Church Venue Pulls Plug On Fringe Theatre Manager

Submitted by edg on Wed, 18 Jul '07 12.00am

A total of 29 Fringe shows have been left homeless after would-be Fringe venue the Apostolic Church has pulled out of its agreement with theatre managers Understairs Arts to host shows.

The Church entered entered the agreement with the arts company to be a Fringe venue with the proviso that the shows would not "offend or question the moral, social and religious beliefs of the Church’s community."

When the Church looked at scripts for seven of the shows in June it requested that four of the scripts be changed including the execution of a hooded Iraqi boy and another scene in the play Double Dutch where a character tries (unsuccessfully) to initiate an orgy with two girls and his friend.

The theatre managers tried unsuccessfully to placate the church, and earlier this month sent a solicitor's letter notifying Understairs Arts that they would not be hosting its shows.