By
Eleanor Williams
London
We are raising £1000 towards the costs of our theatre company's debut play, Mouldy Grapes (showing at the White Bear in Kennington from the 19th-30th of September), to ensure all of our cast and creatives are paid properly for their time and brilliance.
Mouldy Grapes is a wild and filthy farce for the Tinder generation set in a slice of the LGBTQ experience. It explores modern sexual politics through flawed, human & often inebriated eyes:
Roo’s agoraphobia and his fear of trousers keep him inside, where he’s at the mercy of his unstable and invasive landlord. Roo’s boyfriend copes with having a housebound lover by bringing back a spare one with him every time he spends a night on the town. But he didn’t know what he was in for when he brought home Jess, a foul mouthed, free-wheeling avalanche who’s going to change all of their lives forever.
We are Break The 'Verse, a new writing company formed in 2017 by East 15 Acting School alumni Ellie Sparrow and Monty Jones.
We're trying to be the change we want to see in theatre world, we want to tell stories that don't get told with characters that don't often make it onto the stage. With Mouldy Gapes, we're trying to use our wild and anarchic voice to challenge traditional and tired stereotypes of LGBTQ people and those living with mental illness. We also want to start as we mean to go on by paying our cast and creatives a proper wage for their time, waging war against those who expect people to work for 'the exposure' while pocketing profits. We also want to encourage a young, queer audience to come to the theatre and will be holding a free workshop for writers from this demographic to hone their craft.
If you donate to our project, you'll be helping us to pay our cast and creatives fairly. Some of the costs you'd be contributing to include, all at national minimum wage:
Director Fee: £900
Designer Fee: £325
Actor Wages x 4: £3,723
Stage Manager Wages: £649
Producer Fee: £600
Lighting Designer Fee: £177
Sound Designer Fee: £177
Fight Director Fee: £135
If we reach our minimum of £500 we will just about be able to pay everyone fairly, but it would mean cutting the time we'd be able to pay them for. This would mean having some of our team (e.g. fight director, designer) for the absolute minimum number of hours possible, and stretching a technician thinly by amalgamating lighting and sound responsibilities into one role. In order to have everyone for all the time we really need, we need to raise £1000.
If you're interested in what we're up to and you want to keep up to date please look us up below! Also, if you're excited by what we're doing but you haven't got any money to spare please share our campaign and give us a follow or a like!
https://www.facebook.com/breaktheverse/
https://twitter.com/BreakTheVerse
Select this reward if you just want to donate to the project without receiving a reward.
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If you pledge £5 we'll thank you on all of our social media, making you feel all nice and tingly inside.
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Estimated delivery: 1 September 2017
One of our characters (Roo, played by Monty Jones) is a bit of an artist and the set is going to be decorated with his work. For a £10 pledge, Monty will sketch your caricature and we'll stick it on the set. You can take it home with you when you come and see the show!
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Estimated delivery: 1 September 2017
If you pledge £20 Ellie will crochet you your very own women's march style pussy hat!
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Estimated delivery: 1 October 2017
If you pledge £50 or more you will receive: one of Ellie's handmade Pussy Hats, a bottle of bubbly, and a caricature of you by Monty will be placed on our set!
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Estimated delivery: 1 October 2017
For a £100 pledge, we will play a song of your choice somewhere in our show! You will also get a pussy hat, a caricature on the set, and a bottle of bubbly!
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Estimated delivery: 1 September 2017
If you are an incredible enough human being to pledge £500 we will perform the entire play for you in the comfort of your own living room, with a candle lit dinner!
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Estimated delivery: 1 November 2017