The Crush Bar is going on a summer holiday.
This newsletter will be on hiatus until mid-July, when it will return with all things Edinburgh Fringe.
Hello, and welcome to The Crush Bar, a weekly newsletter about theatre written by me, Fergus Morgan.
Each issue usually features an interview with an exciting, emerging theatremaker - or several - and gives them a chance to be explicit about where they want to go and what help they need to get there. You can read more about the thinking behind that here, and you can subscribe using the button below.
This issue, though, is slightly different. It is a brief look back on the year so far, an announcement of a pause in publication while I take a bit of time off, and a bit of info about what The Crush Bar will look like for a while when it returns.
So far this year, The Crush Bar has featured nearly fifty different theatremakers in over 25 issues.
It has profiled companies and creatives, artists and actors, designers and directors, and more. During February and March, when VAULT Festival’s cancellation cause havoc for hundreds, it spotlighted 21 different shows in search of new homes – several of which found one!
The subscriber list is steadily growing, too, inching ever closer to 1000 – my goal when I started this newsletter seventeen months ago. It reached 800 the other day. That’s 800 - well, 808 now - artistic directors, industry directors, producers and programmers, makers and managers who regularly receive this newsletter in their inbox, and who regularly read about the exciting emerging artists it features.
You will have noticed that, since April, I have been publishing two newsletters a week, too. On Fridays, you have been getting your regular editorial interviews with emerging theatremakers, while on Tuesdays, you have been getting advertorial issues connected to shows running at the Brighton Fringe. These promotional pieces are my small way of making some money off this project – something I have to do to justify the time it takes up – and hopefully you’ve been happy to receive them!
All of that – on top of my other theatre writing for The Stage, Stage Directors UK, the Independent, and others – has kept me extremely busy over the past few months, and there is more of that on the way.
Thanks to the Edinburgh Festivals, August is the most hectic time of year for anyone who writes about fringe theatre. This year, I will be writing and reviewing for The Stage, The Scotsman, Fest, several other publications, plus The Crush Bar – more on that below.
So, to ensure I enjoy some of the Scottish summer, I’ve decided to pause publishing The Crush Bar until mid-July. Instead of spending my spare time interviewing and writing this newsletter, I’m going to spend it climbing big hills in the Highlands and taking my dog for long walks in the park.
When this newsletter comes back, it will be fully focused on the Edinburgh Fringe until September – when I’ll probably take another break - and it will look a little bit different. Instead of weekly, 1000-ish word interviews, The Crush Bar is going to feature bi-weekly picks of shows performing at the festival.
Every Tuesday and every Friday from July 12 onwards, at 11.45am – or thereabouts – I am going to send out a newsletter spotlighting five shows performing in Edinburgh this August – with details of the artists involved, where they are from, what their show is about, and why it is worth taking the time to go and see them.
The majority of these slots in these newsletters will be editorial picks – artists I have seen or chatted to or heard about, who I think deserve a small shout-out. Several of them, though, will be available for promotional purposes. If you are performing at the Edinburgh Fringe, and you are interested in reaching the readership of this newsletter to let them know about your show, look out for more info on that very soon!
That’s everything for now. I hope you are enjoying reading this newsletter as much as I am enjoying writing it. I’ll leave you with two small requests. Firstly, please share The Crush Bar with anyone and everyone you think might be interested – via Twitter, via word-of-mouth, or just by forwarding this email to them.
And secondly, if you are enjoying it, then please consider throwing a few coins in my virtual tip-jar to show your appreciation.
I’ll be back in July with all things Edinburgh. Until then, you can reach me on Twitter - I’m @FergusMorgan - or just by replying to this email.
Fergus