We’re returning for three-week run at the Edinburgh Fringe this year after a few years of ‘just visiting’. Since we changed the schedule for the Funny Women Awards to accommodate the summer festival season with the competition semies and final in September, we’ve run heats during the Fringe for the last two years but not a full programme. This year we plan to showcase some of the fantastic talent we’ve discovered through the Funny Women Awards and beyond with a run of shows and workshops from 3rd to 21st August at 2.40pm daily at Assembly George Square Three.
Due to the closure of the Assembly Rooms on George Street for the inevitable retail development, we’ll now be accommodated in Assembly’s magnificent new hub on the East Side of George Square Gardens. This is home to three beautiful outdoor venues (the Teatro Spiegeltent, Dans Paleis and the Bosco) and four surrounding indoor venues (George Square Theatre, ONE, TWO and THREE) as well as public bars, food outlets, Assembly’s legendary private members Club Bar and the spectacular Mirazozo, a luminarium from the visual magicians Architects of Air. It will be ‘such fun’ to quote the marvellous award winning Miranda Hart who hosted a week of shows for us when we had our last full run at Assembly George Street in 2005.
We’ll be featuring some of the brilliant new talent we’ve discovered through our regular showcases in London and Brighton and, more significantly, eight years’ worth of Funny Women Awards. We see more new female talent in live performances than anybody else on the circuit and eschew the trend to narrow down the field by watching video clips. For us it is all about the live performances and this year the bar is significantly raised in terms of great new talent.
Last year’s Awards winners, Thankless Child, Liz Black and Freya Slipper, fresh from their studies, are hosting and headlining a few dates for us, and we welcome back the wonderful Mae Martin from Canada who is hosting and helping us curate a North American Showcase on Saturday 13th August.
We are curating a series of special showcases during the run. A Musical Comedy Showcase on Thursday 4th August, a Variety Showcase on Friday 5th August, the Best of British Showcase on Saturday 6th August and a re-run of our sell out Pan Asian Showcase on Saturday 20th August, as seen at the WOW Festival at the South Bank in London earlier this year.
Other Funny Women favourites include Suzy Bennett who will be premiering her new full-length show for just three performances during the Festival on 12th, 19th and 21st August and we’ll make sure to get some other great female acts along to entertain you – always a good way to establish if you want to see their full length shows.
You can see all this and more and still have time for a leisurely supper before taking in some of the other comedy, drama and music on show that characterises the largest Fringe festival in the World.
Comedy virgins can take part in our two-part workshop. Two hours over two days of comedy training with a night off for ‘homework’ and the promise of a gig on the day after graduation. This is an extension of our popular monthly workshops held in London at the Leicester Square Theatre Studio and we’re looking forward to getting some of you standing up and performing comedy – maybe for the first time ever! Mondays and Tuesdays 8th and 9th August and following week, 15th and 16th August.
Looking forward to seeing you!
Funny Women Team
