Wynnum Fringe. It's a wrap.
Wynnum Fringe. Well it’s a wrap. And for a fantastical, crazy idea, dreamed in lockdown and manifested from hey to yay in just over three months (!) it was a rip-roaring success. Along with much of the Brissie arts scene, I was pleased and delighted when the call-out for artists started trending on socials. As reported, the call-out was super popular, with literally hundreds of local Brisbane and southern Queensland artists braying for an opportunity to get back on stages.
And so, in the ultimate post-covid pirouette, Artistic Director Tom Oliver gathered a team of eager production maestros and set to work. And the end result was a charming weekend of festivities, that embraced the spirit of a Fringe with gusto. Edith St was sectioned off with a range of international flavoured-food carts, and a free public stage. Tucked off in a carpark just behind the main drag was an impromptu stage where circus and comedy delighted packed crowds. An old church and hall that were scheduled for demolition were turned into the Wynnum Opera House and Winston Churchall, where a range of interdisciplinary artists treated us to new collaborations and brave new works.
I was truly impressed with the range of programming, from classic circus cabarets to modern operatic fusion. Highlights were many, and for many it was there debut season, including the memorable Being Male Is, a dance theatre exploring the effects of toxic masculinity on young men today, and Committed, Content, Confused which saw a gang of girls get over heartbreak in classic girls-night style. Another debut, Songs My Aunties Taught Me saw an unlikely combo in opera maestro Aunty Heru Pinkasova & talented beatboxer Jonny Rhythm perform a fabulous and fitting swan song for the old church.
I also heard good things about the eyebrow raising Dionysus BNE cabaret, the surreal Plastica Fantstica and the downright fabulous Shreklesque.
The outside of the Wynnum Opera House lit up with projections.
And a special mention of Sizzle, where an Australiana-themed drag show was performed right on the sands of the beach. For such a conservative country, drag manages to cross all borders – the range of folk who rocked up with their families for a point-perfect mash-up of Muriel’s Wedding, Kath Day and Kel Knight cameos, and a dangerously fabulous sausage-sizzler who bore more than a passing resemblance to an infamous Australian redhead. I heard more than one local remark that drag-by-the-sea ought to be a weekly event…
The locals packed out the free festivities on Friday and Saturday. It reached capacity with a one-in one-out by about 5pm on the Saturday, with the punters enjoying milling around drinking trendy seltzers and watching the music and circus on the free stages. A particularly highlight was Lai Utovou’s banging set on the Friday night. The winner of singing competition All Together Now performed with his wife Rachel and they tore down the house with a set full of funk, soul and pop covers that possessed all watching to get up and dance. Lai’s energy was infectious and he didn’t stop dancing for the whole set, and Rachel’s vocals matched him perfectly. They were a great headliner for the first day of the festival.
Many of the ticketed shows sold-out – no doubt in some small part due to the Covid-restrictions, yet I feel confident that tickets would have sold at double the capacity. Tickets were priced to welcome locals and artists and those with depleted 2020 incomes, and the range of shows was nicely balanced between safe choices and delicious wildcards. This was a very quick turnaround for such a fab festival, and the minor niggles like lack of seating, waits for snacks, and a complete lack of wine (!) were really quite insignificant.
Because it was so nice to have that summer-night feeling, to wander in and out of makeshift theatres and carpark stages, to see familiar faces across the crowd and enjoy the camaraderie of an edgy arts festival.
The promise of the 'yana marumba Opening Ceremony, presented in partnership with Quandakmooka Festival, was a warm welcome to this oft-sleepy suburb that rarely sees tourists, although the locals are proud as punch of their corner of the bay. And so they should be, because the welcome was strong and heartfelt, and left a feeling of connection and community that will linger for a long time.
