The festival with the grin is getting ready to pull the toys out its box. Nigel Benson previews the 2012 Dunedin Fringe Festival.
Nothing colours the streets of Dunedin quite like the Fringe Festival.
The most southern Fringe in the world - and the only one in the South Island - careered on stage on baby giraffe legs in 2000.
Just over a decade later, it is a bright red Meccano cog in the southern hemisphere Fringe Festival circuit, linking Dunedin with Adelaide, Auckland and Wellington.
The 2012 festival programme was released on Thursday at a frankenstinian launch at Ironic Cafe, attended by everyone from zombies to cardboard cut-outs of a poet.
This year's festival will be the largest yet, with 50 events involving nearly 400 New Zealand and international guests.
"The festival is getting to the stage it can take on some bigger events now," festival director Paul Smith says. "It's really established itself and we have artists from around the world coming to Dunedin for it now."
Enter veteran English punk poet John Cooper Clarke, who has performed with everyone from the Sex Pistols to Joy Division.
"John Cooper Clarke was an opportunity that came up and we decided we had to go for it. He is the height of Fringe celebrity. He is iconic and known worldwide and it will probably be the last chance anyone has to see him in New Zealand," Smith enthuses.
"He's a famous punk performance poet and a lot of musicians, writers and poets have been inspired by him. He has a huge history."
Clarke will appear at Sammy's with former The Clash manager Johnny Green and Martin Phillipps, of The Chills.
Smith enjoys tales of the unexpected. One of his favourite Fringe acts was when Auckland artist Mark Harvey pulled himself around the Octagon with rubber plungers two years ago.
"I absolutely loved that, because it was so Fringe," he chuckles.
"I love the Blue Oyster Performance Series, but we can only have it on every second year, because of all the organisation involved. A highlight of this series for me will be Christchurch artist Audrey Baldwin licking her way out a person-sized box of toffee, in a performance called Canker. That is the most outrageous thing, I reckon. And it's going to be very challenging for her.
"There's also a really interesting work called Song Sale, by [University of Otago 2012 Mozart Fellow] Robbie Ellis, in which the audience pays $5 to commission songs from him and other artists, and then they have to go and make the song.
"There are some great burlesque shows in this festival, too. The Perky and Fiddle Show has two bizzare gnomes from the Netherlands. They're two women who play fiddles as gnomes in wheelbarrows doing a burlesque show. It's very quirky. They will be all over Dunedin, so people won't be able to avoid bumping into them," he smiles.
"Theatre is the biggest category this year and there are some special touring acts coming. A show called Goodnight, Irene from Blackball, on the West Coast, is a rare phenomenon. It's linked with the Pike River mine and is something they felt compelled to create after the disaster. That's what artists do; they respond to their environment. So, that's going to be fascinating.
"Dance is also big this year. A show called Faux Pas will be going into cafes and doing random acts of dance. You could be sitting next to someone in a cafe and they start dancing. I just love that sort of stuff; when people don't expect it and art pops up in unusual circumstances. Art out on the street engaging with people, whether they're expecting it or not."
The festival has always championed innovative emerging and established artists.
"The Fringe is the place where new ideas emerge and new talent is discovered and we want to encourage Dunedin people to share in that discovery," Smith says.
However, selecting the fun is anything but fun.
"The process starts in September, when we call for registrations. The first step is when the artists apply for one of the key venues and Creative New Zealand funding grants, in October and November," Smith says.
"The criteria for funding are things like the level of experimentation. Are they pushing the boundaries? If they're not, we're not going to fund them. Is it original work? Because it must be original. Have they thought through the content, production and marketing, to make it happen? How does it compare with everything else in the programme? Because we want diversity. It is very competitive."
The $22,500 CNZ pot was divvied up among 19 acts, out of 40 applications.
"It's a seeding grant and it's not going to cover their expenses. That's why it's so important to have audiences support the shows," Smith says.
"A lot of the artists still do the show, whether they get funding or not. They're so passionate that they'll usually find a way to make it happen, either by getting sponsorship or other funding. It always amazes me the dedication they have to their work.
"There's very little ego involved. They're emerging artists and they want to show their work and develop contacts and audiences. What all artists want most of all is an audience. They're not in it for the money, that's for sure.
"We want people to have a little walk on the wild side and experiment with something new and the Fringe is the place to do it. You have to get out and go to a few things. There is always a risk, if you don't know the artist, but that's part of the fun and excitement.
"The Fringe is, in many ways, the art of the unexpected."
Dates
The 2012 Dunedin Fringe Festival runs from March 15 to 25. www.dunedinfringe.org.nz. Programmes available now.
You're having a laugh
Much of the nightly Fringe fun will be centred on the Ironic Cafe festival hub. The Polson Higgs Comedy Club will be on at 7.30pm from Thursday to Saturday during the festival, with a mercilessly mirthful mixture of emerging talent and international performers.
MCs (Masters of Comedy) James Nokise, of Wellington, and Nick Rado, of Auckland, lead the charge, with Simon McKinney, Jeremy Elwood and Rhys Mathewson, of Auckland, Sam Smith, of Wellington, and Dunedin's own Finn Roy and Abby Howells.
The Festival Club follows at 10pm, from Thursday to Saturday, during the festival and is only $5 entry if you have been to a show that night. This is where the artists relax after their shows, whether they've killed it, or crashed and burned.
The fabulousness will be supplied by the outrageously out Stanley Manthyng, with entertainment by The Puddle, Delaney Davidson, Two Cartoons, Fushcia Gash, Penny Ashton, Nick Knox and many more.
What to see?
Here's Fringe Festival director Paul Smith's strategy for fun.
1) Find a venue you like. The Fortune Theatre, Globe Theatre, Allen Hall, Blue Oyster Gallery, Ironic Cafe and Sammy's all have comfortable seats and are hosting quality shows.
2) Laughter is the best medicine. The Comedy Club hosts a giggle of comedians who should be nicely warmed up after performing at the Auckland International Comedy and Wellington Fringe festivals.
3) Seek and ye shall find. Many acts have their own websites and Facebook pages, with information, reviews and images.
4) More is more. Many shows are only an hour long and priced around $10, allowing you to explore and experiment before washing down the entertainment with a glass of wine at the Festival Club.
5) Free time. Many Fringe exhibitions and installations are price-less, from free thinking art at the Blue Oyster Gallery to free lunchtime entertainment at the Ltd Festival Kiosk in the Octagon.
6) Don't hold back. The artists, performers and comedians usually end up at the Festival Club after their shows. Pop along and give them a casual critique. Tell them how hilarious the other acts are. Suggest a funny new joke. They'll love you for it.
From the inside
The Fringe Festival is looking for volunteers to help marshal all the mayhem and keep the artists from sneaking behind the bar.
All volunteers receive a Fringe T-shirt, half-price tickets to shows and free entry to the Festival Club.
For details, visit dunedinfringe.org.nz or phone 477-3350.
