Edinburgh venue St Stephen’s Stockbridge returns in 2016 as the latest addition to the C venues stable. C’s new flagship New Town venue offers three performance spaces, including a 450 seater theatre.
This is the ideal opportunity to create a major new flagship venue at the Edinburgh Fringe, ensuring that audiences see exciting, high-quality work and to bring the Fringe back to the New Town.
One of the most iconic Georgian buildings in Edinburgh, St Stephen’s Stockbridge is set to be a major new venue for C venues. The A-listed building, which dates back to the 1820s, has occupied a special place on the Fringe for over 27 years and has been operated by leading arts organisations such at the Traverse, Aurora Nova and Northern Stage. C venues continues this tradition of first-class work and is bringing an ambitious programme to the historic building.
With a range of performance spaces, including a 450 capacity main theatre, C venues at St Stephen’s will offer participants the opportunity to perform in a spectacular setting, centrally located and with the building’s 50m clock tower visible from miles away. The first-class acoustics in these well-equipped spaces have made the venue a popular destination for music and theatre alike.
Hartley Kemp, artistic director of C venues, said "C venues is thrilled to be invited to operate this vibrant and dynamic venue. The range of performance spaces in this unique building will enable C venues to offer must-see shows in a memorable setting. This is the ideal opportunity to create a major new flagship venue at the Edinburgh Fringe, ensuring that audiences see exciting, high-quality work and to bring the Fringe back to the New Town. C venues at St Stephen’s Stockbridge is going to be one of the most talked about venues at the 2016 Edinburgh Fringe, and for many years to come."
The Benzies Foundation purchased St Stephen’s Stockbridge from the Church of Scotland in 2014, to protect the building and ensure long-term community use. The Benzies Foundation said "The Benzies Foundation are delighted to be hosting C venues at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. We lookforward to a long term relationship and we are delighted to see the New Town and Stockbridge be an exciting part of this year’s Fringe."
