Queer Joy @ Edinburgh Fringe

Butch Mermaid Productions, the team who brought you Too Much Hair, are back with a double dose of gender euphoria and queer joy!

Ania and Will are writing a brand spankin' new pirate punk musical, Antonio!, to be premiered in New York City in July 2023. Then, we're off to Edinburgh Fringe with both A Bit Too Much Hair and Antonio! in rep at theSpace @ Surgeon's Hall.

Antonio!

What if The Bard wasn’t just reusing a character name, but instead was inspired by one hopelessly romantic pirate looking for love in all the wrong places? With his band The Fools, Antonio tells his own story for the very first time. Antonio! reframes - and reclaims! - characters from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, As You Like It, and Merchant of Venice, expressing the joys, frustrations, and rebellions of queer love in a world that might not have been quite ready for it.

A Bit Too Much Hair

'It’s a big, silly party where transness is centred and everyone is welcome!' - Theatreview

This gender euphoric cabaret is a musical paradise for thems, mens, femmes, and everyone in between. In 2022, we developed the show in collaboration with our trans and gender diverse whānau in Ōtautahi and Te Whanganui-A-Tara, released a digital season for Auckland Pride, made a bunch of music videos, and then had a two week season at BATS in Wellington, which was nominated for Excellence Awards for Theatre for Social Change and Best Ensemble at the Wellington Theatre Awards 2022 (and original cast member Jthan Morgan won The Campion Accolade for Outstanding Performance).

‘It feels like hanging out with your friends at a house party. With a band. And rainbow glitter. Everyone’s wearing sequins. You’re inside but you can pretty much guarantee unicorns and bunnies are frolicking around in the garden.’ - Regional News

Where you come in

Making theatre is hard even without contending with currency conversions. Our venue, registration, basic production, and accommodation costs come to $25,000, and that's without flights or paying anyone for their time. We're fundraising our lil gay hearts out, and we need your help to get Kiwi stories of queer and trans joy on the global stage. We've set our target at $2,000 but every dollar beyond that is time and peace of mind we can spend promoting and perfecting the shows instead of panicking. Every little bit helps!

The Butch Mermaid Team

• Ania Upstill (they/them), co-creator & performer
• William Duignan (he/him), co-creator & performer
• Felix Crossley-Pritchard (he/him), performer
• Andy Manning (they/them), performer
• Jess Ducey (they/them), producer
• Georgia Kellett (she/her), marketing assistant