The biggest-ever Dunedin Fringe Festival has kicked off with almost twice the number of acts it had two years ago.
Cast on the stage during QUEEN. Photo: Supplied
The annual experimental arts festival, which began in 2000, hopes to attract 10,000 people with an eclectic mix of theatre, music, art and comedy, and many things in between.
There are 72 events on offer around the southern city this year as the festival rapidly grows in strength.
An Otago University theatre graduate, Jordan Dickson, is staging a local production of the critically-acclaimed play QUEEN by Auckland playwright Sam Brooks.
"It's a queer theatre piece which is 16 different monologues that meditate on what it is to be young, gay and male in New Zealand in 2017", explains Mr Dickson.
Mr Dickson says he staged the piece last year to sell-out crowds and received such an enthusiastic response that he decided to extend the production for the Fringe.
He has added 20 minutes of new material and reworked every scene.
"This is definitely new and improved QUEEN 2.0", Mr Dickson says.
For people like Mr Dickson, the Fringe is a vital launchpad in a developing artistic career.
He says the number of international and national acts making their way to the bottom of the South Island creates a much larger stage for local productions.
"It's a really invaluable opportunity for us in Dunedin, and I think we are all very, very grateful for the Fringe", says Mr Dickson.
The Fringe thrives on experimental arts productions.
This year those include a multi-media spoken word concerto, Alive in Berlin, and an endurance dance piece, Composure that lasts 10 hours.
International acts include crowd pleasers like Scottish comedy.
Comedians Vladimir McTavish and Bruce Fummey are putting on a double-header this year, and have worked all over the world together.
Scottish comedians Vladimir McTavish (left) and Bruce Fummey. Photo: RNZ / Ian Telfer
"We worked in Perth, Western Australia, and I'm from Edinburgh and here we are in Dunedin.
"We only go to places that are pretty much like home."
The Fringe's success means community groups are starting to give it a go too.
Tarn Felton, co-director of Stories to Heal Violence. Photo: RNZ / Ian Telfer
For the first time Stopping Violence Dunedin has joined in with a performance which tells real life stories of people healing from family violence.
The co-director, Tarn Felton, says once you put violence in a title, people run the other way, but they need not this time.
"It's like there is a stereotyped idea that only bad people come to us, and actually I have met the most beautiful people come to us", says Ms Felton.
"What I really want us to feel in this piece is there is hope", she says.
Josh Thomas, Dunedin Fringe Festival director. Photo: RNZ / Ian Telfer
The festival's director, Josh Thomas, says anyone can bring forward a show.
He says he has been developing the festival's relationship with community groups, especially in the health and wellness sectors, some of whom are now getting involved in putting on their own productions.
"I've certainly been out there trying to engage them and it seems to be working", he says.
Mr Thomas says if the shows and audiences keep growing as they have been then next year the festival will need to run for more than 11 days to fit everyone in.
