Hold the Front Page 6 - History with a difference at Buxton Fringe

Let Me Entertain You (credit: Ann Orrett)

Welcome to the sixth of our blog series featuring enticing extracts from performers' press releases. History lessons come in all shapes and sizes at Buxton Fringe. Read on to hear about two exciting shows that look back at the past whilst never forgetting how it informs our present. 

For venues, times, ticketing and further information about these and all our Fringe shows, see our What's On listings here. If you are performing at Buxton Fringe and would like us to feature your press release, please get in touch via the marketing officer!

Let Me Entertain You - Chapel Arts Creative Writing Group marks 100th anniversary of television

For its eagerly-awaited spoken word show at this year’s Buxton Fringe (July 8th to 26th), Chapel Arts Creative Writing Group is celebrating the 100th anniversary of the first public demonstration of television with a performance of stories, poems, a mini-play and more entitled Let Me Entertain You. 

Narrated by group leader Cheryl Baker, the event will delve into the origins of mass screen entertainment with eye-witness accounts of watching the 1952 Coronation, memories of seeing life-changing news stories unfold and fond recollections of favourite programmes. It will also explore exactly how TV has affected us all, its effect on cinema and how TV itself is now playing second fiddle to newer technologies. Chapel Arts’ talented writers blur the boundary between electronic and real world entertainment and even allow us to hear directly from a TV set at one point.

The thriving Chapel Arts Creative Writing Group, which includes award-winning published writers, will be presenting two shows: an evening performance on July 9th at 7.30pm and a matinee on July 19th at 2pm, both at Rems Cafe Bar & Restaurant in Chapel-en-le-Frith.

A booklet of writings from the show will be on sale at the Fringe events, with profits in aid of charity.

The group, which is open to all, has had its monologues performed by Glossop’s Partington Players, and three of its writers took the top three places in Strajanka Productions’ open competition at Buxton Fringe, The Monologue Project in 2024.

 

Says Cheryl, a Chapel-based writer and artist who took over from Mark Henderson as leader of the group last autumn: ”It's been a pleasure working with this talented group from concepts and rough drafts to polished pieces. The show is great fun and I think Chapel's creative writers have done themselves proud”.

A registered charity, Chapel Arts was formed to encourage the development of a broad range of arts in the Chapel-en-le-Frith area. Details of events, including regular spoken word performances, are available on www.chapelarts.org.uk. The site also includes the Writing Group’s previous stories plus filmed and recorded readings.

Jane: England’s Nine Day Queen

A powerful new musical telling the story of Lady Jane Grey will be performed at Eyam Mechanics Institute this July as part of the Buxton Festival Fringe. 

Jane: England’s Nine Day Queen, written and directed by Kim-Louise Sparks, brings to life the dramatic nine-day reign of Lady Jane Grey, the teenage queen proclaimed in 1553 and executed at the Tower of London just months later. Far from a simple retelling of Tudor events, the musical explores faith, ambition, manipulation and the cost of power through an original score and an intimate production. 

"She has created a history lesson in song that educates and entertains all at the same time." - Kev Castle Reviews 

Audiences can expect gripping court intrigue, emotional depth and striking musical storytelling as the drama unfolds from the corridors of power to the final days in the Tower. 

Says Kim-Louise: “Jane is often remembered simply as ‘the Nine Day Queen’, but she was a fiercely intelligent young woman placed at the centre of a political storm. This show gives her back her voice and asks what courage looks like in the face of impossible choices.” 

The production will be staged at Eyam Mechanics Institute on Saturday 18 July at 7.30pm and Sunday 19 July at 4pm. 

Tickets are £8, (£4 using the code EYAM for Friends of the Fringe and Eyam residents.) There are discounts available for large groups and schools. A one-day-only ticket offer will run on 10 July to mark the beginning of Jane’s reign, with 50% off tickets available for the 19 July performance — the date that signifies its end. The offer mirrors the brief span of her rule, from first crown to final moment. 

There will be a chance to speak to the cast/ writer after each performance. 

Further information and booking details can be found via the Buxton Festival Fringe programme, or alternatively through our website 'janethemusical.co.uk'.

Buxton Fringe

Website: www.buxtonfringe.org.uk
Facebook: @buxtonfestivalfringe
Bluesky: @buxtonfringe
Instagram: @buxtonfringe

Hold the Front Page 5 - The great escape - technology at Buxton Fringe

Stewart Taylor is Virtually There

Welcome to the fifth of our blog series featuring ever-stimulating extracts from performers' press releases. Virtual reality and the sometimes dangerous lure of technology are important themes at this year’s Fringe. Read on to hear more on these topics from two of our performers. 

For venues, times, ticketing and further information about these and all our Fringe shows, see our What's On listings here. If you are performing at Buxton Fringe and would like us to feature your press release, please get in touch via the marketing officer!

Comedy Poet Brings Unusual Mix

This July sees a quirky addition to the Buxton Festival Fringe programme as writer and performer, Stewart Taylor, mixes poetry, clowning and song in presenting Virtually There at Underground at Spring Gardens. 

The show represents the first Buxton outing for the show following a successful performance at the Lambeth Fringe. It follows a hapless presenter as he is drawn into a virtual reality game with no means of escape. The harder he tries, the worse it gets! The show will be of interest to a Fringe audience who like their comedy with content, exploring themes of self-image and the realities of ageing. 

‘It’s a show conceived in Lockdown, when so much communication happened through a screen. Ultimately, it emphasises the importance of genuine human contact’ says Stewart, whose previous show Spillage received a five star review at the Brighton Fringe in 2020. (‘Taylor is a fabulous physical performer’ Simon Topping, Reviews Hub.) 

In bringing the show to production, Stewart draws on fifteen years entertaining audiences as a Spoken Word artist and a background as an actor in Children’s Theatre and Theatre-in-Education. He has performed as a headline or feature artist at Spoken Word poetry events across the South and at festivals including Victorious and WOMAD. 

Virtually There was previously presented at The ARC, Winchester, prompting reviewer Anita Foxall to write ‘He captivates audiences effortlessly and the text exudes both lyricism and talent’ (in-common.co.uk).

The show runs from Monday 20th to Thursday 23rd July. Tickets are £10 and available through Underground Venues at underthefringe.com 

Online Presence - a queer dystopian romance

John Arthur Sweet, a writer/performer from Montreal, Canada, is returning to the Buxton Fringe this year after winning the Buxton Fringe Spoken Word Award in 2024.

This year’s show, Online Presence, which Sweet describes as a ‘queer dystopian romance’, will be presented at Underground at Spring Gardens on 23, 24 and 25 July at 1:00 p.m.

This will be John’s second appearance at the Buxton Fringe, following his award-winning show outside, in the laneway, under the stars at the Green Man Gallery in 2024. John says: ‘After my experience of Buxton in 2024, I was determined to come back ASAP, even though it’s several thousand kilometres from where I live! Last year, I premiered a new show, Online Presence, at a small theatre festival in North Bay, Canada, and the reception was enthusiastic, and they gave me an award for Outstanding Original Work, and I immediately thought, “Okay, I’ll take this to Buxton in 2026!”’

Online Presence is something of a departure from Sweet’s past shows, which have tended to be autobiographical. This show is about a quiet individual who finds his life being taken over by technology after a visit from a mysterious government functionary. The show is set in a dystopian future that is not, in fact, that far removed from the world we’re in now. ‘This show began as a 10-minute sketch in 2018, and at the time it seemed, to me, to be really “out there”. It now seems to be a reality that is only slightly exaggerated from where we are. I’ve begun to feel as though I really need to perform this show as much as possible before reality overtakes the fiction I’m portraying!’ Buxton will be Online Presence’s second festival, and it will be immediately followed up by two performances at the Durham Fringe.

Sweet says: ‘I’m not naturally drawn to dystopian themes, but I find it difficult not to be dystopian right now. But the show offers rays of light, I think. I’ll be interested to see how Buxton audiences react! People who saw the show last year in North Bay told me it made them want to put their mobile phones down for a while, and that pleased me no end!’

Tickets, priced at £7-£10, are available at underthefringe.com.

Buxton Fringe

Website: www.buxtonfringe.org.uk
Facebook: @buxtonfestivalfringe
Bluesky: @buxtonfringe
Instagram: @buxtonfringe

Hold the Front Page 4 - Join in the fun at Buxton Fringe!

Erica Jean is confused by languages...

Welcome to the fourth of our blog series featuring intriguing extracts from performers' press releases. There is an intimacy about Fringe shows that means the audience is often very much involved. Read on to find out more.

For venues, times, ticketing and further information about these and all our Fringe shows, see our What's On listings here. If you are performing at Buxton Fringe and would like us to feature your press release, please get in touch via the marketing officer!

International comedian brings 'culture shock' show to the Buxton Fringe Finale

Buxton, UK – This July, traveling polyglot comedian Erica Jean brings her interactive show, MISTRANSLATED! to the Buxton Fringe at Buxton Conservative Club 25-26 July at 3-4pm.. 

Fresh from a tour across Southeast Asia and a successful run at the Tallinn Fringe, Erica Jean offers a hilariously chaotic exploration of what happens when the "gift of gab" goes wrong. Globally. She has offended waiters on five continents, lied on Indonesian TV, practiced French with dogs, and accidentally ordered a plate of eels – more than once. 

MISTRANSLATED is a celebration of the human mistake. Erica Jean—who performs stand-up in seven languages including Japanese, Spanish, and Indonesian—proves that you don’t need fluency to connect with people; you just need the courage to look like an idiot. 

And guess what? The show is totally free. "I wanted to make it as accessible to as many people as possible," says Erica Jean. "Because honestly it’s just as much fun for me to hear everyone’s stories about the languages they’ve attempted to learn. People will surprise you and it’s a great reminder that even though foreign languages aren’t at the top of our minds – the insanity of trying to learn at least one is an experience we all share."

From false friends in French to traumatizing Thai pharmacists with nonsensical requests, the show mixes storytelling with interactive crowd work. Audiences are invited to share their own "language fails," ensuring that at least 30% of every night is a unique, unscripted linguistic experiment. Jokes draw from over a dozen languages but are friendly to those who only speak one.

MISTRANSLATED has been developed over two years of testing in 15+ countries. Described by producers as "a breath of fresh air," the show avoids mature themes in favor of witty, quirky, and universally relatable comedy. The show is 99% in English, although audiences are warned to expect to walk away knowing a few new words - or twelve.

Local dancers bring jazz and rhythm tap to Buxton Fringe

Buxton Fringe audiences will have the chance to experience a different kind of dance this summer when North West tap dance company Sole Rebel presents Jazz Gig for Kids on Saturday 11th July at St Anne’s Community Centre, 3-5pm.

While dance at the Fringe is often represented by traditional Morris performances, Sole Rebel’s appearance offers a refreshing addition to the programme, bringing together live jazz music, rhythm tap dance and local young performers in a relaxed, family-friendly event.

Following a sell-out Jazz Gig for Kids in Liverpool earlier this year, Sole Rebel is bringing the format to Buxton Fringe for the first time. Designed to introduce children to jazz and live music in a fun and accessible way, the informal afternoon performance will feature high-quality live music, and performances from Sole Rebel’s tap dancers, who are based across Liverpool, Manchester and Macclesfield.

Families are invited to sit back and enjoy the atmosphere or get involved and dance along.

Drinks and refreshments will be available, alongside crafts and a cosy corner for under-twos.

After Jazz Gig for Kids on 11th, Sole Rebel’s dancers and musicians will head to Onnen on Spring Gardens that same day for an intimate evening Jazz and Tap Dance Jam from 7-9pm, offering Fringe audiences a chance to experience the company’s improvisational approach in a more informal setting. This event is free and unticketed.

About Sole Rebel

Founded in 2011, Sole Rebel creates bold, music-led rhythm tap, touring widely across the UK and collaborating with live musicians through performances, improvisation labs and community tap jams. Over the past 15 years, the company has performed and taught at leading festivals and events including Edinburgh Fringe, WOMAD, Green Man Festival and Just So Festival.

Sole Rebel Macclesfield is led by Bollington-based dance artist, dance educator and drummer Julia Cooper. After training with Sole Rebel Artistic Director Hannah Ballard in Liverpool and gaining experience delivering workshops and performances at festivals nationwide, Julia launched regular tap classes for children in Bollington and the surrounding area last year.

Alongside its touring work, Sole Rebel runs regular classes in Liverpool, Oxford, London, Manchester and Macclesfield, with weekly classes in Bollington for children aged 2-4 and 4-6 during term time.

LOADING... A brand new magic and mind reading show

Magician, TEDx Speaker, and creator of The Magic Room, Ed Sumner will present LOADING... a mix of magic, mind-reading, storytelling, and comedy at Onnen, 1 Spring Gardens across five dates in July.

In this brand new show for 2026, audiences can expect jaw-dropping magic, unfathomable mind reading, and a fresh perspective on timing and opportunity.

This relaxed but engaging evening explores what happens when life buffers and the unexpected ways it starts moving again, asking if the perfect moment ever really arrives.

This free/Pay What You Want performance runs as part of the Buxton Festival Fringe (8th - 26th July), with Ed's shows taking place on 15th, 16th, 17th, 23rd, and 24th July, with shows at 7pm and 8:30pm.

Anyone wanting further information about the show should visit https://edsumner.com.

Buxton Fringe

Website: www.buxtonfringe.org.uk
Facebook: @buxtonfestivalfringe
Bluesky: @buxtonfringe
Instagram: @buxtonfringe

Hold the Front Page 3 - Powerful theatre at Buxton Fringe

      Credit: Split Infinitive Theatre

Welcome to the third of our blog series featuring revealing extracts from performers' press releases. Theatre is a mainstay of Buxton Fringe, a large category full of interest. Thought-provoking, moving and relatable, here are just two examples of what’s on offer.

For venues, times, ticketing and further information about these and all our Fringe shows, see our What's On listings here. If you are performing at Buxton Fringe and would like us to feature your press release, please get in touch via the marketing officer!

What are we going to do when this is all over? - Split Infinitive Theatre

A play about the memories we hope we never forget and the ones we know we should…

Helen and Alexander have been creating theatre together for a number of years, but as Helen's memory begins to fail and they realise this is something worse than just brain fog, Alexander begins to discover things Helen has been hiding from him for years. Helen's secrets begin to be revealed as the play comes to its dramatic climax. When Alexander realises Helen's desires are darker than he ever imagined, he tries to cover her tracks, putting himself in the firing line. The play's dramatic conclusion may very well be the end of Helen and Alexander forever.

Incorporating Split Infinitive's signature interactive/immersive and autobiographical style of performance, what are we going to do when this is all over? shows a darker side to memory loss, marriage, and how far we will go to protect the ones we love.

what are we going to do when this is all over? is supported by National Lottery Funding through Arts Council England.

Taking place at Underground at Spring Gardens on 10th, 12th and 18th July at 4pm and 17th July at 8.30pm, the play features strong language, adult themes, themes of child abuse and sexual assault.

Split Infinitive is an award winning theatre company dedicated to creating intimate and engaging pieces of original theatre. Our 2023/24 production of A Caravan Named Desire won the John Beecher Award for original, challenging work with high production value at the Buxton Fringe Festival. In 2022/23 our production of I Heart Michael Ball was also nominated for an OFFIE at the 2022 Camden Fringe and a Standing Ovation Award by London Pub Theatres at GrimFest 2023. Helen and Alexander have also received a number of nominations from Broadway World UK including for Best Direction of a New Play, Best Leading Performer in a New  Play and Best New Production of a Play.

Tell Me Where it Hurts - Teepee Productions 

Award-winning theatre company Teepee Productions brings its powerful new

comedy-drama Tell Me Where It Hurts to audiences across the UK this July, September and October. Supported by Arts Council England, The PMDD Project and developed with dramaturgical support from National Theatre's New Writing Studio, the production shines a vital spotlight on Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD) through a deeply human, emotionally honest story that balances humour, heart and hard truths. It will be at Underground at the Working Men’s Club on July 22, 24 and 25 at 5.15pm and July 23 at 8.15pm.

The play follows Chrissy, a dedicated drama teacher struggling to navigate life,

relationships and work while living with PMDD, as she mentors Annie, a talented student preparing for a life-changing audition. Together, the pair confront the frustration of feeling unheard in a world that too often dismisses women’s pain and mental health experiences.

Presented by Teepee and Joe Brown and written by Teepee Productions co-founder, Tayla Kenyon, Tell Me Where It Hurts continues the company’s commitment to creating socially engaged theatre that sparks conversation and champions underrepresented voices. Following acclaimed audience responses during its development phase, the production now embarks on a wider UK tour, inviting audiences to experience a story that is as entertaining as it is urgently

Important.

Previous praise for Teepee Productions play - FLUFF:

“A thoughtful piece of theatre that bounces between past and present seemingly effortlessly, it held my attention from beginning to end” **** LondonTheatre1

“A stirring narrative that’ll keep you hooked” **** Theatre & Tonic

“Tayla Kenyon is compelling” **** The Upcoming

“Not just a fluff piece – this show has grit” ***** Bum On A Seat

Buxton Fringe

Website: www.buxtonfringe.org.uk
Facebook: @buxtonfestivalfringe
Bluesky: @buxtonfringe
Instagram: @buxtonfringe

Hold the Front Page 2 - Game for a laugh at Buxton Fringe!

Angela Bra

Welcome to the second of our blog series featuring enticing extracts from performers' press releases. Comedy is a huge section at this year’s Buxton Fringe but the variety within it is extraordinary. Read on for news of how three Fringe performers look set to have audiences laughing in the aisles.

For venues, times, ticketing and further information about  these and all our Fringe shows, see our What's On listings here. If you are performing at Buxton Fringe and would like us to feature your press release, please get in touch via the marketing officer!

Secret Diary of a Bingo Call Girl 2: The Balls Are Back in Town - Angela Bra

As the founder of her own Absolutely Dabulous Drag Bingo, Angela Bra has seen it all. Hen do high jinx, butlers in the buff, glamorous grandmas and mothers escaping their family for the night. She’s handled more balls than a gynaecologist on a pay-per-view contract and can do it whilst leading the Macarena.

The queen of ball-based bedlam returns to Buxton at Underground at the Working Men’s Club on July 8th and 12th with a brand new show packed with original songs and stories from the front line of the party bingo circuit, wrapped up in a round of her very own “Great British Bingo” and topical stage games.

A multiple award-winner and nominee for both her festival shows and drag performances, in 2025 Angela Bra won “Best Cabaret” at the Bay Fringe Festival, won “Joke of the Fest” at Lancaster Comedy Festival and was a finalist at Mancheser G-A-Y’s premier annual drag competition, “Purple Reign”. Previously, she has won Best Comedy at the Morecambe Fringe, been award-nominated in comedy twice at Buxton Fringe and has been a

finalist in both Mamma’s Drag Battle (Leeds) and The Crown (Manchester), as well as being a venue finalist for Drag Idol in Manchester, Leeds and Birmingham.

Closure Cabaret - Maria Ansdell 

Distinguished guests–hold on tight as we try to let go…

Welcome to the Closure Cabaret, a vaudevillian variety show hosted by Razmatastique – your hopefully devoted, French-accented emcee who cannot let her exes rest in peace. Instead, she summons them back for one final encore in pursuit of that ever-elusive promise: closure. 

From bad-boy playground pirates to wannabe hip-hop stars and emotionally unavailable illusionists, each former flame returns with a glittering cabaret act–jazz-handed into public inspection. Expect quick changes, original music and riotous audience participation as Razmatastique leads us through an odyssey of romantic misadventure.

Embarking on its first UK tour, including venues in London, Buxton, Chichester and Edinburgh. 

Created and performed by Maria Ansdell, this solo clown and character comedy show exposes romance as performance–and heartbreak as something we compulsively replay. 

Somewhere between a theatrical fever dream and an emotional exorcism, Closure Cabaret prompts the question: out of everyone we’ve ever dated, who really has the ‘Ex Factor’? She will be performing at Underground at the Working Men’s Club on 20th, 21st and 22nd July.

More about Maria…

Maria Ansdell is a London-based writer, performer and clown from Oxford, trained at École Philippe Gaulier. Her debut solo show, Closure Cabaret, was developed between France and Oxford before sold-out previews in London, an acclaimed Edinburgh run with two 4-star reviews, and further sold-out performances at The Bread & Roses and in Brighton Fringe - which also received critical acclaim. Alongside developing Closure Cabaret, Maria is one of six artists on The Pen Theatre’s Pen Six programme, creating new genre-bending performance work.

***** ‘A rare talent and an exceptional crafter of characters’ ReviewsHub

**** ‘Masterful Clowning’ AYoung(ish)Perspective

**** ‘Surreal and Sharply Intelligent’ RialtoArts

199 Jokes Before Lunchtime: Danny Matinee!

Following his sell-out Edinburgh show in 2025, the family-friendly one-liner merchant comes to the Buxton Festival Fringe for the first time with his latest jokes, props, pictures, and tips on crafting your own gags. He will be performing upstairs at The Old Clubhouse on the 18th July.

7 one-liners in The Times/The Telegraph Best Jokes of Edinburgh Fringe 2025!

Danny Matinee says: ‘I’m really looking forward to the Buxton Festival Fringe – my first visit to Buxton since I came with my grandma in about 1983, on a day trip when we also went to Jodrell Bank. ‘Anyway, I’m fresh from success in the Dungarees Wearer of the Year Awards – I was overall winner. I’ve got a new joke about Marmite – it’s the yeast I can do. And I’m also looking forward to seeing Waiting for Godot – it’s top of my Beckett list.’

***** ‘Finely crafted...slick wordplay’ Edinburgh Reporter

***** ‘A brilliant way to set up your day’ UK Theatre Web

Buxton Fringe

Website: www.buxtonfringe.org.uk
Facebook: @buxtonfestivalfringe
Bluesky: @buxtonfringe
Instagram: @buxtonfringe

Hold the Front Page - Thinking big at Buxton Fringe!

Scarlett Whispers © Stephen Sheridan.

Welcome to the first of our blog series featuring illuminating extracts from performers' press releases.

This year’s Buxton Fringe performers have really pushed the boat out seeking to wow audiences with ambitious and thought-provoking entertainment! Read on for a flavour of what they have in store for us...

For venues, times, ticketing and further information about these and all our Fringe shows, see our What's On listings here. If you are performing at Buxton Fringe and would like us to feature your press release, please get in touch via the marketing officer!

Pump Room Cabaret - Drunk ‘n’ Whispers

One of the most notorious and long-running cabaret shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is making its debut at the Buxton Festival Fringe this July with a special spin off: Drunk 'n’ Whispers’ Pump Room Cabaret. A series of shows will run at the Pump Room, Buxton Visitor Centre & The Buxton Crescent Experience on the festival's opening night, 8th July, followed by two shows on 16th and 17th July.

Cabaret producer, host, Hollywood Hellraiser (and quite the character) Sir Dickie Benson has been producing Sir Dickie Benson’s Midnight Mania at the Edinburgh Fringe for over a decade. Given its popularity, the number of shows will double this year by running alongside a brand new daytime edition, Sir Dickie Benson’s Midday Mania. The new series at the Buxton Fringe sees the next step in the show's evolution: developing as a touring model and adapting for new audiences.

As the show expands, Dickie has teamed up with international award-winning burlesque dancer and producer Scarlett Whispers. Between them, Scarlett and Dickie have over a decade of experience producing and performing on the international cabaret circuit and at clubs and festivals across the country; together they have curated an evening with some of the most charming, talented and incredible acts they’ve met along the way.

In the manner of a true variety show, the cabaret rounds up a range of some of the most crowd-pleasing acts from across the UK’s cabaret circuit. A riotous mix of burlesque, live music, comedy, magic and all manner of variety acts run back-to-back as a fast-paced and intoxicating show. Artists are selected for the high-quality of their performances and as representations of genuine cabaret.

Scarlett Whispers comments:

"I'll tell you a secret... Under the glitter and rhinestones, we are both history nerds! Buxton feels like a treasure chest to us, full of heritage, culture and a rich connection to the arts. And the community spirit in Buxton is electric! As freelance performers, there's something magical about being immersed in that festival frenzy, where the audience becomes part of the performance and the whole town is illuminated by this creative energy. With all the parades, the floats and those fabulous parties, it’s the kind of atmosphere that makes you feel alive. Buxton is passionate, creative and the perfect place to develop our show!”

Dickie and Scarlett have a taste for glitz, glamour and the finer things in life, especially antiquities (much like Dickie) and as such only a venue as delightfully elegant (much like Scarlett) will suffice. The Grade II-listed Pump Room at Buxton Crescent, aptly a historic place for drinking and social gatherings, will host the Pump Room Cabaret, blending history, elegance and entertainment.

When asked for a quote, Dickie said: “What the [EXPLETIVE DELETED] are you doing in my [EXPLETIVE DELETED] parlour? Did that Kenneth [EXPLETIVES DELETED] Branagh send you?!”

You Oughta Be in Pictures - Polis Loizou

Author, performer, storyteller and award-winning* fringe theatre-maker Polis Loizou is returning to Buxton Fringe with You Oughta Be in Pictures – an unsettling one-man show about the seedy side of Old Hollywood, and what filmmaking can teach us about engaging critically with the media we consume.

The hour-long piece sees Loizou reenacting old found footage of a casting session from the 1940s, involving a notorious film director and the young hopeful he’s auditioning to replace the suspiciously-murdered lead in a horror B-movie. Except neither this footage, nor the director in it, actually existed.

“I grew up in the ‘90s,” says Loizou. “I was on the Internet in the days of the Blair Witch hype, reading claims that this footage was shot by people who’d actually vanished. Of course, it was all fake. The filmmakers simply used the early Internet as an innovative, free marketing tool for a micro-budget movie. And it worked!”

Of course, all cinema is fabricated. Images are edited together with sound recordings, usually created separately with totally unrelated objects, all with the goal of implying actions and consequences to tell a story.

Loizou was a film graduate when he became involved in theatre. His love of cinema goes back to his childhood in Cyprus, when he would ask his mum endless questions about how these moving pictures on the TV were made. “I was in love with the artifice as much as the craft,” he says. “I find something hypnotic about the levels of deception in film. And as a longtime cynic, the glossing over Hollywood’s dark side always intrigued me.”

All storytelling requires a suspension of disbelief – and human brains seem only too willing to swallow total fantasies. But that’s where the danger lies: when fabrications are more appealing than fact. With the prevalence of AI in an increasingly unstable and polarised world, it seems more important than ever to encourage people to engage critically with the media they consume.

“I’m haunted by a phrase my film tutor used in the Documentary module at uni: ‘Reality is up for grabs.’ She was right, and I see that more with each passing year. I wanted to make a show about the making of art, and the need to be vigilant about being tricked by it. When we hand over our minds to manipulators, we have so much to lose.”

You Oughta Be in Pictures will be at Underground Spring Gardens on 9, 13 & 20 July.

*Mr Fox (Best New Writing at Buxton Fringe 2021), Back Door (John Beecher Memorial Award at Buxton Fringe and Best Comedy Show at Greater Manchester Fringe 2014)

Art For Health and Wellbeing - Clare Parker Artist and Art Psychotherapist 

Discover how art transforms lives. Local artist and art psychotherapist Claire Parker reveals powerful research, moving stories, and real case studies showing how creativity and engagement in art boosts health and wellbeing. 

Be inspired, gain practical tools for change, and witness the impact of art on individuals, families, and communities. This talk at Buxton’s Pump Room on 21 July is suitable for anyone interested in how we connect with what we see and how engaging with our senses through the arts brings about new possibilities, learning and connections.

Buxton Fringe

Website: www.buxtonfringe.org.uk
Facebook: @buxtonfestivalfringe
Bluesky: @buxtonfringe
Instagram: @buxtonfringe

First Night Excitement!

Reviews displayed at the Fringe Information Desk

It's late May already and all things Fringe are really hotting up. Our bumper 64-page programme is with the printers and will be available at our Programme Party on 6th June, then at outlets around the town.

The next challenge is finding reviewers for all of our 230 or so entries!

I love doing reviews, but that's too many for one woman, or indeed all of the committee and our existing reviewers, so that's why we are asking for extra people to get involved this year.

The things I love about reviews are looking at the list of first nights with anticipation; will any of my favourite performers be back this year? What new shows will tempt me?  Then turning up on the first night, the excitement of sitting in the audience waiting for the show to start or of being one of the first to look round an exhibition. Getting caught up in the performance, then remembering I'm there to work, hastily counting audience numbers (as requested by Fringe organisers), unobtrusively getting out my note book, then of course forgetting to make notes as the performance begins...

For me writing reviews is one of the most rewarding bits of the Fringe; the committee has been beavering away since last September to get this year's Fringe up and running and being there on the first night is so satisfying and rewarding, experiencing the fruits of all our labours and seeing other people enjoy themselves as well. 

I've seen some truly wonderful performances as a reviewer, every thing from laugh-till-I cry comedy and powerful and thought-provoking theatre to classical piano, folk, jazz and art. There really is a vast choice.

I talk to Reviews supremo Stephen Walker about why people should volunteer for reviews and what they should expect.  "The majority of our entrants request first night reviews" he tells me, "These really help potential audience members decide if the show is for them, it helps with ticket sales and gives performers feedback as well as quotes for future events' publicity".

So I know why I volunteer to review but what's in it for other people? "Reviewers receive a free ticket to the show they have selected. It will be the event's first night at Buxton Fringe and sometimes we have premieres of new work not seen anywhere else. Reviewers can chose from all of our categories; comedy, theatre and music tend to be the biggest, but there's lots of choice. Reviewing can be really exciting. We get some really high quality shows!"

Sounds like a bit of a balancing act; is there any support for new reviewers?  "Yes there's lots of guidance and tips on our website and as the Reviews Co-ordinator I'm there to offer support", says Stephen.

"The main aim is to capture the flavour of the show, its standout moments, its mood or helpful ideas for improvements.  We want to be supportive to our entrants while giving audiences enough information to decide if it's for them or not."

Would you advise new reviewers to stick to what they know or go off piste with a new genre? "I'd say for your first time, chose something you like the sound of and think you'll enjoy, whether its new to you or more familiar.  Then once you've experienced the process and got some confidence you can be more adventurous if you want."

Any one interested in joining our group of reviewers please contact Stephen at 

reviews@buxtonfringe.org.uk 

Carole Garner

Buxton Fringe

Website: www.buxtonfringe.org.uk
Facebook: @buxtonfestivalfringe
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