Bring 'Tall Tails' to Life at Edinburgh Fringe!

Aim: 'Tall Tails' will make its world premiere at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Your support will help us set sail for success!

Welcome to our Mermaid World!

'Tall Tails' is an original comedy that follows five mermaids as they navigate self-confidence, identity, and quarter-life crises. This play is a self-funded passion project, powered by late night writing sessions and personal savings. We have big dreams for the show’s future, and it all begins this summer in Edinburgh. We’re hoping to reach as many people as possible, and make Tall Tails the glittering spectacle she deserves to be. That’s where you come in!

What is 'Tall Tails'?

On an endless quest for self-improvement, five mermaids attend a wellness retreat that promises to cure their “people pleasing” tendencies. As they work together through the retreats’ activities, tales of past blunders, deep-seated insecurities, and undersea antics float to the surface. Tall Tails blends the mythical world with human messiness to explore perfectionism, emotional burnout, and the murky transition from girlhood to womanhood. 

Tall Tails will premiere as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, running August 1-9 at TheSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall. Preview audiences have praised Tall Tails as: 

• "Fin-nominally funny and bubbling with pizzazz!"
• “Funny, silly and a breath of fresh ocean air”
• "H2O meets 2000’s Disney, with more depth than the Titanic"
• “A true MERMAID’S KISS!"

EdFringe audiences will be hit with waves of nostalgia in this hilarious and heartfelt ode to female friendships!

Hi, we’re the Red Kitchen Collective!

Red Kitchen Collective is an all-women ensemble of multidisciplinary creatives based in East London. We are also a group of five close girlfriends in our mid-twenties. Each of us moved to London from the US and bonded over our mutual love of desserts, pop music, and noughties nostalgia. Tall Tails was born out of our shared ambition to make art that speaks to us. We draw inspiration from childhood whimsy, spiritual yap sessions, and the sacred sisterhoods of shows like 'Sex and the City' and 'Girls'. We also acknowledge the hefty influence of 'Spongebob'– that’s right, we have range.

Our five members are Nikola Carouso, Holly Taylor, Emma Kowalchuk, Alexa Stevens, and Brianna Price. Between us, we are award-winning actors, writers, and costume designers committed to making original and thought-provoking work.

Tall Tails speaks to a generation of overthinkers and ex-gifted kids trying to heal. Although the characters are mythical, the themes—fear of rejection, self-worth, friendship dynamics—are painfully real. We want to share this story with anyone who has ever felt lost at sea. As the mermaids say, “we see you, we hear you” – we know how you feel.

How Your Support Can Help

As you can imagine, taking an indie show to the Fringe comes with big expenses, including:

• Venue hire- the ship that keeps us afloat
• Housing- accommodation prices in Edinburgh skyrocket during the Fringe
• Marketing- how awkward would it be to perform to an empty audience?
• Costumes- we also accept donations in the form of sparkly, aquatic-themed garments
• Transportation- of people, props, costumes… unfortunately, we weren’t actually born with fins

While we hope to recoup some of our overheads in ticket sales, we’re asking for your support to help offset our out of pocket costs, and to make sure Tall Tails gets seen by as many people as possible! Any donation goes a long way– £30 covers a hostel bed for one night, £50 is a one-way train ticket– even tossing us your lunch money is a big help!

As independent artists, your support means the world to us. Bringing a show to Edinburgh Fringe is a dream come true, and we are deeply grateful to all the donors who help to make our vision possible. By supporting us, you’ll be honoring the spirit of the Fringe festival– championing truly original work from a group of early-career artists!

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 13th August 2025 at 2:53pm