Jake Mace
Four Binge Fringe Queer Performer’s Awards for EdFringe 2024 will be handed out at a ceremony at theSpace @ Surgeon’s Hall in Edinburgh’s Old Town next Thursday 22nd August. The awards celebrate the achievements of performers platforming important causes and stories from the LGBTQIA+ community and those who have brought a unique and distinct Queer voice to the Festival this year.
The award is believed to be the only award presented by an accredited media organisation focused on highlighting the voices of Queer creatives at EdFringe this year. 163 of shows registered with the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society have listed LGBTQIA+ as one of their show’s two defining categories for the programme.
Binge Fringe Editor Jake Mace added:
“It is a pleasure to have our assessors add to the voices celebrating LGBTQIA+ performers and creatives at this year’s EdFringe. The creators of these shows are a stalwart collective offering remarkable insight, clarity, and levity at the Festival. Above all, I am deeply proud to call them my peers in our community.”
“We are a small team at Binge Fringe and can’t see every Queer show performing this year, but sharing the joy of each other’s work is an immense privilege. We continue to work to elevate marginalised voices in this shortlist, the longlist, and in the future with shows we have not yet managed to see.”
Criteria
In order to be eligible, shows must have been reviewed by Binge Fringe at EdFringe 2024, on or before today, Friday 16th August*. Shows were then automatically longlisted for the award provided they received a 3*, 4* or 5* review.
A small group of internal assessors then provided advice for a shortlist of 12 shows set out on the following guidance:
- Shortlisted shows should elevate developed, burgeoning, or distinct Queer voice(s) in their work.
- Shortlisted shows should seek to platform causes or provide insight from unique perspectives in the LGBTQIA+ community.
- Shortlisted shows should represent the community’s diversity through unique modes of storytelling, dynamic performance style, or bold intersectional work.
Representatives and supporters of all of the shortlisted shows will be invited to the ceremony alongside a list of guests, in which 4 of the 12 shortlisted shows will be awarded. Invites for the ceremony will be sent tomorrow, Saturday 17th August 2024.
So, without further ado…
The Shortlist
All The Fraudulent Horse Girls – Brooklyn Rep
An Adequate Abridgement of Life as a Boarding School Homo – Choir Boys & Co.
Dee Allum: Deadname – Dee Allum
Dummy in Diaspora – Esho Rasho
F*ckboy – Freddie H Arts
MESSY FRIENDS – Gendermess Productions
plewds – Kathrine Payne
Saint – Halfway Down Theatre
Tea Wade: Mandrill – Tea Wade
The Disappeared – Down the Rabbit Hole Theatre
The Freemartin – Speakbeast
Ugly Sisters – piss / CARNATION
The Longlist
A full Longlist of the acts included for consideration can be found here.
Longlisted Acts are invited to use the ‘Nominated’ Laurel for any promotional materials deemed appropriate. Shortlisted acts are invited to use the ‘Shortlisted’ Laurel in the same manner.
*Reviews of three shows from the longlist: All The Fraudulent Horse Girls, A Letter to Lyndon B. Johnson, & Andrew Doherty: Gay Witch Sex Cult are pending publication due to staff illness. This did not affect their status for nomination, as draft review submissions were used in the selection process.
Phoebe Bakker
