Humour, tragedy, music and poetry
For director Anton Bentley, Nelson Fringe Festival is a chance to step out of the ordinary.
“For me, it is seeing something you wouldn’t normally: things that are more challenging for audiences; with a surprise element to them.”
Nelson’s Fringe opens on March 14, and offers 48 shows over 10 days, including local, national and international acts.
Each show is about an hour, which means keen festivalgoers could attend three in an evening. And with the threetiered price structure, tickets start at $16, which means audiences have nothing to lose by taking a punt on something unknown.
It’s Bentley’s second fringe festival, and the seasoned actor and director is returning with Kafka’s The Trial, and Greek tragedy Medea.
“Both have quite dark subject matters, but are entertaining,” Bentley said.
“There’s quite a bit of humour, without nullifying the dramatic content. They’re not the usual kind of plays we would see: they have a fringe-y, leftfield feel to them ... they take existing stories and plays, and turn them on their head in a way that makes audiences stop and think.”
Bentley said he hoped to catch a few other shows. Like A Whore’s Eye View was a look at history from a sex worker’s perspective, and “something we’re not likely to see often” in Nelson. He also planned to see In My Own Words, written by his friend Alexander Davies.
Festival director Giles Burton said audiences could expect an eclectic mix of performances, including a circus act and the sole New Zealand screening of a Ukrainian theatre production, filmed during the country’s fringe festival last year.
Burton was looking forward to The Long Ride Home, featuring returning Nelsonian Dylan Hutton, which is performed on two static bicycles, and Hutton’s improv show, Pudgy Mediocre White Men Solve Your Problems.
Other performances this year include Steve Wilbury, a Nelson magician and entertainer who is appearing as Captain Stinkypants in his production Ahoy Me Farties 2: Around the World in 80 Farts.
Warren Love is bringing his solo show Sad Songs. The 72-year-old musician and storyteller took up songwriting in his late 30s, and a decade later was running latenight jam nights in Auckland.
He describes his fringe show as a “soundtrack to a hero’s journey”.
Comedian Callum Wagstaff, who describes himself as Taranaki’s answer to Tim Burton, is appearing over three nights with his show, The Most Haunted Comedian in New Zealand.
Wagstaff, who grew up on a diet of Goosebumps and Beetlejuice, said his show covered paranormal tourism, spiders, and growing up in Starship hospital.
“I love it when the macabre has a goofy touch ... That comes through in my sense of humour, and I wanted the show to feel like a Halloween decoration."