Vancouver Fringe Festival celebrates 30th year

VANCOUVER — The idea started all the way over in Edinburgh. In 1948, artists that weren’t allowed to participate in the renown Edinburgh Art Festival started doing their own thing outside of it. A playwright, Robert Kemp wrote that what was happening “round the fringe” of the festival was more exciting than the shows inside.

Fast-forward 60-plus years, and the Vancouver Fringe Festival is celebrating its 30th Anniversary, with 91 different live-theatre shows, as well as free performances and parties at venues on Granville Island – where the festival is centered, as well as The Cultch, the Firehall Arts Centre, Havana and other spots around the city.

The mix of professional and completely amateur artists is what makes the theatre festival different from others in the performing arts, according to executive director David Jordan.

“Everyone is welcome,” Jordan told Global News, explaining Vancouver’s reincarnation of the Fringe has always embraced that basic tenet. In November, over 200 performers put their names into a hat for the 50 Fringe Festival show spots, says Jordan. Their names were drawn in December, and since then the performers, writers, producers, puppeteers, actresses, actors, singers and costumers have been working on their productions. In addition to the Fringe spots, performers are also invited to contribute to the festival through the “Bring Your Own Venue” option, in which they find their own spaces to host their productions.

Since the organizers don’t get to see the shows until the festival starts, Jordan likens it to Christmas morning. “We get to open our presents,” he laughs.

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But what also differentiates Fringe from other theatre, is the intensely social atmosphere, he says. Anyone who has been on Granville Island during the past two days, since the Festival opened on September 2, will have noticed the influx of characters streaming about, “flyering” the lines and talking up their individual shows to their prospective audiences. In short, they’re the best self-promoters in the city.

One such character is Andrew Wade, or the Mad Hatter, who wrote, produced and is performing in his Fringe show, “The Hatter.” This is Wade’s 11th Fringe, having attended festivals in cities across Canada since graduating from the University of Victoria three years ago. His show tells the story of someone trying to get home, and portrays a mix of characters dealing with issues such as control and anger, he says.

It was inspired by a moment in high school, when someone in Wade’s math class stole his lunch and threatened to cut his mole. “Without thought or choice, I grabbed the person by the throat and shoved them into the chair,” he explained. “No one was more horrified than me…my character in The Hatter is about exploring an individual who loses control like that, and the consequences.”

Jordan says the personal monologue, or bringing real-life experience to the stage is typical of the Fringe Festival. “We get to share our stories with people, there’s nothing better,” Wade told Global News.

And stories there are. For first-time fringers, Jordan recommends going with a friend and talking to people around the festival. The real trick, is to meet some of the super-fans who see more than 40 shows during the 11-day festival and getting their advice. “Find them, meet them in line-ups, dive-in and meet some people,” he suggests. And if the first show isn’t to your taste, try again. “There so much at the festival!”

As for Jordan’s picks, he says he tries not to recommend any show twice, but for tomorrow says Mom? – a physical comedy and clown show, A Mind Full of Dopamine, a solo piece about addiction, Dirty Old Woman, which was written by an experienced playwright featuring an older woman interested in a younger man, and The Emergency Monologues, real life stories from an emergency paramedic, are all interesting productions.

For more information on the Vancouver Fringe Festival and productions, check out the website or go visit the festival booth in-person on Granville Island. It runs until September 14.