Milton Keynes Festival Fringe 2013 -Headline Data!

Milton Keynes Festival Fringe aims to champion the arts and people’s perceptions and expectations of the arts, animating unusual spaces and staging experimental activity which engages, challenges, surprises and entertains audiences.  The 2013 MK Fringe inspired and enthralled audiences and participants alike; a very successful four day event was delivered seamlessly, in time and on budget.




In contrast to those surveyed last year (who just happened to be passing), visitors to Milton Keynes Festival Fringe this year were visiting specifically to engage in the wide range of events available. Over 90% rated the experience as “good” or “very good” and 91% would be likely to recommend the events to others.

Most strikingly less than 5% of those asked, were ‘accidental audience’ ie had ‘stumbled upon’ the Fringe. In comparison, last year over 60% of those asked were just passing through and had ‘stumbled upon’ the Fringe -on the way to shop or attend the International Festival. This represents a huge increase in our dedicated audience or following. In fact, some of those asked had come specifically to an event because of the “reputation of the event”.

The largest number had come to ‘be entertained’ and because ‘the children wanted to come’! Furthermore, there is more evidence to suggest a growing trend in our audience following: There was a 20% increase, from last year to this, in people who responded ‘yes’ to having attended a similar event previously.


Nearly half of those asked had found out about the events by ‘word of mouth’ (including social media) and there was also an encouraging increase in those who had seen printed material (including press). This is in comparison to last year when most had ‘stumbled upon’ the events and only 10% had seen any press coverage or posters. 

The press coverage generally, was excellent when considering the amount of summer festival activity, including music and arts events, which were happening over the same weekend as the Fringe locally.

The audience numbers were also up on last year, although we ran a much shorter festival period this year. We once again used a sticker system to count those who were actively engaging directly with events (not just walking past).
We counted 11,805 but this figure does not include the Walking with Giants parade which we estimate attracted an additional 8,000-10,000 people.
This figure does not include the on line audience either which was also good; we received 4275 hits on the website during the week of the Festival with a peak of 1015 on the final day.

We recruited over 30 volunteers and we programmed over 20 events, mostly in the Theatre District over the four days, which involved the staging of over 50 artists, all of who gave us brilliant feedback and many of who are keen to return next year. 

The Fringe was very good value; 80% of the total budget was artistic expenditure i.e. artist fees and staging costs and less than 20% was spent on admin, management and overheads. This was down to the good will of our volunteers and also the dedication and commitment of the Fringe team.

The programme showcased outdoor arts, dance, walkabout theatre, vignettes, visual arts, music, workshops and events, staged in unusual spaces that aren’t always associated with the arts. It included a mix of invited and open call commissions with opportunities for local regional and national artists. About 50% of the participating artists were local to MK.

The Fringe supports local arts organisations to come together to collaborate, share skills and evaluate practices and resources. A successful Fringe Festival can benefit arts organisations, independent producers and venues by bringing in new audiences and extra income opportunities.
We are looking forward to working closely with some of these organisations again and hopefully others too.

Fair Play

This was my first experience of directing a show without having a co-pilot! 

And this is what the bumf said:

 “A small show with a GIANT message, Fair Play is fun and thought-provoking. Plus it’s suitable for all the family!

Festive Road is keeping it local with their new theatre piece Fair Play.

This is the story of two sisters who begin their journey on the family farm but everything changes when the Trickster comes on the scene (cue: boo, hiss!)

The characters tell the story of trade, taking the audience from the fields and power houses of past and present, to the most recent incarnations of market places; the disconnected shopping experience presented by faceless corporations. And as the sleeping giant is gradually revealed within the ever transforming landscape, hand held puppets, projections and larger than life characters are played and animated with physicality and humour. The show even uses a cycle powered generator!

A positive future is in sight, in which we are all responsible for the giant that commerce has created; the solutions remain in our hands." 

The ideas grew out of a round-table discussion among friends. In hindsight the subject was fairly predictable for me: consumerism, the take over of public space, the faceless face of modern commerce. The older I get the more I realise the latent Maxist within! 

In my role as Artistic Director of MK Festival Fringe, I had been working with various people in marketing companies who safeguard the commercial interests, (the shopping zones), in central Milton Keynes. There is an on going battle to place art and stage performance in these 'seemingly public' spaces but I was also interested in the idea that our huge chain shops have become unable to respond quickly to demand. Their production is so far away from the consumer (literally in another world) that they have to create the demand for products, ie tell us what we don't realise we need, predict (or subliminally set) the winter fashions in the previous Spring etc. 
I was imagining how, if only people understood the mob power they had, simply deciding that the fodder-fed fashion of the day wasn't what they wanted, maybe they could break the whole chain? 

The discussion extended to world food production, the disconnect from reality which now exists in the developed countries and the reliance on long distance imports, cheap labour and other unethical goings on...

It wasn't that there was one simple narrative we could pull out, at least nothing chronological like the revolution from agricultural, to industrial Britain -it couldn't always be blamed on the Victorians! Empire building, mass production, exploitation of people, industrialisation and consumer rich societies are not restricted geographically and pop up and down throughout time, they rise and fall like the sea.

Beyond the initial discussion of ideas (which may have been more about me getting the opportunity to have a good rant?) a group of performers were gathered -all people who I'd worked with before so we had a head start: Natali Bass (physical performer), Manuela Benini (dancer) and Allan Davies (story teller). The next stage was to create a narrative and we approached this collaboratively, all coming from different angles!

I already had a clear idea about creating a transforming set which turned from rural, to urban, to digital and which finally became a standing faceless giant so with a couple of other team members; Nick Garnett, Emma Garafalo and Paul Smith (all makers), we created the story, designed the set and sketched the characters -two sisters who begin on the family farm,  the trickster or middle man (based on the Trinidadian Midnight Robber) and the various extras; marketeers, robots, shelf-packers -which the three performers all doubled up as.

The devising and rehearsal process was also very collaborative and Natali, Allan and Manuela were very supportive of my 'learning journey'. Having co-directed a previous Festive Road production, Brewing Up (but in reality it had been more like shadowing), I was an inexperienced director. As the process continued, I became more and more confident about my ideas and how to shape the show -to make it work. It was an interesting dynamic to work with; Allan -the archetypal source rich, language reliant story teller, Manuela -the abstract, non-linear sense of a dancer and Natali -the 'turn it on its head', mime world of the physical clown. 

If I'm honest I had no idea how hard it was going to be holding all of that! But the end result was pleasing and was well received at all the schools which we performed at. 

By the time we came to share the work at a public performance, hosted by The Chrysalis Theatre in Milton Keynes, the piece had been tweaked many times and was really quite well resolved. 

I had the idea to bring in a bit of a local produce sale as a wrap around, to create a whole audience experience which fitted with the Chrysalis Theatre ethos. The Camphill residents sold their fresh picked raspberries, home baked bread and local veg box schemes spread their wares in wheelbarrows in the theatre foyer as people entered. 

Unfortunately we experience a bit of a technical mess up on the first performance which as luck would have it brought in the largest audience! The second showing was pretty perfect... we haven't performed it since but it's available for bookings. It would be great to perform at a summer food festival? Take a look at the promo video