Victoria-raised comedian Chelsea Manders has been invited to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in July. She has created a crowd funding campaign through Indiegogo.com to help her get there.
With more than 24,000 performers expected to appear, the 2014 Edinburgh Fringe Festival is by far the largest Fringe in the world, if not one of the biggest performing arts festivals period.
Among those who have been invited to attend is Victoria-raised musical comedian Chelsea P. Manders, who learned late last month that she would be making her inaugural debut at the mother of all Fringe fests in July. “It has been my dream since I did my first Fringe in 2005,” Manders said Tuesday from her home in Toronto.
“Well, it’s a dream I dared to dream to myself.”
Manders leaves July 25 for Scotland, her first trip abroad as a comic. It will test her mettle, indeed: Between her first show on July 30, and last show Aug. 25, she will perform 27 hour-long sets in as many days — an endurance test she is wary of attempting. “It’s insane and it’s a huge amount of work. It’s going to be a crazy stamina experience. But this is it.”
To get her feet on Scottish soil, she needs a financial push. Manders, an Oak Bay High School graduate who moved to Toronto to find a career in theatre, and did so through a series of musical comedy bits, has created for herself an Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign through which she hopes to raise $9,000.
The cost of getting to Scotland and living there for a month is substantial, and though she’s playing a run of shows between now and her departure date — including appearances at the Ottawa and Toronto editions of the Fringe — she hopes to meet her goal by May 26.
Manders is going to Edinburgh regardless, but she would rather not send herself plummeting into debt while doing so. She is opening the vault for her potential contributors, who — for a $10 donation through Indiegogo — will receive “good vibes” from Manders.
Elsewhere among her offerings is “An Affair of Epic Proportions,” which will get the purchaser’s name written into a song, among other exclusive items. Fans might want to tread lightly where that is concerned: A sampling of her song titles includes Talk Dirty En Francais, Slutty Cousin Bossa Nova, and Anne of Green Gables who Dances on Tables.
Scotland, you have been warned.
How long have you been planning for this moment?
I’ve been putting funds together since October. It can be upwards of a $12,000 investment to go, so I always had it on the horizon. It’s an absolutely huge investment. This campaign will only cover a portion of the total amount. There’s fees, flights, accommodation and my publicist.
Some people would find it strange that you hired a publicist, but I understand that is a key component of succeeding at the Fringe, especially in Edinburgh.
That was the No. 1 piece of advice from all the people I asked. There’s so many companies, you have to have [a publicist] in order to stand out and get even one review.
With a pace of 27 shows in 27 days, you’ll need more than a publicist to survive that death march.
Not only are you going to do a show every night, you are also flyering — everyone puts up or hands out flyers for two hours a day. There is another thing, they call it FOMO — fear of missing out. You want to meet as many people as you can while you’re there.
It sounds like winning at Edinburgh is akin to doing the same at Carnegie Hall or the Apollo, in terms of everything that is at stake.
This is the biggest Fringe in the world. It’s like the World Cup of comedy. Everyone converges on one place for one series of games. Everyone is going to be there.
What do you hope to get out of this, other than experience?
In Canada you can feel faraway sometimes. It’s a really great opportunity to have a breakout performance. Bookers come from across the world. That’s where people pick up [shows] to take them on tour.
What show are you performing?
I’m doing Don’t Tell My Dad, which is half new songs and half old songs, with bits and banter that are all new. I’ve been working on it since October. It’s a musical comedy/standup show, but it’s theatrical and definitely has an arc.
Is any of the new material tailored to fit Edinburgh audiences?
I’ve written a Scottish folk song about how Scotland is always being invaded but no one can pronounce the cities they are invading. We’ll see how that goes.
Have you ever performed in the U.K. before?
I’ve never played outside Canada before, which makes it super-thrilling. I’ve got my Anne of Green Gables song and my song about polygamy in Bountiful, B.C., so I hope it will be educational as well.
