Fringe Test Night 2025

Following our Fringe Test Night back in 2023, it’s time for another go!

Our Fringe Test Night offers a sneak peek at some fantastic work created locally for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025. This is a platform for Scotland-based theatre artists to test out an excerpt of their upcoming Fringe show in front of a live audience.

About the opportunity

This opportunity is most beneficial to artists and collectives bringing a show to the Fringe for the first time. However, any groups interested are welcome to apply!

Artists will perform a 10-15 minute excerpt of their show and receive written feedback from an audience cultivated by Play Full Theatre. Tech support will be available at the venue. This will be a chance for artists to reach new audiences and connect with other Fringe artists before August begins.

The performances will take place at The Boardwalk in Glasgow on the evening of Monday 7th July.   

In addition to the event, Play Full will offer an hour of consultation time on either dramaturgy or Fringe topics with a Play Full member experienced in Fringe productions. Our team will also offer marketing advice for promoting your show during the busy Fringe period.

This is an unpaid opportunity, but Test Night related expenses up to the value of £50 per selected company are available to cover travel costs etc. Play Full Theatre is a collective run by volunteers and ticket sales from this event are used to cover the cost of venue hire, travel expenses and tech costs. 

How to apply

We’re welcoming applications for shows ranging from new writing to non-traditional theatre performances. Apply to be part of the event by filling out this online form. 

Submission deadline: Friday 6th June. 

All applicants will receive a response by Friday 20th June. Selection will be determined on the strength of the submission and variation of the application pool. Our goal is to create a night of varied and diverse performance types.  

Access information

The Boardwalk is an accessible venue, that includes lift access. Full information can be found in The Boardwalk’s Accessibility Guide.

If you have any access requirements that you would like us to know about, please include these where indicated in the application form. Or email play.full.scratchnight@gmail.com if you have any questions about access or taking part in the event.

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Seeking Co-Producing Committee Members

Seeking two creatives with an interest in dramaturgy and producing, to join our team and support our new writing events.

Play Full Theatre is a Glasgow-based collective of theatre makers passionate about fostering a meaningful artistic community, developing emerging playwrights and theatre artists through dramaturgy and live events.

We are looking for 2 emerging or early-career creatives, who are passionate about developing new theatre and continuing to build and nurture an existing creative community. This is an ideal opportunity for someone who is looking to expand their experience in producing, artistic programming, casting, dramaturgy, community organising, and artist development.

Essential qualities:

• Some experience in organising people and/or events
• A demonstrable interest in developing new text-based performance — this can be as a dramaturg, director, producer, actor, writer, or even as an audience member
• Looking to develop their own creative practice as part of an existing collective

Desirable:

• Knowledge of the Scottish and Glasgow grassroots/emerging theatre community
• Good administration skills
• Experience in fundraising or bid writing
• Some experience in promoting a project through social media or other marketing work
• Based in Glasgow (not all of the Play Full team reside in Glasgow, however our activity is based there. Accordingly, we aim to reimburse travel expenses when working on events.)
• Available June/July of 2025 for our next event

We welcome applicants who are underrepresented in Scottish Theatre (or within the existing core Play Full team). We recognise that inequality reflects on experience so if you do not hit all of the above points, but would benefit from this opportunity and are passionate about building theatre community and supporting new writing, we encourage you to apply.

Responsibilities:

• Attending regular meetings
• Helping to monitor emails and social media platforms
• Writing newsletters and posts
• Event-planning and management before, during, and after our events
• Developing Play Full’s reach and strategy in accordance with our aims and values

Our event activity comprises:

• Script reading, evaluation, selection, and writing feedback for writers
• Evaluating applications from actors, directors, and other creatives
• Assembling creative teams for our events and liaising in advance of events
• Creating artistically balanced event programmes
• Liaising with venues around event details, maintaining good relationships
• Working with ticketing platforms, online sales and in-person cash box office
• Hosting, front of house, stage management of events on the day

Generally, the Play Full Team meets 1-2 times a month online for an hour, building to 1-3 a week in the time immediately before one of our events. As a voluntary position we are mindful and open about everyone’s time-commitment and do not expect everyone to make every meeting. We operate through flexible collective governance meaning that members are able to take periods where they are less active. However we do expect good communication around this as other members will need to pick up more duties. We currently run 2-3 events per year around our existing commitments, deigning to hold these events in step-free or wheelchair accessible venues.

How to apply

If you are interested in applying for this voluntary position, please submit a short covering letter. This could be a couple of paragraphs (but no more than 1 A4 page) or video/audio recording (no more than 3 minutes long) which details your relevant experience, and what you’re hoping to gain or learn from becoming part of the Play Full team. 

Please email your submissions to play.full.scratchnight@gmail.com (Anna, Emma, Sarah, Victoria and Wren) with the subject line: “Committee Application” by 25th May.

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More About Play Full:

Play Full Theatre was set up by a collective of theatre makers to produce fun, collaborative, and engaging scratch nights showcasing work created through collaborations between emerging theatre artists based in Scotland. It is run entirely by volunteers. Our scratch nights have featured the talents of over 70 emerging writers, directors, dramaturgs and actors.

Since January 2023, Play Full has produced 4 new writing scratch nights, 2 networking and community events, and 1 Edinburgh Fringe test night – all of which have sold out. Our focus is on dramaturgical development of new theatre, and how artist collaborations support that – we work with playwrights and artists in advance of our events, matchmake artistic teams, and foster discussions with audiences to advance performance work. Currently, Play Full is made up of 5 dramaturgs and theatre-makers who work professionally as directors, actors, writers, and more, and co-produce Play Full on a voluntary basis.

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