Advance tickets: Help support Berk’s Nest & the people we work with
If you’re a fan of the comedy we make and the comedians we work with, we’d really appreciate some support. We’re not a charity and donations can be better used elsewhere right now, but if you have some cash spare, we’d love you to consider buying an advance ticket to a Berk’s Nest show that you can redeem when the comedy industry is back on its feet.
How does it work?
You can buy one or two (or however many you want!) advance tickets below, then as soon as this bastard virus is gone & we know shows will definitely be happening, all you need is to e-mail hello@berksnest.com letting us know what show you’d like to come to and we’ll redeem your ticket. In the next six months we’ve got incredible tours and amazing line-ups shows, not to mention loads of new shows from the likes of Colin Hoult, Olga Koch, Sophie Duker and Tarot, all making excellent work that they can’t wait to share with you as soon as it’s safe to do so.
We’ve gone with £15 as a base ticket price, which is a fairly average figure across all of our tour/London/Fringe shows, but obviously if you’d prefer to cash it in for e.g. a new material night you’ll get three £5 tickets instead. Basically, we won’t be precious about it - you’ll have helped us out in a crisis, and you’ll have our undying gratitude, as well as a ticket for an incredible show in the future.
We won’t just be pocketing this money - we’ll be putting it into our future settlements with comics so they benefit from the ticket ‘sale’ as they would from a normal ticket purchase.
Very important caveat: if you’re a comic or anyone else who’s self-employed/low-paid and has lost paid work or could do in the coming months, don’t you dare think about doing this. Keep your cash & we’ll see you on the other side.
Why are we doing this?
This is where we’re at as a company, if you’re interested in the detail:
We’re a tiny production company that doesn’t have permanent staff, but we do have freelance producers & production teams that work with us in the run up to the Edinburgh Fringe and when we have big/multiple tours happening. We’re currently in the midst of a number of scheduled UK-wide tours and are already gearing up for the Fringe - basically, we couldn’t have more costs if we tried.
We’re trying to limit our costs wherever possible, but we’re not prepared to disregard our commitments to our freelance staff who are due to work with us on a massive amount of shows & tours between now and the end of August.
We are committed to making new shows, and are continuing (until we know anything otherwise) to help facilitate one of the most exciting rosters of new Fringe shows we’ve ever had. This will be a very hard period of time in which to develop work, but we want to have a team available to all of the acts we’re working with so that they can continue to make their work in as close to a normal way as possible. When this is all over, we want great shows to be ready for amazing audiences like you.
Berk’s Nest has already lost a huge amount of money from cancelling shows (decisions we 100% stand behind). Not only do we and the artists lose income, but when we pull a show, we are then liable for cancellation fees, venue hire & other costs that can’t just be brushed away because the shows are no longer happening.
We’re almost certainly going to have to cancel some currently scheduled shows over the next few months (apologies to ticket holders - we’ll let you know as soon as we know for certain whether shows are happening!), and therefore we’re looking at a longer period of reduced income & increasing costs.
Whether or not you’re in a position to help us out, thank you for reading this & continuing to support live comedy. Audiences are the only reason we continue to make shows. You (and your freshly washed hands) are the best.
Owen & the Berk’s Nest team