The New Zea­l­and Fringe Fest­iv­al has been going for a week and it’s got just over two more weeks to run. Sadly, I’ve only made it to two shows so far (because mov­ing house) a pathet­ic effort really, because there are HEAPS. Cab­aret, cir­cus, com­edy, dance, music, theatre, visu­al art – there are a lot of events to choose from.

I par­tic­u­larly like the prin­ciple that any­one can have a show in the Fringe. It’s open to any­one who registers a show then pays the regis­tra­tion fee. This means there’s a jux­ta­pos­i­tion of exper­i­enced theatre makers (like Trick of the Light Theatre and  My Accom­plice) along­side some exper­i­ment­al out­door shows (The Pub­lic Ser­vice) and fiery cir­cus acts (Com­munity Arts and Cir­cus Trust New Zea­l­and).  The prices are really reas­on­able – from koha shows through to $20 for a tick­et. (If you’re con­cerned about koha I recom­mend tak­ing $20 in small notes so if you like it you can put ALL THE MONEY in the hat.) There’s even a pod­cast billed as “the Fringe show you can enjoy between Fringe shows”. If you’d prefer to sample some of the shows first then join James in the Fringe Liba­tion Lounge.