In between mixed weather conditions and a garbage strike, 150 theatre productions hit various stages throughout the GTA for the 21^st annual Toronto Fringe Festival. The unjuried festival, with its $10 tickets and accessible locations throughout the city, claimed to be “Cheap & Easy” and invited theatergoers and first-time-fringers alike to stroll around, buy a ticket, donate some change for the festival itself (ticket sales go directly to the theatre companies putting on the plays, and as such, the festival survives on donations), and check out a piece of theatre. You may not be sure what you are getting yourself into, as the play selection is done through a lottery process, but the mystery is part of the fun.

Having strolled around the fringe fest for the last few years, I’ve come to welcome it as a definite highlight of summers in Toronto. Posters are taped up to all poles, bins, and fences, enticing you to come see this show or that, though it’s impossible to check out all the shows within the July 1-12 run. The great thing about the festival is the many ways you can go out and fringe. Serious fringers can buy a pass for a certain amount of tickets, or if you want a specific show or two, tickets are sold at the door (but make sure to get their early, as shows with good word of mouth sell out somehow before you even can catch word of it). Bright yellow banners and helpful volunteers sit outside each venue and the homebase at the Tranzac is set up to offer any guidance on what can seem like a daunting task. And if it’s a particularly hot day, and you’ve been fringing the whole time and need a break, the Fringe Tent, set beside the Tranzac, is there to offer you a refreshing drink (I suggest the fest sponsored St. Ambroise Apricot Wheat Ale for a solid summer drink) and you can even mix and mingle with fellow fringers and artists.

Now, amidst the tents and volunteers and venues, there are of course the shows themselves. You can pretty much get a full spectrum of theatre. Dance shows, puppet shows, and comedy shows are all laced in between the basic play narratives. The wide scope of productions may feel like you’re blindly gambling going into something. Some results are amazing. Some are mediocre. And some are downright awful. But that’s part of the charm. In some ways, you really hope to see one extreme or the other. The $10 ticket price is an affordable alternative to the regular prices of shows in the larger venues in the city.

With my experience, I saw two wonderful ensemble shows (36 Little Plays About Hopeless Girls and Politically Correct Bedtime Stories), two disappointing one-person shows (Zdenka Now! and Baggage), and one two-man show that fit somewhere in the middle (Killing Kevin Spacey). The plays were the perfect representation of the fringe fest experience, and often times what you can expect when you see a handful of shows. It sparked conversation and debate with my fellow fringe friends. Everyone was on their own journey, and we all tried to get each other to see various plays (and avoid certain other ones). You can’t see everything, but you also can’t miss out on one of the most interesting festivals Toronto has to offer.

Written by :

Gabor Pertic

 

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed