2. What’s your role in helping The Sydney Fringe Festival come to life?
I’ve been involved in the Fringe Festival in one way or another since its inception. I’ve performed in the Fringe, produced work for the festival and my two venues The Old 505 Theatre and Venue 505 have been Festival venues every year. This year I joined the Festival Board so am helping out where ever I can.
3. There’s a really full program this year, can you give us your recommendations on any shows we really shouldn’t miss?
It’s a terrific program this year. There are definitely a few that I am not going to miss. I love In the Night Garden at Tortuga Studios in St Peters. It’s a wonderful evening of light installations and brings together the local community of artists for one night. The Amazeballz Race will be a hilarious and a great fun way to experience all that the inner-west has to offer. Puppeteer Lana Schwartcz an incredible puppeteer from Melbourne is heading up to perform her adult puppet show Small Talk at the Old 505 Theatre which looks fantastic. There is a 40th anniversary production of Equus on at The Forum which looks great.
4. What are your best tips for making the most of the festival?
Take advantage of the new cultural precincts that we have created this year. It’s a great way to narrow your search by location and really experience all that is hidden in some of the cities most vibrant villages. We recommend dedicating nights specifically to villages that way you can eat, watch, drink and see all in just a short walk. Definitely start and/or end your journey at the festival garden Emerald City it will be full of festival volunteers who will be able to recommend where to go and what to see.
5. What do you love about The Sydney Fringe Festival?
I’ve worked in the fringe art scene for the past 15 years so I love seeing our community have a chance to shine and take centre stage once a year. It’s so important that the broader community support fringe artists and venues as so much wonderful and important work is generated there. I love that the city truly feels activated while the Fringe is on and you can wander from place to place and feel a sense of community and excitement.
6. Where’s the best place to EAT during The Sydney Fringe Festival?
A number of the venues included in the festival have great food Slide and Venue 505 for example. There are so many fantastic places tucked away only short walks from most of the festival venues. Definitely check out Fredas in Chippendale.
7. Greatest place to DRINK during the festival?
So many of the Fringe venues have terrific bars inside so you don’t have too far to go. The Toast of Newtown is back this year so many of the local bars are gearing up for cocktail competition. Young Henrys is also running a number of special events for the festival.
8. Any significant changes to the style of last years event?
As I mentioned before we have broken this years festival into cultural precincts which is different to past years. While our heart is still in the inner-west the geographical centre is now Broadway and the Seymour Centre which is where our festival garden is located. Having the smaller areas to explore makes it much easier to plan your night and get the most out of the festival.
9. Tell us bit more about what we can expect at the Emerald City in the Seymour Centre.
Emerald City is a new adventure for the festival this year. It’s going to be our home base for the month. A festival garden with food and drinks, free music and some amazing light installations. It will be a place where Fringe artists will perform snippets from their shows so you can get a taste of what the Festival has on offer, a place to find information out from our volunteers and a great place to start and/or end your evening.
10. City of Sydney and local police made complaints about the 101 Vagina Book Exhibition last year. It’s back again this year. Are you anticipating any “Hide the Vagina” newspaper covers this year?
No I think perhaps the controversy may be slightly less the second time round.