The Vancouver Fringe Festival kicked off on September 9th as British Columbia’s largest theatre festival got underway. More than 400 performances will take part over 11 days at various venues across Granville Island, including Granville Island Stage, Performance Works, and the Waterfront Theatre.
It’s the 25th anniversary of the Vancouver Fringe Fest – the first year, the festival took place in the Mount Pleasant parking lot, and today, it boasts over 65 participating groups on six main stages. Performances on the 2009 program include acts by theatre companies like Nobody Sleeps Theatre Group, the Illustrious Theatre Company, Attunement Productions, Spontania Productions, Theatre ABC, and Ramshackle Theatre. It follows a BYOV principle (Bring Your Own Venue), which means that participants can put on their shows at any venue, even those that the Festival haven’t officially “deemed” performances places.
The term ”fringe” first arose in 1948 when Robert Kemp, a Scottish playwright, used the word to describe unofficial companies performing at the same time. International Fringe Festivals now take place across the globe, with the largest being held in Edinburgh, Scotland, where Fringe Fests originated, and Adelaide, Australia. However, Canada has the most fringe festivals per capita, and they’re held everywhere in the country, including Calgary, Hamilton, London, Edmonton (which is the biggest fest in Canada), Montreal, Ottawa, Saskatoon, Winnipeg and Victoria.
The “rules” of a fringe fest are adhered to by most participating cities: ticket prices should be kept relatively inexpensive and all the earnings should go to the performers, participants are chosen on a first-come, first-serve basis, and no censorships are applied.
The Vancouver Fringe Festival takes place from September 9-20. Visit www.vancouverfringe.com for more info. It’s Canada’s last fringe fest of the summer, so be sure to check it out.
