Countdown to the Melbourne Fringe Festival

 The Melbourne Fringe launched its 29th program this week and the countdown begins to the 19-day celebration of independent, feisty and don’t-take-your-nanna art.

The Melbourne Fringe launched its 29th program this week and the countdown begins to the 19-day celebration of independent, feisty and don’t-take-your-nanna art.
Running from 21 September to 9 October, this year’s program is as diverse as ever with over 320 events including theatre, cabaret, circus, comedy, mime, dance, music, puppetry and visual art.
Choosing what shows to see remains a challenging and difficult task.  Fringes are open access events. This means that anyone who pays the registration fee can put on a show. 
For audiences, this means that we can see the newest and most experimental work from established artists or sit through something that may convince the artist that a life in the theatre isn’t as easy as it looks.
Fringe is risk, and it’s a risk always worth taking because the next show you see may be sublime, which will make up for the one that left you writing your will on your program because you didn’t think you were going to make it out alive.
If you don’t like what you see, please remember that no one is being paid to entertain you, so the only way these artists get beer at the end of each show is if we buy tickets to see them. Sure you might get a dud, but tickets are about the same cost of a movie and even bad theatre is better than an Australian film about beautiful druggies in the Cross.
What to see?
Every registered act has 50 words to convince you of their wonderfulness. You can read this in the printed guide (all over place), on line (www.melbournefringe.com.au) or download the app. Some will tell the truth, but beware of false promises, and it’s been known for entrepreneurial writes to use their mum’s “Most talented individual ever” as a review quote.
You can wait for the event to start and read reviews (and the AussieTheatre.com team will be there), but I wouldn’t trust anyone else’s opinion to choose my festival program.
See whatever takes your fancy. Choose the best picture in the guide. Choose the shows nearest to your tram stop or just head out to the Fringe Hub at the Melbourne Town Hall and see whatever is about to start.
You might strike gold and even if it wasn’t a show that changes your life, at least you know that your ticket will give an artist their much-needed end-of-night beer.

2011 Fringe Launch. Photo courtesy of Melbourne Fringe.