With the Sydney Fringe Festival kicking off this Friday, Larry took some time out to chat with the festival’s spokesperson Kerri Glasscock to talk about per picks of the festival and more!
You’re dealing with a lot of venues this year, but it’s not a sudden thing is it?
I think you’d hope that it’s kind of on a trajectory to keep growing, but also that it’s finding its feet and realising some of those original goals.
And Five Eliza (the “festival bar” in past years) is still going.
We’re not pushing it as our festival bar this year, cause we have our new garden bar in the seymour centre forecourt. Certainly five eliza is still the heart of the festival, but the festival hub will be the Seymour Centre forecourt because it’s closer to the centre of everything that’s happening.
What will we find at the Seymour Centre forecourt?
There’s going to be a whole bunch of light installations, a bar set up in there, free music. There’ll be nights where all the festival artists come and give little previews of their work, so you can check that out and see if you’re interested in them. Also, that’s where all our volunteers and everyone will be. So it’ll be a great place to just pop in if you don’t know what you want to do and get some information.
How long have you been involved in the festival?
I’ve been involved since the beginning. Initially I was lobbying support when it started, and then my two venues; 505 and the 505 theatre, and they’ve been involved since the beginning. This year I joined the board just to help out where I could.
What has the new festival director Sandy brought to the festival.
Sandy is terrific because she comes from a film background, so I suppose being a manager she’s fabulous. She’s really whipped the festival into shape, which is what it really needed. And she has her own outside eye, which is always great when you get fresh blood in.
This is the first year as well with a company like Kabuku doing publicity. So it keeps getting bigger and bigger each year.
That’s right, and I think it needs to be. With an event like this there’s an expectation for it to grow as much as it possibly can in the right way.
When it comes to the shows, do you have a few that you’re particularly looking forward to?
I always like “In the Night Garden”, that’s always a special night, because it brings the community together. And Lana Schwarcz is doing an Adult puppet show, which should be fantastic. There’s too many to mention. Just take your pick; it’s bound to be good stuff!
This year, how are ticket sales going? Are things looking positive for that kind of stuff as well?
I haven’t been to the office this week, but last week I checked and they were better than last year’s which is great. And we’ve only been on sale for one week.
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Get all the details you need about the Fringe here: http://2013.sydneyfringe.com/ – Kicks off Friday!
