The London Fringe Theatre Festival is a Canadian annual

fringe theatre Fringe theatre is theatre 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 Fr ...

and related arts

festival A festival is an event ordinarily celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, mela, or eid. A festival c ...

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximat ...

. It is credited with triggering a resurgence in local playwriting and performance after the

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO), also known as Western University or Western, is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames R ...

cancelled its

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has b ...

program. The first festival was presented in 2000, comprising 28 local, national, and international productions over a ten-day schedule. Prior to 2009 it began on the

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions out ...

Civic holiday Civic is something related to a city or municipality. It also can refer to multiple other things: General * Civics, the science of comparative government * Civic engagement, the connection one feels with their larger community * Civic center, a c ...

weekend, but was moved to the beginning of June to take advantage of the east-to-west circuit of the

Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals The Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals (CAFF) is an international body that promotes and safeguards the ideals and principles of fringe theatre in North America. History The 1982 Edmonton International Fringe Festival, modelled after the Edin ...

. By 2019, under the direction of executive producer and co-founder Kathy Navackas, the festival had grown to host over 50 productions and workshops. The London Fringe Festival organization also sponsored and supported theatre- and arts-related events throughout the year, including a

Nuit Blanche Nuit Blanche () (White Night) is an annual all-night or night-time arts festival of a city. A Nuit Blanche typically has museums, private and public art galleries, and other cultural institutions open and free of charge, with the centre of the ...

event and The Lost Soul Stroll, a historical

ghost tour A ghost is the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that is believed to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely from an invisible presence to translucent or barely visible wispy shapes, to rea ...

. In 2020 the organization joined with London Community Players to form the Palace Theatre Arts Commons. After dismissing Navackas and its other staff, the Palace Theatre presented a small "Fringe Binge" festival in September 2021 featuring only three productions, chosen from local companies, and four curated musical acts.

References

{{Fringe festivals in North America Theatre festivals in Ontario Festivals in London, Ontario Fringe festivals in Canada Festivals established in 2000 2000 establishments in Ontario