Murray Bramwell previews some of the 2008 program<\/p>\n
There is something almost inexplicably exponential about the Adelaide Fringe. It just keeps getting bigger. From its modest beginnings 48 years ago, it has continued \u2013 like its Edinburgh namesake \u2013 to play doppelganger and frisky sibling to the main Festival. And, as in Edinburgh, it has expanded so greatly that it dwarfs the Festival itself – in size at least, if not in substance. The relationship between Festival and Fringe, once tetchy, is now cordial to the point where the two are symbiotic, each energizing and highlighting the other\u2019s achievement.<\/p>\n
To talk about the Fringe is always to indulge in gargantuan statistics, but they are unavoidable in telling the story. The 2008 Fringe website lists 543 events, 5470 performances and estimates something like 3000 participating artists. That is nearly eighty more events than in 2006 which posted a then-record 465 fixtures. That\u2019s a lot of action and a potentially huge audience. It also precipitates a struggle for survival of Darwinian proportions. And, while not every baby turtle reaches the sea \u2013 a surprising number of events, boosted by niche audiences, friends, families, groupies and general devotees, manage to meet their objectives artistically and their quotas numerically. No-one gets rich \u2013 although there are always healthy queues around the block for comedians and cult favourites – but most feel recognized and rewarded, and, with any luck, few will lose their shirt, or their sanity, in the business of putting on a show. <\/p>\n
The Fringe theatre listings are again numerous this year \u2013 I counted 105 in the guide, plus another 54 cabaret shows and 119 in the comedy section. The theatre and cabaret events are ever valiant, competing as they do with radio comics and TV personalities such as Rove, Dave Hughes and Corinne Grant, but there is plenty on offer – from school and community groups to local professionals, and performances transferring from Edinburgh and other venues on the international circuit. <\/p>\n
Among the latter contingent is regular UK performer and director Guy Masterson. This year he introduces the politically topical American Poodle , Follow Me (about capital punishment) and Goering\u2019s Defence, based on the infamous trial at Nuremberg. All will be at the Fringe Factory Theatre in Elizabeth Street. Guy will also perform his much-loved Under Milk Wood at the Royalty. <\/p>\n
Holden Street Theatres are again hosting some quality imports including Berkoff\u2019s Women, a series of excerpts performed by Linda Marlowe from English playwright, Steven Berkoff\u2019s greatest hits \u2013 Decadence, East, Greek and others. Also, Josh Richards presents Playing Burton, an exploration of Welsh star, Richard Burton\u2019s tumultuous career. Both promise to be highlights. Also featuring at Holden Street are Urban Myth with their adaptation of 1984, Victorian company Three to a Room with An Air Balloon over Antarctica, The Good Thief by Irish playwright Conor McPherson and magick from Wayne Anthoney in Prospero\u2019s Island. <\/p>\n
Local company Vitalstatistix will present (in a joint venture with WA\u2019s Deckchair) Hilary Bell\u2019s play Memmie le Blanc at the Queens Theatre, venue also for Yashchin Company\u2019s Marquez adaptation I Only Came to Use the Phone. The Border Project will present their choose-your-own-adventure, Trouble on Planet Earth at the Crumpet Theatre, Eddy Knight has a new play, Final Contract at the Bakehouse and Accidental Productions are staging Seven Seconds, a German play by Falk Richter, at the new Higher Ground in Light Square. <\/p>\n
The Garden of Unearthly Delights is again in full swing with Acrobat, an extensive program of puppetry works, Daniel Kitson in The Ballad of Rodger and Grace, cabaret artistes Meow Meow and Camille the Dark Angel, and Pig Island from The Glass Boat. Music includes the ever-intriguing Stephen Cummings, Old Man River and Kate Miller-Heidke. Elsewhere, at the Masonic Centre, La Clique have a show running for a full three week season and Adrian Bohm, who always brings something extra to the Fringe, has scheduled one-night-only gigs by guitar wizard Leo Kottke and singer-songwriter, Ron Sexsmith. <\/p>\n
The Adelaide Review, Feb 10, 2008.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Murray Bramwell previews some of the 2008 program There is something almost inexplicably exponential about the Adelaide Fringe. It just keeps getting bigger. From its modest beginnings 48 years ago, it has continued \u2013 like its Edinburgh namesake \u2013 to play doppelganger and frisky sibling to the main Festival. And, as in Edinburgh, it has expanded so greatly that it dwarfs the Festival itself – in size at least, if not in substance. The relationship between Festival and Fringe, once […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-362","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-fringe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=362"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":812,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/362\/revisions\/812"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=362"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=362"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/murraybramwell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=362"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}