In the News
Edmonton’s Fringe: Let the revolution begin
July 28, 2009
Liz Nicholls
Edmonton Journal
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| Triple Platinum an upcoming show at the 2009 Fringe
Photo: Ian Jackson, Edmonton Journal |
EDMONTON — You won’t see barricades, to be sure. But a certain revolutionary zeal animates Edmonton’s Strathcona starting Tuesday.
Tickets for Stage A Revolution, the upcoming 28th annual edition of the Edmonton’s massive Fringe, the prototype and instigator for the continent’s flowering of fringes, are now on sale. You can be a Fringe revolutionary online (www.fringetheatre.ca), by phone (780-409-1910), or in person at the festival’s central box office in the TransAlta Arts Barns. The festivities hit a whole bunch of theatres near you Thursday, Aug. 13, and don’t let up till Aug. 23, with some 1,200 performances in 29 venues and an international cast of artists numbering 700-plus.
Artists can charge up to $12 for their shows, with a $2 “capital replacement fee” imposed by the Fringe, making a $14 max per performance. The indispensable 94-page Fringe programs ($6) are now on sale at 7-Elevens, plus Tix on the Square, and such Strathcona merchants as Audreys, Chapters, and Greenwoods.
At a press conference Tuesday designed to incite riotous behaviour at the box office, Fringe performers mingled and hyped their wares. And executive director Julian Mayne expressed his hope that revolutionary fervour would heat up ticket sales, which were 77,800 last summer. Edmonton’s closest Canadian rival, the Winnipeg Fringe, just ended, sold some 81,000 tickets this year. So the Edmonton festival has something to live up to. “I challenge every Edmontonian to embrace the spirit of creativity ... and buy one ticket to one show!” cried Mayne. “Our entire supply (some 155,000) would be gone like that!”
The Fringe is down one official venue from the 12 stages of 2008.
Both King Edward School and the Academy at King Edward are being renovated and the PCL Studio is now volunteer headquarters. The Laugh Shop, over the Strathcona Starbucks, is a new venue. And the festival has reclaimed its cabaret space at the north end of the TransAlta Bus Barns, lost for several years to storage. As well, Planet Ze returns to the Fringe fold.
The most dramatic growth is in the number and geographical disbursement of BYOVs (bring-your-own-venues, acquired, equipped and programmed by indie artists).
There are 46 indie companies ensconced in 18 BYOVs that include Strathcona churches, bars, restaurants, hotels, libraries and shops; La Cite francophone; and cross the river to embrace the Jasper Avenue club New City and Avenue Theatre on 118th Avenue.
