Fringe taster a ‘pearler’

THE first Perth Fringe taster season wrapped up last weekend with the ‘Spiegeltent Spectacular Variety Show’ after three weeks of sell-out success.

With more than 100 performances, 158 international, national and local fringe performers entertained 20,000 people in the Urban Orchard in the Perth Cultural Centre.

A large part of Fringe World’s success was attributed to the ‘Spiegeltent’, a world-famous 106-year-old travelling heritage venue that will now base itself in Western Australia.

Spiegeltent programs feature in most of the world’s fringe festivals and often include old-style vaudeville, burlesque and circus performances.

Premier Colin Barnett, Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi, Lotterywest chairman John Atkins and EPRA CEO Tony Morgan officially unveiled a plaque to commemorate the successful debut of ‘The Pearl’ Spiegeltent in Perth, before plans to take it to other metropolitan and regional events and festivals later in the year.

Artrage hosted the first Perth fringe-style festival in 1983 on a budget of $3,000 and, after 25 years, director Marcus Canning said the time seemed to right to become part of the international network of fringe festivals.

“We do plan for the Perth Fringe to enter straight into the ‘one-of-the-best-in-the-world category’, and be connected with the international fringe network straight away,” he said.

Fringe festivals have become some of the most widely attended arts events, with around 1.8 million tickets sold for the 60-year-old Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2010.

Fringe World gave the public a taste of what they can expect from Perth’s first official fringe festival to be held next year.

The Spiegeltent will be a recurring feature at the Perth festivals, with plans to grow the hub of the festival environment throughout the entire Perth Cultural Centre. Western Power and Little World Beverages are already two of Fringe’s biggest supporters, along with Lotterywest and the state government.

Mr Canning was extremely encouraged by the public’s response to the event and hopes to bring more ‘fringe’ to Perth soon.

“It’s been fantastic to see how many people have enjoyed our first Fringe program and our Spiegeltent. The list of where they have come from is amazing, from Mandurah to Yanchep with almost every suburb in between. People have travelled to see shows from as far north as Carnarvon, and as far south as Albany. It’s great to see that West Australians are genuine ‘fringe bingers’.”