We are inviting applications from theatre and performance artists and companies to perform at the festival

How will we choose shows and curate the programme?

We want this inaugural Totnes Fringe Festival To showcase local artists and companies alongside those from further afield. We want to programme a range of work to connect as many people to theatre as possible. We envisage shows for kids of all ages, for teenagers and adults across the board. We know a classic might draw in theatre lovers, which is great, but we also want pieces of theatre that could interest people who think they don’t like theatre! We would love conventional plays alongside pieces that push us to consider what theatre and performance is. Taken together we hope our programme celebrates what it is to be human and what theatre can do for us, entertaining us, moving us, provoking us or even transforming us.

So we will ask these questions when we read your application.

Is there an audience for this work in Totnes? For a small town we’re known to be alternative. It is of course conceited to think we as a small group are thinking on behalf of the wider community, so we will be pretty open about content and form! 

Is there a venue that can accommodate this? You will see from our venue descriptions that there are a range on offer. But there is not really a conventional touring theatre space- so probably a version of your show that isn’t very technically sophisticated could be good to address in the application!

Is there a show?? This might sound odd. We want to be safe in the knowledge that if you are given a slot for a particular show it will happen. This doesn’t mean it already needs to have been produced- we would be excited to debut your piece!- but we want to be confident that it will happen. The questions that ask for details about your show will help us with this.

We are very much hoping to accommodate as much theatre as possible. But if we have to limit the applications the final question we will ask is whether the show seems exciting. What does this mean? We think that means you talk about it with passion and a sense of why it needs to be made and should be seen.