Perth Fringe No More
Tue, 16 Sept 2003, 12:40 pmLeah Maher8 posts in thread
Perth Fringe No More
Tue, 16 Sept 2003, 12:40 pmJust read, in what passes for a local paper here in the West, that the Perth International Arts festival will no longer have a Fringe Festival.
What do we think about this kids?
Leah
What do we think about this kids?
Leah
Re: Perth Fringe No More
Tue, 16 Sept 2003, 05:10 pmI'm trying not to think about it myself:-(
Regardless of whether one thinks it's a poor decision by PIAF or simply a result of diminishing quality of creative output in recent Fringe festivals, or the result of poor media publicity leading to inadequate audiences, it's note exactly a mark of health for Perth independant theatre.
And frankly, I almost laughed when I read that the report that stated (in the space of about 17 words, I may add) that (1) the loss of fringe will allow greater emphasis to be placed on Artrage AND (2) Artrage is no longer going to be held annually (now biennial). Anyone else notice the contradiction there?
From a performer and audience member's perspective, I certainly agree that there were problems inherent in the Fringe Festival. Part of being in any festival means that your show is going to go head to head against numerous other productions, and it is easy for a quality, but low-key, production to be left virtually audienceless. This isn't helped by the fact that the media virtually ignored the Fringe Festival in the past 2 years, and when they did feature something it tended to be the work of the most established artists (which tends to contradict the point of the thing). Sadly, the worst cuplrits were even't the major newspapers - why oh why our once supportive street press magazines have deserted independant theatre (or make restrictions such as only reviewing shows that buy paid advertisements) is beyond me.
2001 - great example. Fringe award for best play went to - Filch. To say this was a great show would be an understatement. Unfortunately, most of the press didn't even say it was a crap show - because they didn't say anything about at all, it completely slipped their radar.
And if the media aren't supporting a festival - then what is it? Just a colourful booklet with a of programme events, with a couple of performer's piss-ups at either end?
Nonetheless, I still think that the Fringe Festival served a lot of great purposes. It gave writers and producers a deadline to actually get of their asses and get that script finished/show organised. It encouraged different parts of Perth's theatre community to mix and collaborate. It brought us some fantastic shows - and some goddawful ones as well admittedly, but frankly it wouldn't be a fringe festival if that wasn't the case (quote - Ben Elton opening the Perth Fringe Festival a few years back - "One day, you'll be able to recoginse a person on TV and say 'Hey! I saw them in a play in the Perth Fringe Festival, years before they became famous - and my god they sucked!'")
And even if it didn't have the audience following it deserved, the Fringe Festival still gave people like me an excuse to get off their own ass and actually get out and and see 5 plays in a month.
Just a few thoughts,
Craig
Regardless of whether one thinks it's a poor decision by PIAF or simply a result of diminishing quality of creative output in recent Fringe festivals, or the result of poor media publicity leading to inadequate audiences, it's note exactly a mark of health for Perth independant theatre.
And frankly, I almost laughed when I read that the report that stated (in the space of about 17 words, I may add) that (1) the loss of fringe will allow greater emphasis to be placed on Artrage AND (2) Artrage is no longer going to be held annually (now biennial). Anyone else notice the contradiction there?
From a performer and audience member's perspective, I certainly agree that there were problems inherent in the Fringe Festival. Part of being in any festival means that your show is going to go head to head against numerous other productions, and it is easy for a quality, but low-key, production to be left virtually audienceless. This isn't helped by the fact that the media virtually ignored the Fringe Festival in the past 2 years, and when they did feature something it tended to be the work of the most established artists (which tends to contradict the point of the thing). Sadly, the worst cuplrits were even't the major newspapers - why oh why our once supportive street press magazines have deserted independant theatre (or make restrictions such as only reviewing shows that buy paid advertisements) is beyond me.
2001 - great example. Fringe award for best play went to - Filch. To say this was a great show would be an understatement. Unfortunately, most of the press didn't even say it was a crap show - because they didn't say anything about at all, it completely slipped their radar.
And if the media aren't supporting a festival - then what is it? Just a colourful booklet with a of programme events, with a couple of performer's piss-ups at either end?
Nonetheless, I still think that the Fringe Festival served a lot of great purposes. It gave writers and producers a deadline to actually get of their asses and get that script finished/show organised. It encouraged different parts of Perth's theatre community to mix and collaborate. It brought us some fantastic shows - and some goddawful ones as well admittedly, but frankly it wouldn't be a fringe festival if that wasn't the case (quote - Ben Elton opening the Perth Fringe Festival a few years back - "One day, you'll be able to recoginse a person on TV and say 'Hey! I saw them in a play in the Perth Fringe Festival, years before they became famous - and my god they sucked!'")
And even if it didn't have the audience following it deserved, the Fringe Festival still gave people like me an excuse to get off their own ass and actually get out and and see 5 plays in a month.
Just a few thoughts,
Craig
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