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Arts Alert Monday, July 10 by Cathleen Bond
Life on the Fringe However the Fringe is also one of the most fecund
breeding grounds for theatrical innovation and is firmly rooted in historical
tradition. The first Fringe in Canada was established in Edmonton in 1982.
They borrowed a formula from the Edinburgh Fringe Festival which began 50
years earlier. "The main principles that were the basis of creating the
Fringe were to provide all artists, emerging and established, with the
opportunity to produce their play no matter the content, form or style, and
to make the event as affordable and accessible as possible for the members of
the community."
The success of the Edmonton Fringe soon led "to the creation of Fringe
Festivals right across Canada and the United States with each festival having
their own unique and distinctive flavor yet all dedicated to the Fringe
philosophy of accessible, inexpensive and fun theatre-going." Well now it's
time to do the Fringe in Toronto. There are over 725 performances playing at
nine venues in the city. And if you can't make Toronto's Fringe, here are the
dates of Fringe Festivals from across the country for the next couple of
months.
Toronto Fringe Festival
Winnipeg Fringe Theatre Festival
Thunder Bay Fringe Festival
Saskatoon Fringe Festival
Lloydminster Fringe Festival
London Fringe Festival
Edmonton Fringe Festival
Prince George Fringe Festival
Victoria Fringe Festival
The Calgary Fringe Festival
Atlantic Fringe Festival
Vancouver Fringe Festival
Hot Fun at the Cottage
Huntsville Festival of the Arts
Fine Tuning
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Toronto's Fringe Festival is now underway. For those of you who have attended the Fringe you know the drill. It's wild, wacky, often dramatically demanding, fabulously funny, frequently frightening and, yep, even sometimes
downright embarrassing.
The Edmonton Fringe was an incredible success, and became a theatrical
extravaganza containing everything from "clowns to multi-media artists."
Everyone could afford to go. And it was the audience and not the almighty
critics who decided if the performance was good or not. Sounds a bit like the
old days doesn't it? If you act tanked, you got pelted with rotted fruit. And
if you delighted, out came bouquets of roses and incredible acclaim.
Twenty clicks through Canadian
culture: Test your memory, from Anne of Green Gables to Shift.