2017 Cape Town Fringe expands to 14 performance spaces

Expanding to 14 performance spaces in the Cape Town metropolitan area, the Fringe will be putting theatre at the centre of the Cape’s communities, while giving audiences and artists the opportunity to expand their horizons. This year’s venues include the Makukhanye Art Room in Khayelitsha, Zolani Centre in Nyanga, the CBD’s Alexander Bar and Little Theatre, Theatre Arts Admin in Woodstock, the Delft Black Box and Alma Café in Rondebosch.

Makukhanye Arts Room - Photo by Nardus Engelbrecht

Executive producer of the festival, Ashraf Johaardien says the Fringe has evolved into a ‘hyper local’ model that has given rise to new partnerships between theatre makers, producers, venues and the Cape Town Fringe.

Fresh and exciting festival programme

“We’ve spent a lot of time listening to the arts community and have developed a collaborative approach to programming the Fringe that manages to keep the programme fresh and exciting while also creating opportunities to view our world through a lens of authenticity.

Cape Town Fringe introduces new format for 2017

11 Jul 2017

There is a huge appetite for theatre in Cape Town and there are lots of producers, artists and venue owners and administrators who are working hard to create work and spaces for it. By its very nature, fringe theatre is edgy, independent and groundbreaking. In working with these small theatres this year, we feel the fringe concept is truly being realised,” says Johaardien.

Johaardien points out that the new model offsets the loss of the iconic City Hall, currently undergoing renovation work, as a Fringe Hub. “While we’ll be sad not to be using the City Hall, the change has challenged us to rethink where we put the centre of gravity of the Fringe. What we’ve put in place gives us multiple access points, making the Cape Town Fringe accessible to a far broader range of communities than before.”

Local and international entertaining acts

The Fringe also includes the Cape Town Busker’s Festival. Taking place daily at the V&A Waterfront from 5 to 8 October, the line-up sees local and international street performers working the hat with highly physical and entertaining acts.

Police Cops - Photo by Nardus Engelbrecht

The Cape Town Fringe will be presented at:

•  Makukhanye Art Room in Khayelitsha
•  Alma Café in Rosebank
• Jolly Carp in Retreat
• Fringe Club at the German Club in Gardens
• Theatre Arts Admin Collective in Observatory
•  iThemba Labantu in Philippi
•  Zolani Sport and Recreation Centre in Nyanga
•  Alexander Bar in Cape Town City
•  Little Theatre, Arena Theatre, P4 Studio and Bindery Lab at Hiddingh Campus, Orange St, City
•  Black Box Theatre in Delft South
•  AFDA in Observatory

The Cape Town Fringe, the newest member of the World Fringe Alliance, received a record 268 submissions this year of which a third have been matched to venues and will be presented as 80 productions throughout the three-week festival across theatre, dance, music, comedy, illusion with a range of genre-busting works in between. The programme, which runs during the school holidays, also includes family theatre.

To view the full programme go to capetownfringe.co.za