, and as we left the restaurant and went back to our fringe flat, hoping that the walk would burn off some of the humungous amount of calories we had just consumed, Ana, Hanna, and I began to feel a bit giddy. It is not normal to eat that amount of food in one sitting, and it does funny things to your brain. Some people, like Oli want to move very slowly so they don’t make themselves sick. Others, like Ana, Hanna, and I, think that it is the perfect time to skip along the streets of Edinburgh blasting the soundtrack to Mamma Mia 2 out of our phones and singing along.

We made it!!

All in all, it was 11 days straight of fun and games, then the 19^thAugust rolled around, and it was time for our last day of performances. Both the shows went well, and we had great audiences for both. ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ was particularly special as we had many friendly faces in the audience! Then that was it, tour was officially over, and of course we celebrated, and celebrated hard. Before our meal at Cosmo we had all received handcrafted invitations to the third ‘bi-annual BoxedIn awards’, so when we got back to the flat we all got party clothes on as Oli decorated the living room, and then we were all set to party! Now, I’ll keep some of the details of the night secret because I don’t want to spill all of Mr Savage’s party planning secrets, also to protect some people’s dignity (yes this may or may not include mine!). But long story short, there was a delicious home-cooked dinner from Oli, some awards, some drinks, and some games, we hit the town for a bit afterwards, and then all went to bed for a blissful night’s sleep …

UNTIL we had to wake up at the ungodly hour of 8am to take the tent down. It’s safe to say that none of us had missed the saga of putting the tent up, taking it down, debating whether or not we should put it up in case it got wet, you know everything that happened on tour. We were going to take the tent down straight after our show on Sunday, however, as our luck would have it, it had been raining all day meaning the tent was too soaked to be put away. Therefore, we had to get up early on Monday to take it down. The staff at the Space probably had a very entertaining time watching a group of 6 tired (and dare I say slightly hungover) actors try to pack up their tent for the last time. After the tent was finally packed away, Oli treated us all to breakfast at Babylon Café, and when we headed back to the flat it was time, and the reality hit us all as Ana finished packing her bags and headed to the airport. And just like that the monumental challenge we’d taken on was finally, and properly over. 17 locations, 6 friends, 4 countries, 2 and a half months, and 1 van, and I think we all did something pretty exceptional!

 

 

 

Yes I am a terrible person and I’ve let far too long of a time elapse between the last blog post and this blog post. I’m sorry. It turns out that the fringe is actually a fairly busy time. Who saw that one coming?

So, here it goes, a DOUBLE BILL of updates on what we’ve been up to. Strap yourselves in kids, it’s going to be an exciting ride.

Tour-tured souls

When we last updated you, we had just left Balloch, our second to last location on tour, and headed out to Dollar, our sixteenth location, and our final stop before the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The rain continued to pour down, and everything in the van was damp. We were sick and tired of living in a house with wheels, and honestly, if I had to shower in another public bathroom I would have stabbed someone in the face.

Fortunately, I didn’t!

Everyone has worked so hard with this project, and I am constantly blown away by the intensity and quality of the work that everyone has been doing. Plus they’re all great people, who probably don’t deserve being made to live in a van for two months in the name of theatre.

So it was time for a little treat. It wasn’t much, and it certainly wasn’t designed for 6 people, but Thrum’s Cottage in Dollar was absolutely perfect to us. To start with, it had four walls and it didn’t have wheels. There wasn’t black mould and broken ceramic in the shower. And, most importantly, we had an oven.

Seriously though cooking for 6 people for this long, you have no idea how much I’ve missed using an oven.

OH ALSO A TV.

I’d spent the last few days telling everyone that I’d found some really nice public showers for Dollar (lol pranked) so they were sufficiently surprised when we pulled up outside the cottage and unlocked the door.

We spent our first day as always, handing out flyers and putting up posters. And our second day was very much the same – we were very much excited for our final performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Now look okay, I’m not going to complain about this too much. To be honest, when talking about the weather that we’ve had this summer, I don’t think that we could have been luckier – this had to be one of the driest summers in recorded history. Still though, it’s tough when it starts raining, and it’s even tougher when that meant we needed to cancel our show.

And it’s even harder when we sit by our performance location and see about fifteen people turn up, willing to brave the pouring rain to see our show, and we have to tell them that it’s been cancelled.

We went home and WATCHED A MOVIE ON OUR TV (luxury) and subtly waited for midnight – that made it the 31^st of July, the last day of tour, and our lovely Rowan’s birthday. Of course, we made a massive fuss then, as well as in the morning when we brought her breakfast in bed (did I mention that this cottage had like…different rooms and everything) that included a cake and candles. The rest of the morning was very slow, and unfortunately we had to cancel the show again due to the weather.

Not to worry though, we made a fairly elaborate dinner, and then went to the movies to celebrate everything that we had achieved thus far, as well as Rowan’s birthday. We intended to see The Incredibles 2, but it was sold out, so we just went to see Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again instead.

What a terrible film. Nuff said.

Then, we came home, went to bed, and that was it – it was time to drive back to St Andrews for us to go our separate ways. We had about a week until we needed to be up in Edinburgh, and a recharge was desperately needed.

Tour part 2 – BoxedIn returns

Our time in Edinburgh so far has been incredibly hectic, truth be told. As everyone began arriving in drips and drabs, we were all still a little tired and worn out – we needed to bounce back a little bit to be ready.

We did a boozey line-run of both the shows on the 7th (a real fun time – you forget your line, you take a drink. Simple, and not at all effective), and then scrambled to set up the tent on the 8^th, as well as doing a run of both of the shows. And then, it was time to begin.

Our first show was at 15:20 on the 9^th – we had an awards assessor for the Scottish Arts Club and a reviewer coming to that show. Not nervous at all.

Honestly, I’d managed the time a little poorly here – I arrived at 14:20 because we were having an issue with some of the ivy, and by the time we had it fixed it was already 3 o’clock. So, after not having performed for over a week, we were left with a twenty minute warm-up. Great work Oli.

It showed in the show – we were going in cold and we definitely weren’t as prepared as we should have been.

Bounce back time – we assembled again at 18:15 for our 18:45 show and managed to sneak in a slightly longer warm up. That combined with the fact that we had already performed that day, and the fact we knew that it wasn’t exactly our best performance, to create a strange, excited energy in the tent just before the audience came in. We had another assessor from the Scottish Arts Club coming to this show, and I’ll be damned if we weren’t going to blow their socks off.

Evidently we did, because we’ve since been short-listed for the Scottish Arts Club Theatre Awards (WHOOP WHOOP LITERALLY WHAT THAT IS SO EXCITING). That was actually one of our best runs of A Midsummer Night’s Dream and I was so incredibly proud of everyone for their work that day.

Since then, we’ve been doing well with the shows – we’re selling really well for A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the moment, which is super exciting. Less well for To The Ocean, but I think that’s to be expected as its new writing. The 10^th and 11^th went well, and I think we’re really starting to get in to the swing of things. And of course, seeing some fantastic shows in every spare moment.

Highlights include The Archive of Educated Hearts, an intimiate storytelling experience by Lion House Theatre, a group that inspired our show To The Ocean, and Police Cops in Space because those guys are just amazing.

Today has been interesting too – but I’m sure Grace will let you know all about it in our next blog post. Which I promise, will come much sooner this time.

Last thing – if anyone is up at the fringe with shows or anything, let us know! We’d love to come see it!