The Half Moon by Alice Malseed at the Pleasance

Four women. Four generations. One Belfast family fighting for freedom and future.

In a ferociously optimistic tale of home and hope, we meet Ethel, Jeanette, Sarah and Pam, each trapped by the narrow streets and looming mountain of Tiger’s Bay. None of them had the chance to leave until now. Pam may have broken the cycle and followed her dream of a life elsewhere but she can ever truly escape her ancestry? There are stories of battle, passion and hope still demanding to be told.

The Half Moon is performing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe from the 2nd - 28th August at the Jackdome, Pleasance Dome at 2:30pm.

Why We Need Your Help

The last three years have been a challenging time for the theatre industry and the professionals within it. The Edinburgh Fringe is a highly commercial and exorbitantly expensive environment in which to stage a production and, while we are raising investment for The Half Moon, it won't generate a profit in ticket sales. While we know there are many philanthropists who wish to invest money in theatre and see some return on their investment, there are many more who would just like to contribute to the return of great theatre made by great people who are properly paid for their work.

At Thistle And Rose Arts (the production company behind the play), we are committed to sustainable producing with kindness at its heart. By contributing to The Half Moon's fund, our donors can be confident that their values of kindness, vision and fairness will be delivered to all our staff, performers and audiences. Your money will help us create stunning theatre and make a positive impact on the theatre industry. 

How We'll Spend Your Money

Our spending breakdown is as follows:

Venue Hire: 7.8%

Each venue takes 40% of ticket sales revenue for each show as payment for the hire of their space at the end of the festival and asks for a minimum deposit in advance. This is the total funds we'll spend on those venue deposits prior to the festival.

Marketing: 14.08%

This is an essential part of any Edinburgh Fringe show's budget. There are over 3000 shows at the festival every year so it's really important to let people know about our productions and rise above the noise. Our team has extensive experience of the Edinburgh Fringe and have devised a multifaceted marketing strategy for each show incorporating web content, flyers, posters, stickers, outdoor advertising infrastructure and collaboration with similarly themed shows.

Creative Team    44.82%

This is the largest portion of our spend and reflects the value we place on employing great people to do great work, for a fee which recognises their skills and experience. All our productions are of exceedingly high quality and that's down to the brilliant professionals we have engaged. We also offer paid opportunities to young and emerging professionals looking to gain skills and experience in a positive and nurturing environment.

Production    6.44%

This budget category includes any tech hire, set building, costume creation, rehearsal costs, transport and accessibility provision. Lots of our shows have minimal set and costume requirements (ideal for Edinburgh Fringe), most of which are already in existence. There are some improvements we'll need to make but we have planned to do this as efficiently as possible. We have gratefully secured lots of free support and contributions in the form of rehearsal spaces and tech equipment from trusted suppliers, which has also brought down this cost.

Travel    2.51%

Our artists and creatives are based all around the UK and lots of them need to travel to and from Edinburgh at different points throughout the month of August. We will be executing travel arrangements as sustainably as possible, arranging group train tickets and car/van sharing as much as possible.

Accommodation & Subs    15.09%

While accommodation is notoriously expensive at the Edinburgh Fringe, we have secured free or discounted accommodation with many generous local residents and we will place people from different productions together in cohorts to maximise space while ensuring artist welfare for their time in the city.

Legal    0.17%

Our legal costs consist of PLI insurance for each production and PRS music licensing payments if the show includes recorded music by a professional arist. 

Contingency    9.09%

Every production budget always includes 10% of the budget subtotal as a contingency pot for when unexpected costs occur before and during the show's run. This could be anything from buying extraset supplies, unforseen tech hire costs, extra days of staffing for our creative team, additional flyers for marketing or replacement pieces of costume.

Contact Details

If you'd like to talk to us more about our Edinburgh Fringe programme and specifically The Half Moon, you can contact our producer Hannah Crawford. Hannah is also the primary investor contact so if you'd like to invest £2,500+ in the show with a potential return, please contact Hannah for further guidance on how to do so and investor perks.

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: 07594541334

Website: thistleandrosearts.co.uk