When the 2020 Edinburgh fringe was cancelled due to Covid-19, producer Francesca Moody and theatre-maker Gary McNair unveiled a DIY solution: Shedinburgh. Theatre, comedy and music shows were put on in a variety of sheds and streamed live to an audience online. The digital initiative proved as popular as it was canny and returned the following year. Now, the Shedinburgh festival is set to be resurrected this summer for a series of in-person, one-off performances in a new 100-seat venue in Edinburgh.
Jayde Adams, Mark Watson and Ivo Graham are among the standups taking part, along with fringe favourites Sh!t Theatre, the Guilty Feminist host Deborah Frances-White, Marlow and Moss (the composing duo behind hit musical Six) and recent Olivier award-winner Maimuna Memon. There will be Shed Shows (intimate “unplugged” versions of hit fringe productions from the past), Shed Originals (using previously unseen scripts by emerging writers) and ShedX Talks (free panels and Q&As), as well as late-night music events. The venue will be open during the day as a cafe and bar. Tickets including pay-what-you-can options will be released later this month when the full “shed-ule” is announced as well as further details about the venue including its location.
Taking a show to Edinburgh is a financially risky endeavour for performers who are often required to pay the venue a minimum guarantee. Shedinburgh will instead be giving a guaranteed fee to each act as well as covering their travel and accommodation expenses.
Moody, whose Edinburgh hits include Fleabag and Baby Reindeer, said: “In recent years it has become more challenging than ever to bring a show to the festival and for artists and audiences it feels increasingly inaccessible. Shedinburgh is our attempt to level the playing field; it’s our love letter to the fringe, and something that we hope sits in conversation with the many other brilliant initiatives working to ensure the festival remains a launchpad for the next generation of gamechanging artists.”
Applications will soon open for Shedinburgh’s Shedload of Future Fund, which will distribute money raised from the 2020 and 2021 digital seasons. The fund will award three £5,000 grants to artists making their Edinburgh fringe debut this summer.
Watson said “it’s getting harder and harder for emerging artists to survive [in Edinburgh] or even take the risk of going in the first place. There needs to be a fresh approach to the way the festival works for performers, and that’s what Shedinburgh is offering.” Adams, who will be performing a show that is “more theatrical, more personal and unlike anything I’ve done before”, said Shedinburgh would offer a space that is “intimate, raw and open to risk”.
