Phoebe Waller-Bridge supports Underbelly’s Fringe fund

FLEABAG creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge is among the artists who are supporting a new fund to help Fringe performers.

Production company Underbelly has set up the fund to support acts that have lost out on the chance to perform at this year’s Fringe.

It’s asking the public to donate £12 – the cost of an Underbelly ticket – to the fund to help artists left struggling without this summer’s festivals.

People who donate more than £12 will receive “rewards”, with donors handing over £400 or more getting a Fleabag poster from the first show performed in Edinburgh at Underbelly in 2013 signed by Waller-Bridge.

An “all expenses-paid trip to Edinburgh for a Fringe weekend like no other” is available for £800 or more, and – for £1,000 or more – free tickets to any Underbelly shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for the next two years.

Ed Bartlam and Charlie Wood, directors of Underbelly, said in a statement: “Edinburgh is where it all started, in a dingy cave, twenty years ago.

“It’s our life blood, our home, a place where genuinely anything can happen and incredible memories have been made.

“To not be there this year is heart-breakingly devastating but it is also a time for reflection and understanding that for this year, we must step back and put the safety of others first.”

Their statement added: “We would love to support and help everyone but what we feel we should do at this time is to support those artists that were due to perform at the Underbelly this year.

“We are asking you to help us support these artists to get through this most difficult of all times and more importantly keep them working in an industry that needs and values them.

“Without them there is no Underbelly, there is no Edinburgh Festival Fringe.”

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