theSpaceUK Announces Virtual Festival, Online@theSpaceUK

One festival, Three Weeks, Eighty Shows - driven by theSpaceUK's new writing ethos all shows are original work and have been written during lockdown. And, are completely free to watch. Launching August 8, every Saturday night theSpaceUK hosts a live Fringe experience, with multiple performances. In between each live Fringe experience, new shows will be published every week in August. All presented online at www.theSpaceUK.com

theSpaceUK's virtual project, Online@theSpaceUK, has been designed to replace this year's fringe and give companies & shows a creative outlet - companies were asked for work specifically written or produced during lockdown. They responded in their droves and thanks to their creativity, passion, and sheer hard-work, Online@theSpaceUK is a programme that fittingly embraces that global festival spirit that the show must go on!

Highlights include:

Christopher Tajah is returning to theSpaceUK after debuting his critically acclaimed solo-play Dream of a King, about the life of Martin Luther King Jr in 2019. In Online@theSpaceUK, he presents Under Heavens Eyes, a brand new solo-play about the system unjustified killings of black lives.

Acclaimed as one of the Top 5 Immersive Companies in NYC, This is Not a Theatre Company presents Play in Your Bathtub: An Immersive Audio Spa for Physical Distancing, a site-specific immersive experience that takes place in your own bathtub. (Theatre-stayers may substitute a foot bath or bucket of water if desired.)

The Last Clap from Kali Theatre Company is a moving and uplifting solo drama following the experiences of a young actor from the last round of applause from the audience before her theatre is forced to close through to the last Thursday clap for care workers after she joins the frontline to work in a care home.

Anne Rabbitt was to have returned to Edinburgh this year for the first time since 1986 when she was in a double act with Doon Mackichan. This year should have seen the premiere of her solo show, Self Service but after twenty years of setbacks (including the Savoy Theatre burning down before her West End debut opposite Griff Rhys Jones and writing the worst-rated sitcom in BBC One's history) is the 2020 pandemic the biggest spanner in her works yet? Log on to find out if Bookshelf Ballad can save the day. The year. Her career.

In Harry and Megan, Harry has agreed to be part of a TV Documentary filmed during the Covid-19 crisis. Whilst Harry is 'shielding', he claims that it's for his poorly mother, Megan, that their request for an NHS volunteer has been filed. Grubby Gnome presents a masterclass of risqué comedy.

It Doesn't Seem Like Home is a tender look at the loneliness of caring for a much loved relative who doesn't know who you are. Winner of the Scotsman Fringe First Award, Ronnie Dorsey brings a double-bill to Online@theSpaceUK that also includes Bye Mum reveals the moving story of a young man visiting his mother in a care home, imminently due to be closed to visitors in the attempt to control the spread of Covid-19.

Based on real experiences, Rehearsal Etiquette captures the comedic realities that theatre makers across the country have faced when trying to continue rehearsing online. Swell Theatre Company encapsulates both the frustrations and the delights of lockdown with a comedic hand.

Hollow is a brand new 20 min. musical, from the pen of Fringe favourite David Kent (Uglies Do Edinburgh, Liberty Rides Forth). A poignant love story with a supernatural twist, it features some stunning original songs.

Charles Pamment, Artistic Director of theSpaceUK said, "What a year 2020 was going to be! We were preparing to welcome plenty of brilliant new work, alongside many returning favourites. None of us expected 2020 to evolve as it has and we sit here at the end of June, usually our busiest time, staring at the abyss of August with a very different view of the summer ahead. Of course good health and wellbeing are far more important and we'll all reflect on this summer with that focus fresh in our minds.

It's a relief to start to look forward to 2021 with renewed vigour but or now, we are very pleased and proud to present the wonderfully passionate EdFringe audiences with a quite special alternative of live and original work from many of the artistes who were working with theSpaceUK at fringe 2020.

We hope you'll come and enjoy and support everyone involved with Online@theSpaceUK by joining us each week to watch a fabulous selection of new work with the added dimension that it's all been directed, written and performed in the midst of lockdown."

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