Hello! We are the team behind Ticker. A new play written by Tom Machell that is heading to Underbelly this Edinburgh Fringe.
We have already secured some fundings as well as putting in a lot of our own hard earned cash to pay for the venue, accommodation and brochures but we still have to cover the following.
Wages for the Director, Stage Manager & Composer: £1750
Design and set costs: £600
PR and Marketing costs: £2500
Travel and set transportation: £200
Rehearsal space: £500
Posters, print and promotional materials: £1000
Any help towards these costs is greatly appreciated.
If you feel more comfortable, contributing directly to the project not via this platform, that's fine too! Just drop us a line at
Brid@fightindog.co.uk
tommachell@live.co.uk
And we can sort that out!
What is the play about?
Ticker is a riveting debut play written and performed by Tom Machell. It asks important questions about northern male stereotypes and male grief and demands to know what happens to a man when he must confront the unexpected and untimely loss of the person he loved more than anything in the world. It also seeks to shed light on an unjust heart disorder that affects countless people across the world.
Ticker follows twenty-something Spencer, a Geordie millennial who is deeply in love with the inestimable Gabi. Spencer takes the audience through their rollercoaster relationship, introducing a cohort of flawed individuals that surround his partner and the impact they have on their relationship. But Spencer’s life is torn apart by Gabi’s untimely - and unexplained - death. And how can he even begin to cope with finding himself suddenly a prime suspect and a chief mourner? Themes of grief and loneliness meet black-humour and frank dialogue, exploring male identity, toxic aggression, and how not talking about things can eventually lead to self-destruction.
Developed as an exploration of Machell’s own life experiences, Ticker was born out of the tragic passing of his childhood friend. Ticker also aims to step over the boundary when it comes to discussing mentally abusive relationships whilst dealing with the consequences that come with losing someone so young, so suddenly. It speaks with an innovative voice: a Geordie play that disrupts northern male stereotypes in a world where men for the first time are being encouraged to talk about their feelings and still don’t. Challenging these stereotypes is vital to paving the way for new ways of storytelling, making theatre more relatable to an ever-changing demographic and disrupting the way in which audiences consider male experience.
Ticker is dedicated to Tom's childhood friend Steph, who passed away from an undiagnosed heart condition in 2013. Whilst he didn't want a write a play about her (she would have hated that), he wanted to dedicate something to her memory as well as raising awareness of the conditions that kill 12 young people a week in the UK.
Who are we?
Written & Performed by Tom Machell
Tom is 1/5 of award-winning comedy troupe zazU who have had numerous sell-out runs at the Edinburgh Fringe and Soho Theatre respectively. They won the Three Weeks Editors Choice Award in 2016 for their show Raisins To Stay Alive. He is currently a series regular on Comedy Central’s viral sketch show Every Blank Ever as well as appearing in Doctors (BBC), Newscrack (Channel 4), Babs (BBC), JERK (BBC) & Lodger (BBC). Theatre credits include Carol Tambor award-winning play Life According To Saki, New York Theatre Workshop (Off-Broadway), Offie Nominated Outlying Islands, Atticist/Kings Head Theatre, Hand To God, English Theatre Frankfurt, The Comedy of Errors, Drilling Company, New York (Off-Broadway) & three runs of Edinburgh favourite News Revue which he also writes for. Ticker is Tom’s debut play as a playwright and he trained with the National Youth Theatre & at The New York Film Academy.
‘Tom Machell is engagingly charming’ British Theatre Guide ****
'Machell is outstanding’ - New York Theatre Guide *****
‘Machell has a captivating boyish charm’ Everything Theatre ****
Directed by Derek Anderson
On his directing debut, Derek won the 2015 Whatsonstage Award for Best Off-West End Production for Stephen Sondheim's SWEENEY TODD: THE DEMON BARBER OF FLEET STREET at the Twickenham Theatre. The critically acclaimed production, starring Olivier Award-winner David Bedella in the title role, was also nominated for Best Musical Revival. For Aberdeen Arts Centre Derek directed the Kander and Ebb musical CABARET, Stephen Sondheim and George Furth's COMPANY and THE PILLOWMAN by Martin McDonagh. At the English Theatre Frankfurt Derek has directed HAND TO GOD and THE LION IN WINTER. Other work includes INTO THE WOODS by Stephen Sondheim for Stowe Arts and the world premier of three time Off West End Awards nominated EYES CLOSED, EARS COVERED by Alex Gwyther at the Bunker Theatre. Derek studied Film and Television Production at the North East College of Scotland followed by Theatre Production at Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.
Produced by Fight in The Dog
The show will be produced by Fight in the Dog which was established with the intention of bridging the gap between the worlds of theatre and comedy. The company’s chief aim is to create work that’s at once as funny as the best comedy and as thought-provoking as the best theatre - innovative, provocative, experimental and surprising. Fight in the Dog was formed after a supposedly small and relaxed charity production of Twelfth Night With Comedians got out of hand and sold out a 600-seater theatre and raised £9k for Refugee Action. Since then they produced Travesty by Liam Williams, Ricky Whittington & his Cat by Daran Johnson and Liam Williams, and produced the smash hit show of Edinburgh 2018, Pickle Jar by Maddie Rice.
Composer and Sound Design by Holly Khan.
Holly Khan is a multi-instrumentalist, composer and sound designer. She has a Masters degree from Goldsmiths University in Performance Making where she specialised in composition within theatre.
With an interdisciplinary approach, Holly has created for many different mediums. Current projects include ‘The Artist’ composing for Filskit Theatre Company as well as being awarded the ‘Nurturing talent’ bursary by CREATE becoming an associate artist with the organisation. She has recently completed ‘Float’, a site-specific sound installation, part of the Totally Thames Festival, ‘Their Voices’ a film/installation which premiered at The Royal Academy of Art and live scoring ‘Le Cri Du Corps’ with Decoupage Collective.
As well as performing at The Royal Albert Hall and St Marks Basilica, her compositions have featured at the Barbican, as part of the Global Health Film Festival, o2 Academy Islington and internationally at Théâtre De Menilmontant, Paris.
Alongside her composing work, she is a music and arts facilitator with award-winning charities, Dreamarts & Core Arts, engaging with vulnerable members of the community that are at risk of isolation.
FACTS - Undiagnosed Heart Conditions
- Every week in the UK at least 12 young people die of undiagnosed heart conditions.
- Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the leading cardiovascular cause of SCD (36%) in young people (HCM is a disease that causes thickening of the heart muscle.)
- A 12 lead ECG Test, which is an electrical tracing of the heart, is designed to look for electrical faults of the heart and to raise suspicion of the cardiomyopathies.
Ticker is now in a partnership with Cardiac Risk in the Young, a charity that fundraises to run ECG screenings across the UK. We will be fundraising throughout the festival for CRY
We are looking to raise as much money as possible in Edinburgh for CRY. If you would like to help out whilst up at the Fringe, please drop us a line.
Love,
Team Ticker & The Fight In The Dog Team x
