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A Lancashire-based theatre company will celebrate the strength of talent in the county with an exciting tour of new writing monologues.
Lancashire People’s Theatre is aiming to tour their unique show and has launched a crowdfunder to support the project.
The monologues have all been written by Lancashire writers and will be performed by actors based in the county.
They will be performed at special local theatre nights in community venues across Preston and Penwortham before a grand finale performance at The Continental’s theatre space, as part of Lancashire Fringe Festival on Sunday 29 September.
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All the shows will be free to attend, with no tickets and no charges. Audiences will have the option to contribute cash into a bucket – using the Pay What They Decide model – at the end of the shows.
Lancashire People’s Theatre, run by Penwortham-based husband and wife team Neil Procter and Anthea Carpenter-Procter plus Preston-based writer Su Moffat, have taken part in the previous two Lancashire Fringes where their monologue performances have attracted the biggest crowds of the festival. Over 100 people turned up to see them perform in 2022, also at The Continental.
The fundraiser is part of Lancashire County Council’s Crowdfund Lancashire project which funds arts and sports projects across the county through their Lancashire Culture and Sport Fund.
Lancashire County Council will pay up to half of the costs of the crowdfunder if enough of the public pledge support. Pledges can be from as little as £2. For more information visit the Lancashire Briefs crowdfunder on Spacehive.
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Lancashire Briefs ’24 has been commissioned by Lancashire Fringe Festival, which takes place in Preston from 24 September to 9 October, with every show free to attend.
Neil Procter said: “We’re honoured to be invited to take part in this year’s Lancashire Fringe. We set up Lancashire People’s Theatre to work with creatives in Lancashire and being part of this year’s Lancashire Fringe fits our raison d’etre.
“Lancashire Briefs is very much a Lancashire project. We ask Lancashire based writers to submit work for the show, we use Lancashire based actors and we’re performing in Lancashire. Winner!
“Su is a writer, I’m an actor and Anthea is an actor, director and an acting coach. When the three of us get together we seem to generate work that people enjoy watching. Each one of us sets a high level of expectation for ourselves and that shows in quality of the shows we’ve done in the past.
“We’ve already put a call out to writers for pieces and we’ve selected the pieces for this year’s Lancashire Briefs. Now we just need to get the show on its feet.
”We’ve set up the Crowdfunder to help us fund this year’s show and tour. We’re expanding our usual format so the money will help us create an even better show this year for the people of Lancashire.”
The exciting line-up – which is yet to be unveiled – includes performers who have appeared at Glastonbury Festival and Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year, plus a series of new commissions including platforming work by Preston and Lancashire-based performers.
Lancashire Fringe festival is Preston’s biggest performance festival, featuring some of the world’s best theatre comedy, dance, spoken word and contemporary performance at multiple venues across the city.
The festival, run by local arts organisation Enjoy the Show, was created by photographer and arts producer Garry Cook in 2016.
It has grown into one of the UK’s leading performance festivals, giving performers an opportunity to bring their shows to Preston while also commissioning new work.
Lancashire Fringe Festival has platformed over 80 performances and commissioned 25 new pieces or work. Over a dozen shows who have come to the festival have gone on to tour the UK and appear at Edinburgh Fringe.
The previous festival in 2022 attracted huge audiences over its five-week run, with 32 individual performances including the hugely successful Big Festival Saturday, a series of outdoor performances built around a tour of the city.
The festival has been instrumental in helping Preston develop a cult-status within the performance industry, with many performers now specifically targeting Preston as a target destination.
This year, the autumn festival will include several new commissions, which will be performed at community venues across the city. There are also plans for a guided performance independent pub tour.
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Festival creator Garry Cook said: “I’m delighted to have Lancashire People’s Theatre as part of the festival again, but this time with a series of performances at community venues across the city to ensure that everyone has the chance to experience their brilliant performances and be part of the festival.
“The previous performances by Lancashire People’s Theatre have not only enabled audiences to see some stunning performances by local actors, it has also given local writers the rare opportunity of seeing their work performed.
“This is really important in helping develop talent and creativity – you can not underestimate how life changing an opportunity this can be.
“From the dozens of writers and actors I have met through this work, many have gone on to bigger projects, acting on TV or writing film scripts. It is so exciting to follow people’s career.
“It was only last night I was having a cup of tea and watching a bit of TV when I saw Janelle Thompson starring in an ad for Tesco Mobile. Anyone who has seen the previous Lancashire Briefs at the festival will know how amazing Janelle is.”
Lancashire Fringe Festival is funded by Arts Council England and supported by independent venues and businesses in Preston.
Full details of the festival programme can be found at Enjoy the Show website.
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This story was made possible by you, our readers, and a host of organisations in the city, through our Crowdfund Lancashire appeal, which unlocked support from the Lancashire Culture and Sport Fund provided by Lancashire County Council. You can see all our coverage and, if you know of an arts project or event in the city we should be covering, you can submit it for our event listings and/or send details to contactus@blogpreston.co.uk for us to cover it as a story on the Blog.
