Finding ample funding for Ten Pence Short’s debut production Hot Air (to be enjoyed at the Argyle Bar, Edinburgh this August) presently relies on the hope that one day soon we’ll buy a winning scratchcard. I have every faith in this plan, but it’s taking a while to action, so for now we’ve got to work with the nothing that we’ve got.
Getting stuff for free is fun. Here’s how it’s been working out for us –
Hiring a venue for the Fringe can be an expensive business, generally speaking they cost a fair bit more than zero. We’re doing our show on the Free Festival, meaning we don’t pay for our space, and the audience in turn don’t pay for tickets. It’s a sort of ‘pay if you want’ ethos, in that the audience will be invited to make a donation at the end if they’ve enjoyed it.
Rehearsal space: some wonderful people I used to work for have been very kind and allowed us to use a room in their building from time to time, so until rehearsals take full swing in July this will be brilliant for us. After that, we’re thinking: ROOMS ABOVE PUBS. There are a lot of empty rooms above pubs you know. Why is nobody in there, drinking? We have plans to get inside them.
Pads, pens and USB sticks have been kindly donated by a friend. No names can be revealed for fear of a vicious reprisal from the stationary woman at his office. The word on the street is an economical way to create a website is to use wordpress.com, so we’ve signed up to that bad boy and hope (with the help of a technically minded buddy) to have that ready to introduce to the world next month.
And travel up there was looking tres expensive, but we managed to poach 3 sleeper train tickets with firstscotrail.com for £77. We haven’t worked out the return journey, but one step at a time folks. They release the cheap sleeper train tickets (bargain berths) every Friday – so if you want to get some check this Friday morning – you might be in luck!
So, so far so good I’d say. We only need a splash of cash for set, costume, accommodation, posters, flyers, marketing, eating….hmmm, maybe if we each chuck in a tenner and get down the casino?
Laura
