Always on
This project successfully funded on 25th June 2026, you can still support them with a donation.
CRUISING: Edinburgh Fringe 2026
London, Greater London, United Kingdom
Aim
All Aboard! Help us bring Cruising, a sizzling new rom-com by Katrina Bennett, to the Edinburgh Fringe this August!
Hi there,
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about Cruising and about us.
We’re Dreambite Collective, a queer, female-led theatre company making bold, politically-charged work. Written by Katrina Bennett and produced by Dreambite, Cruising is our most ambitious project yet and we’re so excited to bring it to the Edinburgh Fringe this August.
THE SHOW
When a dancer and a climate activist meet over margaritas on a Mediterranean cruise, their sizzling attraction seems like the perfect holiday fling. Until the pair realise they share more than just chemistry: both are in a relationship with the same person.
As potential romance explodes into fierce rivalry, the duo launch a competitive campaign of eco-sabotage against the mega-polluting ship. With the heat rising, can their connection and desire for a better world survive these dangerous waters?
WHY THIS SHOW, WHY NOW
Cruising is a necessary and subversive exploration of both passion and protest. Beneath its warm romcom narrative, this play has a fierce underbelly. It urgently spotlights the collision of authoritarian anti-protest laws with impending climate collapse.
At its heart, the show connects polyamory and the climate crisis, questioning the systems we’ve been taught to accept: in love, in politics, and in the way we live. Cruising provokes conversations about how current systems have failed us, challenging audiences to rebel in favour of community and human connection.
Cruising’s Fringe run follows eighteen months of development, including support from Omnibus Theatre’s Engine Room as part of their Next Page Programme (2026), feedback from BBC Writersroom, and a scratch night with EnRoute Theatre at the Golden Goose Theatre (2025).
ABOUT US
Writer – Katrina Bennett
Producer – Dreambite Collective
Dramaturgy - Lydia Sabatini
CAST
AMELIA – Clare Stenning
SAM – Davy Roderick
THE CAPTAIN (VO) – Fabian Bevan
Dreambite Collective is made up of three queer, female artists: Katrina Bennett, Clare Stenning and Lydia Sabatini. Since forming in 2022, we’ve created visceral, genre-blending work that centres queer female experiences, exploring big political ideas through the bodily, the surreal and the unexpected.
Our first show INSATIABLE (previously CONSUMED) had a sold-out run at Camden People’s Theatre in October 2024 that led to meetings with BBC Writersroom, The Yard and Pleasance. We’re currently re-developing INSATIABLE for a 2027 run and co-writing a new queer thriller about a gay bar in Margate, while preparing Cruising for its 2026 Edinburgh run.
Cruising is the third play from writer Katrina Bennett. Katrina’s first play CHOOSE YOUR FIGHTER was developed with mentorship from Barrel Organ Theatre. It debuted at festivals across the Midlands before a sold-out run at Camden People’s Theatre in 2023 funded by Arts Council England and Jerwood Arts New Work Fund. Katrina has a writing MA from Royal Central School of Speech and Drama and works as a Mentor Playwright for the National Theatre’s New Views programme.
EDINBURGH FRINGE 2026
We’re thrilled that Cruising has been programmed at Pleasance Theatre, Bunker Three for a full run, from 5th-31st August 2026 at 12:50pm (which you can book here).
The Fringe is one of the biggest arts festivals in the world with thousands of performers, industry professionals, reviewers and audiences all in one place.
For independent artists like us, it’s a rare chance to:
- Connect with industry professionals
- Build an audience
- Secure future opportunities for our work
- Raise our creative profiles, as a company and as individual artists
- Connect with other artists for future collaborations
If a show lands well at Fringe, it can create real career momentum and genuinely change what happens next.
WHY WE NEED YOUR HELP
Taking a show to Edinburgh is an incredible opportunity but it comes at a huge cost. As independent artists without financial backing, we are responsible for everything. For most shows, a Fringe run can cost between £8,000–£20,000 often before anyone is paid.
We’ve already been working hard to make Fringe a financial possibility:
- Planning preview performances in London
- Applying for funding and sponsorship
- Organising fundraising events
- Saving our own income from full-time day jobs
- Reaching out to grandmothers’ friends’ cousins in desperate hopes of finding cheap accommodation
But there is still a gap - that’s where you come in. Your support will help us cover the below.
CORE COSTS:
- Venue and registration fees
- Accommodation for a month-long run
- Travel
- Rehearsal space
- Technical support
MARKETING COSTS:
- PR - PR support will create buzz around the show through awards and press recognition
- Print marketing - lots of flyers and posters!
- Digital marketing - social media ad spend, listings etc.
CREATIVE COSTS:
Paying artists properly is essential to making ethical, sustainable work.
- Paying the core producing team
- Paying a director & designers to bring the show to life
- Paying the cast
- Set build costs, props and costume
WHY IT MATTERS
Fringe is becoming increasingly inaccessible. Without financial backing or industry connections, bold, political and marginalised voices risk being shut out.
We believe Cruising deserves to be seen, not just because of what it says, but because of how it says it: with humour, heat, chaos and care.
WHY NOW
We’ve spent years building towards this moment:
- Developing our craft
- Producing our own work
- Growing our networks
- Balancing creative work alongside full-time jobs
Fringe is our chance to take a critical next step in our creative journey. We’re so incredibly proud of this play, and we fervently believe in making work we care about with people we care about and finding audiences who’ll connect with it.
THANK YOU!
By backing our play through donating or sharing this project, you’re not only helping us achieve our creative goal, you’re also becoming part of our collective because we literally couldn’t do this without your support.
Lots of love,
Dreambite CollectiveCruising by Katrina Bennett
Pleasance Theatre, Bunker Three
5th-31st August 2026 // 12:50pm
Book Here
Funding method
Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made