First Belfast Fringe Festival ends on a high

Belfast's first Fringe Festival ended last night with a karaoke in Ma Nelson's on the Lisburn Road. It was a fitting end (more performing!) to a hugely successful weekend.

Congratulations are in order for all concerned, and overall numbers exceeded expectations, especially Paul Currie, who packed 100 people into the The Errigle Inn, with his madcap puppet and props cartoon routine.

I was one of the army of volunteers who had the pleasure of seeing the show they were manning the doors for, and the rest of the shows in the festival for free. It was a privilege seeing the members of the Young Stars casting agency in their 3 Pint-Sized Productions, in Alchemy Studios, and Skewiff Theatre Company's presentation of The Waiting Room in the Belfast Film Festival building.

Our performance of The 39 Steps was a complete success too, with No Alibi's having to turn up to twenty people away at the door. The poetry jukebox was performing 20 poems an hour at Forestside, which was all made possible with the assistance of Castlereagh Borough Council.

There has been a lot learned over the weekend, meaning that next year's festival will be a feast of culture!

The 39 Steps has sold out!

The next show I'm in, The 39 Steps, with Wireless Mystery Theatre, part of Belfast Fringe Festival has officially sold out - two days before the performance.

[caption id="attachment_368" align="alignleft" width="484" caption="Poster for Wireless Mystery Theatre's The 39 Steps"][/caption]

I went in to No Alibis to buy tickets for family members, and was informed that after my purchase, there were only five tickets remaining, of which two were instantly sold in front of me, and my friend informed me she had bought the final three.

This is a great (and just) reward for all the work Aislinn Clarke and everyone else has put into the show, and will keep us on our toes for the performance on Friday night.

The whole Fringe Festival is creating a great buzz around the city, and it's just a pity that resources forced organisers, Peter Quigley and his crew, to keep it within 3 days, and 20 venues. No doubt next year the Fringe will be huge, and will be threatening the main festival for punters' attention within the next few years.

I am volunteering in some of the other events, and will of course be attending as many of the rest as I can, which I will write about at some stage next week. This weekend is going to be hectic, going from performance to volunteering almost non-stop, but I can't wait for it.

Incident at Vichy and The 39 Steps posters

Just a quick update to show the latest posters for ...Vichy and The 39 Steps.

 



[caption id="attachment_367" align="alignleft" width="343" caption="Poster for Fringe Benefits' production of Incident at Vichy"][/caption]



 

[caption id="attachment_368" align="alignleft" width="339" caption="Poster for Wireless Mystery Theatre's The 39 Steps"][/caption]

The 39 Steps to be performed at Belfast Fringe Festival

It has just been announced that Wireless Mystery Theatre's adaptation of Orson Welles' The 39 Steps has been picked up to be performed as part of the first ever Belfast Fringe Festival.

The show went down a storm when it played in the Chillifest this month, with the performance tent overflowing with viewer, and the good word that spread from the performance was what inspired the organisers to book us.

It will be performed in No Alibis Book Store, Botanic Avenue on October 22nd, with tickets available now at £5.

As mentioned above, this is the first Belfast Fringe, but I'm sure that with the good organisation that has been evident so far, it could be on a par with Edinburgh in the decades to come.