Studio Salford WriteForTheStage opened our doors as a development agency back in 2012 and have since helped hundreds of writers bring their work to the fringe in Greater Manchester.
On top of fringe venues, work developed during the courses has appeared at tons of established venues and festivals, such as 24:7, Buxton Fringe, Greater Manchester Fringe Festival, at Oldham Coliseum, Bread and Roses Theatre (London), Edinburgh Fringe, The Met (Bury), Kings Arms Theatre, 53Two, and beyond.
Additionally alumni from our courses have gone on to develop work with and for Contact Theatre, Royal Exchange, and Graeae Theatre, been readers for National Theatre, been invited onto the prestigious Playwright Development Programme at Liverpool Everyman, and become producers, directors, and performers.
We're very proud of our success stories, and we maintain our policy of providing top-quality tuition at a super-affordable price: giving access to creative pursuits to everyone; not just the wealthy.
And this is why we teamed up with the Greater Manchester Fringe Festival back in 2015; Manchester's open access festival.
Open Access at GMFringe
We loved how the festival is open to everyone - regardless of experience or background - because we believe that everyone should get a chance to learn, to develop, and to grow in a supportive environment.
And that's what all fringe festivals should be as far as we're concerned: an opportunity for everyone to try out their work; to learn and to develop.
Fringe festivals offer a low-cost way for artists of all disciplines to bring their work to an audience and to develop a following; overcoming the multiple barriers to access that all new artists experience with established venues.
Over the years, the GMFringe has seen many artists emerge, thrive, and flee the secure nest of the Manchester scene; everything that it should be.
Starting Points
The GMFringe is the starting point for many who are warming up for the Edinburgh Fringe:
Emmy Fyles
Last year, Emmy Fyles made the North West debut of her #LiveYourBestLife show at the GMFringe 2018. It went on to Edinburgh the following month and got picked as one of The Guardian's Best Shows of the Edinburgh Fringe.
Emmy also got invited into some very exciting meetings with some very important people. And it was well deserved: it was a joyfully hilarious show, and it's propelled her into the limelight.
She's taking her new show, "Socially Awkward Penguin" to Edinburgh this year.
BUT not before her World Premiere at the Greater Manchester Fringe.
She's performing "Socially Awkward Penguin" at the fabulous 3 Minute Theatre on Friday, 19th July. This is a one-night-only opportunity to see the first ever performance of her new show.
If #LiveYourBestLife is anything to go by, we're in for a treat. No pressure, Emmy.
Cally Beaton
Cally Beaton is also bringing her brand new show to the GMFringe this year.
I saw her previous show, SuperCallyFragileLipstick, at the Ed Fringe a couple of years ago and can definitely recommend her as one to look out for: warm, hilarious, and you left the show feeling like you had a new best mate.
Don't miss her - she's playing at The Kings Arms Studio on Saturday, 11th July for just a fiver.
Manchester Theatre Awards
Shows at the GMFringe have consistently been recognised (by nomination and award) at the Manchester Theatre Awards, and the festival has earned a rightful reputation for the starting place of brilliant things.
Support
But not everyone who brings their work to the GMFringe is a seasoned professional. And that's very exciting for us.
We've always helped to support the work of new and emerging artists, and last year we ran the first ever WriteForTheStage GMFringe Development Conference, an opportunity to help with the development of new ideas and the honing of skills. It was a massive success, and we'll be running another in the autumn.
We're also running The Hive: a curated section of the GMFringe festival. With the support of the lovely people from Arts Council England, we're producing three brand-new pieces of work from a spoken word artist, a stand-up comedian, and a new playwright.
Each of The Hive artists is being supported and mentored by industry professionals - helping to develop the work and raise quality.
Quality
Quality is super-important to us at the GMFringe, and we're making every effort to help artists to improve the quality of their work. Our resources are limited, but we're open to helping everyone maximise the opportunity by offering free PR support, advice, and (to come in 2020 hopefully) a universal dramaturgy service.
The aim for the dramaturgy service is to help the newest artists best realise their work on the stage; this part of the project is very much in its infancy, but we're hoping to have it together for 2020.
Watch this space.
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