The Foo Needs You...

We, Maison Foo are a theatre company based in Derby. After previous Edinburgh Festival success, we are looking to return to the Fringe with our new show Pendulums Bargain Emporium with an aim of attracting national and international theatre promoters and securing a national and international tour for 2014.

 

Why we need your help...

Edinburgh Festival is the biggest showcase platform in the world, but it is also one of the most expensive! 

 In order to showcase our work at Edinburgh we are having to raise in excess of £20,000....gulp!

 As we are not a regularly funded organisation this is being accumulated through a variety of means, Maison Foo have invested a third of these costs, supportive theatre venues have also contributed and we are also able to rely on a small income from ticket sales......but this still does not cover the amount of investment required and so we are looking to kind and generous donations of supporters like you to help us raise around the final £3000 we need to get there. 

This money will be spent on redeveloping the set, design and print of flyers, posters and programmes and transport to get team Foo and the set over the border! 

 

Not sure how much to give? The truth is whatever you can donate will make a huge difference and we cannot express our gratitude enough for every pound that you pledge in support of our project.

 

Why Edinburgh?

As we said Edinburgh is the biggest showcase platform in the world. Every year hundreds of venue promoters, producers, press and the theatre industry flock to the festival looking for new shows to book and talented companies to support. This year is particularly important as it is British Council showcase year, meaning over 250 international promoters will flock from all over the world.

 

We believe we have a great theatre show which is not only entertaining but also thought provoking and we want to expose it to all of these people with an aim of launching Maison Foo onto the international touring circuit.

 

 

Pendulums Bargain Emporium

Pleasance Dome Venue 23

31st - 24th Aug (not 13th)

16.20

We have secured one of the best theatre slots going at Edinburgh Festival at the prestigious Pleasance Theatre venue. In the run up to Edinburgh the Pleasance have also singled Maison Foo out to perform at Latitude festival as part of the exclusive 'Pick of the Pleasance' preview line up.

 

 

The Show

Pendulums Bargain Emporium 

Welcome to Pendulums...the high street store that offers you more than you bargained for. 

 

Brought to you by the creators of Edinburgh 2010 sell-out smash hit Memoirs of a Biscuit Tin. Imagination ticklers Maison Foo entice you to join them on a darkly comic and shameless shopping experience like no other. Inspired by The Elves and the Shoemaker this desperate tale of necessity versus greed is told with humour, intimacy and charm using Maison Foo's inventive visual blend of storytelling, puppetry and live music.

 

 

This fairytale for grown ups will tap into themes of greed, slavery and consumerism to ask the question ‘what lengths people will go to to make themselves happy’

 

‘Once again Maison Foo have created a highly engaging, innovative and thought-provoking piece a memorable trip through some wonderfully humorous satire and the darker more distasteful sides of the retail industry.’ Derby Evening Telegraph

 

Who are the Foo?

Maison Foo is the creative collaborative journey of Co Artistic Directors Kathryn Lowe and Bethany Sheldon. 

Maison Foo exist to create mischievous new theatre that challenges audiences and tickles their imagination.  
We devise visual theatre that collides the everyday with the surreal drawing on influences from puppetry, clowning and physical theatre. 

 

Their work has been presented at numerous events, venues and festivals throughout the country including the South Bank’s Royal Festival Hall, Latitude Festival, London International Puppetry Festival SUSPENSE, Edinburgh Festival, mac Birmingham and Birmingham Symphony Hall, Sheffield Crucible, Warwick arts centre and Cambridge Junction's Sampled Festival.

 

Maison Foo first came to national attention with their highly acclaimed sell out show Memoirs Of A Biscuit Tin at the 2010 Edinburgh Festival Fringe....

 

‘My surprise hit of the Edinburgh festival....impressive stagecraft, deceptively sophisticated and layered work’ Lyn Gardner, The Guardian **** 

 

‘Excellent Physical theatre...Maison Foo have rightly been attracting high praise from all quarters’ The Mirror ****

 

‘Ingenious’ The Independent

 

They also took the show on an extensive UK tour through autumn 2011 and spring 2012 to further critical acclaim and sold out notices, including 5 recommendations in The Guardian’s Theatre guide and a top 5 listing in The Independent.

 

What we will give in return...

To say thank you to our wonderful backers, we have devised an exciting list of exclusive Foo rewards all related to the show (to the right of this page, take a peek). 

How else can i help?

Please help us share this page - pass it on to friends, family, colleagues; tweet it, share it on facebook and talk about it in the pub, at the hairdressers or whilst waiting for a bus! 

And finally we’d just like to say huge THANK YOU from all us Foos!