Saddle up!
Make like The Duke and ride on down to the Western Fringe
Melissa Martin



In 2004 the Winnipeg Fringe Festival raised a spectre or two with its Night of the Living Fringe theme. In 2005 it revived the Age of Aquarius with the Psychedelic Fringe.

This year the annual theatre festival is reaching out to anyone who ever wanted to be John Wayne (or Jake Gyllenhaal, as the case may be), presenting a brand new rough ’n’ tumble theme.

Yes, it’s time to dust off your Stetsons, folks — until July 30 you can mosey on down to catch the Western Fringe.

Subtitled The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (which, coincidentally, might be a good headline for next week’s Fringe-review page in Uptown), this year’s Fringe is aiming to rustle up some buzz. Not only will there be over 1,100 performances and the regular continuous free entertainment at Old Market Square, but there are also a few brand new features out on the range.

Besides uproarious events such as the Improv Idol competition (which runs from July 20 to July 23), this year’s Fringe is bringing out the big guns — or at least the big pistols. On July 25, the Fringe will be setting up a screen at Old Market Square and showing a classic Western movie under the night sky. So what movie would fit in perfectly with the theme? It’s no big surprise.

“We’re going with The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, says Fringe executive producer Nick Kowalchuk. “It’s just to have fun with it.”

If there’s one thing Fringers dig, it’s fun, and for younger fans this year’s event offers even more of it. To better serve little cowpokes, the 2006 Fringe features expanded children’s programming. Not only has an extra hour been added for children’s performers at the Outdoor Stage (they’ll now be hamming it up until 6 p.m.), but there are more indoor plays as well. Last year featured three plays geared to children, and the 2006 lineup has six.

One reason for the doubling is a new performance category which encouraged family-friendly acts to apply to the Fringe.

“That’s kind of exciting for our growing demographic of people who come out to the festival. We want to encourage people who had kids to come to shows. They’re out here, it’s a family time,” Kowalchuk says, though he jokingly reassures loyalists that plenty of edgy, adult-oriented fare will still be on the bill. “We’re not trying to evolve into a kids’ theatre festival or anything like that. That’s not where we’re going.”

Part of the demographic evolution, Kowalchuk says, owes to the Fringe’s longevity. After 18 years, the festival has become an institution in Winnipeg, and the director thinks fans reflect that history.

“I think the only way we’ve changed is that we’re becoming more mainstream,” he says. “More and more people are getting to know (the Fringe). People aren’t terrified by it, by what they might see. It’s less of a threat to the public. We have our Fringers who know how to work the system in terms of advance tickets. They go out and ask, take chances on certain shows. That body is growing.”

Of course, the festival’s demographic has to keep growing in order to keep up with the vast number of performing acts. Even with six cancellations — the most in recent memory, and largely for medical reasons — the 2006 Fringe features 131 companies. Sixty-four of those are local, 41 are national, and 33 hail from other countries, including Spain, France and South Africa.

Although that’s two fewer performing companies than the 2005 fest, the 2006 slate calls for 130 more individual performances than last year’s. Whether that results in a significant rise from 2005’s paid attendance of 136,895 remains to be seen.

For many performers, the Winnipeg Fringe Festival leaves an indelible impression.

“The enthusiasm that the citizens of Winnipeg embrace the Fringe with… they’re as passionate about seeing the shows as performers are doing them,” says Richard Maritzer of California troupe Sound & Fury, whose slapstick Shakespearian romp Canned Hamlet plays at Venue 6.

The 2006 edition of the fest marks the trio’s third consecutive year at the Fringe, and Maritzer says “the sense of community among Fringe performers at this Fringe, everybody socializing together, is like summer camp.”

For some fresh Fringe performers, the experience can be even more educational than any summer camp. One of the festival’s mandates is to help new companies prepare for their turn in the spotlight. Ever year, the Fringe offers workshops for new companies.

“We talk about what they should be expecting, how to be ready for it. We want to help them have a good handle on tricks they can do to catch somebody’s eye,” Kowalchuk says.

So does the educational angle really work? The proof is in the pudding, the producer says.

“I saw someone at Manitoba Theatre Centre a little while ago, a 16-year-old who performed for the first time last year. He’s so excited… now that his company has the experience behind them, the better they can succeed.”

For a complete schedule of Fringe events visit www.win nipegfringe.com