Underbelly launch Fringe crowdfunding campaign backed by Phoebe Waller-Bridge

Edinburgh Festival Fringe promoters Underbelly have launched a crowdfunding campaign backed by Fleabag star Phoebe Waller-Bridge and comedian Jason Byrne to help raise money for artists who lost out when this year’s event was called off due to coronavirus.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge was an unknown performer when she brought Fleabag to the Fringe in 2013. Picture: Chelsea Guglielmino

The creator of Fleabag has donated a signed script and the original art work for the one-woman show she staged as a complete unknown at the Fringe in 2013, as well as a signed screenplay for the hit TV show,

Underbelly is hoping to raise £20,000 by offering VIP trips to next year’s Fringe, a backstage “meet and greet” with performers, and access to its backstage hospitality area in return for donations.

Free tickets to any Underbelly show for the next two years is also on offer to anyone willing to donate £1000.

This year would have marked the 20th anniversary of Underbelly’s first Fringe programme, which was staged in the Cowgate, where it still runs shows.

The company, which also produces Edinburgh’s Christmas and Hogmanay festivals, had to cancel 220 shows after the Fringe was called off.

It says the campaign is aimed at helping “countless” numbers of artists and backstage staff who have been left in “dire financial situations.”

Its Crowdfunder page states: “Edinburgh is where it all started, in a dingy cave, 20 years ago.

The flyer for the original stage production of Fleabag staged at Underbelly in 2013.

“It's our lifeblood, our spiritual home, a place where genuinely anything can happen and incredible memories have been made.

"To not be there this year is heartbreakingly devastating, but it is also a time for reflection and understanding that for this year, we must step back and put the safety of others first.

“Our deepest sympathies go out to all of those have been affected by Covid 19 and our most heartfelt thank moo's to those on the frontline who have been working tirelessly to keep our country moving.

Thank you for your support. We will see you next year.”

Underbelly directors Ed Bartlam and Charlie Wood said: “We are asking you to help us support these artists to get through this most difficult of all times and more importantly keep them working in an industry that needs and values them. Without them there is no Underbelly, there is no Edinburgh Festival Fringe."

Waller-Bridge, who won a Scotsman Fringe First Award for Fleabag in 2013, called for the need to support the Fringe and its performers earlier this year as demands grew for the UK and Scottish Governments to provide emergency funding for the arts.

She said the festival was “a tourist attraction, a cultural think-tank, a generator of new talent and a place for people to take risks and express themselves.

“It’s a vital part of our culture and our future. Without it, we lose the voices of artists who bring inspiration to our lives and success to our shores. Fleabag owes its journey to the open-arms of the Fringe, and so do I.”

Byrne, one of Ireland’s leading stand-ups and one of the most popular comics at the Fringe each year, said: “It is such a hard time for so many on the circuit, and the cancellation of the Fringe this year has been a massive blow to us all. This is a cracking fundraiser.

“Underbelly is making sure that 100% goes to the artists and there are some great rewards on offer. Who wouldn’t want to donate and secure all those tickets, backstage access and signed posters? Please do give what you can whether it is the price of a ticket, or a few pints too.”