HELLCATS by Menstrual Rage Theatre
17th Century England. Crops are dying, sickness is on the rise, misfortune lurks around every corner. Secrets. Lies. Rumours. Tensions are high. Anyone could be a witch.
HELLCATS is a lively, loud, feminist look at the Witch Trials that took Britian by storm for over 300 years, incarcerating hundreds of women. The play aims to highlight the classist attitudes of 17th century England, drawing parallels to the climate of today’s society. As with every Menstrual Rage production; HELLCATS will be fierce, chaotic and will take the audience on a surprising journey of echoing whispers; where rumours can sentence you to death. No one is safe. Anyone could be a witch.
HELLCATS will be performed at Durham Fringe Festival from 24th - 27th July 2024, at The Palace Green, 8:30pm.
Why we need your help?
For the past four years Menstrual Rage Theatre Company have been committed to creating high-quality feminist theatre with a lot of heart, a lot of laughs and a lot of strong messages. This past few months we have been lucky enough to secure our very own rehearsal space, which means we can now create our shows at any time and without relying on other organisations/people to house our rehearsals restricting us to their opening hours. As we all have our own ‘regular’ jobs and commitments we are in a much better position as a company than we previously had been.
Unfortunately, like everything the current cost of living crisis has had an effect on us and whilst we are committed to creating HELLCATS to the highest of our abilities, we need your help to make the show even bigger and better!
Menstrual Rage Theatre Company have always been committed to being as sustainable as possible and take pride in the work we create! By contributing to ‘HELLCATS’, our donors can be confident that we will continue to work sustainably and ethically, granting opportunities to working class, female-presenting/non-binary creatives in the Northeast. Your money will help us create important theatre that is both enjoyable and impactful, forging our path in the industry!
What you will help fund
Our spending breakdown is as follows:
Travel and Accommodation 50%
Our actors and creative team are based all around the North East (as further afield) and we will all of them need to travel to and from rehearsals from now until the end of July, and to Durham Fringe Festival for the duration of the festival. We will be executing travel arrangements as sustainably as possible, arranging group train tickets and car sharing as much as possible.
Marketing 15%
This is an essential part of any show's budget. There are over 250 performances over the five-day festival this year so it's really important to let people know about our show and rise above the noise. As a company we have performed at every single Durham Fringe Festival to date and are lucky enough to have developed an audience, however as the festival grows bigger each year it is essential that we continue to grow with it and have devised a multifaceted marketing strategy for HELLCATS incorporating web content, flyers, posters, etc.
Legal Fees 15%
Our legal costs consist of PLI insurance for HELLCATS and PRS music licensing payments as our show includes recorded music by a professional artist.
Production 10%
This budget category includes any tech hire, set building, costume creation, rehearsal costs, etc. As with all of our shows we source our sets and costumes sustainably and ethically, prioritising second hand and ethically sourced materials. We often reuse any props and costume pieces from previous shows if possible, and aim for as minimal of a set as possible (ideal for transportation). There are some improvements we'll need to make but we have planned to do this as efficiently as possible.
Contingency 10%
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 extra supplies, unforeseen tech hire costs, additional flyers for marketing or replacement pieces of costume/props/sets.
Contact Details
If you’d like to talk to us more about HELLCATS, Durham Fringe Festival or any of our other shows, you can contact our company directors Hannah and Danni via our email address or any of our social media pages.
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.menstrualragetheatre.com