Brighton Fringe 2012 in numbers:

3 weeks
675 events
193 venues
155 free events
3,475 performances
Thousands of participants
1 million visitors to Brighton in May

The Olympics aren’t the only thing to get excited about this year, oh no! From 5– 27 May, Brighton will be taken over by the weird and wonderful, the artistic and absurd, for the largest arts festival in England. Happily we Filskit ladies will be donning our knotted handkerchiefs, and packing our bucket and spade and our socks and sandals to join in the celebrations. This will mark our first time at Brighton so we are extra excited (and if we’re being brutally honest, ever so slightly nervous). We will be showing our version of Snow White at a pop-up venue called The Warren which will be offering a really eclectic bunch of performances over the festival period. We are hoping to boost the ‘Kids’ category of the festival, which hopefully is a sector that will continue to grow.

From packing off flyers and posters, to sourcing costume and even hunting for precious rehearsal space, these last few weeks have been a whirlwind of activity. You suddenly become aware that you are about to be dropped into a highly competitive playing field with a really diverse mix of events jostling for your attention – many of which are free, to further entice passing trade. Along with this, we’ve even been speculating on the meteorological conditions of the Fringe – will it be raining?  (“Does that mean everyone will just stay at home?”) Will it be lovely and sunny? (“Won’t everyone just be at the beach?”). These are (sadly) factors outside our control, but many other things such as marketing, transport and fixing props are – and there will be many late nights until we open on Saturday 5 May. Being an all-hands-on-deck theatre company, we’re trying to juggle the marketing side along with sorting technical arrangements, accommodation, transport… oh, and the show itself! We will definitely let you know how we get on in the festival – no doubt we will have some pros and cons to share from our experience.

So as we enter the final countdown to our seaside shows, we hope you will be able to come and soak up some of the fantastic events on offer. We’re already eyeing up shows we want to see (Blind Summit’s The Table and Dip your Toe offering six Victorian custom-built bathing machines housing performances, amongst many more!). Check out the Brighton Fringe website for a sneak peek at all the scrumptious events on the horizon. Hopefully we’ll see you down there for some Snow White action, a stroll on the pier and some proper fish and chips!

Snow White is showing at The Warren from 5-8 May at the Brighton Fringe.