Boasting 24 years of experience running venues in Edinburgh, theSpaceUK’s latest venture is bringing 80 shows online during Fringe-season.
Set to launch on Saturday 8 August, virtual festival Online@theSpaceUK will feature over 80 performances written and produced during lockdown and host a “live Fringe experience” every Saturday night.
The festival, which will be completely free for viewers, will publish new shows online every week in August.
Shows will last between 10 and 45 minutes with a mixture of pre-recorded and live performances of all original work produced during lockdown.
❤️One Festival, Three Weeks, Eighty Shows
— theSpaceUK (@theSpaceUK) July 8, 2020
❤️All Written and Produced in Lockdown
❤️Join us Online, 8-30 August 2020
Announcing Online@theSpaceUK, Three Weeks packed full of shows written & performed during lockdown. Full programme available here https://t.co/Rs5XBIdw1T pic.twitter.com/o4h7WcXJV4
Charles Pamment, Artistic Director of theSpaceUK said: “We are very pleased and proud to present the wonderfully passionate EdFringe audiences with a quite special alternative of live and original work from many of the artistes who were working with theSpaceUK at fringe 2020.”
“What a year 2020 was going to be! We were preparing to welcome plenty of brilliant new work, alongside many returning favourites. None of us expected 2020 to evolve as it has.”
All of Edinburgh’s August festivals, including the world-famous Festival Fringe, were postponed in April amidst coronavirus fears.
READ MORE: Edinburgh International Film Festival brings Drive-In Movies to Edinburgh airport
Chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society Shona McCarthy called the decision “heartbreaking,” but theSpaceUK’s virtual project One Festival, Three weeks, Eighty Shows, will offer replacement entertainment to theatre-goers stuck at home.
Performances will include Christopher Tajah’s Under Heavens Eyes who is returning to theSpaceUK after last year debuting his critically-acclaimed solo-play Dream of a King based on the life of Martin Luther King Jr; This is Not a Theatre Company’s Play in Your Bathtub: An Immersive Audio Spa for Physical Distancing; and Kali Theatre Company’s The Last Clap which follows the experiences of a young actor from the last round of applause from the audience before her theatre is forced to close through to the last Thursday clap for care workers after she joins the frontline to work in a care home.
Anne Rabbitt was one performer due to return to Edinburgh for the first time since 1986 when she was in a double act with Doon Mackichan, but will now feature Online@theSpaceUK with Bookshelf Ballad.
READ MORE: Edinburgh International Book Festival moves online
Based on real experiences, Swell Theatre Company’s Rehearsal Etiquette captures the comedic realities that theatre makers across the country have faced when trying to continue rehearsing online.
The Fringe, which normally takes place in venues scattered across Edinburgh in August, as well as The Edinburgh International Festival, the Art Festival, the International Book Festival and the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, was postponed due to concerns over the spread of Covid-19.
In recent years these festivals have attracted a combined audience of over four million and are thought to be worth more than £300 million to the economy.
It is the first time the festivals have been called off in their 70-year history.
The full programme of Online@theSpaceUK can be found at www.theSpaceUK.com
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