Fringe theatre can be a valuable starting point to launch a career in the theatre. Here are the stories of some of those who have started in fringe and gone on to achieve professional success.
Sarah-Louise Young, actor
Fringe beginnings
After an intense Edinburgh Fringe in 1998, being involved in four different shows a day and crippled by my fresh student debt, the then co-artistic director of the Etcetera Theatre Camden Town, invited me to bring my first solo show, Drag King, to her venue for a four week run. Suzannah Rosenthal saw something in the show and along with David Cottis, gave me stage. That lit the touch paper of my love affair with London and theatre-making. I learned so much and went on to create 17 shows as a performer and directing and writing many others.
As a part of News Revue at Canal Café and several other Fringe shows, I found myself nurtured and challenged my a community of like minded creatives. A community now, 27 years on, who are still my friends and colleagues.
Why the Fringe?
Fringe is the lifeblood of British theatre. Not only as a starting place for small ideas with potential to grow (such as Mischief Theatre’s The Play That Goes Wrong, which started life at The Old Red Lion and Showstopper! The Improvised Musical, in which we performed on top of other people’s sets at the King’s Head before winning an Olivier for our West End run), but as a place of intimate connection and conversation between artists and audiences.
By its constraints Fringe can be a place of ingenuity.
But we mustn’t see it as the poor cousin to subsidised or commercial theatre.
In fringe spaces we can take more risks, challenge and open our doors to different voices.
Fringe isn’t about the size of the venue of the geographical location either, it’s a mindset, a creative freedom and willingness to experiment, fail, fail better.
I spent 14 years working mostly on the Fringe before seeing my work in the West End and it is a place I will come back to again and again to explore new material without the pressure of perceived gatekeepers.
I have never had Arts Council funding for my own work. I have always dipped into the pocket of one show’s profit to pay for another’s creation. I have worked every part time money job I could to fund my work and I am grateful for every Fringe stage which allowed me to expand as a theatre-maker.
Fringe is where I have witnessed the most exciting new work and I’m delighted to see those people who make it happen, from producers and performers to cleaners and crew, celebrated by these awards.
Professional Work
Sarah-Louise is an actor, writer, director and acclaimed cabaret performer.
She has appeared in the West End with Julie Madly Deeply, La Soirée, Fascinating Aida and Olivier Award winning Showstopper! The Improvised Musical.
She has toured extensively with her own solo shows, (including An Evening Without Kate Bush, Cabaret Wh*re and The Silent Treatment) and enjoyed sold out runs from Off Broadway to the Adelaide Cabaret Festival.
She has been a creative consultant on numerous projects, ranging from solo stand-up shows to fully staged musicals. She is passionate about new writing and is drawn to facilitating work which is inclusive, innovative and immersive.
Directing credits include Jarman, Looking For Me Friend: The Music Of Victoria Wood, The Bobby Kennedy Experience, Gertrude Lawrence: A Lovely Way To Spend An Evening and Not Dead Yet, made with the late great Lynn Ruth Miller.
Chris Fung, actor and playwright
Fringe beginnings
The Society for New Cuisine (Ed Fringe/Omnibus/Chichester Festival)
Why the Fringe?
The fringe is a precious space where kind-hearted facilitators like the AD of Drayton Arms, Audrey Thayer, or Marie McCarthy at the Omnibus, or the lovely folk at Baron’s Court give young, energetic up and coming artists, the opportunity to test out and stomp about and grow.
The Fringe, and independent theatre, rely on golden-hearted collaborators, people who understand that the financial pragmatics of making theatre can be bone crushing, and so they give artists affordable deals, for reasons borne out of a veneration of community, altruism, and a deep understanding that without opportunities to grow and be seen, the pipeline of talent into our commercially minded spaces, Drama Schools, the West End, higher profile agencies and audition rooms, become that much more inaccessible.
The fringe is for people who have some daring in their eyes. A bit of mongrel. A chip on the shoulder.
It is a place where you learn that the hard work of professionalism, is a shortcut. and it is a luxury to only need to wear one hat.
The fringe is a coliseum, where the intersection of people looking to grow in professionalism and craft leads to unlikely allies, and hard-won lessons.
The fringe is an honourable, stupid, wonderful place. It is where you can see the early morning glimmers of the coming dawn.
Professional Work
Upcoming Commissions as a Playwright: Around the World in 80 days – UK Tour Jul 2026, Frank and Jen – 2027+
Upcoming productions: Global Majority – Sep 2026, The Society for New Cuisine – Chichester Festival and UK Tour 2027
Credits: Frozen (West End), Cyrano de Bergerac (West End), Evita (Regents Park), Your Lie in April (West End), The Society for New Cuisine (Ed Fringe/Omnibus/Chichester), The King and I (Au tour)
Christopher Sherwood, actor
Fringe beginnings
The first thing I ever did as an adult was a new play by an unknown writer on the Battersea Barge. Back then I had no training but decided I wanted to try acting having only dabbled before in school plays. I found the job on Starnow.com, applied, and got the part. It was a terrifying experience, a naive performance and included cringeworthy sex and nudity, but I loved the ride and received my first letter of praise from an unknown audience member. I was up and running.
Why the Fringe
Actors should want to act. If we sit around and wait for our agents to call with news of auditions for the West End, we won’t act. I’ve gained invaluable experience, made lasting connections, grown in confidence, and got more work as a direct result of embracing and seeking out fringe theatre. I got my agent because he came to see me in a fringe play. A TV producer got me my first TV job because he came to see me in a fringe play. Work breeds work, success breeds success. The fringe is where these things first happen.
As a consumer, the fringe is where you can see magic without breaking the bank.
The intimate venues and small audiences make for much more rewarding experiences than the West End can offer. You can take risks with what you see given you haven’t had to save a week’s wages for a ticket. If it is terrible, there’s still joy in seeing people trying their best, giving it a go, doing what they love.
Professional Work
Selected theatre: The Tragedy of Dorian Gray (Drayton Arms & Rialto Theatre, Brighton), Different From The Others (The White Bear), Billy Budd (Royal Opera House), For a Life (Theatre 54, Shetler Studios, New York – Nominated Best Actor), Little Revolution (The Almeida), Where Will We Live? (Southwark Playhouse).
Selected film: Triumph of the Heart (In Cinemas in USA and Poland from 12th September), In From The Side (Netflix), All Is Vanity (Official selection, 2021 BFI London Film Festival).
Selected short film: Read To Me (Winner Best Actor, New Renaissance Film Festival 2024), Hornbeam (BIFA Longlist – Best Short Film, Winner Best Actor, Brighton Rocks Film Festival), Mr. Alan on Saturday (Nominated Best Lead Actor in a Short, Madrid IFF), Out Damned Spot (Winner best LGBT short Brighton Rocks FF).
Selected TV: Star City (Apple TV – in Post Production), Sister Boniface (BBC Studios), Eastenders (BBC), Kamikaze (HBO).
Tom Whalley, actor
Fringe beginnings
I packed a single suitcase and moved to London in 2014 to study musical theatre and was lucky enough to begin my career as a performer appearing in some really fantastic shows with some very talented and richly creative people on the London Fringe. She Loves Me (Landor), A Little Night Music (Rose & Crown), Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens (King’s Head) Hotel for Criminals (New Wimbledon Studio Theatre, London).
Why the Fringe?
The Fringe is a vitally important testing and breeding ground for new, innovative and exciting talents and shows. The restrictions of venue size and often budget have the opposite effect of challenging creatives to really make something special and memorable for their audiences.
Working on the London Fringe introduced me to a number of inspiring creatives and performers who helped shape the performer and creative I am today!
Professional Work
Pantomime credits include: Winnie Wouldhave, Beauty and the Beast; Granny Hood, Little Red Riding Hood; Fleshcreep, Arbuthnot and the Beanstalk (The Customs House); Silly Simon, Jack and the Beanstalk – 2024; Louis La Plonk, Beauty and the Beast – 2023; Wishee Washee, Aladdin – 2022/23; Muddles, Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs – 2021/22; Buttons, Cinderella – 2019 (Sunderland Empire); Fleshcreep, Arbuthnot and the Beanstalk (The Customs House); PC Pong, Aladdin (Rhyl Pavillion 2018; Assembly Hall – Tunbridge Wells 2017; Theatre Royal – Bath 2016; Sunderland Empire 2015).
Filming credits include: Deej, BT ‘6 Fothergill Street’ (Mini Series); Shoplife (BBC Three).
Touring credits include: The Mad Hatter, The Mad Hatter’s Circus (UK TOUR: 2022 & 2023); The Queen of Pantoland, Once Upon a Panto; Maeve of the Ring, Aladdin Goes Pop; Mad Hatter, Alice in Wonderland; Dame Trott, Jack and the Beanstalk; Glinda/Wicked Witch of the West, Looking for Oz.
Stage credits include: Mr Toad, The Wind in the Willows (Kew Gardens); Dr Lacloche, Hotel for Criminals (New Wimbledon Studio Theatre, London); Dr Willy Von Whackoff, Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens (King’s Head Theatre, London).
Howard Hudson, lighting designer
Fringe beginnings
I worked for over 10 years lighting over 100 shows on the fringe and Off West End. Highlights included productions of Titanic, Parade, Grey Gardens, In The Heights and Mack and Mabel all at Southwark Playhouse with many productions at the Finborough, Upstairs at the Gatehouse and Landor Theatre amongst many others.
Why the fringe?
Working in fringe theatre gave me the opportunity to really learn my craft and to experiment in a way that isn’t possible on larger scale productions. I was often rigging, focussing, programming and fixing the lights myself. I learnt how to light work on extreme budgets and I think a lot of those lessons I still carry with me today – the art is the same – even if now I might have more lights.
Working on the fringe also led me to meet many of the directors, designers and producers I still work alongside today as we have all continued our professional journeys alongside each other. Having those long term relationships started years ago is vital to the career I have today.
Professional work
& Juliet – four productions currently running worldwide including Broadway with several more planned for the next few years.
The new production of Starlight Express playing in Wembley
Just For One Day – The Live Aid Musical is about to open at the Shaftesbury
Nominated for a Tony Award, three Olivier Awards and winner of two Whatsonstage Awards and three Off West End Awards.
Joaquin Pedro Valdes, actor
Fringe beginnings
My very first show in London was at a fringe venue – the garden of the Eagle Pub in Vauxhall. It was right after the first lockdown and the entire city, entire country was just wanting a sense of normalcy and hope.
Our little show, Fanny and Stella The Shocking True Story, ran at the venue to a socially distanced audience for a month. It was funny, raucous, zany and just gave the audience just that bit of escape that the world so needed. We were the only show running in the country and it felt really special. It might not have been the West End, but that was my London debut and it introduced me to the industry. I remain very grateful for that experience.
Why the fringe?
Fringe theatres are the bloodveins that keep the UK theatre scene pulsing and living. In fringe theatre you get brave producers, creatives and performers who are willing to take risks all in the spirit of theatre making. Trying out new material, new works in nontraditional venues.
Professional work
Major UK Touring Venues: Miss Saigon, The Lion King, The King and I
West End: Heathers The Musical, Death Note The Musical
Fringe: The Bakers Wife, Pacific Overtures (Menier Chocolate Factory), Song of Songs (Park Theatre), Killing The Cat (Riverside Studios), Then Now and Next (Southwark Playhouse), The Frogs (Southwark Playhouse), Fanny And Stella (Eagle Pub Vauxhall).
Markus Sodergren, actor
Fringe beginnings
Marry Me a Little and The Story of My Life were the first two of my fringe experiences. And two of the most important for my career, without a doubt. I have met some of the most talent and hardworking people during my time within fringe theatre. And it’s also showed me that it is really all about hard work.
Why the fringe?
Fringe Theatre opens up a world for more ideas and work. It gives people an opportunity to share ideas, and gives actors the opportunity to really explore the work.
Professional work
I just finished an international tour of Grease as Sonny, before that I played the beast in Beauty and the Beast and was part of the World premiere of the musical Here & Now – The Steps Musical at The Alexandra in Birmingham.
