Saturday, 29 November 2025, was our inaugural Fringe Revolution conference on the present and future of Fringe Theatre!

Held here, at The Cockpit.

AM: Speakers talked about their experience and the current state of Fringe Theatre

SIVA ZAGEL - THE COURTYARD THEATRE
A fringe venue manager and programmer for 20 odd years, for Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Liverpool, and London, growing artistic programmes and audience development. Working at The Courtyard Theatre since 2021 a multi space venue in the heart of Shoreditch.

MADELAINE BENNETT - GINGERBREAD PR AGENCY
Madelaine Bennett founded Prospero PR in 2005, later leading global PR for Time Out. She directed Performing Arts at Premier PR until 2020, then launched The Gingerbread Agency, a specialist arts and culture communications company delivering bespoke, high-impact PR campaigns. She is particularly passionate about supporting bold, genre-defying, politically intelligent work that deserves a louder spotlight.

MICKEY-JO BOUCHER - MICKEY JO THEATRE
-Mickey-Jo is an industry leading digital creator who is pioneering online theatre criticism in a shifting landscape. As a critic, he has worked internationally and has been published in WhatsOnStage, London Theatre Magazine and BroadwayWorld UK.

JOHN PLEWS - SOCIETY OF INDEPENDENT THEATRES (SIT) & OVATION THEATRE CO
John Plews trained at LAMDA and has a wealth of experience stretching back to his first job at the Theatre Royal, Windsor. In 1985, together with his partner Katie, he created theatre company Ovation and since 1997 they have owned the fringe venue Upstairs at The Gatehouse. He is also the Chair of the Society of Independent Theatres (SIT)

DENHOLM SPURR - OFF WEST END & THE OFFIES
Denholm Spurr is Director of OffWestEnd and an Executive Producer of The Offies. As OffWestEnd’s youngest ever Director, and the first with lived experience working in the independent sector as a creative, Denholm is spearheading radical modernisation of both the organisation as a hub for fringe theatre and the Offies awards as a mechanism for sustaining careers through recognition.

DR EVA URBAN-DEVEREUX - NEW THEATRE QUARTERLY
Urban-Devereux is Co-Editor of the CUP journal New Theatre Quarterly and currently Programme Director of the BA in Theatre and Film Practice and the BA (Hons) in Drama and Performance at the Department of Creative Arts, Media and Music at Dundalk Institute of Technology. She has published extensively on Irish and international theatre.

JOHN FARNDON - FRINGE THEATRE AWARDS

OLI SAVAGE - VAULT CREATIVE ARTS

PM: There was a Guided Discussion on the Future of Fringe Theatre facilitated by HOLLY LOMBARDO from World Fringe & Tysers Live

Holly Lombardo is Director of UK & World Fringe, Development Director at Tysers Live, and Director of What Next? Culture. A global culture strategist, she champions creative ecosystems, partnerships, and radical collaboration across festivals and cultural innovation.

Our aim:   As befits a REvolution - The creation of an actionable manifesto

Tthe next Fringe REvolution is scheduled for  Saturday, 28th of November 2026. Tickets will be  free on request

Read the trigger paper by Dave Wybrow here

Read a detailed summary of the event here

Submit your ideas for discussion topics here

Read the raw, uncut transcript here
 

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