Billboard nightclub was the venue of the official launch of this year’s Fringe Festival. It was a chance for the Melbourne arts community and media to network, party and listen to speeches by the festival sponsors, organizers and government representatives. Most importantly, it was a place for artists to spruik their shows to a captive audience.
Many performers attended the soiree decked out in costume to sell their shows. Kate McLennan was seen swanning around the place in her Debutante dress to promote her one woman show. A group of hyperactive youngsters in school uniforms ran around handing out flyers to their circus. Other characters whose shows I didn’t catch the details of included a guy in an owl suit and a couple of blokes dressed as creatures that looked like clay headed members of the band Slipknot.
The official proceedings of the evening were hosted by Damien Callinan portraying the character of Klaus the Austrian composer who somehow found himself at Fringe rather than MIAF. Klaus made various playful comments ridiculing fringe artists and initially struggled keeping the chatty crowd focused on the stage. The house band for this portion of the evening was Die Roten Punkte who delighted the punters with over long introductory songs for all the speaking VIPs. Lord Mayor John So gave a short speech that managed to silence the chatting people and Arts Minister Mary Delehunty presented most of a her speech as a rap accompanied by one half of Sista She on human beatbox.
After the speeches, the crowd was given a few teaser performances from a few shows. These included a short dance routine by The Town Bikes, an impressive balancing act and an extended version of Die Roten Punkte’s theme song.
Following the official part of the night, Andrew McClelland busted out the DJ decks and proceeded to entertain the punters with funky tunes for the remainder of the evening. People were free to drink, socialise, dance up a storm or begin pawing over a printed copy of the Fringe guide, highlighting all events of interest.
The guide for The Age Melbourne Fringe Festival is available at outlets throughout the city and inner suburbs. Check out the official website for further details. Look out for the next issue of The Groggy Squirrel for an overview of all that will be funny at the Fringe.