A cheeky peek under Sydney’s Fringe
The Sydney Fringe Festival is a bit of a perve. It promises to peek under the skirts of Sydney’s unconventional creative communities – particularly those based in the vibrant Inner West – for some full-frontal exposure the city has long craved. This year marks its debut, and with a program boasting over 130 shows at 53 venues (from theatres and pubs to cafes and galleries), it’s a pretty splashy coming out.
“The Fringe is irreverent, an alliance of rebels, an alternative to the traditional and the conservative,” says Festival Director, Kris Stewart. Council partner Sam Iskander, the Mayor of Marrickville Council, stresses that here, “’Culture’ is an inclusive term that embraces creativity, community, and diversity.”
The schedule certainly has diversity in spades. Some big names will jump out at you – like Canadian hip hop legend Buck 65; Aboriginal singer-songwriter Ali Mills; internet sensation Jeffree Star; Lena Cruz of Priscilla fame in Bitter/Sweet; the Bohemian Masquerade Ball; Sydney Underground Film Festival in its fourth year – while others will become an acquired taste.
Small theatre productions like Coffee are comprised of one actor, one director and one musician, in one small space (School of Arts), all about one huge human obsession: caffeine. Recently formed risqué cabaret troupe Dansatori from the South Coast’s Stanwell Park are slinging in with Pistol Whipped, a, “Neo-noir world, filled with technical and acrobatic dance.” The Fringe Festival, alongside initiatives like Short, Sweet+Dance, may become one of the few places outside of large, funded dance companies, where up-and-comer dancers can find a stage – and an audience.
This is true also of niche hybrid creations, that struggle to find a place to play, and recognition. At Newtown Theatre, Caterpillars Can Fly is a dual Vietnamese-Australian production from Stretch Mk1, using puppetry, pantomime and audience participation. Clock Radio Symphony is a harmony that ditches humans in favour of digital and flick-clock radios, to be held at PACT Theatre. Flowing on from previous successful runs, we will also get a chance to see clowning show A Tiny Chorus hot on the heels of their Adelaide and Melbourne Fringe runs, as well as subtlenuance’s A Thing of Beauty, Deli Chicks, and Stories from the 428 – a story that most frequenters of King St will know all too well.
How the Fringe will fit in Sydney’s already packed festival diary is yet to be seen. As Eryn Jean Norvill, of A Tiny Chorus and veteran of the circuit mused, “Every festival has a different vibe.” Judging from the sheer wealth of talent on the line-up, Sydney’s vibe is that it is well and truly ready for a cheeky peek at the underground. As the program suggests, we can only suck it and see.
