Over the years Friends of Bedlam have helped support a number of projects, some of which wouldn’t have been possible without the generous support from past members. Here are details of some of the more recent projects. We’re getting details of more projects we’ve helped so check back in the future to see how else the Friends of Bedlam community has helped past Bedlamites and feel free to get in touch if you think you have something to add, just email info@friendsofbedlam.co.uk.
Games of Love and Chance (18 to 23 August 2014)
Loosely based on Marivaux’s French farce, Le Jeu de l’Amour et du Hansard, Games of Love and Chance was written by former EUTC member David K Barnes and brought to the 2014 Edinburgh Fringe by Zut Alors Theatre – a new company formed by EUTC alumni. As you might expect of ex-Bedlamites, they decided to stage the production at the Bedlam Theatre.
The company approached us to help with the costs of venue hire and transporting the set, and we were happy to contribute. The end result justified our faith in the team: over 96% of the tickets were sold, and they have used the experience to improve and extend the piece and consider the possibility of a UK tour in 2015.
The production photo above was taken by Mihaela Bodlovic.
The Picture of Dorian Gray (26 to 29 March 2014)
As an ambitious Victorian costume drama, The Picture of Dorian Gray’s production team came to Friends of Bedlam asking for help to fund their costumes and stage conversion. We agreed, and the production went ahead in early 2014.
All My Sons (19 to 23 March 2013)
All my sons came to us asking for funding to help them buy enough grass to cover the whole stage, and I know what lots of you are thinking, didn’t Humble Boy get grass for the stage? Sadly real grass doesn’t keep for 6 years. So this time the plan was to buy astroturf, it has a better life expectancy and doesn’t need as much water as real grass.
We happily helped out and the result was great, the production team cleverly cut the astroturf into identical squares so that they could be easily stored and other productions could grass specific parts of the stage in the future.
Dracula (20 to 24 March 2012)
Belt Up’s Dominic Allen wrote this version of Dracula for the EUTC, and it promised to be both an immerseive experience for the audience and a chance for those at the Bedlam to develop links with professional theatre. With the aim of increasing the “audience integration”, we were asked to assist with the funding for the conversion of the auditorium into the round – as well as if any of our members had any experience and advice on the process which we could pass on to the production team!
Climate Week 24 Hour Play (16 March 2012)
As part of Climate Week in 2012, a team of writers including the EUTC’s Ella Hickson were given 24 hours by London’s Arcola Theatre to produce a 15 minute play on the subject of climate change. Fellow Bedlamites in Edinburgh decided to team up with the city’s other universities to stage a related event in the Scottish capital: Friends of Bedlam were approached to help fund the publicity and technical requirements of their selected venue, which we were happy to do.
The Road to Canterbury (2 to 4 February 2012)
A site-specific adaptation of The Canterbury Tales, this production was set in the The Caves on Niddry Street. Friends of Bedlam agreed to help fund the project, to assist with the demands of taking the show to an outside venue.
Twelfth Night (25 to 29 October 2011)
Twelfth Night was an ambitious production, the team had decided to perform the show as a comedy and as part of that comedy they wanted to build a revolve (Bedlam having thrown out an older revolve a few weeks earlier, not that anyone knew whether it worked as it hadn’t moved in a number of years). We provided some money to help with this part of the production and the stage team set to work on an impressive build. Below you can see the crew working on it during the build and the actors placing their trust in the build team once it was completed.
