'Everyone has been super-supportive': Cork Fringe Festival ready for a second cut
Cork Fringe Festival founders Daniel Cremin and Ineke Lavers. Picture: Darragh Kane
Now in its second year, the Cork Fringe is on a firmer footing than last year with funding from Cork City Council and sponsorship, as well as support from places like the Cork Opera House and businesses around the city.
Co-founded by directors of the festival, Daniel Cremin and Ineke Lavers, the duo, who are working primarily on a voluntary basis, are in it for the long haul and say they will continue to apply for Arts Council funding as the festival grows.
This year, Cremin, who is also a freelance producer and magician and has been working as assistant to the CEO of the Cork Opera House, says the festival received over 200 applications compared to 120 last year.
He and Lavers have programmed 33 productions. Unlike last year, each production will have two performances over the three-day festival.
Some 16 venues will be used this year compared to ten last year. “Everyone we’ve approached has been super-supportive and we’re very lucky that almost all the venues we’re getting are on a benefit-in-kind basis,” says Cremin.
“We are in the Pavilion this year which is a new venue for us. We have a lot of events there, around three a day, and downstairs in the bar will be the festival club. We will be using the Cork Opera House but more for a panel discussion than a performance. We have other traditional spaces like the Granary Theatre, the Cork Theatre Collective, the Cork Arts Theatre.”
Unconventional spaces include Elizabeth Fort. “We have a show called John of Thrones there by comedian, John Spillane [not to be confused with the singer/songwriter] who is doing a site specific show in a full suit of armour. It’s part scripted and part improv and will be developed with the audience.
We’re also using Actors Vision on Patrick’s Quay. It’s an acting studio which will be used as a performance space.”
Last year, approximately 1,500 people attended the Cork Fringe. Tickets cost mostly €12.50 this year. The festival finances have a 70/30 split, with 70% going to the performers and the remainder paying for the technical and production costs of the shows.
The programme is made up of 55% Cork acts, 30% national acts and 15% international acts. “We hope to keep it that way. We like to support Cork artists and national artists. The international element is there because some of the shows coming over have been at other fringes. They come over with festival directors who can see Irish acts and potentially bring them to their own fringes. We like the idea of being able to export Cork work. There are over 300 fringes around the world.”
But underpinning the festival is a desire to create space for artists to remain in Cork and work as performers and technicians. “There’s a huge space for the Cork Fringe because there are a lot of new and emerging artists, who need a platform so they can develop.”
As well as the two directors, Cork Fringe has a production manager, a volunteer coordinator and a graphic designer. About 20 volunteers are involved in the festival.
The organisers are very practical with workshops on how to write press releases, for example. It’s all about engendering a can-do attitude towards the arts in what is for many artists, their home city.
- The controversial Fireman’s Rest hut at the city’s fire station gets put to good use with comedic story telling from John Spillane (not the singer). Five audience members at a time get to experience the 15-minute show on May 7. Spillane also performs at Elizabeth Fort during the festival.
- Lady on the Rock, from Goleen-born director David Donovan, is described as a “darkly comic” work that explores loneliness and identity in suburban Dublin. Cork Arts Theatre, May 10
- Cork Liminal starting at Elizabeth Fort is an artistic scavenger hunt around the city with hints and tips about the environment such as a sign or some graffiti. After roaming the city, participants aided by the various prompts, will create a song or a poem and will share that with fellow participants.
- Hell Night at the Pav follows Bjorn, a middle-management demon in the accountancy circle of hell, as he faces a disciplinary reckoning with the Big Man Downstairs and scrambles to piece together a wild night out with his “sordid compatriots.”
- Sweat takes place at the Cork Theatre Collective studio at Triskel where “a seriously unserious naked dance-theatre show follows a woman in her apartment as she struggles to adapt to this nude way of life” in a world that is getting hotter.
- A family show, The History of Art at Dance Cork Firkin Crane, explores the history of visual art using clowning, puppets, props and arts.
Cork Fringe takes place from May 8-10. For full programme details, visit corkfringe.com
