The mercury creeps slowly over
the 46 degree mark and Adelaide swelters in an extreme heatwave that makes it
on this hot Summer’s day the hottest
city in the world. It is little wonder that Adelaide Fringe director, Greg
Clarke, is late for our interview. The city is moving slowly in the searing
heat and Clarke apologizes profusely when he actually answers my second call.
From February 14 to March 16,
Adelaide will again be the hottest city to visit in Australia, but for a very
different reason. For four weeks of the
year the city experiences a cultural explosion like no other. Around Adelaide’s
Festival Centre on the banks of the River Torrens, the Adelaide Festival of
Arts attracts some of the world’s most remarkable artists to provide an
international feast of music, theatre and dance. In the parkland behind the
city’s charming Botanic Gardens, WOMAD echoes to the rhythms and sounds of the
very best in world music. Throughout the city’s CBD and reaching out to the
regions, the Adelaide Fringe brings its unique community based open access
festival to the people of Adelaide.
2014 marks Clarke’s fourth
Adelaide Fringe, and I ask him what excites him most about this year’s
festival.
“What’s got me excited about this
Fringe is the actual diversity and growth and spread of the event.” he says.
“We’ve always tried to promote the whole city, but this year we’ve also got to
talk to a lot of the regions and councils such as the Barossa Valley. Salisbury
Council have paid for the registration of all the artists in the Salisbury area
and have created a Fringe venue out there called The Secret Garden Party in the Turkey Flat Vineyards in Tanunda.
It’s not just local artists taking part but some of the main artists such as
Mary Tobin who brings out a lot of the big comedians. We’ve just really started to see the Fringe
begin to spread throughout the whole of the State.”
From Port Augusta in the north to
Goolwa in the South, the Fringe comes alive with local, national and
international events that breathe new life into the cultural life of the
community.
During discussions with the Unley
City Council, situated outside the parkland belt of Adelaide, Clarke asked what
they felt was special about Unley. “The amount of coffee shops.” they replied.
“people in Unley love their coffee.” Double Shot, the Unley Coffee Fiesta,
will be staged in the Soldier’s Memorial Garden throughout the Fringe and
Fringe goers are invited to “bring your family and friends and celebrate all
things coffee – entertainment, coffee sampling and great food.
I ask Clarke why he thinks that
the regions have so eagerly responded to his invitation to participate in the
Fringe this year.
“I think it’s just because the
event is so popular,” he says, “ and
well-loved here by so many people. It is the kind of event that lends itself to
feeling that anyone can be in. So if you can get that message out there.. all
of these councils have arts officers and they all put on events and what better
time to run an event than do it during the Fringe? They have also seen the
great work that the Adelaide City Council has been doing and they want to be a
part of the Fringe.”
The main focus of the Fringe will
naturally remain in the CBD, but Clarke’s dream of reaching out to the regions
has become a reality and as he says “It’s not just the city anymore. The Fringe
is everywhere for everyone.”
The redevelopment of Adelaide
Victoria Square by the Adelaide City Council provides another innovative
opportunity for Clarke’s imaginative vision. A look at the city’s map revealed
21 venues in the region of the square. If they could erect a new venue in the
square, that could become the focus for major fringe events. The result is the
Big Square Hub with buses running from the East End to the Royal Croquet Club,
where South Australia’s amazing young circus performers Gravity and Other Myths
in association with Aurora Nova Productions will perform their A Simple Space that played to sell-out
audiences at the Edinburgh Festival. After the show, audiences will be able to
remain and play a game of croquet.
Clarke is also excited by the
increase in Music events. From opera to classical music to jazz and rock and
music cabaret, musicians will provide programmes that now rival the popular
comedy offerings in the Fringe. In the past, the Fringe has been criticized for
leaning too much towards a Comedy Festival. This year, Clarke has redressed
that. Not only is there a more abundant diet of music, but theatre too has
gained further prominence with the registration of many independent theatre .companies
from across the nation and overseas. The ACT is represented by Spread the Wyrd
Theatre with their show The Black Cat-
The Small World of Aristide Bruant and the very quirky Sparrow Folk comedy
cabaret duo with Nested Confessions .
Clarke has a history of seeking
to create large scale events for the community. In New York he introduced a
programme of discos, and prior to becoming director of the Fringe, Clarke would
oversee large community events for the Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority. “I
truly believe in creating those special free events, creating something that
everyone can come to and increasng the buzz of the festival.”
This year Clarke has introduced
the Disco Cuttlefish.
“ I wanted to create a giant
creature that needed to be full of colour
and unique to South Australia.” Clarke says. “Sydney Festival may have its
Yellow Duck, but Adelaide Fringe has its giant Disco Cuttlefish. We’re building a 15 metre giant cuttlefish,
unique to South Australia. There are 60,000 of them and they come together once
a year to mate and when they mate they turn into strobe disco machines and
change colour with all this amazing light and sound and we’ve called it the Disco Cuttlefish. Its tentacles move
like a giant puppet. We’ve created a dance piece called The Cuttlefish that goes with it. The cuttlefish will appear every
Saturday night at 9.30 in Rundle Street and everyone can take part. There will
be a performance piece as a curtain raiser and then it’s time for everyone
there to join in the Cuttlefish to the Fame
soundtrack.”
Clarke’s excitement bristles down
the phone line. His fourth Fringe is only a matter of weeks away and already he
bathes in the success of increased statistics in attendances, ticket sales and
events. His great challenge for 2015 is to encourage greater participation and
audience attendances from interstate. A glance at the comprehensive coloured
Fringe Guide reveals artists from all corners of the globe, but Clarke would
like to see more visitors from wider afield enjoying the second largest Fringe
Festival in the world.
Because the Fringe is Open
Access, even I could be in the Fringe if I want to.” says Clarke. In fact
Clarke is exhibiting his street photography along with the figurative paintings
of artist Louise Vadasz in the State Library of South Australia over the
duration of the Fringe. 18 photographs of street scenes, taken during his
travels through Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam and South Korea will be exhibited
under the title of Alter /Flock.
Images abound of a flock of birds
changing flight to discover new directions, carried aloft by the winds of
change. It could well be a metaphor for Clarke’s flight during the past four
years to bring the Fringe to new heights and take audiences and participants on
exciting new paths of discovery.
“I think the programme is really
exciting.” Clarke concludes. “Because anyone can register, and this is a
non-curated festival, I haven’t seen a lot of the work, but when you read the
guide, you go ‘Wow!
The traditional Fringe favourites
will also be there to entertain and entice. The city will burst into life with
the opening Fringe Parade. Visitors can take in the many offerings of the
Garden of Unearthly Delights and there will be free entertainment during the
Fringe Street Theatre Festival and the indigenous Spirit Festival at Tandanya,
home to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander events.
“This will be the year of
discovering new names and exciting new works.” Clarke says. “There are some
great shows in there.”
Adelaide Fringe 2014
February 14 – March 16
For further information and the
Fringe Guide go to: