Monday 6 July 2020

The online Fringe, how is it for you?


The long awaited Buxton online Fringe 2020 is live!  Four days into the Fringe I've enjoyed folk, opera, theatre, comedy, art and street theatre. I've been jumping seamlessly from genre to genre and artist to artist, sometimes while cooking dinner or watching TV or (pretending) to listen to my partner.

For me this is the great thing about the online nature of this years fringe. You can dip in and out of as many events as you like and re-watch your favourites.  Another plus is trying out new things you weren't brave enough to go to last year. All without leaving home. No need to worry about the weather or booking tickets. No tricky negotiations about who wants to see what with your friends and family. No time tabling to avoid double booking or running from venue to venue. No chance of being selected for 'audience participation'.

And the quality and creativity of what's available is amazing. Our performers have all risen to the covid 19 challenge wonderfully.

But what about any negatives? I miss the atmosphere of a live gig and the chance to interact with other members of the audience or the performer. Or being able to get up close to a piece of art. And to show my appreciation for taking me to another place or giving me a laugh.

And what's it like for the performers, without live interaction and feedback from the audience? Just liking them on Facebook or Twitter surely isn't the same as hearing us laugh or applaud.  I wish the internet let us broadcast our laughs, gasps, cheers, claps and whoops of approval to the artists.

On a more serious note many of our performers have been hit financially by Corvid 19, some indicate that they would be grateful for donations, please do give if you are able to.

The Fringe is a wonderful event and next year I'm going to make twice as much noise to show how much I appreciate their efforts not just for 2021 but for this year too.

In the meantime I just want to say a huge huge thank you and well done to each and everyone of our 100 entrants. Brilliant!

Carole Garner

Buxton Fringe

Website: www.buxtonfringe.org.uk
Facebook: buxtonfringe
Twitter: @buxtonfringe
Instagram: @buxtonfringe

4 comments:

  1. Well put Carole! A fantastic Fringe :)

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  2. I must admit that, as performers, we're really missing the buzz of live interaction, but it's brilliant that any sort of fringe took place at all this year. Well done to everyone involved!

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    1. Totally agree, thanks for reading the blog.

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