Experiment evolves into an institution
What: Victoria Fringe Theatre Festival When: To Sept. 4 Where: Various Victoria locations (see intrepidtheatre.com for full schedule and tickets) Tickets: Single tickets are $9 and $11. You must have a $6 Fringe button to see shows. Purchase online at intrepidtheatre.com or call Ticket Rocket at 250-590-6291
Now in its 30th year, the Victoria Fringe Theatre Festival is a venerable institution in this city.
It’s so successful, it’s easy to forget this celebration of DIY performance had modest, underground beginnings.
This season, a record-breaking 180 companies applied to the Victoria Fringe, which accepts shows through an unjuried lottery system. Assisted by 300 volunteers, the festival will stage more than 50 productions on a $500,000 budget. About 20,000 theatregoers are expected. Last year, theatre artists, who keep 100 per cent of their box-office revenues, went home with $145,000.
Intrepid Theatre founded the festival in 1987 as a three-day experiment. About 20 shows, mostly local, were mounted in basements and empty storefronts.
Megan Quigley is curator of a Pop-Up Fringe Museum installed in Intrepid’s offices to mark the 30th anniversary. To assemble it, she sifted through a vast collection of photographs, clippings and memorabilia.
Quigley said early documentation reflects the festival’s rough-and-tumble origins.
“It’s always been fiercely independent and uncut and uncensored,” she said.
“But in the early days, the roof [of a venue] would be leaky and people were spitting on the ground. There were, I think, some highly illegal rooftop parties. Whereas now, the festival is in various theatres and we’ve got branding and things like that.”
The Victoria Fringe is celebrating three decades of existence with special events and promotions. Yet the Pop-Up Fringe Museum, open to the public in Intrepid Theatre’s lobby, will likely provide the best flavour of its colourful past. One of its relics is the Fringe quilt. “A few years ago, there were some volunteers that were super crafty and actually sat in the volunteer centre in the festival and created a quilt,” Quigley said.
“Over the years, other volunteers have sewed in patches of T-shirt or lanyard or patches and buttons. They’ve silk-screened different things onto it. It really has gathered the moss of several festivals.”
There’s also a collection of Fringe trophies. Some are “grotesque Barbie dolls” made over to resemble post-punk Goth characters. And there are photos of Jack-’o’-lantern pumpkins presented as trophies to Fringe performers back when the festival was held in October.
Those visiting the Pop-Up Fringe Museum can chat with what Quigley calls the “human library.” These are performers, staff and volunteers who’ll share stories about the Victoria Fringe’s long history.
This year, the Victoria Fringe’s theme is “Camp Fringe.” It’s the brainchild of guest producer Katt Campbell, a former Girl Guide and current Girl Guide leader (following the Victoria Fringe, she will travel to Switzerland for an international Guide conference).
“I’m really nerding out on the two things I love, which is the Fringe and guiding,” said Campbell, who has held many positions with the Victoria Fringe over 13 years.
The cover of the 2016 Victoria Fringe program is a stylized Boy Scout/Girl Guide-style uniform. The Fringe mascots sport vintage Guide and Scout outfits.
Fringers are encouraged to pick up a Camp Fringe Passport. Participants can collect stamps for making donations, tweeting about the festival or bringing friends (completed passports are entered to win a Fringe Superpass for 2017). As in previous years, the free Fringekids Fest will be staged at Market Square (Aug. 27, 11 a.m.) with cardboard and bouncy castles and performances.
Fringe co-producer Sammie Gough said a key reason for the Victoria Fringe’s enduring popularity is the sense of community it engenders.
It goes further than the typical theatre-going experience, she said.
“The thing we hear every year from audience members is they love the experience of being at the Fringe. It’s about being in the lineups and meeting performers in the Fringe Club. The whole package.”