Hysterical at Edinburgh Fringe Festival

How We Survive Productions is born of the brilliance and friendship of Carrie Rudzinski and Olivia Hall. Internationally renowned poets and performers, Carrie and Liv began collaborating in 2016 and have created three poetry theatre shows together: How We Survive (2019), Hysterical (2022), and The Bitching Hour (2023). 

The writers, performers, and producers of every show, Carrie and Liv have published two poetry books, toured New Zealand nationally multiple times, and are heading to Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August 2023 with their smash show Hysterical!

Women are frequently told they are too emotional – too hysterical – to be taken seriously, to be leaders of countries and companies, to be believed when pointing to their own hurt. Hysterical challenges these myths with poetry that confronts body politics, systemic sexism, and weeping uncontrollably in the supermarket.

Winner of Best New Aotearoa Play at the Wellington Theatre Awards and Outstanding Performance Poetry at the Auckland Fringe Festival. 

What we are doing

Carrie and Liv are headed to Edinburgh Fringe Festival for the very first time! We are thrilled to be representing New Zealand on an international stage with our poetry theatre show Hysterical. We toured the show nationally in 2022 and were blown away by the response - sold out shows, hugs and tears with audiences, and a huge amount of encouragement to back ourselves and take our work overseas.

Edinburgh Fringe is the largest arts festival in the world, often having over 3,500 shows during the month of August. Taking a show to the other side of the world is a huge undertaking and one we’re fully throwing ourselves into! We’ll be performing one preview show in London, followed by a whopping 24 shows at Summerhall, one of the Fringe’s renowned venues. 

Why we need your help

We are so grateful to have received partial funding from Creative New Zealand for our trip to Edinburgh Fringe Festival - their support and belief in us has been so encouraging. Living and performing in Edinburgh during the month of August is very expensive - to give you an idea of just a few of the costs: 

• Accommodation in London and Edinburgh: $14,000 NZD 
• Flights roundtrip from New Zealand to the UK for two: $7,000 NZD 
• Publicist for the festival: $4,000 NZD 
• Lighting and Sound Tech for our 25 performances: $2,500 NZD
• Printing flyers, posters, printed ad campaigns: $1,500 NZD

And that’s before you factor in venue costs, marketing and social media advertising, show costs such as props and set pieces, and making sure we can eat while we are there! 

The value of us going to Edinburgh Fringe Festival is tremendous: this is a launching pad for us in terms of making international connections with artists, producers, and venues which will hopefully allow for international touring opportunities and artistic development. All of these things are really important in terms of having sustainable, long-term arts careers. 

The money you give will go towards per diems (daily allowances) for Carrie and Liv while they are overseas to contribute to food and transport costs, as well as a portion of our production costs, including marketing and publicity campaigns to ensure we can stand out in such a competitive environment and reach as many beautiful audience members as possible!

With your support, we will showcase some of the fierce and incredible Aotearoa poetry/theatre talent and get the opportunity of a lifetime to grow together as artists. We are so excited and truly grateful for anything you can give. 

Carrie and Liv x