Fringe theatre is
theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perfor ...
that is produced outside of the main theatre institutions, and that is often small-scale and non-traditional in style or subject matter.
The term comes from the
Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
[Kemp, Robert, ''More that is Fresh in Drama'', Edinburgh Evening News, 14 August 1948] In
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, the fringe are small-scale theatres, many of them located above pubs, and the equivalent to New York's
Off-Off-Broadway theatres and Europe's "free theatre" groups.
In
unjuried
{{unreferenced, date=May 2010
An unjuried or open access art exhibition or festival is one where all submissions are accepted. Within theater, it is often referred to as a fringe festival, following the unjuried Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Histo ...
theatre festivals, also known as fringe festivals or open-access festivals, all submissions are accepted, and sometimes the participating acts may be chosen by lottery, in contrast to
juried festivals in which acts are selected based on their artistic qualities. Unjuried festivals (such as the Edinburgh Fringe,
Edmonton Fringe Festival,
Adelaide Fringe
The Adelaide Fringe, formerly Adelaide Fringe Festival, is the world's second-largest annual arts festival (after the Edinburgh Festival Fringe), held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Between mid-February and mid-March each year, ...
, and
Fringe World) permit artists to perform a wide variety of works.
History
In 1947, eight theatre companies showed up at the
Edinburgh International Festival, hoping to gain recognition from the mass gathering at the festival. In 1948,
Robert Kemp, a Scottish journalist and playwright, described the situation, "Round the fringe of official Festival drama, there seems to be more private enterprise than before ... I am afraid some of us are not going to be at home during the evenings!".
Edinburgh Festival Fringe was founded under the name
"Festival Adjuncts", in 1947.
The fringe movement in Britain has been said to start in the 1960s, similar to the United States'
Off-Off-Broadway theatres and Europe's "free theatre" groups. The term came into use in the late 1950s, and the show ''
Beyond the Fringe'' premiered in Edinburgh in 1960, before transferring to
Broadway and is the
West End. One of the early innovators in fringe theatre was an American bookseller,
James Haynes, who in 1963 created the
Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh. Also noted in this period is the
La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club,
Jerzy Grotowski
Jerzy Marian Grotowski (; 11 August 1933 – 14 January 1999) was a Polish theatre director and theorist whose innovative approaches to acting, training and theatrical production have significantly influenced theatre today.
He was born in Rze ...
's Theatre of 13 Rows, and
Józef Szajna's Studio Theatre in Warsaw.
The
Adelaide Fringe
The Adelaide Fringe, formerly Adelaide Fringe Festival, is the world's second-largest annual arts festival (after the Edinburgh Festival Fringe), held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Between mid-February and mid-March each year, ...
in
Adelaide
Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...
, South Australia, now second-largest annual arts festival in the world (after Edinburgh Fringe), started in 1960 as an adjunct to the main
Adelaide Festival of Arts.
Haynes, while at the helm of the Traverse, was receiving state support and even got a new theatre in 1969. In 1969, Haynes created the
Arts Lab in London, but it only lasted for two years.
Peter Brook along with another American
Charles Marowitz opened the
Open Space Theatre on
Tottenham Court Road in London in 1968. Young British writers, after the
May 1968 events in France, wrote
agitprop
Agitprop (; from rus, агитпроп, r=agitpróp, portmanteau of ''agitatsiya'', "agitation" and ''propaganda'', " propaganda") refers to an intentional, vigorous promulgation of ideas. The term originated in Soviet Russia where it referred ...
plays, including
David Hare,
Howard Brenton,
David Edgar.
Meanwhile, in the United States, experimental theatre was growing due to the political protest of the
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...
.
The Living Theatre
The Living Theatre is an American theatre company founded in 1947 and based in New York City. It is the oldest experimental theatre group in the United States. For most of its history it was led by its founders, actress Judith Malina and painter ...
, founded by
Julian Beck
Julian Beck (May 31, 1925 – September 14, 1985) was an American actor, stage director, poet, and painter. He is best known for co-founding and directing The Living Theatre, as well as his role as Reverend Henry Kane, the malevolent preacher ...
, is considered the leader of the "
flower power" and "hippie" movement.
By the early 1970s, many fringe theatres began to receive small subsidies. After the
1973–74 stock market crash, many fringe companies were forced to close. New playwrights were established at the
Bush Theatre and
King's Head Theatre
The King's Head Theatre, founded in 1970 by Dan Crawford, is an off-West End venue in London. It is the second oldest operating pub theatre in the UK. In 2021, Mark Ravenhill became Artistic Director and the theatre focusses on producing LGBT ...
, both of whom survived the crash.
7:84 and
Red Ladder Theatre Company were some of the surviving touring fringe groups.
Fringe theatres were attractive to people in the 1960s due to their adventurousness but became less wild in the 1970s while the standards of production rose.
In 1982, the first fringe festival in North America was started in Edmonton, Alberta. It was then a theatre component of the larger Summerfest but evolved to become a stand-alone event, the
Edmonton International Fringe Festival, one of the largest annual arts events in Canada and still the largest fringe in North America by attendance. The oldest fringe festival in the United States is Orlando, FL, founded in 1992. There are more fringe festivals in North America than any other continent.
Festival organization
One distinction between fringe festivals and conventional
arts festival
An arts festival is a festival that can encompass a wide range of art forms including music, dance, film, fine art, literature, poetry and isn't solely focused on visual arts. Arts festivals may feature a mixed program that include music, lit ...
s is the method used to choose participants. Typically, conventional festivals use a jury selection process, whereas many fringe festivals do not use a jury process in their selection criteria, hence the descriptor
unjuried
{{unreferenced, date=May 2010
An unjuried or open access art exhibition or festival is one where all submissions are accepted. Within theater, it is often referred to as a fringe festival, following the unjuried Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Histo ...
or open-access. There are exceptions to this; some fringe festivals (e.g.,
New York International Fringe Festival) do employ a jury-based selection process.
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, though some festivals have children's areas with appropriate content limitations. Festivals may have too many applicants for the number of available spaces; in this case, applicants are chosen based on an unrelated criterion, such as order of application or a random draw.
The number of performances varies among different fringe festivals. Larger festivals may have thousands of performances (e.g., Edinburgh's 2013 festival had 45,464 performances).
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. The organising group and/or the venues often rely on a large pool of volunteers.
Ticket pricing varies between festivals. At UK fringe festivals, groups can decide their own ticket prices, and some sell tickets at fixed rates in one or two tiers, or in groups of 5 or 10.
Although it is unusual for the organising group to choose any winners of the festival, other organisations often make their own judgements of festival entries
. Productions can be reviewed by newspapers or publications specific to the festival, and awards may be given by certain organisations. Awards or favourable reviews can increase the tickets sales of productions or lead to extra dates being added .
Elements of a typical production
The limitations and opportunities that the fringe festival format presents lead to some common features.
Shows are not judged or juried. Depending on the popularity, some fringe festivals may use a lottery system to determine which shows are selected.
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 may be adapted from other uses.
Casts tend to be smaller than mainstream theatre; since many of the performing groups are traveling, 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 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.
Performers sometimes
billet in the homes of local residents, further reducing their costs.
List of fringe festivals
;North America
*
Asheville Fringe Festival — Asheville, NC
*
Atlanta Fringe Festival — Atlanta, GA
*
Atlantic Fringe Festival — Halifax, NS
*
Boulder International Fringe Festival - Boulder, CO
*
Calgary Fringe Festival — Calgary, AB
*
Capital Fringe Festival — Washington, DC
*
Charm City Fringe Festival — Baltimore, MD
*
Chicago Fringe Festival — Chicago, IL
*
Cincinnati Fringe Festival — Cincinnati, OH
Denver Fringe Festival— Denver, CO
*
Edmonton International Fringe Festival — Edmonton, AB
*
Elgin Fringe Festival — Elgin, IL
*
FringePVD — Providence, RI
*
Hamilton Fringe Festival — Hamilton, ON
*
Hollywood Fringe Festival — Los Angeles, CA
*
Festival St-Ambroise Fringe de Montréal — Montréal, QC
*
FRIGID New York — New York, NY
Fundy Fringe Festival— Saint John, NB
*
Indianapolis Theatre Fringe Festival — Indianapolis, IN
*
Island Fringe Festival — Charlottetown, PE
*
Kansas City Fringe - Kansas City, MO
*
London Fringe Theatre Festival (Ontario) — London, ON
*
Minnesota Fringe Festival — Minneapolis, MN
*
Maui Fringe Festival — Wailuku, HI
*
New Orleans Fringe - New Orleans, LA
*
New York International Fringe Festival — New York, NY
*
O'ahu Fringe Festival — Honolulu, HI
*
On the Edge Fringe Festival — North Bay, ON
*
Orlando International Fringe Theater Festival
The Orlando International Fringe Theatre Festival is a 14-day annual arts festival held during the month of May in Orlando, Florida. The festival includes theater, music, dance, and art. It was one of the first American Fringe Festivals and has no ...
— Orlando, FL
*
Ottawa Fringe Festival
The Ottawa Fringe Festival is an annual fringe theatre festival in Ottawa. The festival was inaugurated in 1997. The festival takes place for ten days each June. Performances are held indoors and out.
Performance spaces
Performances all take pla ...
— Ottawa, ON
Philadelphia Fringe Festival- Philadelphia, PA
*
PortFringe - Maine’s Fringe Festival - Portland, ME
* Rhinoceros Theater Festival --- Chicago, IL
*
Rochester Fringe Festival — Rochester, NY
*
Rogue Festival — Fresno, CA
*
San Diego International Fringe Festival — San Diego, CA
*
San Francisco Fringe Festival — San Francisco, CA
*
Saskatoon Fringe Theatre Festival
The newly named Nutrien Fringe Theatre Festival is an annual fringe theatre festival in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. A fringe festival is not censored, and not juried, provides live theatre inexpensively, and a public busking forum for mu ...
— Saskatoon, SK
*
St. Lou Fringe Festival — St. Louis, MO
*
Sault Ste. Marie Fringe North International Fringe Festival — Sault Ste. Marie, ON
*
Theatre Crude Fringe Festival — Oklahoma City, OK http://www.theatrecrude.org/
*
Time-Based Art Festival — Portland, OR
*
Toronto Fringe Festival — Toronto, ON
*
Tucson Fringe Festival - Tucson, AZ
*
Vancouver Fringe Festival — Vancouver, BC
*
Victoria Fringe Theatre Festival
*
Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival
The Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival is an alternative theatre festival held each year for twelve days in July in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
History
Founded in 1988 by the Manitoba Theatre Centre with Larry Desrochers as the first Executive ...
— Winnipeg, MB
;Europe
*
Amsterdam Fringe Festival
*
Bath Fringe Festival
The Bath Fringe Festival is an annual art festival, held in Bath, England.
Bath Fringe was founded in 1981 as a counterbalance to the 'classical'-dominated Bath Music Festival, which some people perceived to be elitist and out-of-touch with w ...
*
Brighton Festival Fringe
*
Budapest Fringe Festival
*
Buffer Fringe Festival,
Nicosia, Cyprus
*
Buxton Festival Fringe
*
Copenhagen Fringe Festival
*
Dublin Fringe Festival
*
Durham Fringe Festival
*
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
FringeMi Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...
, Italy
*
Lahti Fringe Festival,
Lahti
Lahti (; sv, Lahtis) is a city and municipality in Finland. It is the capital of the region of Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme) and its growing region is one of the main economic hubs of Finland. Lahti is situated on a bay at the southern e ...
, Finland
*
Limerick Fringe
*
London Festival Fringe
*
Ludlow Fringe Festival -
Ludlow, England
*
Malvern Fringe Festival - Malvern, England
*
Paris Fringe Festival
*
Prague Fringe Festival
*
Reading Fringe Festival
*
Windsor Fringe Festival
* Sibiu Fringe Festival, Romania
*
Shaftesbury Fringe Festival
*
Southside Fringe Festival -
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popu ...
, Scotland
*
Stockholm Fringe Festival -
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...
, Sweden
*
Gothenburg Fringe Festival -
Gothenburg
Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...
, Sweden
*
Fringe by the Sea -
North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland
*
Ventnor Fringe -
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Is ...
UK
;Asia
*
Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre
*
Butterworth Fringe Festival
*
Manila Fringe Festival
*
M1 Singapore Fringe Festival
*
Shenzhen Fringe Festival
*
Rainforest Fringe Festival
;Australia
*
Adelaide Fringe
The Adelaide Fringe, formerly Adelaide Fringe Festival, is the world's second-largest annual arts festival (after the Edinburgh Festival Fringe), held in the South Australian capital of Adelaide. Between mid-February and mid-March each year, ...
, South Australia
*
Anywhere Theatre Festival (Brisbane)
Anywhere Festival is an annual Brisbane based festival for performance anywhere but traditional theatre spaces. The first anywhere-but-in-a-traditional-theatre concept was brought to Brisbane in 2011 by creative director Paul Osuch and his part ...
*
Fringe World,
Perth
Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...
*
Melbourne Fringe Festival
The Melbourne Fringe Festival is an annual independent arts festival in Melbourne, Australia, usually over three weeks from late September to early October. Held since 1982, the Festival includes a wide variety of art forms, including theatre, com ...
*
The Sydney Fringe
*
Electrofringe
;New Zealand
*
New Zealand Fringe Festival
The New Zealand Fringe Festival is an open access arts festival in Wellington, New Zealand held over several weeks in February and March each year. The 2020 programme marked the festival's 30th anniversary.
Background
The festival was establish ...
*
Dunedin Fringe Festival
*
Nelson Fringe Festival
*
Couch Soup Fringe Festival
;Africa
*
National Arts Festival - Grahamstown, South Africa
See also
*
Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals
*
Experimental theatre
Experimental theatre (also known as avant-garde theatre), inspired largely by Wagner's concept of Gesamtkunstwerk, began in Western theatre in the late 19th century with Alfred Jarry and his Ubu plays as a rejection of both the age in particul ...
References
External links
World Fringe
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fringe Theatre
Fringe festivals
Theatre in London
Theatrical genres