What runs for three weeks, is guaranteed to piss people off, to make them laugh and think, and features thousands of performers from around the world? The Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Originally conceived as an alternate theatre festival, it now includes representatives from all areas of the performance arts. This year’s festival is composed of around 50% theatre, with the balance made up from comics, dance, and music.
In 1947, the Edinburgh Festival was established as a means of reuniting Europe through culture. With hopes of cashing in on the attendant publicity and press, six Scottish and two English theatre companies showed up uninvited. Thus the alternate festival was born on the “fringes” of the official event.
Now fifty-eight years old, it’s no longer as fly-by-night, but performances still happen in the unlikeliest of places. Bars, church basements, high school auditoriums, the street and, even the occasional theatre have all hosted Fringe events. Sometimes content and location meet in a jarring fashion forcing a quick rescheduling of venues; Lady Chatterley’s Lover was considered a little too risqué for the basement of a Catholic Church.
Until 1968, all scripts to be performed had to be approved by the Lord Chamberlain’s office, to assure these outsiders did not cross the boundaries of moral decency. Even this protective measure hasn’t prevented attempts by outside agencies to ban productions. From the police, to trade unions, and church groups, they have all had a go at stopping shows. As is the case, the most effective means of censorship is staying away from a performance.
I’m sure that a lot of you are wondering, what exactly is "fringe" theatre? What seems like a straightforward question has a fair number of answers. If it is considered to be on the outskirts of what is considered "normal" theatre, then it obviously changes with the times. Less then two hundred years ago Opera as we know it today was considered revolutionary and fringe, with performances being banned because they caused riots or incited dissension.
Content that would have been found offensive or subversive twenty to thirty years ago is now perfectly acceptable, but the “fringe” movement maintains its momentum and continues to expand. What then keeps audiences and performers attending and creating for Fringe Festivals around the world? What makes it so unique?
Having been involved with the operation of a short-lived fringe theatre festival, and from working on the fringes of Canadian theatre for ten years, I have formulated a couple of opinions about its ongoing attraction to audiences and performers.
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