Perth's grand launch of Fringe World 2012

In Perth, a franchised yet unique new festival was officially opened in a Speigeltent named De Parel Van Vuren, or ‘Pearl of Fire’, by West Australia Premier Colin Barnett last week. Named Fringe World, the VIP opening party was hosted in the century-old collapsible venue the night before Australia Day, when the official festival program begun.

Fringe World 2012 is a festival designed to encompass and boost fringe festivals across Australia and internationally, drawing almost 900 performers from the continents to present 150 performances amidst music and fireworks.

In the opening night speeches, Premier Barnett spoke of the original fringe festival, “The people starting the first Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, back in 1947, would have wondered if it was going to work, and probably would have speculated on whether it would have been a survivor and continue on in subsequent years.”

“They would be, I think, amazed today to know that there are over 100 Fringe festivals in over 100 cities around the world, paralleling mainstream arts festivals. And I think that being Scots, they would no doubt be delighted that tonight a Scottish namesake Perth will have its first, its inaugural, Fringe World festival.”

The original Fringe Festival came from Edinburgh, Scotland, which is lauded as the arts capital of the United Kingdom, is set near its own city of Perth, for which the capital of Western Australia is named after. Edinburgh’s Festival Fringe came into being in 1947 as a radical showcase of the performing arts – with no selection criteria at all, leaving the stage free to anyone who were brave enough to tread and quick enough to apply. The Scottish festival sparked an international following, with fringe festivals quickly blossoming in cities from Adelaide to Winnipeg.

Perth’s Fringe World 2012, for its first year, went all out and purchased a rare nomadic stage, one of the few left in the world for working use, a Speigeltent. The pronoun being the Dutch word ‘mirror tent’, is a handmade architecture wood, mirrors, textile and glass that becomes an concert hall, a cabaret or a salon practically overnight, and folded up to be transported to a new place. Fringe World 2012’s amazing acquisition, a Speigeltent called De Parel Van Vuren, Dutch for ‘Pear of Fire’ was created in 1905 to migrate across Australia – now its new home is in Perth, an integral part of the new fringe festival set up in the Perth Cultural Centre Orchard.

To stand with Fringe World’s officially owned Speigeltent, the old Treasury Building on St Georges Terrace has been opened for the first time in 15 years to host over 50 shows over the three weeks. Not only that, the adjoining vacant lot that sits between the Treasury Building and the Perth Town Hall has been transformed into an open-air performance stage for theatre goers, as part of more than thirty traditional and non traditional venues across the fair city of Perth and surrounding suburbs.

In the opening night and launch ceremony on the 25th of January, Festival Director Marcus Canning also gave a speech alongside the Premier of Western Australia, elaborating the birth and potential of Perth’s first full fringe festival; “Part of the beauty and power of Fringe, is that it is open access, and that if there is the need, it will prevail to the scale it needs to be. And the need was there, and here we are.

“Here we are, at the birth of something marvellous, something that will mean much to many, not just for the next few weeks, but for decades to come, as it continues to grow with the ongoing guidance and nurturing support of good people such as yourselves.”

Fringe World began on Australia Day, the program running for 3 and a half weeks to close on the 19th of February. For program information and tickets, please visit http://www.fringeworld.com.au