Fringe Companies Unite! You have nothing to lose but… nothing, really
Louise and I have been having a chat, albeit separated by a few hundred miles. Louise is Louise Hill, BTG reviewer and director of To A Sunless Sea (Trinculo Theatre at the Etcetera in Camden), and I am in the North East, but we have a couple of things in common: we both direct and we are both concerned about money.
And we are not talking about our own money here, but the money which is (or, rather, is not) available to fund the production of new work. We have regrettably come to the conclusion that what we do - fringe theatre essentially - is (a) important because it allows actors, writers and directors to experiment, and (b) doomed to live from hand to mouth and rely on profit-share from uncertain box office returns.
To a Sunless Sea is getting good reviews. A Cold Coming got good reviews. Both will be financially dodgy (technical term!).
It would be OK if we didn’t have to make a living. But then if we didn’t have to make a living because we were otherwise employed we wouldn’t be able to do the plays, not in the depth and to the standard we want - need! - to do them.
And of course Trinculo and KG are far from being the only companies living in these hand-to-mouth, scraping by conditions. There are many of us, in London and throughout the country. We (by which I mean fringe companies like us - I’m not arrogant enough to think we’re unique or special!) could sell out and do popular comedies, thrillers and that sort of stuff, but what would that do to British theatre?
Companies like ours are even too small (and occasional) to be members of the ITC, so there’s little in the way of support. Perhaps we should be looking at some kind of loose organisation or ad hoc gathering to provide mutual support?