Source : PERTHNOW NEWS
Fringe World 2027 is all about living life to the fullest.
Creative director Jo Thomas has themed the program Fringe In Motion with a vision to celebrate the event as a living festival, moving, growing and transforming through entertainment and experiences from January 20 to February 14.
“Life isn’t a spectator sport,” Thomas says.
“You’ve got to jump in. You’ve got to be in motion, and we feel that Fringe has that effect on the city and the State. It sort of rolls into town and everyone goes, ‘Yeah, we’re alive’, so that’s what we really wanted to focus on.
“All the artists, the Artrage and the Fringe team, but also the audiences, for us all to come together and create this amazing festival and atmosphere.”
In keeping with the theme, Alive All Hours is an invitation to experience Perth at a different playful pace and time of day as the 24-hour event, supported by City of Perth, runs from 5pm January 22 to 5pm January 23.
Free and ticketed activities will extend across Northbridge to WA Museum Boola Bardip, the State Library of WA and The Pleasure Garden at Russell Square, among them a free four-hour, all-ages Yagan Square Dance with live music and DJs, from ballroom to bootscooting and hip hop, the nutbush and macarena.
“This one is a big challenge,” Thomas explains.
“If people want to really be in motion, come and do a 24-hour adventure, hour after hour after hour. I don’t expect everyone to do that, but you can come for an hour or stay for the night with stuff going on through the wee hours. I just want people to really jump into a time that works for them and their life. Wake us up, shake us up, be ‘Alive All Hours’.
“Each year I’ll get just a couple of people go, ‘Oh, Fringe used to be weirder. There used to be more weird stuff’, and I’m like, ‘OK then’, so I’ve got some weird stuff for them from midnight to 3am.”
Fringe World 2027 will feature 500 events across 100 venues over 26 days, showcasing circus, cabaret, comedy, theatre, dance, music, magic and street performance, with the average price for ticketed events remaining at $33.
There are national and international artists, world premieres, WA premieres and 169 of the shows are family friendly, with 54 of those specifically made for children.
While Northbridge remains the spiritual home, venues extend from Joondalup to Busselton, with “a real leap into Subiaco” for 2027 thanks to a new partnership with the City of Subiaco and Arts and Culture Trust that has bumped up the western suburbs programming.
Large-scale living artwork and interactive puppet creation Fauna by Erth Visual & Physical Inc. will spend time at both Subiaco Theatre Gardens and The Pleasure Garden.
Standing at 4m tall, the part-plant, part-animal inflatable creature is a beautiful addition that Thomas is completely enamoured with.
“I just adore her,” she says.
“There’s an element where she walks around and everyone can see her, but then there’s a sit-down for little humans, where they wear headphones and Fauna speaks to them and only to them. So adults can be there and watch, but we don’t get to hear the voice of Fauna.
“We’re just wanting to awaken this sense of wonder, curiosity and that connection back to our natural world, back to our life, back to the heartbeat.”
Other Fringe World 2027 highlights include fun-filled Flop! The Best Songs From The Worst Musicals, Belfast-born, five-piece vocal and multi-instrumental group The Shamrocks performing from the traditional Irish songbook, and Granny Bingo from ABC comedy series Another Cuppa? With Granny Bingo.
“These are the naughtiest nans bringing a night of hilariously inappropriate bingo,” Thomas says.
Lost Sock is stand-up comedy held in a laundromat, cabaret show Dolly Parton With Love will be for all Parton fans, and then there is Freidah Will See You Now.
“This is another one of these freaky, weird and very funny shows about crossing over into the land of the dead, but heaps of fun,” Thomas adds.
“We’ve given a Next Act Fund award to a show with the longest title, How To Get Loved: A Sci-Fi Musical For One Human And One Robot Vacuum Cleaner.
“There’s Please God, Make Me A Cowboy at The Blue Room Theatre and It’s All Greek To Me down in Busselton is everything the movie The Odyssey is not.”
Thomas says her wish for next year’s festival is for it to be joyous, not only for audiences, but also for the artists and team who work behind the scenes to make it happen.
“There’s been a lot of serious things over the last six years or so,” she reflects.
“I just want us to shake that off and have a good time. To remember the fun of being able to come together with people and see something that might make you ugly cry or might just make you laugh till you have to sit down.”
Fringe World 2027 is on January 20 to February 14. General public tickets on sale from November 9 at fringeworld.com.au.
