Let's get It is I, Seagull to Adelaide Fringe!

LET’S GET MY SLIGHTLY UNHINGED ONE-WOMAN COMEDY SHOW TO ADELAIDE FRINGE IN AUSTRALIA!

Next stop, a Netflix special, and I’ll buy you all a pint…

Hello there! I'm Lu and I made a show called It is I, Seagull! Catchy name, no?! It's a hilarious celebration of joy, failure, opera and the first woman in space. It feels weird to write that it's hilarious, but that's what we put in the marketing - and I can hear people laughing when I'm performing it, which is always nice.

Seagull is the first show I've ever made, and I started writing it in 2021 when I was working in an office and feeling quite sad about the impact that a lifetime of misogyny has had on my mental health. BOO! Making it over the last three years has been very challenging, but ultimately very liberating! I've been so lucky to have been supported by Arts Council England and various other funders and theatres, which has enabled me to work with an amazing bunch of creatives, and in 2023-4, It is I, Seagull went on the road to venues in the south of England. I was totally amazed by the response - 89% gave us a five star review, we had some awesome Q&As after each show, and people said completely lovely things (I've written some at the bottom). It was wonderful to hear how many women felt seen and could relate to a show seemingly about the niche worlds of opera and the Soviet Space Programme.

So when we got to the end of the tour, everyone said, ‘what’s next?’. The obvious thing was to take it to Edinburgh Fringe - that’s where cool shows like mine go to get seen by bigger venues and international programmers. I was lucky enough to get a place on the Emerging Professionals Programme run by the Fringe, and I spent some time up there this summer learning how it all works. But when I crunched the numbers, I was terrified by what a financial risk Edinburgh is. Then silly old Oasis decided to play Edinburgh at the same time as the Fringe, meaning that all 4000 shows in 2025 will want to be in the final two weeks (once Oasis have left). Trying to raise £16k to make Edinburgh happen under those circumstances seems, to me, an unwise decision.

BUT, while I was in Edinburgh, someone told me about Adelaide Fringe, the world’s second largest annual arts festival (after Edinburgh). I confess I wasn’t 100% sure where Adelaide was, but I think I would have guessed Australia… But their Fringe is a similar sort of ‘shop window’ for work to be programmed internationally, and is great for profile raising. A very lovely Australian Producer watched a recording of Seagull and agreed to help me get it there, so we applied for a grant from the Adelaide Fringe Fund (which is funded by the Australian Government and Arts Unlimited). We found out this autumn that we got the maximum grant of $5,000, and we got programmed for a two-week run by a great theatre over there, Holden Street Theatres.

BUT, taking a show to Adelaide is still quite expensive, as you’d imagine (although it’s less than half the cost of taking it to Edinburgh - don’t get me started on that one). The grant almost covers the venue hire, but doesn’t touch slightly key things like…

- My flights

- Accommodation

- Taking my wonderful props and costumes

- Marketing and PR

- Paying a technician to operate the show

- Equipment hire

- Two vegan steaks per performance… (OK, I could probably cover that myself, but those of you who’ve seen the show will know that I can’t do the show without those steaks! It won’t make any sense!)

- Sun cream. Apparently it’s very warm out there. Again, I could probably cover that myself.

SO, I’ve worked out that if I can raise £1,500, I can cover some of these costs, and then we’re hoping ticket sales will cover the rest. THIS IS STILL VERY TERRIFYING TO ME! So, how to raise this much smaller but still slightly alarming sum of money? Well, dear friends, that’s where YOU come in! ANY donation (large, small, medium-sized, minute, gargantuan) is HUGELY appreciated.

I think we made a good show, and I’m pretty pleased that I have the confidence to say that now! It would be great if more people could see it and laugh/cry/experience joy/get a bit cross about the state of the world/wonder why this vegetarian opera singer is peeing on the stage while eating meat (it’s ART, darling!)

Thank you so much for reading and for helping in whatever way you decide. Huge love, Lu x

---

It is I, Seagull reviews…

‘Feminist, beautiful, hilarious wizardry.’

‘Mesmerising from start to finish’

‘Completely original’

‘I was beaming. What a show it is!’

‘An absolute triumph’

‘Brilliant. Best thing I’ve seen in years’

‘Beautifully written and performed. Made me laugh and cry. Stunning!’

‘An amazingly vibrant performance, witty and thought provoking’

‘I was moved to tears of joy and sadness more in this show than ever before at the theatre.’

- audience members, 2023/24

‘A wonderfully visual & interactive experience... this show celebrates & makes opera accessible, vocalises the complex and awful, and embraces the magic of storytelling’

- Jo Fisher Watches, 2023

Who has funded the show so far?

It is I, Seagull has been supported by three Arts Council England Project Grants, The Fenton Arts Trust, the Winship Foundation, and the Richmond Douglas Charitable Trust. Lucy had Artist Residencies at MAST Mayflower Studios and Proteus Theatre to develop the show.

Where has Seagull been so far?

- Proteus Theatre, Basingstoke

- St Vincent Theatre, Gosport

- Lighthouse, Poole

- Apollo Theatre, Isle of Wight

- Phoenix Theatre, Bordon

- Groundlings Theatre, Portsmouth

- MAST Mayflower Studios, Southampton - sold out

- Farnham Maltings - sold out

- The Point, Eastleigh

And if you’re sad that you haven’t caught the show yet, YOU CAN! Seagull will also be doing a lovely little national tour in 2025 - and I don’t need to ask you for money for that one as the lovely Arts Council are footing the bill, yay! Follow on the old socials for tour dates...

@lucy_mellors

@seagullshowofficial

facebook - lucymellorssoprano

Who is this ‘Lu’ person anyway?!

Lucy Mellors is a Southampton-born opera singer, comedy writer and theatre maker who uses comedy and music to explore trauma and mental health issues, and to comment on the problematic nature of biographical theatre, perfectionism, beauty standards and disregard for wellbeing in the creative industries and the wider world.

Lucy has an MA (Distinction) in Opera Performance from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, where she won the Dolan-Evans Memorial Prize, the Valetta Iacopi Aria Prize, and the Seligman Award for Excellence two years running, and a BA (First Class with Honours) in English and Drama from the University of Kent.

As an opera singer, Lucy’s work includes projects with English National Opera (Opera Squad), Welsh National Opera (CREW!, La Cenerentola, Paul Bunyan) Grimeborn Festival (The Tales of Hoffmann), Mid Wales Opera (Semele) and Longborough Festival Opera (The Cunning Little Vixen, Cosi fan tutte, Don Giovanni), as well as performing and directing for Pocket Opera and Bute Park Opera.

Current theatre projects include IS OPERA BORING?, Sexy But Psycho, The Traitors: The Opera, Gosport Creates, HOME Theatre Southampton, Earth Mother, and Jane Austen: Original Boss Babe. Lucy is mentored by Bev Andrews through the Royal Opera House’s Engender programme, and by Bryony Kimmings.

It is I, Seagull is Lucy’s first solo production.