Aim

After a multi award-winning run at VAULT Festival, A Manchester Anthem is heading to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and needs your support!

Flashing lights. Sticky floors. Dancing shoes.

A Manchester Anthem - what is it?

A Manchester Anthem is a riotous, heartfelt solo play from Lyle Productions and ramblemill. Written by Nick Dawkins as a birthday present for actor Tom Claxton, A Manchester Anthem explores the story of young working class Mancunian, Tommy, on his last big night in Manchester before leaving for a prestigious university - the first in his family, and street, to go. Set to a backing track of classic house music, our rambunctious little multi-award-winning show delves into class, identity, and coming of age.

A Manchester Anthem won the Pleasance Pick of the VAULT Award, which means that we are now headed to The Green in Pleasance Courtyard for the whole of the Edinburgh Fringe 2023. The show runs 2nd - 27th August at 19:50 (except Monday 7th and Wednesday 16th as Tom needs a break - look at him throwing some shapes below... it's tiring).

(photography by Alex Brenner)

The response so far…

…has been bloody lovely. As well as winning Pleasance Pick of VAULT Festival, A Manchester Anthem also won VAULT Festival 'Show of the Week' and received some very nice reviews:

★★★★★ Broadway Baby - "joyously uplifting … an unfettered outpouring of humour, storytelling and characterisation from beginning to end"

★★★★★ Theatre Weekly - "this is new writing that's impossible to resist"

★★★★★ Binge Fringe - "the best storytelling I've ever seen on a fringe theatre stage"

★★★★★ Lost in Theatreland - "This is a truly masterful one-person performance."

★★★★ Broadway World - "we'll hear of this creative team for years to come"

★★★★ All That Dazzles - "often hilarious and periodically gut-wrenching"

There Ought To Be Clowns - "an ingenious piece of theatre"

Where we're at right now...

Our journey started in 2019, and after developing the play over the 2020 lockdowns, our work in progress show (under the title Dancing to Disco) opened at The Space Theatre in 2021. Since then:

• we've received Arts Council England funding for our VAULT Festival run
• partnered with the Linacre Institute and gained support from Brixton House Theatre and LUNG Theatre
• expanded our team to double it's size with Lighting Designer Caelan Oram, Set and Costume Designer Anna Niamh Gorman, Sound Designer Sam Baxter, and Stage Manager Emily Darley
• delivered theatre workshops to young people attending regional state schools
• and had two sell-out, multi-five star, multi-award winning runs at VAULT Festival 2023

We love this show, and we're deeply passionate about getting it in front of as many audiences as possible across the UK. We have goals to tour the show regionally, and transfer the show for a longer run in London and Manchester. Being at Pleasance Courtyard (often described as the very heart of the Fringe) this summer is the perfect place for us, now, to begin this journey.

(photography by Alex Brenner)

What is the Edinburgh Festival Fringe?

The Edinburgh Fringe is the world's largest arts festival. It's an exciting, joyous and intense festival that lasts a month all over the city of Edinburgh. There's music, comedy, circus and of course an exceptional amount of theatre. Many plays and actors have been made famous at the Fringe and one-person shows have had quite a reputation... we're looking at you Fleabag. We're performing at Pleasance, one of the most highly respected theatre venues at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and in London, which is home to critically acclaimed theatre, comedy and dance performances.

Why are we taking A Manchester Anthem to the Fringe?

Our show is ambitious, has heart, and seeks to smash the barriers of opportunity we might otherwise face. We've demonstrated so far our ability to do this as emerging artists with a limited profile and little access to direct funding, and believe that the achievements and response we've had so far - and the opportunity of a month long run at the Pleasance Courtyard this August - are a testament to the determination of our team and to the spirit of our show.

We want to continue to build on this, and think that if we can get to the Fringe this summer with your help, we might be able to spark a bonfire on the buzz we've had so far. We want raise the profile of our project and our brilliant team of emerging artists higher, and we want continue to establish Lyle Productions and ramblemill as makers of excellent, riotous, heartfelt storytelling from underrepresented early career artists.

(photography by Alex Brenner)

Why we need your help...

The Edinburgh Fringe is expensive. The travel and accommodation alone are a huge expense, and many artists aren't able to make it due to financial barriers. We're determined to not let that happen to this show, but we can't do it alone. Most funding pots for the arts do not support shows going to the Edinburgh Fringe, and so we are crowdfunding to help us with our upfront costs.

Our initial target of £6000 is to cover some creative fees (paying our actor and stage manager fairly is so important to us!), accommodation and travel. However our full budget is £12,000... so any extra money that we raise if we hit our target will then be used to pay for set, costume, flyers, posters, publicity, the rest of our creatives and much more! A breakdown of costs are below:

• £5,600 for creative fees
• £2500 for accommodation
• £1,500 for marketing
• £500 for set and costume
• £530 for transport to and from Edinburgh
• £1,375 for registration fees with the venue and festival

If you want to support us even further and think you can spare a larger amount of money towards making this show happen, please get in touch with producer Rebecca Lyle on the Contact Project tab. We'd be very eager to talk to individuals who are looking to support our young companies develop and what we can offer you in return!

Who are we?

A Manchester Anthem is presented by Lyle Productions and ramblemill, in association with Pleasance and VAULT Festival. Lyle Productions is a theatrical production company that seeks to give opportunities to emerging creatives through producing new writing. ramblemill are a a no nonsense / all nuisance theatre-making collective dedicated to heartfelt, riotous and regional storytelling.

The ramblemill and Lyle Productions teams are 50% working class identifying, 50% neurodivergent, 100% state school educated, and 100% regional artists. Our full creative team is 50% female or non-binary.

The A Manchester Anthem team winning Show of the Week for Week 2 of VAULT Festival... please make us this happy again! photography: Eleanore Jenks

Creative Team:

Writer: Nick Dawkins
Nick is a writer and dramaturg. He studied at The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama. He has had his work performed at the Southwark Playhouse, The Space Theatre and The Vaults.

Director: Charlie Norburn
Charlie is a director and theatre-maker from South Yorkshire, based in London. He has directed multi-award winning work in theatre and audio. He is a co-founding member of the new work collective ramblemill.

As director: A Manchester Anthem (VAULT Festival); His Name Was Ryan (audio, Brighton Fringe 2022); Dancing to Disco (Space Theatre); Magpie (reading; Bridge Theatre); The Rougham Mirage (audio, Brighton Fringe 2021); Life to Be (short; Bunker Theatre); Cookie Consent (R&D; Mountview). 

As associate/assistant director: Elegies for Angels, Punks and Raging Queens (KHT50 Festival at King's Head Theatre); A Prayer for Wings (Volcano Theatre Swansea); Gently Down The Stream (Park Theatre); Outlying Islands (King's Head Theatre). Other credits: All That Scratch Podcast (The Other Palace; Producer); Ian McKellen On Stage (ATG, touring; Venues Assistant).

Actor: Tom Claxton
Tom is an actor and creative from Stockport, Manchester. He trained at LAMDA as a recipient of the Leverhulme Trust Scholarship.

Theatre includes: A Manchester Anthem (VAULT), Romeo & Juliet (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), Kick, Heart of Hammersmith (Lyric Hammersmith), Consent, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Our Town, Hamlet (LAMDA).

Film & TV includes: Boys in the Boat (George Clooney), Domino Day (Eva Sigurdardottir), One Day (Kate Hewitt), SAS: Rogue Heroes (Tom Shankland), Doctors (John Maidens), Still So Awkward (Jason Wingard).

Producer: Rebecca Lyle
Rebecca is a theatre producer and marketer from the West Midlands. She trained at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts and is the Producer at LAMDA, producing all of their public productions and New Writing Workshops.

Freelance producing includes: A Manchester Anthem (VAULT Festival), Greenwich Family Arts Festival (London Borough of Greenwich), Found Arts Festival (Tramshed), HOUSE/HOME (Southwark Playhouse), If. Destroyed. Still. True. (The Hope Theatre), Unexpected (The Cockpit), Not Quite Jerusalem (Finborough Theatre).

Set and Costume Designer: Anna Niamh Gorman
Anna is an emerging Set and Costume Designer from Manchester. She is a recent graduate of the Royal Central School for Speech & Drama (MA in Advance Theatre Practice) and the Wimbledon College of Arts (BA Theatre Design with 1st Class Honours). Her work includes collaboration with Half Cut Theatre, 5-a-Side Theatre, Ovalhouse and the London Contemporary Dance School. She is a founding member of Deadweight Theatre–a company of actors, writers and designers concerned with devised and immersive practice.

Recent work includes: Assistant Designer to Lizzie Clachan (National Theatre), A Manchester Anthem (VAULT Festival), Strange Contagions, RoadSide, Keep Me In The Loop (Camden People's Theatre)

Lighting Designer: Caelan Oram
Caelan is a London based technician, currently working in the Lighting Resources department of the National Theatre. They are an MA graduate from Guildhall School of Music and Drama, where they studied Theatre Production and Design. Also a freelance lighting designer and technician, Caelan has worked at venues across London, including VAULT Festival, Theatre Royal Stratford East and Greenwich Theatre. Caelan is interested in working with bold new theatre, especially exploring themes of marginalised identity.

Recent credits include: I F*cked You In My Sdaceship (VAULT Festival - 2023), A Manchester Anthem (VAULT Festival - 2023), Assistant Lighting Technician (Stranger Things: The Experience - 2022), The Kind of Flag I Would Make (Guildhall School of Music and Drama 2022).

Sound Designer: Sam Baxter
Sam is an Actor & Sound Designer from Leeds. He trained at Oxford School of Drama, graduating in 2021.

Credits as sound designer: ‘A Manchester Anthem’ (VAULT Festival); ‘The Cosmonauts Last Message to the Woman He Once Loved in the Former Soviet Union’ (Oxford School of Drama).

Stage Manager: Emily Darley
Emily is a freelance Stage Manager from South Yorkshire. After graduating from Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in 2022 with a Degree in Theatre Production Arts (Stage Management), she has worked as Technical Stage Manager on multiple Devised and New Writing Plays.

Most notably: My Uncle is Not Pablo Escobar (Brixton House Theatre), Choose Your Fighter (Camden’s Peoples Theatre), A Manchester Anthem (VAULT Festival 2023- WINNER Show of the Week/ Pleasance Pick of VAULT Festival), We’ll Be Who We Are (VAULT Festival 2023), Caligula and the Sea (VAULT Festival 2023) Beautiful Evil Things (Ad Infinitum, Tobacco Factory, Bristol), Grills (Camden's Peoples Theatre) and How to Build a Wax Figure (Edinburgh Fringe 2022).

Thank you!

Thank you so much for reading about our play and visiting this fundraising page. By supporting A Manchester Anthem, you are supporting new writing and emerging regional creatives to further their careers in the arts. If you can't make a financial pledge, please support us by sharing this crowdfunder and, later, our posts about the show: do follow us on Twitter and Instagram! We're so excited to make this happen and hope that you are too.

Big love,

Charlie, Nick and Tom (ramblemill) and Rebecca (Lyle Productions)

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This project successfully funded on 11th July 2023