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I love visiting new destinations when there’s an event or festival going on. Festivals can bring a city alive, making the atmosphere that little bit more special. ‘Fringing’ brings out a real community spirit, where people come together to appreciate art, entertainment, theatre and comedy. Even if you wouldn’t particularly class yourself as a ‘theatre goer’, fringe festivals are a great way to dip your toe in the water and see what you like.
What is the Edmonton fringe festival all about?
Taking place in August, Edmonton Fringe Theatre Festival is North America’s oldest and largest fringe festival located in the heart of Old Strathcona. Attracting nearly 1,600 local, national, and international artists, the festival offers more than 1,200 indoor performances across some of the city’s most iconic landmarks. Every establishment in Edmonton becomes a stage – theatres, pubs and even bookshops are used as performance venues.
Shows I watched
The first show I have the pleasure of seeing is ‘God is a Scottish Drag Queen‘ starring Mike Delamont dressed in drag. Now I have no idea what God should look like but in this case it would seem he looks like your aunt wearing a floral power suit.
I assume by the title of the show that Mike is Scottish but he is in fact Canadian and just puts on the accent for comedy value. During the show Mike plays ‘God’, telling a whole host of funny jokes covering all sorts of topics from Jehovah’s Witnesses to Noah’s Ark. At one point he brings up Jesus’s spoof instagram account, making fun of what Jesus would be like if he were on social media today. “Just walked on water today #blessed!”
The next moment Mike’s talking about creationist Ken Ham and his $100 million project to build Noah’s Ark. “It can’t even bloody float!” he remarks. The audience is now roaring with laughter.
The show ends with Mike telling us he’s going to be coming back next year as the devil. Behind him on the big screen appears an image of Donald Trump…
The second show we see is Scratch, involving two guys (Arlen Konopaki and Kevin Gillese) who put on an improv show based on suggestions from the audience. They somehow weave together a unique tale involving orgasms, Forest Gump and The Avengers, which results in a hilarious plot line bordering on the ridiculous. How they stand there for an hour and put on an entire show without any script I’ll never know. I’ve taken lots of acting classes over the years and I can tell you from experience, improv is difficult. Arlen and Kevin really bounce off each other, switching roles every now and then to keep the pace going. It’s comedy genius.
What else is there to do at the fringe?
Outside of the shows the whole city centre of Edmonton is completely buzzing with buskers and food stalls. You can get a massage, have your Tarot read, shop for jewellery or just sit and watch one of the talented street performers. If you’re a tourist in Edmonton you might want to try one of their famous ‘green onion cakes’, which are sort of like savoury pancakes made with green onions. There’s also the official Canadian dish, ‘poutine’, which is made with cheese curds, gravy and chips.
The atmosphere at the fringe festival is incredibly friendly and great for people of all ages -KidsFringe for instance has an entire park of activities dedicated to families with newborns to tweens.
It’s really amazing to see a city buzzing with creativity and the artists have fans coming from all over the world to see their shows. What’s also great is that all of the ticket sales go to the artists themselves. August is definitely a nice time of year to visit Edmonton and while you’re there, you can also check out these 16 totally awesome things to do in and around the city.
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Source: pommietravels.com