Fringe festival sprawls out from Newtown

Sydney Fringe Festival is kicking off for its second year this September with over 250 events comprising an extensive three-week programme.

The new director Richard Hull has expanded the reach of the festival beyond the usual Newtown haunts, creating and promoting culturally-engaged spaces and hubs in the surrounding suburbs of the Inner West.

The festival’s urban sprawl will add to already established venues such as Carriageworks, PACT Theatre and the Seymour Centre to bring a strong and diverse programme of art, theatre, music and comedy.

Annandale Creative Arts Centre in collaboration with Newtown Mission is launching a Sunday Concert Series to celebrate local pop, gospel and reggae talent.

The three afternoons will feature the likes of Newtown Mission Choir, Stairwell to Heaven, Colleen O’Connell, PJ Wolf, James the Grey and San Salvador.

But the festival isn’t just restricted to sounds and stage; Leichardt’s Cultural Centre is celebrating a range of outdoor sculpture, photography, painting, drawing, and performance art as part of Fringe Arts at the Forum: Merge.

Local artists Kassandra Bossell, Tim Steyer and Vince Vozzo will feature at the event, which kicks off the event on August 12 with an opening feature of live painting.

Vozzo’s “dramatic” sculpture entitled  Michelangelo’s Marble will be among the exhibition’s artworks.

The sculpture uses rare imported Italian stone from the Carrara Mountains, making it the first Australian artwork to do so.

But perhaps the most anticipated fusion of iconic act and venue is the appearance of Sydney-via-Brisbane indie rockers the Ups and Downs, taking to the Annandale Hotel stage on September 10 as part of a rare regroup tour.

Celebrating the release of their newly released Out of the Darkness: Sleepless, Singles & Other Stories this month, the four-piece were stalwarts of the late 80s pop-rock post-punk movement which delighted underground audiences with sounds of the Los Angeles Paisley Underground.

With all four original members on the tour bus including front man Greg Atkinson, the Fringe has scored big with this performance, and despite 2011 being 25 years since the band released their single ‘Sleepless’, this is one worth staying up for.

Fringe Festival runs from September 9 to October 2 and will include venues from Potts Point to Marrickville.

By Bridie Connellan