University of Chichester alumni take Edinburgh Fringe by storm

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is one of the greatest celebrations of arts and culture on the planet and takes place for three weeks every August, showcasing every genre of live performance, from theatre and stand-up comedy to cabaret and spoken word. This year Wales-based theatre company StammerMouth won a prestigious Fringe First award for their new play Choo Choo!, co-written by Chichester graduate Nye Russell-Thompson.

Nye’s alias StammerMouth was born out of the necessity for people to understand how it feels to have a stammer, through self-aware deflective humour, stark minimalism, and audience participation.

Other Edinburgh success stories for past Chichester graduates include 5-star reviews for On The Nose Productions’ show 60 Minutes of Mood Swings. The show was devised and performed by a group of recent graduates who recently returned to Chichester to perform at The ShowRoom, the University’s on campus performance venue. Holly Spillar also picked up a host of 5-star reviews for her one-woman show Hole.

Ben Francombe, Head of Theatre at the University of Chichester said: “Our Theatre degrees prepare students for all aspects of working in the arts, from acting and producing to directing. It’s really exciting to see the success of our alumni at what is probably the most well-known performing arts festival in the world. This is a real demonstration of how the training and space that we offer our students to develop their creative practice helps them to build successful careers after graduation.”

Alumni Vijay Patel was also at the Edinburgh Festival as an ambassador for the Horizon Showcase. The Horizon programme supports artists and performers to develop and present new work with a view to touring internationally through established partnerships. Vijay (he/they) is a performance artist, writer and neurodivergent access consultant. The work they make predominantly surrounds cultural identity, making autobiographical/political work to shift perceptions and uplift marginalized, intersectional identities.

The University of Chichester offers BA (Hons) degree courses in Acting, Acting for Contemporary Theatre, Acting for Film, Drama, Theatre and Directing and Screen Acting and Film Production. For more details visit chi.ac.uk/stage-and-screen/.