The creators of ‘The Show Must Go On!’ merchandise, the Theatre Support Fund+, have today announced that they have raised £500,000 for charity to date and will be launching a Christmas range of merchandise.

In only six months, 40,000 orders have been taken and shipped to 70 countries worldwide, with the money raised going to Acting For Others, The Fleabag Support Fund and NHS COVID-19 Urgent Appeal.

Vice President of Acting for Others and the figurehead for The Fleabag Support Fund, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, said: “I would like to thank the founders of Theatre Support Fund+, Chris and Damien for their astonishing work raising £500,000 for the theatre industry. Their efforts have helped hundreds of freelancers who have received support from the Fleabag Support Fund and we wouldn't have been able to achieve this without the dedication, imagination and downright style that they brought to their campaign. I have been thrilled to be able to support this project and thank them deeply for choosing to donate to the Fleabag Support Fund. I’m consistently blown away by the care for and within the theatre community. Chris and Damien are two of its heroes!”. 

Chris Marcus and Damien Stanton from Theatre Support Fund+ said today: “Every day we become more overwhelmed with the generosity and support of everyone who has supported us on the journey so far. When we set up the campaign, six months ago we didn’t imagine for a moment we would reach a milestone like this. We’d always hoped we would be back working in theatres by this point, so our journey hasn’t ended yet. We will continue to unite and work together to raise monies for these charities to help all of those that have been affected from the pandemic until our theatre doors are open once again.”

Theatre legends Bonnie Langford and Christopher Biggins have helped launched the new festive range today, bringing some Christmas sparkle back into the theatre world and trying out some of the new products. The new range includes: Christmas cards, water bottles, lanyards and hoodies, which all feature The Show Must Go On! design. All profits will go to aforementioned charities and the Christmas range is available to buy now from the website here.

Theatre Support Fund+ have also collaborated  with cult ice cream brand Northern Bloc, who have created a unique flavour called The Show Must Go On!, which is a vegan, white chocolate ice cream laced with honeycomb. The 500ml tubs are now available to buy in Waitrose stores, all profits from tubs sold will go to Theatre Support Fund+.