Fringe continues to cultivate local artists

With 13 years of experience, the London Fringe Festival is going to have much more than luck behind it this time around.

Running from June 6 to 17, this year’s festival will feature 46 theatre companies and 35 visual artists in nine venues, including the Spriet Family Theatre, McManus Theatre, The ARTS Project, Wolf Performance Hall and Fanshawe College Theatre.

“There is so much to enjoy at this year’s festival,” says Kathy Navackas, London Fringe’s executive producer, in a media release May 28.

Navackas is enthusiastic about the diverse selection of performers and artists.

“Our 13th year is a really lucky one for our audiences as it is truly one of the most accessible and diverse that we have offered,” Navackas says. “Anyone who enjoys live performance at any age will surely find something that will delight at the Fringe from June 6 to 17.”

One of the unique elements of the festival is that 100 per cent of its revenue goes directly to the participants, making the festival a highly sought out event for performers and artists.

This year’s Fringe had a great deal of competition, as 75 theatre companies competed for 46 of the available theatre spaces. Companies were selected through a draw to provide opportunity for a variety of shows to be featured.

This year, local theatre troupe The Shrew’d Business Collective will present one of the world’s longest running musicals, The Fantastciks.

“We have some of the best musical theatre talent this town has to offer and we are very excited to be part of the London Fringe,” says Ceris Thomas, co-creator of The Shrew’d Business Collective. “It is a very crazy time of year, but the freshness and experimentation that the Fringe encourages is inspirational and our whole team is very proud to be part of that tradition.”

The London festival is part of a series of festivals that occur across Canada. For Toronto-based Daniel Nimmo, co-creator and actor in Temple of Khaos, London is one of many performances in a tour across the country.

“I am also participating in Nuit Blanche London with a video installation with all my cast. This video installation with a show attached to it is part of our build up to the installation of a themed tent venue at Edmonton Fringe,” Nimmo explains. “It is a pretty extensive project, with about 30 artists from all over Canada. London is our first of seven festivals, and also debut performance of our core show—The Temple of Khaos: Mythic Comedy.”

The London Fringe Festival will also feature artists and performers from national and international backgrounds. With such a strong diversity of artists, this year’s Fringe seems to be leaving nothing to chance.

 The London Fringe Festival will run from June 6-17. Tickets are available online at www.londonfringe.ca/tickets and at each venue.