TALKING THROUGH YOUR ARTS – FRINGE FAST IS OVER
“Leftovers” are what remains after everyone has consumed as much as he or she can eat. This is the extra tastings that may be warmed up, perhaps spiced up as well. Served up another day or way.
A course of rebellious or cultured things will be plated at Sydney Fringe in September, whetting the appetites for a live and writhing audience.
The Sydney Fringe has not been an easy menu to compile, as an independent festival that seeks to employ a different, ageless, perhaps orgiastic rites of culture and showmanship of the present times, it is a drifting spectacle competing for a slice of the entertainment pie. Shifting managerial structures and the movement of two artistic directors and general managers in four years of operations has made for a hard chew.
Kris Stewart in 2010, is now Director of the Brisbane Powerhouse, Richard Hull in 2011 who is now Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of Flying Fruit Fly Circus. Lew Palaitis recently stepped down as General Manager after taking on two hats; replacing Meryl Rogers in 2012 and the dissolving role of Hull. Palaitis further stabilised the Sydney Fringe by diversifying its reach and securing offices at Eliza Street in Newtown.
Despite the high turnover of administrative talent the Sydney Fringe continues to forge new home-grown recipes ripe for the picking. These sections are comprised of stories and other oddities that have been leftover from those creating. Mainly tales of fact and fancy that don’t fit more clearly defined categories, or crossed too many boundaries to be stuck under one or another of them. However, there are 11 program areas with performance being the main and comedy being the most featured ingredient of 120 morsels being staged.
An ever-growing visual art section takes in a curated Fringe exhibition at the Italian Forum, the inaugural Print Council of Australia Print Commission that will feature artists from across Australia with workshops at Art Est; an underrepresented Sydney artist exhibition, and the popular light installation evening of projections and colour, In the Night Garden at Tortuga Studios.
All manner of animal and vegetable matter will be fermented on its way to be called entertainment. Fermentation plays a significant role in our world’s cultural intake, while at the same time producing new and odd art to digest. (AS)
Sep 6-29, Various Sydney venues, Various prices, sydneyfringe.com
BY ANGELA STRETCH
