Fringe going global as Athens and Hollywood get in on act

Published on Thursday 11 June 2009 22:03

AS THE old adage goes, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. And now, Athens and Hollywood are to hold their own versions of Edinburgh's Fringe.

The Athens Fringe Festival begins on Monday, with about 800 performers, from traditional Cretan dancers to installation art, and including 40 theatre groups at 14 venues.

And in Los Angeles, organisers have invited companies to the heart of the city's first Fringe next summer, among them theatre, circus and other acts.

Across the Pacific, Hawaii is also carrying out a feasibility study and US cities from New York to Phoenix already boast Fringe festivals of their own, although several are curated festivals, where directors pick a select number of shows.

That is far removed from the open-access principle of the Edinburgh Fringe, which began in 1947, where shows find their own venues and are not vetted by a central office. Chief executive Kath Mainland calls it the event's "beating heart". In Britain, Fringe-style festivals outside Edinburgh also continue to grow.

Aside from Bath or Brighton, one new contender is Oxfringe in Oxford. Founded with just two events in 2007, it grew to 147 events in 27 venues this year.

There are well over 70 so-called Fringe festivals world-wide, from Canada to Prague. The Amsterdam Fringe was formed four years ago alongside the Dutch Theatre Festival, with just ten groups performing. This September there are 64, with shows on boats.

"We are not Edinburgh," said programme director Anneke Jansen. "Every Fringe festival is different, it's not a franchise, like going to McDonald's. Edinburgh is the grandma."

The Athens festival was launched by a non-profit media company, Synthesis. Director George Neris said about 180 groups of artists are performing, mostly from Greece.

It takes place mainly in and around the Technopolis, a former gasworks close to the Acropolis.

"It's our first year, so we are trying to control it a little bit," said Mr Neris.

"We are trying to spread ourselves around Athens.

We have taken the Fringe concept and twisted it a bit … Edinburgh is our mother."

The financial arrangements might leave cash-strapped Edinburgh performers green.

With a staff that includes about 100 volunteers, acts pay only 50 to participate and share equally in 20 per cent of box-office revenues. Tickets are 10 (8.50) a day.