LATER this summer, Cirencester's Grace and Favour Productions will be taking their live comedy sketch show, Life Jim (But not as we know it), to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Life Jim (But not as we know it) is the brainchild of Rob Grace and is performed by him and a very talented group of friends, Al Roberts, Angie Abingdon, Duncan Belcher, Jim Iredale and Mark Iredale and ably supported by Cirencester College student Harry Jerome, who is joining the group in Edinburgh to run the technical side of the show.

Rob, currently a member of Stratton Drama group, has performed and directed for many years with various theatre groups in the town.

The show is a mixture of live and pre-filmed sketches with a parody song finale to top the evening off.

There are partying babies, kid’s TV presenters, an air guitar salesman, the world’s most annoying concierge, a forgetful doctor, a lounge singer and an invasion of pirates all joined together by spoof adverts and the philosophical musings of Rob himself.

The Grace and Favour crew have performed the show to several local audiences, including The Sundial Theatre and have raised over £1,000 for local school PTA organisations by performing the show as fundraisers.

However, the trip to Edinburgh has brought a new intensity to the group where the project to get the show north of the border has raised unexpected and costly challenges.

Rob explained: "So far, through performances, private donations and a small number of local business donations we've raised around half the money we need to get to Edinburgh. We also have an active crowd-funding scheme, through GoFundMe, but we still have a way to go to cover our costs.

“We understand that money is tight these days but if for example we could attract 10 local businesses to sponsor us £100 each we would be pretty close to hitting our target, and of course all donations, big or small, make a huge difference."

* Tickets to Life Jim (But not as we know it) are already selling in Edinburgh. The show will be at the Surgeon's Hall in Edinburgh from 10-15 August.  Anyone interested in learning more about the show or making a donation can visit wwww.gandfproductions.co.uk or contact Rob by email at graceandfavourproductions@gmail.com. To make a crowd-funding donation  go directly to www.gofundme.com/LifeJim. Tickets are available at www.edfringe.com.