BELFASTFESTIVAL NEEDS A FRINGE
The Belfast Festival at Queen’s needs a ‘Fringe Festival’, that’s the call being made by local training collective theatre company ‘Fringe Benefits’. To help kick start a ‘Fringe Festival’ in Belfast the company will be holding a Fringe Demo during the Saturday Market at St George’s Market, Belfast on Saturday 17th October from 12pm to 2pm.
The Fringe Demo at the St George’s Saturday Market will include a range of weird and wonderful fringe acts from the ‘Tree People’ to ‘Horror Scopes’ with improvised sketches, storytelling and music to entertain the public and campaign for a fringe festival to start in Belfast.
Cathy McCullough, Chair of Fringe Benefits Theatre Company said: “ Belfast needs a fringe festival to eventually rival that of Edinburgh , where the fringe is now bigger than the main festival. The Belfast Festival is a fantastic cultural event for the city of Belfast , but like Edinburgh , the arts needs to be accessible to everyone. A fringe festival would open the doors to a whole spectrum of audience participation and provide a wide platform of arts for the whole community to join in the festivities.”
Fringe Benefits will also be having a ‘Fringe Parade’ of their acts at 11:00am, from the Crescent Arts Centre in South Belfast to St George’s Market as part of the campaign and to help raise public awareness. After the market event ‘Fringe Benefits’ plan to take to the streets of Belfast for a few hours with their fringe acts.
Peter Quigley, Actor, Director and Fringe Benefits Training Workshop Co-ordinator said: “I have loved the Edinburgh Fringe for so many years; we thought why not have one in Belfast . And so we decided to have a go and see what we could do. At least we can raise the issue of why we don’t have a fringe festival in Belfast . The recent Culture Night showed the wide range of performances wonderful things happening in the city. So we want a fringe.”
Fringe Benefits Theatre Company works out of the Crescent Arts Centre in South Belfast and had originally existed in the early 1980’s and 1990’s, with previous members, such as Conleth Hill and Michelle Fairly going on to achieve successful careers in the world of arts, entertainment and theatre.
Fringe Benefits trains its members to develop their potential and skill in all aspects of theatre practice and to provide a bridge for those who wish to move into professional theatre.
For more information about the work of Fringe Benefits Theatre Company and how to join contact cathy@fringebenefitstheatrecompany.com or go to HTTP://www.fringebenefitstheatrecompany.com
photo via www.fringebenefitstheatrecompany.com
