There are few greater pleasures in this world than sitting back in your seat and sensing that your child is getting properly immersed in something special at the theatre. All that past handholding. All the previous coaxing. All those not-too-subtle BIG, LOUD, JOLLY shows that helped get us to this place, they’ve paid off. Feeding children’s minds is like feeding their wee bodies. There comes a (much-needed) point where subtlety, craft, and nuance creep in and take a seat at the table. Tomato ketchup gets substituted with olive oil. Tea and cake take the place of lemonade and Harribo. If you are wise, which I am not, this will have been an organic maturation with the pace set by the growing human entrusted to your care.
ME: “I don’t like sitting front row centre.” HER: “Well I do.” We take our seats. All this learning to share things, places, and experiences involves compromise. I tell myself that giving in every time is helping to show her how to compromise. I’m not sure that’s the take-home she’s learning. And yet, it was a good choice by Daughter 1.0 (9yrs). What’s about to envelop us is 45mins of immersive storytelling by a company that excels in small, subtly unmissable detail.
The heir to the throne is sick. Very sick. The King must take him on a journey of recovery through the ice and the snow. From the low to the high. From sunlit heights of majesty to icy depths of helplessness. It’s a powerful story powerfully told by a company with a growing reputation as master distillers of ultra-fine blends of devised and scripted.
Unsettled Theatre is a company which places mindfulness and sensitivity at the heart of its process. And yet, the group successfully summit a story about a king, about a man, who is anything but. They plant their flag on this perilous peak without, and this is the genius bit, without oversimplifying the toxicity or trauma. This truly is a healing space. The pre-Newtonian gravity of Philip Pullman’s original concept, on which the story is based, grounds proceedings in an ultra-linear, ultra-fluid calm until at the pivotal moments, just for an instant, the safety curtain between modern secular theatre and the ecstatic sensations of drama as known to the ancients falls. We glimpse the almighty power humans share to transport ourselves beyond a particular moment and location.
In her notebook, the one with a painting of the Brontitallian statue of Arthur Dent on the cover, Daughter 1.0 wrote:
“At the Bedford festival fringe I saw the untold fable of Fritz. I really enjoyed it and would definefly want to see it again. There are some happy bits in it and a few sad bits. There was a very cool bit were all the lights go off but there is one light behind a sheet and you could see the shadow of a small cart which I thought was very cool. I also thought thoght the wooden doll that played Fritz was also cool. Fritz is very mischevious but is very good at games! I really recomend it!”
Come for a show that pushes creative boundaries while pressing all the right buttons. Stay for the stagecraft. Leave knowing that productions of this quality are out there waiting to be discovered. Get your warmest coats on (seriously, your very warmest coats) and go see this!
Children don’t learn by osmosis, it’s the worst thing about them. Put a child in a room full of fine art, leave them to their own distracted devices and they will emerge no more educated or insightful than before they went in. How annoying is that? Turns out the path to understanding is not like those moving walkways at airports, you can’t just stand still and reasonably expect to arrive somewhere. BUT a good guide through the wilderness, a smart trainer, or an expert storyteller can make all the difference in terms of maximising the distance covered by the same effort. Interactivity and active listening are mission-critical to cognitive development.
‘Mini Mozart’ is a franchised method and educational mindset as much as it is any individual show. It was created by Clare-Louise Shaw in 2005. It is the ongoing culmination of 20+ years of experience combining musicianship, presenting & parenting. A product of Uppingham School and Berklee College of Music in the USA, the holder of a music degree from Newcastle University, Clare went on to join BBC Music. You might recognise her from her onscreen work in ‘BBC Young Musician’ of the Year and ‘The Proms’ or from her time as a singer at Disneyland Paris. It was during her first maternity leave, in 2005, that Clare was “hit by the clarity stick.” Knowing how much her infant son loved it when she played the violin, clarinet, or piano and remembering the same look of enchantment on the children’s faces at Disney, Clare got her NCT group and instruments together with a piano accompanist and ‘Mini Mozart’ was born.
We enter to discover that our presenters today are Andrew on piano and Lottie on everything else. If that piper chap in Hamyln had a twin sister, Bedford’s own Lottie Bagnall might be her. She seamlessly gathers the children always shepherding, never leading. At no point do the children or their adults, seem bossed. With my school governor’s hat on, I see a smart, sensitive, sensory curriculum being mindfully delivered with a confidently light touch. This knowledge-rich content is not only substantial, it is massively entertaining for young and auld alike. Lottie’s not especially secret superpower is to make newcomers (including my girls) feel as welcome and included as the families she sees at her weekly sessions.
As immersive as a lavender bubble bath after an afternoon spent coal mining, as absorbing as a Sahara sea sponge, as gentle as the mistral is by comparison with the supersonic methane winds of Neptune – ‘Mini Mozart’ does exactly what it says on the tin, delivering a dose of golden sunsound as pleasing as any since Orpheus rhymed Calliope with ‘my way’.
In her Bedfringe notebook – the one with a cartoon of Richard Nixon carrying Louis Armstrong’s luggage through customs drawn on the inside cover – Daughter 1.0 (9yrs) wrote:
“I went to Bedford Festival Fringe this summer and went to Mini Mozart with my sisters [6yrs and 2yrs]. It was mostly aimed at babies or toddlers beetween 0 and 4 but even so I realy enjoyed it. It was all about the story of the three little pigs with violins, violas and clarenets and a piano! I realy enjoyed playing with rattles, giants scrunchies, parachutes and singing lots of song My littlest sister said she realy enjoyed it and so did I!”
Come for the touchy-feely encounters with strings and clarinet buttons. Stay despite the scary Peter and the Wolf puppet – Clare says he’s fine, but they all say that about their wolf puppets don’t they!? – leave having heard the finest versions of ‘Wheels on the Bus’, ‘I’m a Little Teapot’, and ‘Sleeping Bunnies’ you’re ever likely to hear. Get your evening tailcoats on and go see this!
“I’ve learnt that a frog can jump seventeen times their height, even if they’re short and unfit.”
WHO: Stuart Laws
WHAT:“Last year Stuart started telling the truth on stage and was diagnosed autistic: he got the best reviews he’s ever got and his show was a must-see. He’s back baby! And has to lean into it further. It’s funny, it’s real, it’s immaculately structured and it’s a chance to see a comedian at the top of his game. As heard on Off Menu and seen on BBC, Prime and 800 Pound Gorilla. **** ½ (Chortle.co.uk). **** (List). ‘You’ll struggle to find a comedian with a better jokes-per-minute rate’ **** (Fest).”
NO WAY! I been doing it for years, have seen so many FringexOlympics years hit hard – the class of 2012 battling to get an audience when the judo is on, the struggles when you knew you were up against dressage or the men’s 20km walking race. I tell you what makes a great festival? Sports not happening. Can we, for just four long, long weeks – not have any sports so that the general public can focus on their real passion: fringe theatre and comedy
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2023 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
I learnt this: I am autistic. That’s a genuine learning since the start of last year’s fringe. However, if you want a more whimsical answer: I’ve learnt that a frog can jump seventeen times their height, even if they’re short and unfit. So would absolutely dominate any sort of high jump or long jump event if they were scaled up to human height. I’ve also learnt you can say any fact about a frog and most people will just believe it: the stakes aren’t high enough to check.
Tell us about your show.
I wrote my show, ain’t no one else got any piece of this pie. I’m a genius and unaffected by the work of others. So tough being a tortured genius like myself. Especially when extremely talented people offer me their thoughts or jokes or directing advice and it would actively enhance my show. Because I have to look them in the eyes and tell them they’re wrong and toxic to contribute and I’ll never take their advice.
Also: a beautiful team of people in production and PR and helping to write a stand up comedy show about relationships by someone who has just found out that he is autistic and everything he thought he knew about himself isn’t really true – so what does that mean for relationships with himself, friends, romance and ultimately the audience?
What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?
I love stand up comedy and I love finding out about a new comedian who I didn’t know anything about before the fringe. Going to dungeons and backrooms and theatres across Edinburgh and spending an hour in someone else’s world is such a treat – especially when it’s brilliant comedians like Chloe Radcliffe, Alex Kealy, Pierre Novellie, Harriet Kemsley, Ruby Carr or Jin Hao Li. Those last two are doing their debut shows this year and I’ve been lucky enough to see early versions and loved both, even more luckily I’m directing Ruby’s and it keeps getting better.
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“We are really happy to be performing in the main space this year, we have a great show lined up for those the folks who show their continued support by following us on our journey each year – and always checking in with us at the brilliant Bedfringe!”
WHO: Hannah Elizabeth
WHAT:“Hannah Elizabeth and Griff Jameson have joined forces to create a stunning acoustic folk-roots duo, with original songs rich in emotive storytelling and a harmony-driven sound featuring guitar, violin and exquisite vocals.
Their debut studio album, Northern Shores & Stories was officially released in 2020, receiving critical acclaim across the acoustic folk-roots community. Recent festival highlights include Cambridge Folk Festival, The Great British Folk Festival and The British Country Music Festival, and the duo were proud to open four shows for Jools Holland and his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra as part of their 2019 Autumn/Winter tour.
Elizabeth & Jameson are currently in the throes of writing and recording for their second studio album, with The Old Town EP released in March 2024 alongside an album fundraising campaign. Plans for the rest of this year include the recording of new material and a busy schedule of live dates to showcase their new music far and wide.”
We are fortunate to have appeared at Bedfringe for several years now, regularly performing in the garden and foyer space at the wonderful Quarry Theatre. We were actually living in Bedford very close by to the Quarry Theatre until 2020, and this was such a brilliant local show for us. We loved our time living in this brilliant town and we still miss it a lot! Since moving just a little south to St. Albans, we have continued to perform at Bedfringe each year, this being the first that we will be appearing in the main auditorium of the Quarry Theatre. We are really happy to be performing in the main space this year, we have a great show lined up for those the folks who show their continued support by following us on our journey each year – and always checking in with us at the brilliant Bedfringe!
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2023 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
In the last year or so we have been writing and recording new material for album no. 2! We enjoyed a short tour in spring 2024 for our newest release, ‘The Old Town EP’ which also included our debut performances in Wales and Scotland. The material on this new EP and for our second studio album is inspired by the South Wales Valleys, with songs and stories themed around the history, the people and the place including our own personal links to the area of course, with Griff’s hometown of Ebbw Vale featuring on the EP cover artwork.
‘The Old Town EP’ features four new original songs which are all destined for album number two, presented here as first drafts and a taster of what the full-length studio album will hold. We are fortunate to have two fantastic guest musicians joining us on this EP with Lachlan Golder on 12-string guitar, mandolin, bass guitar and organ, and Gafyn Jameson on bass guitar and piano. We spent a few sessions arranging the new songs with these talented folks, and then recorded them all at home over a six-week period at the start of this year.
Our 2024 summer festival season is looking great with shows including Camp Bestival Dorset and Camp Bestival Shropshire, Harrold Summer Fest and St. Albans Folk Festival – as well as the excellent Bedfringe of course.
We are really excited and vert grateful to still be creating, writing, recording… and performing locally and nationally. Long may it last!
Tell us about your show.
Expect new material and warm harmonies to welcome you in the heart of this great festival! We will be sharing our newest songs and stories based around inspiration taken from the South Wales Valleys, plus a visit to some of our older material inspired by North Yorkshire, alongside the nostalgia of our childhoods and the strange times of 2020 and beyond…
Our favourite thing to do is to share stories with our audiences. We find that many people can resonate with these stories and the ideas behind them, which makes for a really special connection between the audience and ourselves. We share our songs and stories best in an intimate setting such as this – acoustic instruments, close harmonies and time to share the ideas behind the songs.
What should your audience see at Bedfringe after they’ve seen your show?
There is SO much to choose from!
We recommend stopping by to catch anyone playing in the Quarry Theatre Garden and Foyer Bar…these folks are brilliant and deserve a listening and appreciative audience! SO stop by, grab and drink and listen to them.
Music in the theatre garden and foyer bar includes Lana Soy, Evie Atkins, Caroline Greene, The Bedfordians, David Jackson, Julie Simpson, The Moggies Band, Lois Powell, Jon Lane, Joe Bygraves and Heidi Browne…amongst others!
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“I love to plant seeds and remind folks of the alternatives.”
WHO: Abbi Jinks
WHAT:“Say YES to life!
Have you always had an inkling that there’s more to life than this? Do you wish you could believe in yourself and feel a bit more bliss?
Then come and meet Abbi Jinks Poet.
Through her transformational, uplifting and empowering poetry, Abbi will leave you feeling motivated and inspired. She will question old patterns, offer new ways of thinking and she might dare you to do something different in your life!”
Now I know what to expect, I’ve been really excited to write and share this year’s show.
Performing in and around such a diverse range of shows keeps the energy levels high too!
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2023 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
I’ve been writing loads and performing more. And I’ve been experimenting! It’s so important for me to keep a sense of fun in my creative work so earlier this year I started experimenting with adding my words to music. I rapped one of my poems and also wrote a song!
I’ve definitely been using the year to consider my values and reasons for performing. I truly believe people need to feel good about themselves and realise there are many alternatives to a hum drum way of life.
I love to plant seeds and remind folks of the alternatives.
Trying new things and getting out of my comfort zone has become my compass which always keeps things interesting!
Tell us about your show.
‘Say YES to Life’ is like a creative self help book on stage. Alongside stories of following your intuition, taking opportunities and making things happen , there are poems and questions and invitations to ponder.
You will leave feeling inspired, energised and ready to say YES to the life you really want.
What should your audience see at Bedfringe after they’ve seen your show?
Make sure you see the 3 poets live show with Cameron and pals. He’s a brilliant local creative and works with ingenuity and style both on and off the stage. I can’t wait to see the magic their show brings to Bedfringe. If you’ve ever been to Bedford’s Eagle Bookshop or the regular poetry night the ‘Ouse Muse’ you’ll have met some of the literary trio.
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“The Bedfringe team are really supportive and on hand and so on top of everything. And the range of shows on offer is just fantastic. I really think there is something special about it the vibe of the fringe, especially nurturing the arts in the area and I love being a part of it.”
WHO: Nerine Skinner
WHAT:“Debut hour from Funny Women Content Creator 2023 Runner Up and Britain’s Got Talent Semi-Finalist. In 2022, politically unaware Nerine Skinner went viral for her parodies of Prime Minister Liz Truss.
Outlasted in Downing Street by a lettuce, Liz Truss’s political relevance faded and the country moved on. But Nerine didn’t. Through hilarious, original oddball characters, award nominated political parodies and heartfelt storytelling, this is the story of Nerine trying to let go.
Examining how holding onto the past and her unconventional upbringing led to an unhealthy co-dependency with the former Prime Minister.”
This is indeed my first time at Bedfringe and I’m really excited! I have been to Bedford a fair bit and performed in Faulty Towers, The Dining Experience there and had a wonderful time but never as part of the fringe… until now! Everything I’ve heard and seen is great so far. The Bedfringe team are really supportive and on hand and so on top of everything. And the range of shows on offer is just fantastic. I really think there is something special about it the vibe of the fringe, especially nurturing the arts in the area and I love being a part of it. I feel very looked after so I’m sure the audiences will be too!
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2023 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
I have been busy making lots of online content, both political and non political and have really been ultra focussed on my comedy career and making my show come to life ahead of Edinburgh Festival in August. I’ve been doing work in progress shows since last August and have been continuously developing the show as much as I can. I feel like I’m leaning many lessons on my way of how to do and not do things and I’m very grateful to the audiences who have sat through many iterations of my shows. They have no idea how much they help me work it all out and I’m so thankful for them for taking the time out to come and watch my silliness, it really means a lot. As do all these fab venues I’ve been able to perform in. I feel like Bedfringe will be really special as it’s a bigger venue for me being in the Theatre and the show will have come such a long way since last August by the time I perform it, so I am very excited!
Tell us about your show.
Back in 2022 I started doing parodies of Liz Truss. It was going really well and then 49 days later everything stopped! I think I was the only one who was benefiting from Liz Truss’ premiership. Since then, whatever I do, I’m compared to Liz Truss and every time I think she has gone, she pops up with a new book, or a launch of a new party. My show explores my co-dependency with her, as well as concerning similarities as I try to move on with my career and life. The show features stand up and heartfelt stories where I look at what else I might be holding onto in my life, as well as songs, silliness, and many characters, both political and non-political, who help me throughout the show to exorcise her from my life. But can I let go?
What should your audience see at Bedfringe after they’ve seen your show?
Ah there are so many great acts at Bedfringe! I would love to see Lubna Kerr’s show “Chatterbox” because I’ve not only heard great things but the story of her growing up and being labelled a certain way sounds really touching, relatable and I’m sure very humorous too and I love it when you feel so connected to a piece of work for lots of different reasons. I’ve also seen and worked with The Falsetto Socks,who are just so funny, silly and topical and they never disappoint. It will be great to see their show “Superheroes”. I’ve also always wanted to see “Paul Foot: Dissolve”. He is such a renowned comedian and so off the wall and I would love to see someone I’ve admired so much doing their thing up on the same stage. I would also really like to see “Raul Kohli: Raul Britannia” as I’ve heard amazing things about him and as he does a lot of political comedy, it will be great to see his take on current affairs.
“The world needs to remember what a total chuffing mess British politics got (and gets) itself into.”
Nerine Skinner is a comedian (a very good one) with a problem. The character she has developed with skill, close observation, and an elegant genius for grotesque satire is politically speaking (for now) dead as Marley’s ghost with a pocket full of doornails.
I predict that the Prime Ministerial career of Liz Truss will have more words written about it than the Cameron, May, Johnson, and Sunak premierships combined. True, 49 days in office did not generate a lot of data points. True, a lettuce did better at staying around. Also true, our shortest-serving First Lord of the Treasury is subject to the same love-it-or loathe-it opinions of our first and longest-serving Prime Minister, Robert Walpole. The Truss Premiership contains all the great drama of great political history espresso-ed into a potent little beverage. The Truss premiership illuminates much about the surrounding themes of her longer-lasting immediate predecessors and successor.
But, and this is Skinner’s Predicament™, satire shares a shelf life with guests and fish. Truss is yesterday’s news which the auld wisdom and economic modelling of the auld fashioned press tells us is of zero interest – presumably because it’s easier to sell sensationalism to a public that keeps forgetting what just happened.
Which is why I hope Skinner’s version of Liz Truss will be alive and kicking (in some form) well into the future. The world needs to remember what a total chuffing mess British politics got (and gets) itself into. This show lampoons the everyday familiar banality of ultra-low-grade pride before an almighty, utterly predictable fall.
This is a very, very funny show with a very, very relatable premise. It’s about a totally unqualified individual thrust by a bizarre cocktail of events into a role for which they were emotionally, intellectually, and professionally unqualified. There are few finer real-world demonstrations of The Peter Principle, that people in a hierarchy tend to rise to “a level of respective incompetence.” Over and over again, Skinner lands punch after punch, pummelling the puffery and pretensions of her subject with brutally observed candour.
There was nothing hidden about the problems with Liz Truss, before or during her Premiership. The folks who made Liz Truss possible are the tailors in the story of the Emperor’s new clothes. Nerine Skinner is the little boy daring to shout, “Der Kaiser ist nacht!” What happens to that voice at the end of the fairytale has the potential to tell us much about the real world.
Gilray’s art remains beautiful even if we struggle to recall the context. Bremner’s comic crafting remains delightful even if the personalities he impersonated have faded from memory. Nerine Skinner will go on to produce successful new creations about new ultimately unsuccessful politicians. Let’s hope they are as sharp and as stinging as her totemicoclastic takedown of Liz Truss, the final premier of a reign that began with actual Churchill. For now, get your Thatcher-inspired faux fur coats on and go see this!
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“Bedfringe is a special festival because it gives us locals a chance to see shows that are heading to Edinburgh, and also gives local artists like myself a platform to share our latest projects.”
WHO: Sparky Kay Orkisz
WHAT:“Sparky TKO is a poet, musician and performance artist from Bedford. They write about topics ranging from gender, neurodivergency and mental health, to cerebral musings about buses. They have written and performed full fringe shows since 2015, and will this year be combining their own poetic sentiments with some “wall-to-wall hitz”.
May contain punchlines, though these are purely incidental.”
This will be my 9th Bedfringe – would be a solid 10 years in a row, but for 2020 doing its disruptor schtik.
Bedfringe is a special festival because it gives us locals a chance to see shows that are heading to Edinburgh, and also gives local artists like myself a platform to share our latest projects. The garden at the Quarry is a fab place to hang out when the weather’s nice (as is the indoor bar when it isn’t).
From a selfish perspective, it’s a short walk from Casa Sparky, so I don’t have to rack up travel costs every time I want to see a show.
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2023 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
I’m working on a poetry collection, which has grown from last year’s show, “Neuropop”. I explore the intersection between genderqueer and neurodivergent identities, particularly from my own experiences.
I’ve recently been diagnosed with ADHD, which will have come as a shock to absolutely nobody that knows me. As ever, the key lesson of “don’t spread yourself too thinly” may or may not prove pertinent given that I’m also performing at Bedford River Festival a few hours before my Bedfringe show.
So…if we pretend 2023’s lessons were “say yes to everything!” and “concentrate all your high-functioning activity into a tightly-packed period!”…absolutely, completed it mate!!
Tell us about your show.
DIY: A Beginner’s Guide is like a interactive live equivalent of a greatest hits collection crossed with a B-sides and rarities compilation. Maybe. I dunno.
I’ve built up quite a collection of different songs and poems over the last decade, particularly thematically linked to my previous fringe shows, and so I wanted to revisit them and provide a bit of an introduction to those who’ve never seen me before, as I want to make my art as accessible to new audiences as well as those who’ve kindly supported my work.
I’ll be mixing loops, synths and sonic nonsense with words, melodies and…sonic nonsense.
What should your audience see at Bedfringe after they’ve seen your show?
Funky Flamingos and Orange Orange Sunshine are 2 of the fab bands emerging from Living It Up PAC. Go see them at 2pm on Saturday 27 July. My friend Jessica Gherman is sharing her songs on Saturday 20th.
“On Nurturing” features 3 amazing local poets in Katie O’Pray, Cameron Stuart and Chris Belson and takes place at 1pm on Sunday 28th July. Elsewhere, Thomas Benjamin Wild Esq is always good family, and 3 of my favourite comedians are rocking up this year in Sophie Duker, Kemah Bob and Kiri Pritchard-McLean, so…I mean go look in the brochure, there’s bound to be something you like.
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“Besides the quality of the shows and the opportunity to see so many emerging and established artists working together, what really makes a great festival is meeting new people and forging new relationships. And staying up too late in the pubs.”
WHO: John Clancy
WHAT:“JUST LIKE HOLLYWOOD (I SEE YOU WATCHING) continues the decades-long collaboration between Director Melanie Stewart and Obie award winner/Playwright John Clancy working at the crux of contemporary dance and theater practice in America. Joined by performer Kylie Westerbeck, this new work centers on, explores and explodes the entrapment, degradation, and exertion of control over a young woman’s body in post Roe vs Wade America.
On a bare stage, using only props supplied by a demanding and impatient master of ceremonies, Westerbeck must justify her continuing survival and prove her worth, and her right to choose her own destiny. Is she a beauty queen? A brood mare? A willing lover or a wanton whore? What is the combination, what is the key to unlock the cage she exists in, she has been legislated in, and she willdie in ifshe cannot escape? Maybe there’s another way out.”
Yes, first time and really looking forward to it. I rehearsed a show here in 2005 and put it up for a couple of nights before taking it up to Edinburgh. I love this town. One of the special things is the quality and intelligence of the audience and how much they embrace the festival. I’ve been lucky to be in many festivals around the world and was the founding Artistic Director of the New York International Fringe. Besides the quality of the shows and the opportunity to see so many emerging and established artists working together, what really makes a great festival is meeting new people and forging new relationships. And staying up too late in the pubs.
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2023 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
I’ve been focusing on my writing and branching out into fiction and poetry, which is as surprising to me as anyone. I’m known primarily as a playwright but something about the solitude of the post-pandemic has taken me into a different writing head. I just turned sixty so as far as absorbing any lessons, I’m afraid it might be a little late for that.
Tell us about your show.
Just Like Hollywood is a two-hander focusing on and playing with the relationship between a young woman and an older man controlling her. The initial impulse came after the overturning of Roe v Wade here in America, so while it is at heart a political piece, we’ve been able to expand and deepen it to more of a theatrical meditation and exploration of the contemporary male/female dialogue or duel. Where does the need to control come from? Why the need to please? With all that said, it’s a surprisingly funny play. I like to write about serious things but in the end a play can’t be a lecture, it has to entertain.
What should your audience see at Bedfringe after they’ve seen your show?
There’s a great play out of Canada I’m excited to see, One and the Other by Kent Stetson. He’s a phenomenal writer and this looks to be a timely piece, taking a complicated subject and making it human, visceral.
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“I love BedFringe as it attracts such brilliant performers and there is such a wonderful mix of shows, there really is something for everyone.”
WHO: Lottie Bagnall
WHAT:“Mini Mozart is an interactive musical experience that aims to get babies and toddlers really actively listening to music, not just hearing it.
With at least two live instrumentalists, we deliver an interactive story (a fairy tale such as The Princess and the Pea or The Frog Prince, or even an opera like the Magic Flute or Rossini’s Cinderella) with classical music and well-known nursery rhymes woven in to bring the story to life.
We include sensory games such as a parachute, giant scrunchie, shakers and bubbles so the children can get involved!”
I have performed at BedFringe before as a singer with local close harmony group The Goldentones, but I haven’t yet brought Mini Mozart to BedFringe!
I came to nearly all the Children’s Theatre events last year with my two young daughters and we all had a great time, but I noticed there were no music events aimed at young children. I have been running Mini Mozart in Bedford for nearly 3 years and I thought it would be the perfect children’s music experience for BedFringe.
I love BedFringe as it attracts such brilliant performers and there is such a wonderful mix of shows, there really is something for everyone. The Quarry is such a beautiful venue and is well set up for young children, and it’s accessible too, which is great news for parents with buggies as well as wheelchair users!
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2023 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
I’ve been busy maintaining my performing and teaching career and balancing this with raising two young children. Between that I’m not sure I’ve had time to really consolidate any major life lessons, but I’m looking forward to bringing something new to the Fringe this year!
Tell us about your show.
The aim of Mini Mozart is to get little ones really actively listening to music, not just hearing it. I tell a different story every session – sometimes a classic fairytale like The Ugly Duckling, sometimes an opera storyline like the Magic Flute – and we interweave the story with beautiful arrangements of well-known nursery rhymes and stunning classical music. We have at least two professional musicians at every session, and bring a wealth of sensory games and activities to get our babies and toddlers engaging with the music!
What should your audience see at Bedfringe after they’ve seen your show?
Tricky Teddy’s magic show! It was absolutely hilarious last year; my daughters both loved it and my husband was crying with laughter. It’s a show for all ages with something for everyone.
Tremaine Dawkins is also an amazing local gospel singer with a voice like melted chocolate – get along to hear her if you can. Suitable for all ages.
I’ve been to see Debra Kadabra at BedFringe every year since she started performing here – she’s absolutely hilarious, and well worth seeing! Adults only.
Get along to see Chris Kraken if you can. He’s a talented young man branching out into the professional music world in Bedford and beyond. I also happen to be his piano teacher!
My all-time favourite act from last year was Pete Heat – absolutely amazing magic, and super funny and charismatic. He just seems like a really nice bloke as well. Adults only.
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“I have learnt that anger can be a great fire starter when given a safe space to explore.”
WHO: Eilish Poston-Saynor
WHAT:“A spoken word theatre blend about two girls discussing their anger at their creative growth being stunted by the corporate machine they have found themselves a part of.
Eilish is a writer and director based in Bristol. She studied Drama with Creative Writing at UWE, graduating in 2019. Since graduating she has been continuing writing plays, poetry and a novel. Most recently she has written the original piece ‘Forgotten Friends’ that went on a scratch tour in 2024. She is also part of a poetry/theatre company, Fish Productions with a fellow UWE graduate. Eilish adores stories and finds writing to be an almost therapeutic tool that she uses to delve into difficult topic whilst also maintaining a lightheartedness
Freya is an actor and writer based in Bristol. After studying an Acting degree at the University of the West of England and graduating with a First, she started Fish Productions with a fellow graduate. She has performed at multiple Bristol-based slam poetry nights and recently took Fish Productions piece ‘Corporate Floss’ to the Bristol Spark Festival. She is currently working on screenplays but her heart will always be with poetry and the way she can use words to create strong feelings and images in the minds of her audience.”
This will be our first time at Bedfringe- It still doesn’t feel real that we are doing this, but are beyond excited as Bedford is special to us. Freya (the other writer and performer) grew up here and is ready to bring her creativity back home.
What are the big things you’ve learned since 2023 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?
Working too many hours (rip) whilst trying to reignite my creative spark. I have learnt that anger can be a great fire starter when given a safe space to explore. Life can be exhausting and will always give you the middle finger, so hold onto those silver linings.
Tell us about your show.
Corporate Floss is a personal (more than we’d like to admit) piece about two friends finally catching up again in a pub after a year. It’s so easy to get caught up in your everyday struggles and forget about your passions, so we decided to write those frustrations down, so expect a lot of swearing, drinking and extensional dread from this exploration piece.
What should your audience see at Bedfringe after they’ve seen your show?
Escape projects presents – Rehearsal – a truly hypnotic dance piece that blurs the line between audience and participant – definitely worth catching!
Luke Rollason – just a truly phenomenal comedic actor so whatever they do will be groundbreaking and brilliant
Lamp House – Frankenstein (on a budget) which looks very intriguing their posters. It’s a one man piece about Frankenstein (happens to be my favourite classic horror) and seems like it will be hilarity with, I’ve heard, an epic soundtrack.
Juliette Burton – Hopepunk – a fantastic looking comedy piece about hope and what it can do to you – utterly brilliant!
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