Fringe benefits — in every sense

Most newspapers (The Stage included) do not have the space to cover everything in the kind of depth we would like to, though The Stage does in fact do better than most; but with roughly 105 theatres in London, it’s only the hardiest theatre critic who ever ventures too far afield. I am often out seven nights a week as it is — and sometimes twice on matinee days — and still I don’t see everything, not even all of the major stuff that’s going on, let alone tracking down what might be gems elsewhere. There isn’t, alas, an eighth (or ninth or tenth) night to the week….

So I rely on what I call my fringe ‘canaries’ — those that go down into the mines first to check that its safe to proceed! The pages of Time Out and What’s On in London have always been a good source for such tips; as are the ever-diligent efforts of Lyn Gardner in The Guardian, who not only covers much of the London fringe but is also the paper’s lead regional critic, too, and is constantly on the road to do so. (The Daily Telegraph’s second-string Dominic Cavendish also travels heavily, but more regionally than on the fringe).

But papers are still confined not just by the enthusiasms of their staff but by space, and that’s where the web usefully comes in: there are no limitations in cyberspace, and The Guardian website now affords a new voice space to breath there. Maxie Szalwinska already contributes to their Culture Vulture blog, but has now also introduced a new fortnightly column, called Fringe Benefits, in which she reviews three or four shows further afield.

As she comments in her introductory column, “Too often the arts pages of newspapers are stuck in the charabanc land of tired West End revivals when many of the most electrifying, clever and playful theatre takes place at off-West End and fringe spaces.”

Of course, the fringe has long been a feeding ground to the mainstream: “Old institutions with their ageing audiences have discovered that they must tap into fringe innovation to draw young crowds; it’s a matter of survival (the National Theatre hiring the Battersea Arts Centre’s impresario Tom Morris is just one example of this).”

For audiences, there’s often the pleasure of discovering talent early: “Playwrights, directors and actors don’t usually burst fully formed onto the mainstream theatre scene, and the fringe is where audiences can get their first sightings of theatre-makers who have something special about them.”

But it’s tough for fringe theatres to get noticed amidst the clamour of productions that are already demanding our critical attention. So Maxie’s new column is a welcome new ‘canary’!