Warwick at the Edinburgh Fringe: A takeover

Warwick at the Edinburgh Fringe: a takeover So earlier this year, I wrote about Edinburgh Fringe as a force keeping the vitality of the creative industries up, and if Warwick has anything to say about it, Fringe 2024 was an amazing success. 

Last Orders, a student-written show first performed through Freshblood New Writing, had an almost entirely sold out run as they took Edinburgh by storm

The Freemartin (by Warwick alumni-founded theatre company Speakbeast) won a Binge Fringe Queer Performer’s award for their eloquently written and dynamically performed play which explores identity, transphobia and cows (of course). 

Last Orders, a student-written show first performed through Freshblood New Writing, had an almost entirely sold out run as they took Edinburgh by storm, daringly bringing their fictional Scottish tavern to receive rave reviews from Scottish audiences. 

Music Theatre Warwick’s flagship show, The Improv Musical, was a hilariously fun time! I had the pleasure of seeing it twice across my time at Fringe and both shows were ever-chaotic, wildly different, and around every corner came a welcome, unexpected surprise. Audience suggestions for people, settings and titles, combined with their band and cast’s tact and ability to style everything thrown at them, saw every audience leaving having seen a different cast, show and soundtrack held in one bespoke moment in time. I mean, where else would you see a show set in a sewage works with a breakdancing Simon Cowell and Cheryl. 

Serious Billy Productions’ show I’d Like A Job Please saw the semi-musical play exploring the post graduate necessity to get employed and (f)unemployment, whilst also leaning into the newly popular podcasting trend with characters like Jamie Blaine. This multi-media production uses live music, projection, videos and live performance. Seeing it on the closing night, the room was full, the laughs were hearty, and the cast was incredibly iconic, shaping and individualising their characters when multi-rolling. The musical numbers were catchy, memorable and overall, funny! Everybody’s working in recruitment! 

I can say first-hand the cast and crew had a blast working on this show off and onstage.

Rob Madge, one of Music Theatre Warwick’s esteemed alumni, returned to Fringe with their emotive musical My Son’s a Queer (but what can you do?). After wanting to see the show since its debut, I knew I wanted this to be the show I HAD to see, and it did not disappoint. The multi-media production (using recorded video, live performance as well as media sent in by Madge’s social following) alongside a gorgeously moving score and narrative balances tear-jerking moments with scenes that will have you laughing the whole way through. 

Hart and Sparks Theatre Company, the company I was at Fringe with, also completed a week-long run in Edinburgh with their show Trashed. In between producing and flyering, I can say first-hand the cast and crew had a blast working on this show off and onstage. The show has lovely audiences and reviews, some audience members were even moved to tears by the writing. After its success at Edinburgh, the Warwick-born company is now set to perform in an exclusive performance of Trashed in London on the 19th of September as a part of Lambeth Fringe!