C is a long-standing venue operator at the Fringe, and over the decades has transformed numerous buildings across the city into pop-up performance spaces. This year it is running three venues, named C aurora, C aquila and C alto. We spoke to C’s General Manager Victoria Hadel.

CC: Tell us a little about your venue and your 2025 programme.
VH: We have three fantastic venues this year!

C aurora on Lauriston Street, which has our main house theatre and a studio theatre. The venue has an outdoor courtyard bar serving cocktails and spritzes, and a café with fantastic food.

C aquila, one of our oldest venues which is located on Johnston Terrace, has two performance spaces, the temple and studio. There’s a bar downstairs next to the box office and in the evenings our studio space turns into a late-night artists’ bar.

Finally, on Victoria Terrace is C alto, which has three performance spaces: a studio, theatre and bow which is a space for immersive shows. There’s also the library which is home to our C digital programme and our daily discussion series – The Eazy Club.

Our programme this year is diverse and multifaceted. We have companies from Japan, France, Korea, the United States, Hungary, Italy, Australia, China and so much more! Not to mention all of the companies from the UK.

Our programme varies from physical theatre shows like ‘Providence’, dark comedy solo shows like ‘Rugburn’ and new musicals like ‘Falling In Love With Mr Dellamort’, to lots of dance and physical theatre from around the world, from Canada to China.

Honestly, that’s just scratching the surface of the wide range of shows in our programme.

CC: Give us a very quick history of your venue to date.
VH: Established in 1992, we have created performance spaces in locations as diverse as exam halls, hotels, churches, masonic lodges, Craigmillar Castle, the former New Victoria cinema, the SoCo Old Town gap site, and landmark buildings such as India Buildings on Victoria Street.

Our spaces at the Edinburgh Fringe over the years have included original venues from the earliest years of the Festival and some of the newest Fringe venues in the city.

Creative work shown at our venues has come from and toured to cities around the world, and has been awarded Fringe First, Total Theatre, Musical Theatre Matters, Infallibles and Asian Arts awards.

CC: How do you decide what shows to include in your programme?
VH: We pride ourselves on being a focus for international independent artists, and for supporting companies and artists through their journey to the Fringe, and beyond.

Throughout the year we scout talent at different theatre festivals across the world searching for the most exciting and engaging work to show at the Fringe.

CC: How do you support your producers and performers once they arrive in
Edinburgh?
VH: Everyone on our team at C is an artist or creative practioner in some shape or form, and has personal experience on what it’s like to create, make or tour a show. I’m a director myself and brought a play to C aquila just last year!

Using our experiences we work to anticipate the needs of artists and assure them that our doors are always open to help them with anything and everything.

CC: What is your advice for performers looking to promote their shows?
VH: My personal advice is don’t be afraid to stray from the Royal Mile in terms of flyering, go explore other parts of the city.

I always tell artists to just go about their day in costume and let people come to them. Go do your grocery shopping in Victorian attire! Go to the pub in full drag! And most importantly, go see other shows and make connections with your fellow artists.

The best way to get people in to see your show is when they feel they’ve had a personal moment with you.

CC: What is your advice for performers looking to get reviewed?
VH: I always advise performers to pursue any opportunity to meet press in person. This can include events put on by the Fringe Society like ‘Meet The Media’, and attending press nights at our venues and other Fringe venues.

With the massive amount of shows at the Festival, it’s very easy to get lost in a reviewer’s inbox. So, any chance to make an impression in person is better.

CC: What is your advice for performers looking to grow their industry network while they are in Edinburgh?
VH: The city is packed full of artists and you never know who you are sitting next to. Go see shows, hang out in venue bars and just chat to people!

CC: How can performers get the most out of the Edinburgh experience in
terms of their career?
VH: Whatever your goal is, when you bring a show to the Fringe there are pathways to success. If your goal is to grow and improve your show, talk to your audiences!

Edinburgh Fringe is the best place to get a global response to your work. Take the feedback on board and run with it.

My overall advice is to be proactive. Don’t wait for someone to come along and discover you, get out there and make things happen.

CC: How can performers get the most out of the Edinburgh experience in
terms of their creativity and performance skills?
VH: Beyond just doing their show, there’s loads of additional opportunities to perform across the city!

In our venues we have ‘The Electric Cabaret’ and ‘Festival Music Nights’ where we offer guest slots to performers every night.

Opportunities like this can give performers a chance to promote their show, or showcase some of their other talents.

CC: What are the biggest challenges facing the Edinburgh Fringe – and what can the Fringe community do to meet them?
VH: The financial strains since the pandemic have impacted artists heavily. It’s my opinion that as a fringe community we should be exploring every avenue possible to make the Fringe more affordable and more accessible.

We’ve implemented this at C this year by helping artists who are struggling with housing, providing production support, and other guidance and assistance.

LINKS: cthearts.com