All Change at Buxton Fringe

Buxton Fringe display at the Pump Room in 2024

So far 2025 has got off to a chilly start which makes it all the harder to visualise summer festival fun. But undaunted by wind, rain and ice, the Fringe Committee met up this month to review our progress so far. 

To date we have received over 30 entries spread across all 10 of our categories - which is level pegging with last year's entries at the same point in time, and we are hoping for a flurry more in the next week as we approach the deadline for our 'early bird' entry fee deal at the end of February.

This news was greeted with a mix of pleasure and relief. The committee had been anxious about the loss of well-loved and long standing managed venue the Green Man Gallery, which closed in December 2024. 

Coupled with earlier uncertainty about a definite home for Underground Venues, the committee was anticipating a smaller Fringe for 2025. 

Entries co-ordinator Pam was cautiously optimistic that entrants were branching out and exploring more of the 100+ venues on our register whilst Venues officer Sandra reported that Tom and Alice from Underground remain committed to bringing Underground back to Buxton again in 2025. Since the meeting, Underground has indeed confirmed that it will be taking up residence in Spring Gardens again and is open for entries.

The loss of the Green Man Gallery has wider implications than its managed venue status - it's where we store all our equipment, banners, bunting, programmes, flyers and our archive. Plus the Green Man always hosted our Springboard and Programme parties. We miss it greatly.

Thankfully the Buxton Crescent Heritage Trust has offered us the Pump Room's facilities for the parties, for which we are very grateful.  Meanwhile we are still seeking a permanent solution for our storage needs. So if you know of or are able to offer weatherproof storage for free/going cheap, we would love to hear from you - please contact Carole: secretary@buxtonfringe.org.uk 

There have also been a number of changes to the committee in 2025. Long-standing Chair Stephen Walker stepped down at November's AGM to "take a rest, and enjoy the Fringe as an ordinary person".  But Stephen is still a trustee and was back last night having been 'persuaded' to take on the roles of Reviews Coordinator and Archivist!

New Chair Ian Bowns - former Events Organiser, Entries Coordinator and sometimes Fringe performer, feared he was wearing too many hats (unlikely in Buxton in February!). Ian niftily passed Events to Rob Harrison (who later claimed he was scratching his nose, not putting his hand up) and Entries to Pam Mason former Distribution supremo. Luckily Catherine Serjeant was quick to pick up the Distribution baton. 

So after a very dizzying game of musical chairs, I think we are sorted for now. One positive outcome of all the swapping is that more people learn about all aspects of the Fringe, which helps to safeguard its future.

Key to this aim is attracting new volunteers and the committee was delighted to welcome two new people to our January meeting; they both came back in February too! 

If you are interested in joining us, you are welcome to come to our next meeting on Wed 12th March, 7.30pm, The Pump Room, The Crescent, Buxton where our friendly team will be happy to chat about all things Fringe. Or you can contact our Secretary, Carole, for more information at secretary@buxtonfringe.org.uk.  

To find out about becoming a Fringe Friend click here.  

Or see Contact Us here

Buxton Fringe

Website: www.buxtonfringe.org.uk
Facebook: buxtonfringe
Twitter: @buxtonfringe
Instagram: @buxtonfringe

Matchmaking in the Community with Buxton Fringe

Julia Knight from Pepita Productions (credit: Keith Oxley)

One of the key aims of the Buxton Festival Fringe is to help make the arts available for everyone - "Arts for All" is our slogan! I chatted with Linda Rolland, Community Links lead for the Fringe about how we did in 2024.

"We've always encouraged our entrants to offer activities to a range of community groups", Linda tells me. "We have a network of groups from schools to care homes, to the local food bank and more. Some of these groups have entertainment budgets but many don't have funds available. Likewise our performers may need to be paid or at least have their expenses covered.  This can make matching up performers and groups tricky.  But I'm pleased to say that this year was very successful with two of our entrants providing entertainment for three local groups. And that's just the ones we know about, there are often more!", Linda adds. I ask for the details of what happened in 2024.  "Performer Julia Knight performed excerpts from her shows Zeit-Heist More than a Feeling and I am not Victoria Wood for residents at Haddon Hall Care Home and Blythe House Hospice, and Chris Milner, singer, songwriter and guitarist, gave a lunchtime performance at Zink."  Linda, who attended the performance at Blythe House, says: "The clients were keen to tell me how much they enjoyed Julia's show and appreciated what we were doing in taking events to them. They very much enjoyed Julia's own comedic compositions such as the Hang-gliding song and the Gin song! They were also delighted to hear Julia sing songs written by much-missed Victoria Wood. Julia really enjoyed herself also and said it was useful to acclimatise herself to the area, try out some of  her material and to publicise her show to clients and their families." 

Julie Forrest, Volunteer Manager at Blythe House wrote to the Fringe later to add: "I just wanted to say a huge thank you on behalf of our patients, volunteers and staff for supporting us and performing here on Friday 12th July. The feedback has been fantastic and your time was very much appreciated."  

Another community activity is the floral Orange Hot Spots, brainchild of much-missed Vice Chair Viv Marriott. The colourful flowers are intended to brighten up the town over the summer as well as let people know its Fringe time. First planted in 2021, the Orange Hot Spots have gradually grown with a number of local business and community groups now taking part. "This year we were thrilled to be invited to help residents at Haddon Hall Care Home sow and pot up orange flowers", says Linda. The Fringe also wanted to encourage local people to get involved too, so came up with the idea of giving away packs of seeds. "We gave out over 150 packets of seeds at our Springboard party and at the May Day fair. It was very popular with people and a great way to get chatting with them about the Fringe and what's on offer", reports Fringe Secretary Carole. Despite the poor weather earlier this year, there have been lots of sightings of orange flowers across the town. 

Knowing the Fringe never rests on its laurels, I ask Linda what's on the agenda for Fringe 2025? "We'll be getting feedback on what worked well and where we can make improvements; we'll definitely be giving out seeds again and planting Orange Hot Spots. If if the council responds to pleas for a community hub as part of the Revitalising Buxton plans we will be keen to develop ideas for using it for community engagement either with our performers or promoting the Fringe."  Well that ought to keep us busy!

If any of our other performers took part in community activity over the Fringe, we would love to hear about it and add it to our website. Please send a few details to Linda at the email below. 

Likewise if you are a community group who would like to join our community links network or if you are interested in volunteering with the community links group please email Linda at links@buxtonfringe.org.uk.

Buxton Fringe

Website: www.buxtonfringe.org.uk
Facebook: buxtonfringe
Twitter: @buxtonfringe
Instagram: @buxtonfringe

Buxton Fringe

Website: www.buxtonfringe.org.uk
Facebook: buxtonfringe
Twitter: @buxtonfringe
Instagram: @buxtonfringe

Hold the Front Page 7 - Bizarre things at Buxton Fringe

The Serpentine Community Garden is a fantastic Fringe venue and it is offering free family fun with its Summer Bizarre on Sunday afternoon. See their press release below. By the way, the Serpentine is also the venue for our prestigious Awards Ceremony following on from the Bizarre at 5pm open to performers, Fringe Friends, committee members and reviewers.

For full details of all Fringe shows and events see our listings on the website.

Previous winners of the Spirit of the Fringe award and long-standing entrants Serpentine Community Garden invite you to come and enjoy a fun afternoon of Bizarre things at the Serpentine Community Garden on Sunday 21st July from noon to 4pm.

There will be music throughout the afternoon from the Monstrous Regiment of Women, while you enjoy mocktails and tea and cake. Hot dogs (both meat and veg) will be served up by Zink Employability. Join in a tour of the garden or try your hand at Splat the Rat, enter our miniature garden competition (everyones a winner with a lucky dip from Buxton Civic Association) or show off your wonky veg!

Younger visitors can have a go at mask making with Creeping Toad to "Become Your Own Beast" or have their faces painted. If that isn't enough we will also have crafts, mini golf, a plant stall and flower show and community stalls including Blythe House Hospice.

With so much on offer there's bound to be something to appeal to everyone so bring the whole family.

This event is free but we welcome donations and we will also be holding a raffle.

For further information see: www.serpentinecommunitygarden.org

Thanks to all our Fringe entrants who have provided press releases for this fun blog series.

Buxton Fringe

Website: www.buxtonfringe.org.uk
Facebook: buxtonfringe
Twitter: @buxtonfringe
Instagram: @buxtonfringe

Hold the Front Page 6 - Life's Mysteries... and Murders

Hangovers, murders and the meaning of life itself feature in two not-to-be missed shows at this year’s Fringe. Read extracts from their press releases below.

For venues, times, ticketing and further information about all our Fringe shows, see our What's On listings here.

Stephen Bathurst as King Solomon 

In Life Under The Sun – Part 1, Actor and dramatist, Stephen Bathurst asks the biggest question of all: What’s the Point?

Strangers & Exiles: Life Under the Sun - Part 1

'What good is it to gain the whole world but lose your soul?'

Described as Blackadder meets the Bible, Life Under The Sun - Part 1 is a one man show based on the book of Ecclesiastes, asking the biggest question of all - What's the point?

Imagine King Charles delivering his big royal speech, all the pomp and majesty, the trumpets and fanfare, but he's in his pants, with a massive hangover, and it's not old Charlie-Boy, it's King Solomon, supposedly the wisest man who ever lived, he's got 700 wives to deal with (and their mothers) and he can't get it up anymore...

Stephen Bathurst, brings this one-man show back to his native Derbyshire. Previous performances have taken place in Britain (Bedford Fringe, Guildford Fringe), Sweden (Gothenburg Fringe), Finland (OFF Tampere), Norway, Germany, Australia and Canada.

http://www.strangersandexiles.net/tickets

'4**** - Startling & Ambitious' Get Your Coats On


Meanwhile over in Chapel-en-le-Frith, a group of writers aim to entertain you with their gripping tales of murder...

Chapel Arts Creative Writing Group: Murder Foretold

Prompted by the opening line ‘Someone here will soon commit a murder’, the Chapel Arts Creative Writing Group presents its own ‘stories to die for’.

The thriving group of writers will be presenting two shows entitled Murder Foretold, an evening performance on July 11th at 7.30pm and a matinee on July 14th at 2pm, both at Rems Cafe Bar and Restaurant in Chapel-en-le-Frith. Different material is likely to feature at each and the group is expecting to perform stories, poetry, mini-plays and even some music, all with a different slant on this year’s murderous theme.

Led by author Mark Henderson, the group is open to all but includes published writers among its ranks. A booklet of short stories, Murder Foretold, will be on sale at the Fringe events. The group has also had its monologues performed by Glossop’s Partington Players and three writers from the group have had monologues selected by Strajanka Productions for another Buxton Fringe event, The Monologue Project 2024.

Says Mark: "It’s a pleasure and a privilege to work with this talented group of writers. They’ve produced a wide variety of pieces around this year’s theme. Having heard what they’re offering, I’m glad I don’t have to walk home along a dark alley!"


Buxton Fringe

Website: www.buxtonfringe.org.uk
Facebook: buxtonfringe
Twitter: @buxtonfringe
Instagram: @buxtonfringe

Hold the Front Page 5 - Time for a Rethink at Buxton Fringe

Canadian storyteller Nancy Edwards offers online audiences an insight into her challenging work as a community nurse in Sierra Leone. Read an extract from her press release below. The Fringe is pleased to include online performances with this year's programme also featuring Strajanka Productions' The Monologue Project in Spoken Word.

For further information about all our Fringe shows see our What's On listings here.

Nancy Edwards in the final scene of Rethinking Good Intentions

Nancy Edwards: Rethinking Good Intentions

Rethinking Good Intentions is a solo show, written and performed by Nancy Edwards, an Ottawa-based, Canadian story-teller.  Nancy is participating virtually at the 2024 Buxton Festival Fringe. This compelling play transports audiences to the rural villages of Sierra Leone, West Africa in the late 1970s and 1980s where Nancy worked as a community health nurse for five years.  

The play chronicles a journey that is both poignant and humorous. With the patience of local mentors, Nancy adjusted to life and the field-work realities of delivering preventive maternal and child health services as a cultural outsider. The play is filled with stories about Nancy’s initially blundered and then inspired encounters with village chiefs, traditional birth attendants, and subsistence farmers. Village experiences rattled Nancy’s cultural preconceptions, provoked her notions of social privilege, and forever deepened her global connections. 

Nancy’s heart-warming and heart-breaking stories about public health work in the villages make audiences laugh and cry. This new play is full of humanity. 

Live virtual performances of the play take place on July 6 and 20, 2024 @ 5 PM GMT. Performances are free. Pre-registration on Zoom is required. Donations are encouraged to the Friends of Nixon Memorial Hospital Fund (details on last page of playbill).   

The play lasts about an hour. Performances will be followed by a live chat with Nancy on Zoom.  

A recording of the first performance will be available to view on Nancy’s YouTube channel between July 7 and July 21, 2024.

See a trailer here. 

See www.nancyedwards.ca (“Play” page) for schedule of performances, registration links for live performances on Zoom, YouTube link for taped performance, and copy of playbill.

The play is based on Nancy’s book “Not One, Not Even One: A Memoir of Life-altering Experiences in Sierra Leone, West Africa”, which was released by Friesen Press in 2022.  

It contains brief references to civil war violence, female initiation rituals, and newborn deaths in Sierra Leone. Age guidance 18+

Buxton Fringe

Website: www.buxtonfringe.org.uk
Facebook: buxtonfringe
Twitter: @buxtonfringe
Instagram: @buxtonfringe

Thinking outside the box at Buxton Fringe

Our Fringe entrants take their responsibility towards the audience very seriously. We always love to learn more about their creative processes. Barbara Diesel wrote to us about the thinking behind her play, Dear Eliza, which is being staged at Underground at Spring Gardens. Read her words below. We hope her message sparks a conversation.

For further information about all our Fringe shows see our What's On listings here.

Writer/performer Barbara Diesel in Dear Eliza

Next month, I’m looking forward to performing my debut one-woman play, Dear Eliza, at the Buxton Festival Fringe. It’s been quite the journey creating and sharing this story. It dives into mental health in a completely unapologetic and raw way, with an added blend of dark comedy. I made a pointed effort to ensure my protagonist would be as morally grey, authentic, and real as possible.

I feel strongly about the power of Fringe theatre, particularly in the case of representing mental health issues. A few months ago, I summarised it like this:

 “The problem with depictions of mentally ill characters in fiction is that they are either nothing like a real mentally ill person, or they fit perfectly inside of a box. Often, when a film/book/series/play decides it wants to depict a specific illness, they build the characters around that diagnosis. They seem to tick off the symptoms and only then add in family/occupation/a handful of hobbies… afterwards. Creating what is a nice, neat, symptomatically perfect character.

The problem is that humans don’t tend to tick all the boxes. Humans are hard to diagnose. Humans have comorbid symptoms with other illnesses. Humans don’t fit into neat boxes. Only characters do.

So, most depictions of mental illness are, inherently, fictional. There’s little consideration of the symptomatic murkiness that can exist between different disorders. And the spectrum of experience is disregarded.

That’s why representation of mental health disorders is so different if you go to see Fringe theatre. A lot of the time, it’s been written by someone who really knows what they are talking about. Just as importantly, it hasn’t been surrendered to the industry – an industry that relies on being sensational or romantic or shocking in order to be commodified.

These ‘alternative’ depictions might blur the lines or leave you wondering what was actually ‘wrong’ with the character. They might confuse you because they haven’t been neatly packaged for you. But that is the reality of human beings with mental illnesses, as opposed to characters with mental illnesses. Human beings don’t fit into boxes. Only characters do.”

The best compliments I have received have been from audience members either telling me that they found Dear Eliza to be cathartic, because it genuinely resonated with them, or that they now better understood a family member/friend/colleague thanks to watching the play. That kind of experience is so difficult to have through mainstream media. So, for me, this is what makes Fringe theatre so valuable.

Buxton Fringe

Website: www.buxtonfringe.org.uk
Facebook: buxtonfringe
Twitter: @buxtonfringe
Instagram: @buxtonfringe

Hold the Front Page 4 - Take a Trip Back in Time with Buxton Festival Fringe

Three more of our Fringe performers share a snapshot of their entries this year. Although they are all completely different, they all have a historic slant to transport you back in time. Below follow extracts from their press releases giving a flavour of what’s in store from Spoken Word author Shirley Mann, Theatre entrant Pendleton Sixth Form College School of Theatre and in Film, silent screen musicians, Brief Encounter Duo. For full details of their show times, venues etc, see our listings on our website.

If you are a Fringe performer who would like to be featured in our blog, please send

your press release to marketing@buxtonfringe.org.uk. Thanks to all those who have

already done so - watch this space!

Shirley Mann : How WWII Changed Women’s Lives Forever 

Wirksworth award-winning author, Shirley Mann, is doing a talk at the Buxton Fringe

entitled ‘World War II- How It Changed Women’s Lives Forever.’

Her four novels, one of which won the Romantic Saga Novel Award in 2021 and

another which was nominated for this year’s Popular Romantic Fiction Award, are all

inspired by former World War II servicewomen.

A former BBC journalist, Shirley’s first book, ‘Lily’s War’ was prompted by the

wartime romance of her mother who was a WAAF in Bomber Command and her

father, who was in the Eighth Army. With the offer of a publishing contract, her plans

for retirement were put on hold while she raced around the country to talk to as many

ex-servicewomen as possible and the result was three more books about the roles of

women during wartime.

‘I was lucky enough to meet ATA pilot, Mary Ellis in my research for ‘Bobby’s War,’

Shirley commented, ‘and then I went on to meet Land Army girls, plotters and the

families of policewomen in the Isle of Man for my other books. I feel so incredibly

privileged to have met them and to have heard their stories, especially as they are

now all gone- which means I’m desperate to make sure their legacy is preserved.’

Shirley’s latest book, ‘Bridget’s War’ is about a policewoman in the Isle of Man

internment camp. It’s a little-known fact that when Churchill rounded up anyone living

in Britain, they didn’t know what to do with, German Jews were forced to rub

shoulders with German Nazi supporters behind barbed wire on the south of the

island.

Further information at https://shirleymannauthor.home.blog/ Twitter – shirleymann07

Instagram – shirleymannauthor

The Pendleton Codebreakers: Breaking the Code

By Hugh Whitemore (performed by arrangement with Concord Theatricals).

Directed by Ben Ventress, a superbly talented cast of young actors from the

Pendleton School of Theatre will perform this moving and powerful biopic of the

great Alan Turing for two nights only. The production was first performed to great

public acclaim last November.

 

Audiences will be treated to a night of exceptional theatre, which was described as

being ‘worthy of a West End production’ at its last outing.

Brief Encounter Duo: Silent Film Piccadilly (1929) With Live Music

Step back to the 1920s and experience the magic of cinema as it used to be! Brief

Encounter Duo are delighted to present the silent film ‘Piccadilly’ with live music in

Buxton Festival Fringe. Screen goddess Anna May Wong sizzles as Shosho, a

scullery maid who rises to stardom in the glitzy Piccadilly nightclub in London.

This leads to a strange tale of jealousy, betrayal, forbidden love and a mysterious

murder. This classic British film was a rare success on both sides of the Atlantic

despite the advent of ‘Talkies’ two years earlier.

Chris and Veronica Perrin are following in the footsteps of Chris’s grandparents who

accompanied silent films in the 1920s. Using nine different instruments, the duo play

vintage jazz and silent film music complementing the unfolding drama. Expect to

hear at least one instrument you’ve never heard before!

This unique show has received wonderful reviews which can be viewed along with

other information about the film on the website briefencounterduosilentfilms.co.uk

“An absolute gem of a show. Don’t miss it.”

Carole Garner

Buxton Fringe

Website: www.buxtonfringe.org.uk
Facebook: buxtonfringe
Twitter: @buxtonfringe
Instagram: @buxtonfringe