Adelaide Fringe 2016
February 12 - March 14 2016
by Peter Wilkins
It’s time to take a walk on the
wild side. The 2016 Adelaide Fringe Festival is set to burst onto
the streets of Adelaide in a kaleidoscopic display of theatre, dance, film,
comedy, digital media, music, cabaret and much, much more. For the first two
weeks of the Fringe, the cultural institutions along North Terrace will be splayed
with colour in a Fringe first, Fringe
Illuminations. Fringe-goers will
also have a plethora of free events to make their Fringe Experience one of the
biggest and the best in the Southern Hemisphere. Apart from the Fringe illuminations available to all
who wander along North terrace on a balmy Adelaide night, there will be Kaurna Palti in Elder Park. This very special
ceremony will invite all to pay respect to the land, the river and the people of the past
today with the Paitaya Dance Group in Tindo Yolurendee, a Sunrise Ceremony ,
led by Senior Custodian of Ceremony, ‘Winda’ Telfer. A stroll down Rundle Mall
in the heart of the CBD will offer festival enthusiasts a smorgasbord of
entertainment. Further down the mall, you will come across Hybocozo, a
collection of brilliantly worked dodecahedron sculptures, illuminating the Mall
and lighting up your mind. The Opening Weekend on February 13th. Will
delight with even more free events, such as the Friday night Street
Parties and the huge Saturday Night
Fringe Parade with 80 floats, 1,500 artists and a pumping soundtrack by DJ
TRIP.
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| Heather Croall. Director and Chief Executive of Adelaide Fringe 2016 |
At a time when Adelaide has
something for everyone with the Adelaide Fringe, the Adelaide Festival,
including Writers Week, and WOMAD, any visitor to Adelaide can gorge themselves
on a cultural gran bouffe. Adelaide Fringe is the banquet feast for everyone.
The statistics are staggering. There will be 1100 events, which is a new record
for the Fringe that started as a modest sideshow to the Adelaide Festival of
Arts 56 years ago. Now it is the largest event of its kind in the Southern
Hemisphere and the second largest after the Edinburgh Fringe. 5000 artists,
presenting every possible artform including 228 music events, 24 interactive
events, 112 cabaret shows, 35 circus and physical theatre events,32 dance shows,
nine film and digital events151 theatre productions, 11 art and design
exhibitions 58 children’s events and 45 special events. Magic and Interactive Experience
will be two new genres in the 2016 Fringe and the Youth Education Programme
(YEP) will be revived to provide suitably curated shows for performance in
schools.
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| Delia Olam as Thirih in "Just let the wind untie my perfumed hair "Or Who Is Tahirih?" |
With such a vast array of
performances and events available to the Fringe-goer, one can imagine that
venues across the city will be at a premium. Some are familiar like the colourful
Garden of Unearthly Delights, Holden Hill Theatres, the Tuxedo Cat. La
Boehme, the Royal Croquet Club, Tandanya Aboriginal Arts Institute, Gluttony,
the Queens Theatre and the Lion Arts Centre. Others are tucked away in
alleyways, upstairs in pubs, and any space that a performer may be able to find
across the width and breadth of the city. The 145 page guide will astound and
amaze, but don’t be frightened. Years of experience have made it a navigable
adventure. You can also plan ahead, buy tickets and access the digital guide
online at adelaidefringe.com.au
It all promises to be a wild
ride. At the helm of her first Fringe, Artistic Director and CEO, Heather
Croall invites people to take risks. “Don’t play it safe – walk on the wild
side. Brave artists deserve brave audiences, so hold hands and leap into the
unknown.” It is a sentiment echoed by
this year’s Fringe Ambassador, the outrageously unique Julian Clary. As he
says, “My motto – in life and at the Fringe – is to take some risks. I’m all
for sticking a pin in the program and going to see something random and
obscure. You might love it or hate it ,but you’ll have something to tell your
friends about while you’re prodding the sausages on the barbie.”
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| Street Theatre in the Mall |
It is a message echoed by a long line
of past Fringe directors, each urging
visitors to this brilliant community event to take the risk, try something new
and experience works from all over Australia, South East Asia, America and
Europe. With so many shows to choose from, there is sure to be that pearl
within the oyster that one day will be a household name or launch a renowned
artist or production or event, and you will be able to say, “I experienced that
first at the Adelaide Fringe. “I’m thrilled to see the diversity in the 2016 Adelaide
Fringe” Croall says,. “ I encourage everyone to get out and get amongst it all.”
Whether your taste is theatre or
music, cabaret or comedy, circus, galleries or simply hanging out and savouring
the amazing atmosphere or crowds flocking to the Garden of Unearthly Delights
or taking a casual walk past the North Terrace illuminations, rushing from one
thing to another or simply sitting at a sidewalk table and enjoying the
fabulous food that Adelaide has to offer, the Adelaide Fringe will not
disappoint.
A walk down Rundle Mall and into
the East End of Adelaide on any evening of the Fringe will reveal a city
exploding with activity. There is a buzz that the Minister for the Arts, Jack
Snelling, recognizes when he says, “It really is a true people’s festival.”
Each year I jostle and bustle through the crowds, surging into the Garden of
Unearthly Delights , lining up at popular shows vying for the Fringe Awards, or
taking a break with friends for a bite to eat before heading off for an unknown
performance in an obscure performance space. This is the Adelaide Fringe and
there is no other like it. After all, how many other festivals would invite you
to risk all and take a walk on the wild side?
Adelaide Fringe 2016
For further information and bookings go to www.adeliadefringe.com.au
