6 people.

3 shows.

17 locations.

That’s right – this summer, BoxedIn Theatre are back with another exciting tour, taking us around Scotland, overseas to the Republic of Ireland, through Wales, and then ending up at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

It’s bigger. It’s better. And this time, we have a van.

Okay, so what’s the big idea?

Theatre is amazing – it’s fun, it’s exciting, it teaches and entertains, and it has this amazing people to bring people together. It’s fantastically powerful.

But, let’s face it, it’s not particularly accessible.

The average price of a theatre ticket in the UK is £24.71, which makes going to the theatre prohibitively expensive for many, and despite the best efforts of the Arts Council, performances are still disproportionately focused in regional hubs like London, Bristol, Manchester and Edinburgh. What touring does take place invariably occurs on a large scale, which means that people living in small towns and villages without established theatrical venues rarely have access to theatre at all.

We think that’s a real problem, and it demands a solution.

And to prove our that, all six of us are going to be living, eating, sleeping, and performing out of the back of van for three months this summer, so that we can bring our trilogy of shows to some unusual locations.

Wow that sounds really interesting! Can you tell us a bit more about it?

Absolutely! So basically, this project is going to investigate how theatre can be toured on a micro-scale by exploring the power of the spaces at the heart of rural and remote communities. And we'll be exploring them by doing what we do best. Performing in them!

These spaces are rooted in the histories of these communities, sharing their memories and experiences – as a result, they hold immense emotional value. And in our experience, that makes for top quality site-specific theatre. Drawing on site-specific performance theories and established practices of rural touring, we’re aiming to suggest an entirely new performance practice that places remote communities at its centre, both in terms of creation and performance. Of course, that's where the van comes in - without Vanny Devito (name chosen by you guys) we wouldn't be able to reach most of these places, so as well as providing a roof over our head, she's going to be getting everywhere we need to be!

We also want to combat economic inaccessibility to theatre with this project – as well as removing the costs associated with traveling to see a piece of theatre, we’re capping the cost of tickets for all our shows at £5, and ¼ of all our performances will be ‘pay-what-you-want.’ Of course, this means that we’re expecting very little income from tickets, which is why we need your support to make this project possible!

So what’s the actual plan?

Great question – basically, we’re taking a trilogy of shows on tour to 17 different locations around the UK and Ireland. Exciting right? The shows themselves are a collection of different styles and disciplines that can be enjoyed by absolutely everyone, and they are:

A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Tackling one of Shakespeare’s best known comedies with only 6 actors is a hard time – but we think we’re up to the challenge. We’re taking audiences on an energetic romp through one of Shakespeare’s best known pieces, immersing them in a world of trickery, music, and laughter. Our production will include original music (played live, of course) and plenty of improvisation to ensure that the language isn’t a barrier to anyone who might want to see the show, while still maintaining its core structure.

To the Ocean: To the Ocean explores the relationship between a daughter and her estranged mother through a feminist re-telling of the Selkie myth. Specifically tailored to be performed in small, seaside locations, it also considers the nature of family, growing up, and whether there’s any room left for a bit of magic in our modern world. Spoiler alert, we think there is.

Play On: And now for something completely different! Play On is a collection of Shakespeare’s songs and poems set to original indie-folk music. Although generally we’re looking at performing this in local pubs and community centres (so it won’t actually be using your space), it can be performed absolutely anywhere, and we’re very excited to see just how weird and wonderful our performance spaces for this can be!

This really sounds amazing - do you have anything to sweeten the deal?

Why of course! First off, a massive thank you if you're thinking about supporting us - and if you decide to, here's what you can expect from us in return!

Just like last year, all our rewards are tiered, which means that every donation to help us on our way will receive not only the tier you reach, but the prizes for every tier before it. That means that if you pledge £15, for example, you’ll qualify for the ‘Well Read’ reward tier, as well as ‘Musically Inclined’, ‘Karaoke Queen’, ‘Sitting Pretty’ and ‘A Good Egg’. Pretty exciting stuff.

Literally anything at all – A Good Egg

You’re just an all-round good egg aren’t you? Whether you donate a penny or a pound or a hundred pounds, we are so grateful that you want to support us and help bring this project to life. No matter how much you donate, we’ll include your name in our weekly shout-out list (going out every Saturday) that we’ll publicise across all out social media branches. So the whole world can know just how much of a good egg you are!

£5 - Sitting Pretty

A pretty reward is fitting for such a pretty soul. As well as being included in our weekly shout out, you qualify to receive our digital design pack, created by our very own Rowan Wishart (take a look at the image at the top of this page for an idea of just how much of a talented little bean she is). The pack includes Facebook cover photos, as well as a selection of laptop backgrounds and phone backgrounds – one for each of our three shows, and one for the tour as a whole. Just remember to leave your email when you donate, so we can get them to you!

£7.50 - Karaoke Queen

Sing-a-long time! You’ll be receiving our digital design pack, and of course, a shout out on our social media – and that’s not all. Play On – one of our three shows – is an original song-cycle created from some of the songs and poems in Shakespeare’s plays, and we’re going to be recording all the tracks before we head off on tour. This reward tier will get you digital copies of three of those songs, so you can listen to them at any time!

£10 - Musically Inclined

Go on, treat yourself. For JUST an extra £2.50, you’ll get access to all 8 of our tracks from the song cycle, plus the 2 bonus tracks that will be a part of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. As well as everything else, of course. Which means you can have the whole Back Of the Van experience without even stepping outside!

£15 - Well Read

A purely academic choice, of course. With this tier you’ll not only be getting a shout out, our digital design pack and ALL of our songs – you’ll also be getting digital copies of our scripts for A Midsummer Night’s Dream and To The Ocean. Wanted to work out how on earth we’re performing A Midsummer Nights Dream, a play of 21 characters, with only 6 actors? Or maybe you want to hold on to the magic of To The Ocean after it’s been performed? Then this would be the tier for you!

£20 – DJ BOTV

Going retro – we like your style! We’re going to be printing a limited number of CDs with all 8 of our tracks as well as the 2 bonus tracks from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. So not only do you get everything from the other reward tiers, you also get a hard copy of all of our tracks, complete with album art, lovingly crafted by our very own Rowan Wishart.

£25 – Make sure you stay in touch!

You’re so amazing – we absolutely have to stay in touch! With this reward tier, you qualify for 2 free tickets to any one of our shows in any one of our locations (usually valued at £5) – and that’s not all. We’ll be sending you three postcards, lovingly hand-signed by every member of the Back of the Van Team, from different locations while we’re away on tour – including one postcard with a photo of the whole team with the van! That way, we couldn’t possibly lose contact!

£30 – You name it

Wow. You’re so generous – at this point, you name it. Literally. Just so the whole world knows quite how important you are to us, we’re going to be printing your name in 20cm letters along the side of our van. Which means that you’ll be right there, by our side, for the whole project! We’re happy to take joint donations for this one – if you want to team up with some pals to get something written on the side of the van, that’s totally okay with us!

£40 – Fully Catered For

Hey big spender! You look like you deserve to have some proper care taken of you. We’d like to cordially invite you to join us for a meal in the back of the van – breakfast, lunch, or dinner, it’s totally up to you (although we do make a mean eggs benedict). We’ll meet you at an agreed time around any one of our performance locations, and treat you to a proper meal, Back of the Van style.

£50 – Road Trip!

You’re basically part of the crew at this point. So we want to give you the chance to experience what life in the van is really like. After we’ve treated you to a meal at your chosen time of the day, we’ll whisk you away to some local destination – ideally a beach, but we’re open to suggestions. Oh, and of course, ice cream is on us!

Theatre accessibility is an issue that we care a lot about, and we hope that you’ll consider supporting us in finding ways to make the performing arts more accessible to everyone, for ever. Feel free to get in touch with as at info@boxedintheatre.com if you have any questions about the work we do or our project – or just head on over to our website www.boxedintheatre.com. In the meantime, thank you for taking the time to check out our crowdfunding page, and we hope that you’ll join our team for this fantastic adventure!