With the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in full swing, and Fringe festivals in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane drawing closer (all largely back to full health following years of COVID disruption), audiences can again expect an almost overwhelming array of music, comedy, theatre, cabaret and dance – not to mention an array of shows spanning these and other genres.
For many performers both established and emerging, the Fringe festival circuit is a vital part of their touring calendar. Weimar punk cabaret performer Bernie Dieter cut her teeth at these events and is bringing her Bernie Dieter’s Club Kabarett to both the upcoming Sydney and Melbourne Fringe Festivals later this year.
She describes the show as ‘a debauched night of sexy circus, fire-breathing sideshow and gender-bending aerialists … a hell of a party’. Dieter has previously enjoyed sold-out runs of the work at more general arts festivals, but she believes there’s something special about the Fringe scene which makes it a natural fit for this genre-crossing spectacular.
‘It’s edgy and out there, and a Fringe festival is a great platform for something like that,’ she said. ‘We want to push boundaries, but in a way that people can engage with and that’s accessible. A Fringe [festival] is a way for people to discover something new, something they wouldn’t normally see.’
The Fringe festival circuit is also hugely important for comedians, allowing them to try more experimental works, push into new genres, or do looser, work-in-progress shows as they build up to the major comedy festivals, most notably Melbourne.
Sydneysider Suren Jayamanne has been doing stand-up at Fringe festivals for a decade, and this year is appearing in a split bill with colleagues and friends Bonnie Tangey and Matt Stewart, titled Super Dry, as part of the extensive Sydney Fringe Comedy program.
Jayamanne said the show offers audience members the best of both worlds: ‘Bonnie, Matt and I have all been around the traps for a while, so you’re in safe hands, but you also get to see us mucking around a bit. That’s often where the most unexpected stuff happens, and those can be special moments.’
Similarly, Jayamanne explained that these festivals offer comedians the opportunity to experiment with structure. ‘That can be part of the joy of a Fringe festival set; the jokes might be honed and tested, but you don’t have the order they go [in]. Little bits of magic can happen from a comedian trying to fit the jigsaw puzzle together in different ways,’ he told ArtsHub.
Dance/theatre maker Erin Fowler has had a number of projects at Fringe festivals over the years, including Femme, which picked up the Best Dance Award at Adelaide Fringe 2019. She is currently touring that work and EGG at Edinburgh’s fabled Fringe Festival; the latter will also feature in Sydney’s Fringe program later this year. Focusing on fertility and initially inspired by a Facebook advertisement offering the chance to freeze her eggs, Fowler describes the work as incorporating elements of dance, clowning and martial arts.
She enjoys performing the work on the Fringe circuit, partly because of the receptive, engaged audiences and collegiate atmosphere between performers.
‘I love the spirit of openness in a Fringe festival that maybe you don’t always find elsewhere,’ she said. ‘You have the general public in your audience, but there’s also a real community amongst the artists. It’s a great opportunity to see other artists’ shows and have them come to your own.’
Many of the Fringe festivals are open access. Fowler believes this is an important feature, allowing young or emerging performers to bypass the gatekeepers and get their work seen.
‘It creates a really diverse and open festival,’ she said. ‘It’s exciting to be part of a festival that has a mix of full-time professional touring performers and first-time makers. It creates a lot of variation, and it’s great to be part of.’
Advice for Fringe first-timers
Dieter’s first Fringe festival was Edinburgh. The camaraderie between the diverse group of performers struck her immediately. Her advice to newcomers is to lap up the experience and see as much of the program as possible.
‘It showed me how a Fringe festival can make a city come alive. We were up at 6am eating pizza with random people you would never normally meet. It’s a beautiful carnie family that happens at a Fringe with artists sharing their visions, finding new people to collaborate with and seeing lots of new art,’ she said.
For Fowler, an early Fringe festival run can be overwhelming with performers trying to improve their own work, doing promotion, media and networking, and also seeing other shows. She believes deciding on a couple of areas to prioritise makes sense, especially for those new to the scene.
‘Be really clear on what your goals are and be specific but also flexible. I find it good to pick one or two things: Is this season about my creative development? Or is it about meeting other artists and producers? You can’t do everything, and I think this [approach] helps manage expectations, decide what your idea of success is, and it means you don’t burn out halfway through a season,’ Fowler said.
Read: Anti-burnout advice for freelancers
One particularly daunting aspect of a Fringe festival for newcomers is drumming up interest in, and ticket sales for, your performance. Jayamanne believes targeted social media advertising may be low yield and a more personal, old-school approach is preferable.
‘The best way to promote your show is to hand out flyers after a gig you’ve performed at,’ he said. ‘When you’re just starting out, don’t worry about repeating your best material [at different line-up nights] – do your best stuff, have flyers ready, be affable and trust that if you’ve done well, people will be excited to talk to you. You don’t have to feel needy.’
He also suggests offering a discount on the flyer (if that’s within your budget) as an excellent way to get potential punters over the line.
Dieter also puts in the hours flyering for her shows, even braving the Edinburgh rain on occasions to press the flesh.
‘The key is to be shameless about it,’ she said of promotion. ‘You have to talk to everyone about your show. When you don’t have a fan base or marketing budget, you’ve got to talk to every person you run into on the street, every café.
‘My first advice is to make a good show, but then you’ve got to put in the time to tell people about it. It can be scary to talk to random people, but you’ve got to put yourself out there.’
Dieter also suggests young or emerging acts snap up every bit of stage time they can get, making the most of the different variety shows in and around a Fringe festival.
Staying resilient
The relatively low-key nature of Fringe festivals can be something of a double-edged sword for performers. While they can experiment and evolve without the glare of industry and media spotlight, it can also mean smaller crowds which may be discouraging.
Jayamanne said Fringe festivals ‘can be an exercise in building resilience. When you’re performing to ten people in a little shipping container, it can be a challenge. But if everything’s easy, you don’t necessarily have the tools to deal with it when things [don’t go well]. It’s like a boot camp.’
Read: Building a career in comedy
In this spirit, Jayamanne encourages those contemplating signing up for their first Fringe festival to take the plunge.
‘Fringe is a great opportunity … if you can scrabble together enough for a few nights of venue hire and maybe a little Facebook marketing, the amount you can learn by being on stage a few nights in a row and doing a longer set is invaluable,’ he concluded.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is on now until 29 August 2022 while Sydney Fringe runs from 16 August – 30 September 2022.
The 40th Melbourne Fringe Festival runs from 6 – 23 October; the new Fringe Brisbane Festival runs from 14 October – 6 November, and Wynnum Fringe runs from 16 November – 4 December 2022.
