To create the best, balanced programme, we hold back our final scheduling until April. And our confirmed programme of events will be announced on May 1st.

However, that doesn’t stop us accepting some of our best (and most organised!) acts early. From now until April 24th there will be a constant stream of acts confirmed as lucky enough to be part of Underground’s prestiguous programme, for our 6th Buxton Fringe year.

There’s some exciting new acts such as Schmucks Theatre Company with a tale of Charles Dodgson (aka Lewis Carroll)’s peculiar life, and the renowned storyteller Richard Tyrone Jones.

There’s also a host of Buxton favourites we’re very excited to have back. Helen Keen, Matt Pritchard, Polis Loizou, Alex Moran, Organised Chaos, Shadow Syndicate and Max & Ivan will all be treating  us to new work.

And it’s already a partiuclarly hot year for stand-up. As well as Helen Keen there’s critically-acclaimed comey from the likes of James Sherwood, Amadeus Martin and Alfie Moore. With a lot more still to come it seems there’ll be a lot of laughs to go around at the undisputed home of comedy on the Buxton Fringe.

Don’t forget to check this blog – and find us on Facebook and Twitter for the latest news.

We are proud to announce a new addition to the Underground Venues spaces for 2011 – the Arts Centre Studio.

As well as our two already popular spaces under the Old Hall Hotel, the Paupers Pit and the Barrel Room, we will also be running this state-of-the-art studio theatre during this year’s Buxton Fringe (6th-24th July, 2011).

The space is part of the Opera House and Pavilion Gardens development of the old Paxton Suite, which itself was a development of the original Pavilion Theatre which opened on the site in 1889. This Fringe, Underground performers and audiences will be able to tread those same boards in style as this 93-seat studio joins the Underground family.

The Studio is just two minutes from our main base under the Old Hall Hotel, where our Fringe Club (with bar and club nights), Information Desk and Box Office will continue, running everyday from midday to 1am. (For location, see the 74 on this map.)

With the addition of this new, larger theatre, expect some exciting new productions in the Underground Venues programme this year. The sort of stuff that’s just so big, you can’t fit it underground.

Of course, if you’d like to perform in the Arts Centre Studio with Underground Venues this year, now’s the time. Simply head here to read all about how to apply!

We are pleased to announce that applications for Underground’s 6th Season at the 2011 Buxton Fringe are now open.

Simply head to the Artist’s Area to sign-up and start the process.

We’ve got performance spaces, opportunities and a programme to suit all types of acts, no matter who you are or where you come from. There’s never been a better time to join Buxton’s most popular Fringe venue – home to the most exciting and the most varied quality entertainment in the Festivals season.

Applications remain officially open til April 4th – although late entries up until April 20th can be accepted.

The 2011 Season at Underground Venues will run from July 6th – 24th.

We look forward to hearing from you all!

After the enourmous success of our 2010 season, we are very pleased to confirm we will be returning for a 6th Buxton Fringe in 2011. We’re just confirming the set-up for our spaces – and there might even be an exciting new addition, though we can’t confirm that yet.

Either way, the dates for Underground’s 2011 Season will be Wednesday 6th – Sunday 24th July. If you’d like to be a part of it, full details and application forms will be appearing on the site over the next few weeks. And we’ll announce the official opening  here soon.

For audience members, we’ll be announcing our entire programme online on May 1st. So be sure to visit us then. We anticipate another wide-ranging, quality programme, building on the phenomenal success of the last few years.

Performers, audiences, drinkers, lost tourists – we look forward to seeing you all in July!

So with a triumphant last day, the curtain finally falls on Underground Venues 2010. It’s been our biggest year to date with 60 different shows and events, brought to the people in 200+ performances.

We’ve had everything from Shakespeare on pedal bike to jesters, improv, elctro-pop and magic. It has been great to see so many new and exciting acts join our regulars to present the finest theatre, music, comedy, dance and family events at the ever-growing Buxton Fringe.

And as the number crunching begins, we can proudly reveal that ticket sales are up again, for the fourth year running, with over 3,900 sold overall. It’s great to see that word is spreading and the growth in exciting talent from the North West and further afield is attracting more and more people to our subterrrenean spaces.

We’re also very proud to see our fantastic artists being honoured in one of our best Fringe-award hauls to date. Underground acts this year in fact took all of the awards on offer for both theatre and comedy (adult categories). The Clock Master took Best New Writing (for Louisa Ashton), Gerry Howell took Best Comedy Performer for his role in The Fantastic Reality Of Frederick Goodge, How To Survive A Zombie Apocalypse was awarded Best Comedy Show and Tales From The Black Jack (performed by Alex Moran, directed by Graham Easterlow) was especially recognised with both the Best Production and Best Actor awards.

Underground continued its reputation for the home of comedy at the Fringe with every single comedy nomination going to Underground acts. The large majority of nominations for Best Production, Best Actor and Best New Writing also went to this year’s particularly strong theatre line-up. There were also mentions for Jake Thackray Rides Again, High Jinx, Spiltmilk Say Dance and  The World’s Greatest Walking Tour of  Buxton, which all also picked up nominations at Sunday’s award ceremony at The Dome.

This year also saw an explosion of coverage of Underground Venues in the media. Fringe Guru and Fringe Review – both professional denizens of the Edinburgh Fringe – devoted a large amount of coverage to Underground’s 2010 programme. You can read Fringe Review’s interviews with Underground acts here while Fringe Guru’s expert reviews from his visit Underground are here. Philip Radcliffe from Manchester Evening News also wrote this lovely review of Tales From The Black Jack for City Life. As always, Buxton Fringe reviewed all shows and you can read their coverage here.

So what happens now? Well for a good 22 of our acts, the mighty behemoth of the Edinburgh Fringe beckons. Check out who’s up there in this past blog post.

For the rest of us, a well earned rest and then planning for the already much-anticipated 2011 Buxton Fringe!

Watch this space…

(Well okay, go away for a bit, then come back and watch it.)

The 5th year of Underground Venues kicks off tonight!

And to celebrate we’re having a Launch Party down at the venue from 8pm. They’ll be fun, games, prizes, free performances and a chance to meet all the people involved in Underground and the Fringe.

There’s also preview performances this evening – from 6:30pm.

In case you don’t know the address, we’re at:

Underground Venues
The Square
Buxton
SK17 6BD

The entrance is to the left of the Crescent and opposite St Anne’s Well.

We hope to see you all there!

We are very pleased to announce that you can now buy advance tickets for all shows at Underground Venues this year.

This is a new service for 2010 – provided with the help of our friends at iBookedIt. A lot of our shows sell out every year but you can now get your ticket confirmed right now.  There’s 60 different shows and events and well over 200 performances, so take a look and see what’s for you.

And as an extra incentive, we’re making over 500 2for1 tickets available for the first night of almost every show at the venue (the only exceptions in fact are some shows with only one or two performances). At least three pairs of these are available online now. Simply book for a first night and the price of every second tickets will automatically be deducted. These won’t last long so get booking now!

If you do miss them online though, we’ll also hold some more back for bookings in person at the box office during the  Fringe.

This new system also allows you to reserve exact seats in the Paupers Pit for the first time. Whether you like the front row or to be next to the aisle you can get what’s perfect for you right now. No more having to queue or edge towards the door to grab the best seats!

Most of all, it’s all incredibly easy. Browse our programme here or head right to the bookings page and choose the show and date you want!

We look forward to seeing you all in the Fringe.

Happy booking 🙂

Underground Venues are very proud to support this summer’s Buxton Art Trail.

Taking place in 34 different locations around the town (everything from halls to people’s spare rooms) this glorious event celebrates the huge amount of visual art being created in Buxton – including lots that never usually gets noticed.

Many of these exhibitions are taking part in the Buxton Fringe – and the Old Hall Hotel (in whose fine cellars we operate) are a venue as well.

They have a fine brochure which you can pick up around Buxton with a handy map you can follow all round the town. (It also has a nice little bit about us in it!) As well as celebrating the art of the town, we feel this a perfect accompaniment to the abundance of theatre, music and comedy already happening in July.

If you want a look online – scan the Visual Arts listing at the Buxton Fringe for those mentioning the Buxton Art Trail.

We are very glad to be able to support this great event and encourage you all to take to the trail!

Underground is rapidly establishing itself as a popular stamping ground for acts heading up to the mother-of-all-fringes, the unstoppable Edinburgh Fringe.

Now in its 74th year, Edinburgh Fringe is the largest arts festival in the entire world. As far as we know, the largest gathering of artists anywhere in the universe.

This year, 22 acts will be appearing at Underground Venues before they head further north. This offers the unique opportunity to see some of the country’s finest theatre, stand-up, music, magic and dance before it reaches a global audience.

So here’s that Edinburgh preview line-up in full

Theatre:
Are You Lonesome Tonight, Bane, Bane 2, Tales From The Black Jack, Reverie

Stand-up:
Andrew O’Neill, Elis James: Daytripper, Gary Delaney: Purist, Henry Paker’s 3D Bugle, It Is Rocket Science V2, James Sherwood: One Man And His Piano, Jokes Not Included (Phil Buckley), Mark Allen’s Go Slow, Max And Ivan, 9 to 5 Idiot (Roland Gent)

Comedy Shows:
Green Eggs And Hamlet, How To Survive A Zombie Apocalypse, The Noise Next Door: Chaos Control, Piff-Tacular 2: Get Rich Or Die Trying

Music:
Hayden’s Rantings Of A Young Fool, Project Adorno’s Top Ten Of Popular Culture

Physical Theatre:
Three Works (Daniel Somerville)

To see the full list, with links to the shows, click here

The veteran Fringe-busting, all-knowing behemoth that is Fringe Review has started announcing its top tips for the Buxton Fringe.

We were very pleased to see Underground shows getting a good old mention in their first instalment.

Their top 3 theatre shows are Bane & Bane 2 (that counts as one I guess), The Fantastic Reality Of Frederick Goodge and Burton’s Last Call.

Their top pick from the improv/sketch comedy line-up are the two fantastic shows The Noise Next Door: Chaos Control and Teak Show: Twisted Sketches.

And their favourite Buxton Fringe show for kids is the magical The Clock Master.

Just click on the names if you’d like to know more. We hope to hear more from the Fringe Review guys soon. And great to see coverage of Buxton from the Brighton and Edinburgh Fringe experts.

Keep your eyes on this page for more Fringe news from around the blogosphere…