The Brief Life & Mysterious Death of Boris III

Aim

It’s Out Of The Forest Theatre’s first trip to Edinburgh Fringe. And we’re in need of some help.

Bulgaria just told Hitler to bog off, saved nearly 50,000 Jewish lives... and lost a King.

'Whether a jazz fan, a history buff or just someone who loves gripping real-life stories, this is a must see.' Kyril, Prince of Preslav, Boris III's Grandson

We discovered this entirely unsung story from our artistic director Sasha’s Bulgarian granddad, who passed away at the age of 101 last October. We want to pass on this heroic and inspiring tale to as many people as possible. We are in the perfect position to do so and have an amazing team of creatives on board, a beautiful set being built, gorgeous (and hopefully comfortable!) costumes being designed and a crack PR team. 

But all this costs money. Money we frankly, just don’t have. 

This is our fourth show as a company. We managed to sell out a run of this same show at the VAULT Festival in 2020, just days before the world got shut down for COVID. But this is our first time taking a production up to Edinburgh and we’re scaling up. We’re taking a risk. A calculated risk. And we have a fantastic support network in the form of The Bulgarian Embassy, The Pleasance Theatre’s team and mentoring from Judith Dimant of Complicité. What we need is just a bit more money in the bank to make sure we can tell this incredible story of daring hope.  At a time when an entire continent turned its back on marginalised groups, when many countries willingly deported their Jewish population, Bulgaria said ‘NO’. It is an inspiring message that we feel passionate about sharing now.  

We believe it’s imperative we share the stories of the ‘extraordinary ordinary’ people, who risked (and many lost) their lives to stand up for their neighbours and friends.

We are looking for individuals who want to support Bulgarian, Jewish, working class artists.

For more about the show: https://www.outoftheforesttheatre.com/boris-iii

If you want to buy tickets: https://www.pleasance.co.uk/event/brief-life-mysterious-death-boris-iii-king-bulgaria

If you have any questions about us or the show please email [email protected]

£10 helps us pay for a social media advertisement

£50 is half of one train ticket to Edinburgh

£100 covers us transporting our set & costume to Edinburgh 

£500 covers our costume costs

£1,000 pays for our set

£5,000 covers the cost for our PR & Marketing 

£10,000 covers the cost of 2 actors' fees, accommodation & travel. 

Credit: Liam Bessel Photography

This project successfully funded on 3rd August 2023