NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Fringe Theatre

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Fringe theatre is a term used to describe alternative theatre, or entertainment not of the mainstream. In London, fringe theatre is part of the Off West End theatre scene, the equivalent of New York's off-Broadway theatre. There are also many unjuried theatre festivals which are often called fringe festivals. These festivals, such as Edinburgh Fringe and Adelaide Fringe Festival, permit artists to produce a wide variety of interesting works. This article is about the capital of England and the United Kingdom. ... Off West End is a term used to loosely define non-mainstream theatres in London. ... Off-Broadway plays or musicals are performed in New York City in smaller theatres than Broadway, but larger than Off-Off-Broadway, productions. ... Serge Sudeikins poster for the Bat Theatre (1922). ... A festival or fest is an event, usually staged by a local community, which centers on some theme, sometimes on some unique aspect of the community. ... A street performer on the Royal Mile, with volunteer (2004). ... The Adelaide Fringe Festival is an arts festival held annually in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. ...

1 History of fringe theatre festivals
2 London's Off West End (simon is gay)
3 Fringe theatre festival organisation
4 Elements of a typical fringe theatre production
5 See also
6 External links

History of fringe theatre festivals

Other long running fringe festivals are the Windsor Fringe (founded 1969) and Malvern Fringe (founded 1977) which have provided platforms for showcasing up and coming talent. Also: 1969 (Stargate SG-1) episode. ... The Malvern Fringe Festival is an arts festival (founded 1977) which takes place in Great Malvern, England. ... Also: 1977 (album) by Ash. ...

The second-largest fringe festival in the world is the Adelaide Fringe Festival. The Adelaide Fringe evolved in the early 1970s as a reaction against the establishment and the then 'mainstream' Adelaide Festival of Arts. Today, although two events are now inextricably linked, the Fringe Festival has overtaken the main Festival of Arts in terms of attendance. The Adelaide Fringe is renowned for its innovation, spontaneity and carnival atmosphere, and is widely regarded as one of the best events of its kind in the world.^{[citation needed]} The Adelaide Fringe Festival is an arts festival held annually in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. ... North Terrace, Adelaide - Cultural Precinct The Adelaide Festival of Arts is a prestigious arts festival held biannually in Adelaide, South Australia. ...

The largest fringe festival in North America is the Edmonton International Fringe Festival, followed closely by the Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival. Founded in 1982 and 1988 respectively, Edmonton and Winnipeg are the premier stops on the Canadian fringe tour, a semi-official series of fringe theatre festivals that permit performers to travel east to west, from June to September. Canada now has more Fringe Festivals than any other country in the world and each Canadian Fringe festival strongly adheres to the philosophy that a "Fringe Festival" be unjuried, return 100% of box office proceeds back to the participating artists and remain affordable and accessible to all. The oldest and largest Fringe Festival in the United States is the Orlando Fringe. The Edmonton Fringe Festival is an annual event held every August in Edmonton, Alberta in Canada. ... The Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival is an annual alternative theater festival held in Winnipeg, Manitoba. ...

Fringe festivals are becoming more common, with many major cities throughout the world now conducting their own Fringe Festivals of sorts.

London's Off West End (simon is gay)

Off West End refers to London theatre that is not considered part of the well known 'West End.' This includes what is commonly known as 'Fringe Theatre' as well as a huge variety of theatres putting on the future West End and Broadway shows. [OffWestEnd.com] was set up in 2006 to define and promote the huge number of theatres in London falling into this category.

This site exists to celebrate the full spectrum of Off West End theatres and to draw increasing numbers of the general public into the heady darkness and dangerous passion of these little powerhouses perched above a pub, tucked under a railway bridge, packed into a disused warehouse, built around a butcher's shop or suspended above a shopping centre.

Off West End theatres play a very important role in London and in society as a whole - important on stage in taking risks to push the boundaries of live performance, important for the audience in entertaining the intellect and stretching the imagination and, most of all, important as a breeding ground for new talent and new ideas that feed into our culture, reinventing and reinvigorating us. Our goal was to create the first campaigning alliance encompassing all Off West End theatres and ensuring their culturally diverse performances are presented online in an equal, positive and unbiased manner to people interested in seeing new work and supporting new talent. The West End receives an enormous amount of attention from the public and the press as well as support from tourism bodies and third party ticket sellers. Off West End theatres receive only a fraction of that support despite the fact that the quality of performance can be every bit as good as that in the West End. In creating this alliance we hope to open the world of Off West End theatre to a much wider audience of both local residents and tourists and, by leveraging the power of a group, gain the same level of public and media attention as the West End.

OffWestEnd.com puts as much information about its theatres and their performances as possible together in one easy-to-use place. As our hope is to allow all members to promote themselves and their plays equally, there are no costs to any of the theatres to appear on the website. They also do not pay any fees or commissions for ticket sales so the theatres are able to sell tickets directly to customers. What's more, customers have free use of the site, paying nothing for tickets or usage.

Fringe theatre festival organisation

The mechanics of a Fringe festival are fairly simple. The most important element in the administration that creates a Fringe festival as opposed to a "normal" arts festival is the unjuried nature of the performances. Some festivals, notably the New York International Fringe Festival, stray from the original concept in that they pick their participants using a jury-based application process. Look up Administration (business) in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... An arts festival (also art festival) or art fair is a festival that focuses on the visual arts. ...

All performers are welcome to apply, regardless of their professional or amateur status. No restrictions are made as to the nature, style or theme of the performance. (Some festivals have children's areas, with an appropriate content limitation.) Many festivals find too many applicants for the number of available spaces; in this case, applicants are chosen based on an unrelated criteria, such as order of application or a random draw. The one common limitation of a Fringe festival is a geographic one; applicants may be divided into groups to ensure a mix of local, national and international talent. This article is about people called professionals. ... Look up amateur in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Fringe festivals typically have a common organising group that handles ticketing, scheduling and some overall promotion (such as a program including all performers). Each production pays a set fee to this group, which usually includes their stage time as well as the organizational elements. Performers sometimes billet in the homes of local residents, further reducing their costs. A billet is the place to which a person, generally a soldier, is assigned to sleep. ...

Elements of a typical fringe theatre production

The limitations and opportunities that the Fringe festival format presents lead to some common features.

Shows are typically technically sparse; they are commonly presented in shared venues, often with shared technicians and limited technical time, so sets and other technical theatre elements are kept simple. Venues themselves are often adapted from other uses. Technical theatre describes the creation and execution of those aspects of theatre which are beyond performance, including the creation of the physical environment, sound elements, and special effects. ...

Casts tend to be smaller than mainstream theatre; since many of the performing groups are travelling, and venues (and thus potential income) tend to be fairly small, expenses must usually be kept to a minimum. One-person shows are therefore quite common at Fringe festivals.

Fringe festival productions often showcase new scripts, especially ones on more obscure, edgy or unusual material. The lack of artistic vetting combined with relatively easy entry ^{[citation needed]} make risk-taking more feasible.

While most mainstream theatre shows are two or three acts long, taking two to three hours with intermissions, fringe shows tend to be closer to one hour, single-act productions. The typically lowered ticket prices of a fringe theatre show permit audiences to attend multiple shows in a single evening.

Results from FactBites:

Fringe theatre - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (810 words)
	In London fringe theatre is the equivalent of New York's off-Broadway theatre.
	Founded in 1982 and 1988 respectively, Edmonton and Winnipeg are the premiere stops on the Canadian fringe tour, a semi-official series of fringe theatre festivals that permit performers to travel east to west, from June to September.
	Face it theatre is an example of a new fringe group set up by penniless actors with a couple of Edinburgh festivals under their tightened belts who want to create their own unique performance language.

Fringe Theatre Festivals (978 words)
	The contemporary fringe phenomenon began in Edinburgh in 1947 when a number of performing artists who were dissatisfied with what they considered the elitist programming of the Edinburgh International Arts Festival decided to create an event of their own.
	Between 1985 and 1991 a circuit of 7 fringe festivals was established, opening in Montréal in June and ending in Victoria in October.
	However, because fringe theatre is artist-generated, unlike other cultural events that depend heavily upon government funding and critical approval, the future of fringe festivals will depend upon the activities and energy of small independent theatre companies and artists and on their ability to continue to excite and attract audiences.

More results at FactBites »

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Contents

History of fringe theatre festivals var ACE_AR = {Site: '756743', Size: '300250'};

London's Off West End (simon is gay)

Fringe theatre festival organisation

Elements of a typical fringe theatre production

See also

External links

History of fringe theatre festivals