Are you a theatre maker or performer with an idea that you’ve been itching to present?

Now is your chance. The Croydonites Fringe is returning from July 1 to 5 in venues across Croydon and South Norwood, and they are looking for bold and exciting work from comedy, theatre, dance, music, poetry and more!

Plus there’s Arts Council-funded opportunities for dancers, and a new collaboration for creatives to help with all the mundane and boring stuff that goes with the greasepaint and stagecraft.

The Croydonites Festival celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2025, and featured several acts and shows that had come straight from success at the Edinburgh Festival. The Croydonites Fringe is a relatively recent, and slightly edgier, addition.

Croydonites’ artistic director Anna Arthur says the festival’s mission “is to identify and nurture local theatre and performance makers through commissioning and showcasing their work annually and bring high-quality touring work to the doorsteps of CR0”.

Opening the application process for Croydonites Fringe 2026, Arthur said: “While the mission of the main festival is to showcase local theatre makers and bring high-quality work to Croydon doorsteps, the Fringe has a different aim.

“It will offer a packed programme of shows in multiple venues across five days from Croydon artists and beyond, bringing audiences a little taste of Edinburgh.”

The venues for the Croydonites Fringe vary from a couple of town centre pubs – the Green Dragon and The Oval Tavern – to a room at Stanley Halls in South Norwood, the Front Room in St George’s Walk, The Venue off Surrey Street, through to an empty shop unit in the Whitgift Centre.

For more information about how to apply to perform at the 2026 Croydonites Fringe, click here. Applications close on May 3.

Croydonites have also teamed up with Turf Projects to create The Boring Club.

Boring Club is a space for freelancers in the creative arts to come together to do all the necessary life and work admin things that support a creative career: emails, funding applications, invoicing, planning, taxes and more.

Boring Club will run every third Monday of the month, 10am to 1pm at Turf Projects in the Whitgift Centre, starting on Monday April 20, when it will have a focus on taxes.

To attend, click here.

And Croydonites’ award-winning co-director, Katie Hurley – she of the hugely admired Edinburgh show You’re So F**king Croydon – is planning her latest project, and thanks to an Arts Council grant, she is even offering to pay professional dancers to work with her.

Hurley is seeking experienced dancers to take part in the Research and Development phase of a brand new work.

“Playing Priceyis a high-energy theatre performance exploring ambition and trauma through the lens of media culture, using abstract choreography, heightened pop performance and bold cultural references,” goes the blurb.

Interest in performance and basic acting is required; dancers may be required to speak a small amount of text.

Essential:

• Collaborative working approach
• strong dance training
• good sense of theatricality and physical storytelling
• openness to devising and exploratory processes
• Applications open to male and female dancers

Rehearsal Dates: May 26-29; October 28-30; December 2-4

Fee: Flat fee of £1,550 (calculated at a rate of £150 per day for nine days plus one WIP performance day at £200 per day).

To apply: Please send the following to lydia@wharfenterprises.co.uk by Thursday April 3, 5pm: An up-to-date CV; a three-minute video outlining why you’re interested in the project and what qualities, perspectives and experiences you would bring.

If you’d prefer to apply in writing please fo do, using no more than 200 words

Selected applicants will be invited to an audition in April.

• Listen to Katie Hurley talk about her acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe show on our Under The Flyover podcast. Warning, the programme may contain adult language. Hurley talks about having an AI Bowie as her co-star, and guest appearances from Kate Moss, Raye and Stormzy on her show. Under The Flyover is premium content from Inside Croydon, offering priority access to paid-up subscribers.
• Click here now to find out more about Hurley and You’re So F**king Croydon!

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