LONDON’S brand new theatre festival
coming january 2025
apply now
What is Collective Fringe?
Collective Fringe is a professional fringe theatre festival.
We champion new writing from early-career creatives. The festival is a pipeline for diverse, fresh, emerging talent.
Our mission is to platform new voices – and have your projects seen by leading producers and theatre companies who can help take your work to the next level.
what are the dates?
Performances: Wednesday 22nd to Saturday 25th January 2025.
Rehearsals: The entire Collective building is available for use as free rehearsal space from Monday 6th to Friday 24th January.
Note: Rehearsal spaces are available Monday to Saturday 10.00am till 5.30pm only.
Where is it?
The festival takes place at Collective Theatre, Collective Acting Studio, 2 Tiltman Place, London, N7 7EE.
where do you perform?
The festival utilises Collective’s two performance spaces: our 100-seat proscenium arch Theatre, and our 90-seat Studio.
You can see more details about our spaces here.
How can I take part?
To be considered for Collective Fringe you need to make a submission. You can apply if you are a writer, or producer, who has an original play in development.
(We also welcome enquiries from directors – as we often pair directors with writers who are looking for someone to direct their work. Email us for more information if you are a director.)
You can make a submission to be one of our four main productions, or to be part of the scratch night.
which format is right for me?
main productions
Collective Fringe will feature four main productions.
The chosen productions will usually be between 60 and 90 minutes duration. They will typically be projects that are already in development.
Successful applicants will often have had prior experience in putting on work, though not always.
The main productions will each have three performances during the festival.
scratch night
The scratch night will feature 6 short plays (each of approximately 20-minutes duration).
These will be works currently in the early stages of development. This is place to try out new ideas. It could be the first time you have had your work performed. The scratch night is for one performance only.
What is the deal?
All productions will receive a 70/30 box office split in favour of you: the artist. This means you will receive 70% of the total box office takings for your show.
As we believe in our artists, we will provide a portion of the projected box office takings in advance to help support you financially during the rehearsal period.
ticket prices
Ticket prices are the same across the festival and are as follows:
- Scratch Night: £6
- Ticket for one play: £14
- Two-play pass: £22
- Three-play pass: £30
- Four-play pass: £34
Note: As the scratch night features 6 plays, this 70% is divided equally between the 6 projects.
EXAMPLE
If you are chosen to be one of the main productions, you are performing in the Theatre, and sell 50% of the tickets across the three performances, you would make approximately £1,155 (50% x 100 seat capacity x 3 performances x estimated average ticket price of £11 x 70% of the split).
How do I apply?
Collective Fringe has an open submission process. This means anyone can apply.
To apply to be part of the festival, you must complete an application form. The form is here:
We also ask that you provide:
- A written pitch deck (maximum 750 words) OR a video pitch (maximum 4 minutes)
- A sample of your writing as a PDF (a minimum four A4 pages, the maximum being the full script)
Please email your pitch deck, and your writing sample, to office@collectiveactingstudio.co.uk
Good luck!
What support is available?
Collective Fringe offers a package of free support to all selected productions.
main productions
The four main productions will be offered the following:
- Free rehearsal space for two weeks + technical sessions
- Free performance space
- A lighting designer
- Dramaturgical support (expert feedback on your writing)
- A filmed recording of your performance to share with producers and funders
- Access to the Collective actors database if needed for casting
- The writer/producer/director also get a 30-minute Zoom call with a West-End theatre producer to get advice on next steps
scratch night
Each piece selected for the scratch night will be offered the following:
- Free rehearsal space for 4 half-day sessions
- Free performance space
- Technical support
- Dramaturgical support (expert feedback on your writing)
- A filmed recording of your performance to share with producers and funders
- Access to the Collective actors database if needed for casting
What is a pitch deck?
If you haven’t written a pitch deck before, or are not sure what it is: don’t worry!
A pitch deck is a short presentation that outlines your project to us.
You can choose to share your pitch in written form, or as a video. Feel free to format the pitch in the way that feels best for you.
Things you might include are:
- The title of the play
- A brief plot summary
- The experience of the artistic team
- Target audience/ key themes
- The past performance history for the project (if any)
- Details of any funding or other support you have in place
When caN i Apply?
Submissions for the festival are now open – and close on Monday 11th November 2024 at 5.00pm.
We will inform all applicants whether they have been successful by Friday 29th November.
Can I access financial support?
Unfortunately, Collective are not currently able to offer financial support for your production, outside the package of free support we have outlined. However, we are actively looking to change this.
We will announce if we are able to offer additional financial support by December 1st 2024.
This support would be to assist in the payment of actors and creatives.