Preston Tringe Festival line-up announced

Preston Tringe Festival is bringing an exciting range of acts to the city

The line-up for the first Preston Tringe Festival has been unveiled. Running from 23rd July to 31st July 2009 at various venues across the city, the Tringe will be a hodgepodge of comedy, music, theatre and other live performance events – complete with a Tweetup about the Preston arts scene thrown in for good measure.

The standard of shows over the Tringe is extraordinary for a new festival, with two five-star rated shows from Edinburgh International Festival confirmed to play.

Liz Bentley and Russell Thompson come to Avenham Park Pavilion on Friday 31st July with ‘Liz and Rachel Get in Touch with their Feelings’.

Thompson will also be bringing ‘Project Adorno’s Top 10 of British Culture’ to the Tringe at the Adelphi pub on Thursday 30th July and Friday 31st July.

These are just two shows from a diverse line-up.

Sam Buist, from Preston’s Screaming Theatre Group and who is co-organising the festival, said in an interview with Preston Blog in April: “We just want Preston Tringe to be accessible to anyone and everyone and allow people to experience a range of theatre, music, literature and other contemporary stuff for a week.

We wanted to take this event to the people and make it in places you wouldn’t expect to see drama or these type of events.

“I’d like to think we can detach the stigma that’s sometimes attached to drama and live performance, that’s it’s for those with money and needs to be in a big swanky theatre.”

Preston Tweetup II – how do we support the arts in Preston?

Preston Tweetup brings together people to discuss a particular topic and generate new ideas

We’re pleased to announce that the second Preston Tweetup has been confirmed. We’ll be back at the New Continental and this time we’re part of the Preston Tringe Festival that’s taking place in late July, showcasing theatre, music, comedy and much more across the city.

The topic for the next Preston Tweetup is ‘How do we support the arts in Preston?’. There’s already a lot happening with the New Continental’s events and the Tringe Festival but what more could we do? How can we get this city buzzing with a great arts community?

The event is on Monday 27th July 2009 from 8 PM in the Snug area of the pub. Please register to attend (we’re working on another drinks offer for those who register), so charge up those laptops and mobiles, and get your thinking caps on. It’s going to be a great event. Only 40 places available.

It’s free, fun and creative. If you’re unsure of what all this Tweetup business is, take a look at what happened at the last one.

23 applications for Preston Tringe Festival

The organisers of Preston’s Tringe Festival are working their way through 23 applications.

A host of different groups have put in their bid to be part of the festival, including five acts who have appeared at Edinburgh Festival.

The programme is now being put together and is expected to be revealed in early June.

Organisers are urging those who are interested to join the Preston Tringe Facebook group.

Waiting in Soho auditions

Preston’s Screaming Theatre group are holding auditions for their production of Waiting for Soho.

The play will be the group’s production during the Tringe festival, due to be held in late July 2009.

Anyone can come along and try out at The Angel on Tuesday 26th May 2009 from 8 PM.

Confirm your attendance at the Waiting in Soho auditions on Facebook.

Preston to have its own ‘mini-fringe’ festival in July

Becky Edgington and Sam Buist, the organisers of Preston Tringe

“We just want Preston Tringe to be accessible to anyone and everyone”, says Sam Buist enthusiastically, “and allow people to experience a range of theatre, music, literature and other contemporary stuff for a week.”

In the week leading up to the world famous Edinburgh Festival, a small-scale version will be taking place in Preston, Lancashire.

Organised by the team behind Screaming Theatre it’s a chance for Preston to enjoy a diverse range of comedy, music and drama in rather unexpected places.

The venues will include the Adelphi, Ship Inn, The Angel, New Continental and the Avenham Park Pavillion.

Buist said: “We wanted to take this event to the people and make it in places you wouldn’t expect to see drama or these type of events.

“I’d like to think we can detach the stigma that’s sometimes attached to drama and live performance, that’s it’s for those with money and needs to be in a big swanky theatre.”

The Preston Tringe is planned to run from 27th – 31st July and anyone can submit an application to put on a show.

“We’re not being picky,” says Buist, “we want everyone to be involved and have a chance to perform. It doesn’t matter if you’re a semi-professional or complete amateur, there is a place for you at the Tringe.”

The idea for organising the event came when Sam Buist and co-organiser Becky Edington, were at the Edinburgh Festival after graduating from the University of Central Lancashire in 2004.

He said: “Originally we wanted to set up a theatre group, and we did that with Screaming Theatre, but then it evolved further and we thought wouldn’t it be fantastic if Preston had some sort of fringe festival.

“We wanted something that was a bit offbeat and edgy but not too abstract. It’s important that the events are relevant to people and accessible.”

Having the event the week before the Edinburgh Festival means the team are hopeful they can attract some of the acts due to appear at the Edinburgh Festival to put on preview shows for Preston Tringe.

“I think we might be able to pull in some of the shows due to appear at Edinburgh,” says Sam, “but it’s not just about getting touring or big acts in – we want it to be put on local people for local people.”

The Preston Tringe will also be looking to connect with younger people, particularly the 20-40 community in Preston.
He said: “Youth theatre is very well catered for and the big theatres tend to have a strong client base in the over-40s – and generally pretty affluent. I think there’s a real gap for good quality and affordable theatre for 20-somethings.”

The deadline for applications to be submitted for Preston Tringe is May 6th.

The Screaming Theatre Company will next be performing at the Adelphi on April 24th-26th with their show, Bollocks. It tells the story of a solider sent to fight in Northern Ireland, who is shot in the bollocks. It then follows his relationships with people and his struggle finding employment after being discharged from service.

You can connect with Screaming Theatre on Facebook or connect with Preston Tringe on Facebook