Saturday, September 08, 2012
Fringe: Shakes No More
2AMt: Fringe Festivals are a time for experimentation in theater. I look forward to seeing the mix of sights and sounds at the Capital Fringe Festival every year. There’s one thing I don’t understand: Why do so many people decide to produce Shakespeare? I will never produce a Shakespeare play for a fringe festival. I don’t really need to because there are always at least a handful of other companies who try it. Sigh.
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6 comments:
I would tend to agree with the author of this article. Fringe festivals are unique in that they are very good at fostering original work, or at least lesser known work. Theatregoers are often not willing to see original work at regional theatres because the ticket prices are so damn high. Why would you pay so much to see something of questionable quality? The low ticket prices at fringe festivals provide a rare audience that is ready and willing to see original work. Why would you squander this opportunity and produce something that everyone is already familiar with? Shakespeare is everywhere. If I wanted to see Shakespeare I would probably go to a reputable regional theatre with a high budget to hopefully see it done well. Since I am not a huge fan of Shakespeare anyway, it is the last thing I would choose to see at a fringe festival.
I entirely agree!! While I am not the biggest fan of Shakespeare, I do understand and value some modern productions, but Fringe is definitely not a good platform for those shows. I would never go see a Shakespeare piece at a fringe festival because compared to all the original work being presented, it's a little bit of a snooze unless it is some incredibly innovative reinterpretation. Putting on a Shakespeare piece at a Fringe seems like a big waste of an opportunity to me.
Yes, I agree with what the writer has to say about Shakespeare at a Fringe festival. But I think her comments extend outwards and are just as applicable when it comes to producing a play for ANY season, theatre, or festival. While I think 1 Squijillion might be a slight exaggeration, her emphasis on finding other, less-widely-procuded plays to share is extremely valid in today's theatre climate. I think it's extremely vital that we tell new stories, support new artists, and give audiences something they've never seen before.
I completely agree with the author of this article. What makes Fringe festivals exciting experiences are the opportunities to discover pieces that might normally pass way below the radar of much of the theater community. Unless it is an extremely imaginative and excellently done interpretation or adaptation, a group really should not attempt Shakespeare at a Fringe. My high school had the opportunity to go to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival four years ago, and for a reason known only to the school's director, decided to take the Scottish Play to Scotland. All I'll say is that the review titled "MacDreadful" was well deserved. Classics have their place, just not at an event which encourages the discovery of new work.
I actually found this article quite intriguing. I have never been to a fringe festival, nor do I know much about them. I always assumed that fringe festivals usually revolved around lesser know plays (hence on the the fringe of things). This thinking is why I was so surprised that people bring Shakespeare to fringe festivals. But like the article says, Shakespeare really doesn't belong in a fringe festival. It is very hard to make something so classic fresh and new. If a fresh new perspective is the point of a fringe festival then you are selling your creativity short by doing shakespeare. Like the article says, there are so many other plays deserving to be seen and fringe festivals are there chance to be seen.
I would also agree with the author. Shakespeare is something that needs to be done by professionals and people trained specifically for that. Fringe festivals are a means to try thing that are new. If you compare them to film festivals many times great things are produced when people try new things. Shakespeare has been done an obscene amount of times and like the author said almost every variation has been done. Fringe is for the new not the old.
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