'The Questionnaire' - Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2011

This summer, Ninth Life Theatre Company will be performing their brand new play The Questionnaire in Edinburgh, UK, as part of the infamous Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The Edinburgh Fringe is the largest arts festival in the world which last year attracted over 400.000 visitors. Ninth Life will be jostling for space as one of literally hundreds of shows on offer, and so need a play that will stand out from the crowd...

The Questionnaire

"Jack, a man in his early twenties, finds himself locked in a room with only a desk and chair. He suspects a cult, and Jack is relishing the chance to engage in a much-longed for fierce debate and prove his hosts to be all wrong. The reality is quite different, and soon it is his own world view that comes under fierce scrutiny.

‘The Questionnaire’ explores the failure of current British society to acknowledge modern historical, philosophical and political theory, and in particular the effect that this failure has on individuals who attempt to live their lives by these theories. ‘The Questionnaire’ taps directly into the current climate of student dissatisfaction, putting a proudly university-educated young man under the microscope before dissecting and casting him aside. Is knowledge alone enough to break the shackles that our perceived norms have cast upon us?"

The piece is a bizarre, intense and comical descent into Jack's personal crisis of self. As a company we are heavily inspired by the British theatre movement of the 60s & 70s, enjoying their rich text-driven nature and courageous, subversive attitude. The Questionnaire is an attempt to revive that tradition, but critically an attempt to claim it for the disenchanted present. Stylistically we will be enhancing Jack's isolation, a sparse set making him completely exposed to the scrutiny of both the unseen voice interrogating him and the audience. With nothing to hide behind, Jack has only his words with which to defend himself.

How will Ninth Life do it?

The Questionnaire is the first play from Ninth Life, written by company members Christopher Birks and Robert Neumark-Jones. The company is extremely passionate about new writing, and consequently are determined to impress with their first play.

The company has already secured their theatre for the festival. We will be performing for two weeks in 'theSpaces on the Mile', a 55-seat theatre right on the Royal Mile, the artery of the festival. For the final week we will be moving just next door to the 105-seat venue at Nidry Street. We also have arranged our accommodation for the duration.

The play is in excellent shape. being constantly refined and tweaked by writers and performers. It was previewed in December and it is the excellent audience response from that event that has fuelled our journey to Edinburgh. Our director, Tom Spencer, is an accomplished Director with a number of Edinburgh successes to his name and so we are excited about unveiling the finished result.

Ninth Life has formed a collaboration with Tom's company Fine Chisel, meaning that many of the project's costs can be shared. This initiative will not only enable The Questionnaire to be a more cost-effective production, but will also enhance our ability to publicise due to our association with an already proven company.

What's the money for?

Ninth Life is an entirely new company that has formed at a time when funding for the arts in the UK is at its worst in recent history. With no previous income to turn to, nor public funding available, we are having to find all of the money required for the project. Your money, should you be kind enough to exchange it for our rewards, will pay for:

• The theatre hire costs
• Fringe Registration costs
• Accommodation for artists
• Publicity
• Rehearsal room hire
• Transport
• Set costs
• Costumes
• Props

...and any other bright ideas that our producer has!

The project will cost £4000 altogether, though our projected income from tickets will be just over £2000. We're therefore looking primarily to cover our £2000 deficit, and all the help that can be offered would be hugely appreciated. While Ninth Life are of course pursuing all funding avenues available to them, it would be wonderful and in tune with the company's ethos if we could be entirely funded by pledges from supportive individuals. The more we raise through methods like Sponsume means the less we have to raise through less ethical means, i.e. sponsorships. In these times when the arts are increasingly overlooked by the UK government and councils, funding from individuals goes a long way to making a statement about the value of the arts.

Should we be fortunate enough to fuel over 100%, the extra money will allow us to be ambitious with our publicity (as it would allow for more printing, more advertisements, and critically money for initiatives conceived while at the Fringe) and so get the word out to even more people, but also hopefully along us to invest in the next project.

Ninth Life are intending to become a working theatre company, and your help can get us off the ground!