This beer festival has a theatre problem - Annotation
This post discusses a scholarly article:
Batchelor, Brian. "'This beer festival has a theatre problem!': the evolution and rebranding of the Edmonton International Fringe Theatre Festival." Theatre Research in Canada 36.1 (2015): 33+. Web. 26 July 2017.
This article identifies the consequences associated with the commercialization of the Edmonton Fringe Festival through an analysis of the festival’s “free market” economics (Batchelor 39-43) and its shift towards celebration via eventification (Batchelor 36-7). Brian Batchelor maps the evolution of the festival’s “alternative” theatre identity tied to its anti-elitism roots, into a government and corporate funded summer celebration. As well, he examines why the current Fringe model has created theatrical homogeny, or “Fringemachines” as they are referred to (43). He concludes that while commercialization has shifted the focus away from theatre, the “beer tent” celebration spaces have created a breeding ground for ideological and cultural discourse, which has the potential for political movements and engagement (47).
This article is extremely useful as a reference point when analyzing the Fringe as a an institution, as Edmonton was the first North American Fringe festival and the inspiration for Canadian Fringes (35), with many notable similarities to Toronto’s such as beer companies being influential sponsors and the introduction of KidsFringe and other initiatives. I am interested in researching how the spatial dynamics of Toronto Fringe affect the festival’s audience demography, and that is clearly outlined in Batchelor’s article through the positive relationship between eventifying festivals and a culturally diverse crowd. Furthermore, Batchelor defines festival organizers as administrators in the event’s spatial and economic growth, something that is worth comparing to the work done by outgoing Toronto Fringe executive director, Kelly Straughan.
Batchelor’s clear definition of eventifying systems and institutions will help put it into discourse with Temple Hauptfleisch’s model. His model discusses how the organizers’ impact are lessened by external “forces” (Hauptfleisch 45) which is similar to Batchelor’s notion of Fringe as a “Free Market” (Batchelor 42). This creates an environment where one-person and comedies thrive, which is evident in Toronto Fringe and is what I discuss briefly in my journal pertaining to the lack of ideological and cultural diversity.
Many of the failings of this article is in the scarcity of sources or research that delve into the Fringe model, which Batchelor acknowledges (47). However, his interpretation of theoretical academia with current Fringe statistics and articles provides a blueprint on how to structure my further research and writings.
Works Cited
Hauptfleisch, Temple. "Festivals as Eventifying Systems." Festivalising! : theatrical events, politics and culture. Amsterdam; New York: Rodopi, 2007. 39-45. Web. 12 July 2017.
