Aim

DRAMA GIRLS is taking stage at the Edinburgh Fringe 2025, we need your help to get to the best creative arts festival in the world!

DRAMA GIRLS is a brand new theatre show that takes a peek into the outrageously elite world of prestigious drama training, where talent is polished, egos are inflated and bank accounts drained. Equal parts sharp satire and painful realisations, the play invites you to laugh, cry and cheer for three women chasing dreams in a world that promises everything, but guarantees nothing. This self-funded project has been developed from months of hard work, hours of preparation and multiple dance classes. Taking this project up to the fringe is an absolute dream, we hope to inspire many artists and amuse as many audiences as possible, but this project comes with the huge task of finding funding.

We have huge hopes for this project and its life after the Festival, but taking our first big step to Edinburgh as a group of working class women needs a little help… That's where you come in!

DRAMA GIRLS - What’s it all about?

The play follows three young performers Lisa, Dani and Jen as they face their final year of musical theatre training governed by the looming voice of snobby Headteacher Louise. Each one is fighting for their spot in the showcase but an unexpected casting list is released and ugly feuds form as the girls involve the audience in their stretches and struggles. Whilst this show is a barrel of laughs filled with witty remarks, offkey musical solos and actors channelling flamingos, it highlights the innate female behaviour of comparison and how this translates to an industry that revolves around competition. Past reviewers and audience have acclaimed it as:

• “Drama Girls is a fast-paced, high-energy show, full of a lot of laughs, satire and some all too relatable moments” Tabitha James, A Young(ish) Perspective
• “An interesting mix between LadyBird and Dance Nation” Joshua Miles, West-End Resident Director

We will be performing at theSpace @ Symposium Hall 11th-23rd August where we will shine an absolutely un-glamorous light on the very glamourised world of drama school.

WHO WE ARE - SHESPEAKS Productions

This show was born in a long summer of freelance hell after graduation. Three creatives Tilly, Claudia and Milla, sat down for a coffee after having the usual mid 20yr old breakdown worrying about our careers and bank accounts. We talked about all the crazy things that happened during the time we were in drama training, all the stress, the cattyness, the competition, and the surviving dreams that we still had a passion to pursue, and from this our beloved DRAMA GIRLS was born. 

SHESPEAKS Productions is a new production company celebrating female led work that is raw, intelligent, funny and absolutely uncomfortable. Formed by three working class, multidisciplinary women, we have worked our way into theatre from scratch, developing work as writers, actors, designers, directors and producers that has been celebrated all around the London theatre scene and beyond. Our special goal as a team is to support other female artists with their creative endeavours, building a space for struggling artists to thrive. 

Why your support means so much!

We have an incredible team of women including our director and our actors who have all been through the stress and tears of drama training. We want to celebrate a play that embraces studying to be an actor, as well as finding your voice as a creative woman. Our team are only at the beginning of their careers and so this project is not only to help the play thrive but allow a little extra support so we can lessen the burden of freelancer life.

We truly believe that this project will not only be a hit for all audiences, but become a wave for change in the industry. Within the play, we are starting conversations about class system bias, female insecurity and artistic competition - all issues that still exist and fuel the creative world. This project hopes to tackle these issues head on and spark discussion that might help change the way acting and theatre is accessed. 

 But with this action comes the financial toll.

WHAT YOUR MONEY WOULD BE SUPPORTING

Taking a project up to the fringe has an incredibly large burden on bank accounts.

Unfortunately we have not received any funding for this project and so all costs towards the show have been from our own expenses or through in kind collaborations with other creatives. Whilst we hope to subside the cost with ticket sales, we have taken a risk to pursue the project, taking on extra creative roles as well as working multiple jobs to finance the show. Here we wish to be completely transparent with how much everything costs so that you are completely aware of where your donations would be heading:

Production fees - £2740 (covering venue hire, admin fees and insurance)

Marketing - £350 (photoshoot hire, posters and flyer printing)

Transport and Accommodation - £ 2200 (oh we must sleep and 4 actors sharing a single bed is not an option to prevent insanity)

Design/Props/Costume - £350 (ballet shoes are a pretty penny)

Payment for Director, Producer and Actors - whilst all creatives have signed onto the project with no promise of financial success, we would really like to pay our creatives for the work they have put in. They are an incredible group of women and their labour deserves proper recognition.

We would love to see DRAMA GIRLS gain the love it deserves and so your support would be an incredible help. If you can help in any way, either financially or by sharing this page, we would greatly appreciate it! 

Thank you and see you at the stage of Edinburgh Fringe 

The DRAMA GIRLS lot xx

This project successfully funded on 25th August 2025