Take a risk on a festival show
Take a punt on a show, whether you’re a performer or part of the audience – that’s the idea behind this year’s Wellington’s Fringe Festival.
Running from March 1 to 23, the arts festival brings actors, poets, comedians and more to the theatres and streets of the capital.
Wellington festival director Hannah Clarke called the festival a ‘‘testing ground for ideas’’.
For Clarke, Fringe Festival is her old stomping ground. She’s been behind the desk on the organisational side of things for at least eight years, and was out on the stage side of things before that.
Her own history with Fringe stretches back before that too – back to the 1990s, when she saw her first show in the festival, as part of a high-school drama class trip.
‘‘That had quite an impact and shaped my career somewhat because I was so excited that it was so relatable – it wasn’t just our operatic society putting on a well-known show.’’
She said Fringe was the place artists and performers could take risks and audiences were ‘‘really brave’’.
‘‘They’re the ones who will go on these slightly weird shows.’’
But the payoff for being brave could be huge. As Clarke put it, quite often Fringe was the start of something big.
Immediate acts that sprung to mind were the Flight of the Conchords – although Clarke joked they were probably sick of being pointed to as Fringe Festival alumni – along with Taika Waititi.
In more recent times, groups like Trick of the Light Theatre, which debuted its show The Bookbinder in the back room of Arty Bees bookshop on Manners St, have since toured the world.
This year, about 70 per cent of the programme is new work, although scattered amongst those are some international acts, including Russian rockers Pussy Riot.
‘‘Most of the shows will be unknown to audiences but that doesn’t mean they won’t be unknown in the future. It’s a training ground for artists,’’ Clarke said.
That training ground runs right around the world, with Fringe Festivals taking off everywhere from America to the United Kingdom.
The original Fringe Festival – the Edinburgh one – dates back to 1947. Eight theatre groups turned up to the newly formed Edinburgh International Festival but they weren’t part of the programme. So they performed on the fringes of the official one.
Wellington Fringe Festival runs from today to March 23. Check out shows and buy tickets through fringe.co.nz.