Bloomin’ Buds Theatre Company presents Brenda’s Got a Baby at TheSpace on North Bridge Argyll Theatre, from August 3 - 25 (except Sundays).

  • What is your Fringe show about?

Brenda is sixteen and pregnant, Amy is the first in her family to go to university. What could possibly go wrong? This brand-new verbatim play explores the struggles that young, working class women face. We are working class and attend university. We recognise the difficulties women like us face when trying to be a mother and study. We want to raise awareness of the struggles and pressures that these women face and the systems in place such as universal credit and whether they really are enough in this current political and economic climate.

These two sisters go on a journey of hardship, tension, self-discovery and aspiration. Amy finds that university life is not what she thought it was going to be, she does not fit in with her common accent and her council estate background. Brenda discovers that being a mum is not the easy option she thought it was going to be, friends disappear and money is not easy. These sisters challenge each other and grow together as their lives take different routes.

Bloomin’ Buds Theatre Company aims to increase access to opportunity and to the arts for people from lower and working class backgrounds. We do this by running community sessions, create community performances, hold public events, run workshops in schools and create professional theatre pieces. This is our second professional theatre piece, our first ‘Rewrite the System’ enjoyed a sold out performance and several performances in schools.

‘Brenda’s Got a Baby’ is a verbatim play, a fictional story based on interviews, news stories and personal experience. The audio material used in the play is taken from this research. The story represents the people that we work with as well as our personal experience. Being from council estates, we have often experienced the lack of opportunities available for women and the stigma surrounding young working class girls. For some girls having a family can give you a sense of community, a commonality with other people in your family and in the area. This can make breaking the norm challenging and feeling out of place. We wanted to raise awareness and create debate about the struggle working class women face between having a family and pursuing a career or an education.

We didn’t just want to take the stories of the women, we established a parent support group in the local community centre to continue to support the women. We will also be hosting ‘Brenda’s Baby Shower’ in the community centre, the women we have worked with are invited to watch the performance for free and will participate in baby shower themed activities afterwards. They will also receive a goody bag as a thank you for participating.

  • Why did you decide to perform at the Fringe?

As this is our first performance at the Edinburgh Fringe, we are absolutely elated to be taking our own show and raising awareness for the issues that we truly believe in. For us this is a dream come true, a once in a lifetime opportunity. We are working class girls from council states in Bradford and Leeds, to be involved in the festival is an amazing opportunity and we cannot wait for what comes out of it.

We also wanted to take our own show to the Fringe, as artists it is a festival we hold in high regard. When we started this project, we aimed to take the play to the Fringe in 3 years’ time, but after working at the festival in 2017 as flyers we decided we wanted in to be this year.

  • If you were not a performer what would you be doing?

If we were not performers we would probably be teachers, youth workers and politicians. We prepare for a performance by reminding ourselves of what we stand for, of the impact we are making and how important this is to everyone that we are presenting. We also do a physical warm up to Beyonce, and embody Rou Pauls’ Drag Race Queens.

  • Best/worst advice you’ve been given ahead of your debut show?

The best advice we have been given ahead of our debut show is to make sure we are prepared to make the most of the opportunity. We have researched and prepared more for the Fringe than any other project we have done so far.

  • Favourite thing about being in Edinburgh?

Our favourite thing about being at the Edinburgh Fringe is the atmosphere, the festival transforms the city in to a buzz of creativity and innovation. It is truly a time where anything can happen, you could meet anyone and you could create something amazing.

  • Favouite Scottish food/drink?

Scotch eggs and our favourite Scottish drink is Jameson’s Whisky.

  • Sum up your show in three words

Powerful, inspiring, real

Bloomin’ Buds Theatre Company presents Brenda’s Got a Baby at TheSpace on North Bridge Argyll Theatre, from August 3 - 25 (except Sundays) and is suitable ages 12 and over. 

For tickets, please visit www.edfringe.com

You can follow Bloomin’ Buds Theatre Company on Twitter at @Bloomin_Buds, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/BUDsTheatreCompany/ and on their official website at www.bloominbudstheatrecompany.com