Aim

I’m delighted to be selling tickets to the AJ Bell Fringe on Friday digital cabaret, in support of the Fringe artist and venue recovery fund

Join me for a 60-minute digital cabaret show on Friday 28 August at 9pm. The show will feature nine different acts and will go out live at 9pm BST, with tickets costing just £9 each (£1 less than the cost of the average Fringe ticket).

100% of the money raised by ticket sales on my project will go straight to the Fringe’s artist and venue recovery fund, helping artists who are struggling as a result of COVID-19 return to the festival in 2021. 

Whats my show all about?

Boy, Girl. Artist, Advocate. Courtney Act is more than just the sum of her parts.

She is a contemporary artist who embodies the zeitgeist of an era. One of the first artists to show their gender fluidity, Courtney broke out of the box in 2003 to make it through to the semi-finals of the premiere season of Australian Idol and then signed to Sony/BMG.

In 2014 she returned to the television arena as one of the Top 3 in Season 6 of the Emmy Award-winning RuPaul’s Drag Race, with a legion of new fans around the world. Courtney then released her debut EP, Kaleidoscope, featuring mainstream pop beats and lux music videos. Her videos online have been viewed over 40 million times.

Proving once and for all that she was more than just a voice and a body, Courtney took on a number of controversial social causes and stories in her award-nominated political series American Act on Junkee.com. The series garnered over 6 million views and saw Act fire a gun, smoke marijuana, and attend a Trump rally in drag.

2017 marked the international tour of her original show: The Girl From Oz. This sold out world tour culminated in her debut at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with 5* star reviews.

“As if her voice isn’t enough, her quick-witted comedy flows through the show effortlessly” – Edinburgh Festivals Magazine 2017

2018 saw Courtney Act and Shane Jenek plow full steam ahead as winner of Celebrity Big Brother UK – educating viewers on queer issues such as gender identity and fluidity, sexuality, same-sex marriage and much more. After her successful world tour Courtney Act: Under the Covers, she made television history as the host of UK’s first bisexual dating show on E!’s The Bi Life to wrap up an extraordinary year in her very own Christmas special, The Courtney Act Show for Channel 4 UK and Peach (Australia).

Not one for resting on her stilettoed laurels, Courtney Act competed in last year’s inaugural Eurovision – Australia Decides, launching her smash-hit single Fight For Love. Making television history again, this time as one-half the world’s first same-sex pairing, Courtney Act and Shane Jenek danced their way into the heart of the nation and as a runner up in Network Ten’s Dancing With The Stars.

This year, Shane Jenek made his debut as song writer and composer for Courtney Act’s new show FLUID, featuring all original material and songs. In FLUID, Courtney shares her experience with gender fluidity with a blend of exposition, song, dance and costume evolution. FLUID made it’s world premiere at Darlinghurst Theatre for Mardi Gras Festival to standing ovations and critical acclaim.

“Heartfelt, honest, intelligent and embracing, this a refreshingly open and enlightening work that informs and explores” – Broadway World

Who’s joining me on Friday 28 August?

The full line up for the next show on 28 August is Briefs, Le Gateau Chocolat, Stiff & Kitsch, Michael Odewale, Megan Shandley, Kid X, Farr Out, Craig Hill, Helen Duff, Alfie Ordinary and your host for the evening...me!

AJ Bell Fringe on Friday

This new digital show will showcase the festival across a range of genres, including comedy, cabaret, theatre and music. The show has been made possible thanks to the generous support of online investment platform AJ Bell, and is produced and curated by Lucky Cat & Michael Fraser, alongside production company Inner Ear.

Fringe artist and venue recovery fund

The creative industries have been among the hardest hit by the coronavirus outbreak, with the Fringe community alone facing estimated losses of over £21 million. 

The opportunities derived from presenting work at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe can be enormous; many artists book onward touring, build collaborative partnerships, find a new agent, get bookings for stage, screen, and film work. Many engage with a loyal and adventurous fanbase, earning income to support their year-round activities, or taking the chance to try out new work and ideas on audiences who are actively looking for something new. 

The impact of these lost opportunities will stretch way beyond 2020, with artists looking at a long recovery for their work to be seen on stage again, with the worry that many will be forced to leave the sector to earn a living elsewhere, with the impact far reaching.

All the money we raise from this project page will go to the central artist and venue recovery fund to support our return to the Fringe in 2021. 

This project successfully funded on 10th September 2020