Random Snippets of Fringe history
from here, thar and afar
It all started way, way before you were
born with the
Edinburgh Fringe Festival...
1947: Eight theatre groups turn
up uninvited to the first Edinburgh International Festival in
Scotland. The inn is full, so they check in at venues away from the
big public stages, out on the fringe. The first Fringe has been born. There is no
central box office, no Fringe Programme, no advance publicity – the
interlopers just arrived.
1948:
Robert Kemp of the Edinburgh Evening News unknowingly
coins the name that is to later describe the largest and most famous
festival in the world: 'Round the fringe of the official Festival
drama there seems to be a more private enterprise than before... I'm
afraid some of us are not going to be often at home during the
evenings' he wrote.
1954: Fringe groups hold
their first meeting. 'We are cutting each other's throats,' says one
producer. Joint box office and publicity are given high priority as
a cure for this calamity.
1955: The Edinburgh Fringe is
already established, with Durham, Oxford, Birmingham and Edinburgh
universities represented regularly. Thirteen groups attend.
1958: The Edinburgh Festival
Fringe Society becomes organised. A constitution is drawn up.
Artistic vetting is to have no place in the society's aims, a
decision which remains central to the development of the Fringe.
1966:
Tom Stoppard's Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
is premiered in Edinburgh by the Oxford Theatre Group.
2001:
Over 600 groups from 49 different countries performed
1,462 shows in 175 venues across Edinburgh. Ticket sales soar to a
record Ł6,636,093.
2003: Edinburgh Fringe ticket sales hit the
million mark for the first time (1.18 million)!
2010: The Atlantic Fringe Festival celebrates its 20th
Birthday/Anniversary !
Gratulerer med dagen! Sretna godišnjica! Felice anniversario!
from
Wikipedia....
After Edinburgh, the second-largest fringe festival in the
world is that of the
Adelaide Fringe Festival. The Adelaide Fringe evolved in
the early 1970s as a reaction against the establishment and
the then 'mainstream'
Adelaide Festival of Arts. Today, although two events
are now inextricably linked, the Fringe Festival has
overtaken the main Festival of Arts in terms of attendance.
The Adelaide Fringe is renowned for its innovation,
spontaneity and carnival atmosphere, and is widely regarded
as one of the best events of its kind in the world.
The largest fringe festival
in North America is the
Edmonton International Fringe Festival. Founded in 1982
and 1988 respectively, Edmonton and Winnipeg are the
premiere stops on the Canadian fringe tour, a semi-official
series of fringe theatre festivals that permit performers to
travel east to west, from June to September.
Canada now has
more Fringe Festivals than any other country in the world
and each Canadian Fringe festival strongly adheres to the
philosophy that a "Fringe Festival" be unjuried, return 100%
of box office proceeds back to the participating artists and
remain affordable and accessible to all.
In 1998, the
Canadian Association of Fringe Festivals trademarked the
words "Fringe" and "Fringe Festivals" for all of North
America. Although the CAFF claims it was "to protect the
artists and the integrity of the festivals," this approach,
as well as festival registration fees, drew criticism from
some artists and led to the creation of the
infringement Festival in Montreal in 2004, a new
movement that now has festivals running in five cities.
Fringe festivals are
becoming more common, with many major cities throughout the
world now conducting their own Fringe Festivals of sorts.
The Atlantic Fringe Festival first
raised its dingy moth-eaten curtain in Halifax NS in 1991 and has grown every
year since.
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