INTRO
Hello my fascinated friend! Thank you for taking the time to visit our page. We are thoroughly excited to perform at the renowned Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024 for the first time!
Below you will find an abundance of information about our show PERSISTENT SHADOWS. Any money you can donate, large or small, will make a great difference in our strive to bring to light to audiences the struggles working class citizens experience and how the people in power are not always to be followed so willingly. Your contributions will also help with the growth of this project, reaching audiences across the country, highlighting current political issues we are all experiencing today. As young people, this is our future and it’s in the palm of our hands. We believe this project is worth investing in and we thank you incredulously for anything you are able to donate.
Written and performed by University of Chichester alumni Christy Gosling, David Lundberg, Cameron Sinden and Reed Gyorkey accompanied by fellow alumni and performer Sean Wiltshire who has recently joined the company this year. Our debut show was performed at the University of Chichester during our third year degree in Acting BA (Hons) and further performances include InterAct Festival and a five night run at The Bridge House Theatre in London which received excellent audience reception and wonderful reviews.
★★★★★ - Jo Billingham - “Slick, fast paced and visceral- Persistent Shadows is ensemble storytelling at its absolute finest. Persistent Shadows has a maturity that is well beyond the years of the creators, and their first professional offering sets the bar very high.”
Nilgin Yusuf (London Pub Theatres) - “‘Experimental and ambitious take on the 1980s. An energetic, multi-layered, creative response to this decade that laid the groundwork for much of today’s social ills.”
THE WHY
We wrote this play before the conflict in Gaza leading to global divides, hostage negotiations and pleads for ceasefire. This recent event only inspired us more to address the horrors which can occur when hierarchy and power is used in a destructive manner - the community suffers. In more recent events, the general election has passed and with the Labour party winning and Keir Starmer in charge, the nation is holding its breath once more similarly to those in 1979 when a new leader in Margaret Thatcher was announced to a nation. We believe it is imperative to address the issues in division governments have had on communities.
Our aim is to bring to light the voices of communities which are often ignored and to encourage a reflective mindset so as to not repeat the mistakes of the past. The hierarchy of government disjoints society into classes and the community suffers. Regardless of class, many people in today's society feel as if their voice is not being heard and in the past communities have come together in abundance to support one another. The policies enforced by Thatcher in the 1980s tore communities and families apart, the miners strike of 1985 and the families who struggled with redundancy. In the present day, the conflicting policies being presented to the communities of the 21st Century and the financial struggles we face is merely a mirror into the past.
WHERE YOUR MONEY GOES
Paying our Creative Team
It is imperative that the diligence and hard work of our team is acknowledged. We are a small team of creatives all at the start of our careers. As a company based in the South West, travel is an important factor to attending Edinburgh Festival Fringe, along with accommodation and rates of pay for our technical team to ensure they are not out of pocket to help this production thrive.
WHO
Christy Gosling
My name is Christy and I studied Acting at The University of Chichester, graduating in 2023. I have since performed in several immersive experiences such as The Polar Express and also a tour of The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh. I thoroughly enjoy working on shows that are challenging and highlight issues that are occurring in our world. I have been performing since I was seven, so being able to perform in a show that I co-wrote and co-directed is a dream come true. I cannot wait for the public to see Persistent Shadows.
David Lundberg
Hi I'm David and I’m an aspiring actor who is dedicated to the power of transformative theatre, as I believe it can be used as a tool of vital social change. There’s nothing I love more than seeing theatre as a platform to bring together individuals from diverse backgrounds, fostering a sense of community and understanding within the confines of the theatre space. By addressing social issues in a performance setting, I aim to challenge perceptions, spark meaningful conversations, and ultimately contribute to a more empathetic world. I can’t wait to do this on a scale as big as the Edinburgh Fringe.
Cameron Sinden
Hi I’m Cameron J. Sinden from Super-8-Auteur. I’ve always been creative, even before I actually realised my passion for stage and screen, my creativity emerged through my career and training as a high level artistic gymnast. Prior to my time at the University of Chichester I completed an A-Level in Drama and my partaking in both of these activities was influenced by a love of Spider-Man that has persisted from childhood into my adult life. My youthful excitement over meaningful stories with acrobatic action evolved into a passion for nuanced and emotional storytelling, and getting to explore a range of characters through their mentality as well as their physicality.
Sean Wiltshire
I am Sean Kenneth Wiltshire and I’ve been training as an actor for just under 10 years. The ability to tell stories, be that real life or fiction, to an audience on screen or on stage is the best feeling. I hope to continue to tell real life stories of real life people to a world that needs to hear them.
Reed Gyorkey
My name is Reed Gyorkey and I studied Acting BA(Hons) at the University of Chichester.Having been working in the acting industry for several years now, I have always valued the representation of real historical stories. Having built a small platform as a co-founder of Super-8-Auteur, I believe we can only get stronger and continue to tell the stories of people who are often ignored. I strive to not only help myself grow as a person and an actor, but also to give back to my community in order to help us all grow as a collective.
David Parrott
I fell in love with the arts as it offers an escape from the world and allows people to just enjoy their time appropriating the brilliant work being performed in front of them. My Goals in the arts is to hopefully one day be able to say that I have had the opportunity to tech in one of the big theatres in the UK as well as thrive as a theatre company I personally have with 5 other practitioners called Kitchen Sink Productions. I have managed to achieve a degree in Drama, Theatre and Directing from the University of Chichester and through this I have met many wonderful people who have allowed me to achieve other things such as being able to tech at multiple Fringe events such as Brighton, Chichester and now Edinburgh but also follow through with another dream of mine of training to become a professional wrestler.
Event Registration Fee and Venue Cost
We are delighted to be performing PERSISTENT SHADOWS at The Space @ Venue 45 and we will need money in order to pay for the venue fees and event costs. Any donation you are able to make will impact the ability for us to perform this poignant piece at Edinburgh this year!
Transport to + Accommodation In Edinburgh
We will be sharing spaces and being as proactive as possible, your money will contribute to funding van hire in order to transport the set to Edinburgh from the South West.
FUTURE ASPIRATIONS
Having previously performed at The Bridge House theatre in London, we are passionate about continuing to tour our thought-provoking work to the masses. Our ambition is to create a sustainable touring model which will allow us to continue to bring innovative, thought-provoking theatre to all generations. We have further ambitions to offer workshops for young creatives to grow this industry and allow future generations to devise personal work which will only continue to inspire! We are extremely excited to be performing at Edinburgh Festival Fringe and hope this will launch our show to new, upscaled production locations in London and other parts of the United Kingdom.
Thank you for reading and we hope to see you at The Space @ Venue 45 in August!