The Bath Fringe Festival has launched its exciting 2019 programme, with more than 120 events and 90 contributors spread across 24 venues in the city during the 17 day festival.
The festival will run from Friday 24th May until Sunday 9th June with the ever-popular Bedlam Weekend, a celebration of street theatre, circus and dance, taking over the streets of Bath on Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd June.
This year sees collaborations between the Bath Fringe Festival, The Bath Festival and Komedia Bath as well as a whole host of partnerships with local venues including the Mission Theatre, the Rondo Theatre, Chapel Arts Centre and the Old Theatre Royal.
2019 will see the Bath Fringe celebrating the spirit of the 1969 festival Comtek, which started off a string of events that is believed to have led to the festival of today, with some events and artists from back in the day, and some others inspired by the art styles of the 60s and 70s.
There is a particular emphasis on theatre this year, with two full-time Fringe theatre venues throughout the festival; the Rondo Theatre in Larkhall and The Mission Theatre in the city centre, plus a selection of other shows fitting in odd corners, some interesting experiments, and some very new work.
The Fringe music programme will break new ground with more venues and a programme of great regular nights showing the best of what they do all year round, plus a few special-for-the-fringe bonuses – including a collaboration with Bath Festival and Komedia Bath in contemporary electronica.
The fringe’s Outdoor Arts events have once again been supported by Arts Council England.
These include a special made-in-Bath piece to commemorate the historic festivals (9th June), and the New Work Works artist support and mentoring programme will work in more depth with at least a dozen groups, including some at a more advanced level, so on Bedlam Fair weekend (1st and 2nd June) there will be new work from more established artists as well as newcomers.
Fringe Arts Bath (FAB) will again be doing their programme of visual, performed and conceptual arts in empty shops and office spaces throughout the city.
There will be new shows from established Fringe institutions like 20:20 Vision, Bella Cielo, BUST, BUSMS and Bath Comedy Festival.
The fringe have been revamping their website and have new 2019 Fringe Artwork from Bath Spa University Art & Design student Lizzie Wheeler.
Programme editor Steve Henwood said, “It’s rare to hold in your hands a document that contains quite so many people’s creativity in under 50 pages.
“Every Fringe programme contains so much new art and so many new artists, it’s like an explosion – or a festival in itself just reading about it.
“It’s an honour to be part of introducing so much new and undeservedly unknown work to the world, all right here in Bath.”
The Bath Fringe Festival runs from Friday 24th May until Sunday 9th June. Full information can be found on the fringe website: www.bathfringe.co.uk or in the printed festival programmes, available locally.
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Niall Farnan
Saturday 25th May, 2019 at 20:21After a fantastic reception at The Mission Theatre’s Bath Fringe Festival Taster evening last night, people are rushing to get their tickets for ‘Elephants (are the Largest Land Mammals)’. Come and meet ‘Squirrel’ a very likeable character, who despite their flaws, will find a way into your heart. Funny, tragic, and thought provoking, this brand new show will be upstairs at the Mission Theatre, Bath on the 29th and 30th May. Tickets available on the door or here: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/atomic-clock