Sadomasochism, Brazilian carnival music, Gothic opera and digital art are among the types of performances to watch out for at the 2011 Taipei Fringe Festival (臺北藝穗節), which begins tomorrow with the Fringe Opening Parade from 5pm to 8pm.
With 108 acts from Taiwan, Mexico, Brazil, Spain, Canada, Sweden, the US and Austria staging 382 performances over the festival’s 16-day period — up from 69 acts and 149 performances last year — Taipei Fringe has come a long way since its inception four years ago.
Betsy Lan (藍貝芝) has taken control of the festival for the next three years and aims to make Taipei Fringe similar in spirit to big-name events such as the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Avignon’s Off Festival.
Photo Courtesy of Taipei Fringe Festival
“In Taiwan it is a government event, which is not very ‘fringy,’” said Lan, who is an actor, director and producer in her own right. “It’s been criticized for not being grassroots, too bureaucratic and ... not artist friendly. So part of my job is to change that — to close the gap and make it more funky.”
The quality of performances will vary because anyone who registered can put on a show. Lan said she’ll use venues that “have a personality suited to the performance” with the aim of spurring conversations among audiences, actors and critics.
The number of venues has expanded to 21, up from 14 last year. In addition to traditional spaces such as Guling Street Avant-Garde Theatre (牯嶺街小劇場), Red House Theater (西門紅樓) and Taipei Artist Village (台北國際藝術村), Lan has added a number of coffee shops, a museum, a room in a hotel and a deserted building called Ruin Academy (廢墟建築學院) to the roster.
Photo Courtesy of Taipei Fringe Festival
The organizers have also wrestled control of the Fringe Center, a hub for artist exchanges and audience-artist interaction, away from the government.
“When it was a government event, people would say: ‘I don’t want to go to the Fringe Center. I’m not gonna party with the wenhuaju (文化局, Department of Cultural Affairs). What’s fun about that?’” Lan said.
Located at Cafe Mezone (米倉咖啡, 83 Longquan St, Taipei City, 台北市龍泉街83號), a coffee shop close to Taipower Building MRT Station (台電大樓捷運站) Exit 3, the Fringe Center will host a Blues Party at 8pm both Mondays during the festival and a symposium this Sunday and Sept. 11 at 3pm. The festival’s customer service desk can also be found at the center, as well as performance reviews written by the Critic Troupe. Cafe Mezone is open daily from 4pm to 11pm.
Photo Courtesy of Taipei Fringe Festival
Critic Troupe
Taiwan’s art community has few professionals writing critical reviews about music, dance and theater. News articles about performance art are often rewritten press releases, and few outlets send professionals to watch performances. The Critic Troupe serves as an antidote to this by attempting to keep audiences informed of a show’s quality.
Photo Courtesy of BDSM Company
The Critic Troupe has always been part of Taipei Fringe, but has expanded every year. Its first incarnation was simply a survey used by organizers to determine the winners of the Fringe Stars, which are awards for the best shows in the festival. After receiving several complaints that the process wasn’t transparent, however, Fringe organizers began posting the reviews at the Fringe Center in the second year. Online reviews were added last year.
This year, Lan called on members of Taiwan’s art community — 50 reviewers culled from theater professionals and critics, scholars and journalists — to serve as the reviewers, or what Lan calls a “professional audience.”
In addition to providing valuable information to audiences, the Critic Troupe aims to professionalize Taipei Fringe because performers know that they will be judged by their peers.
“It won’t be a matter of ‘I have something to fuck around with in the summer because I have the time,’” Lan said. “[It will be more like] ‘I actually have to be responsible to my audience,’ So the critics are the ones setting the standard. And once they publicize their reviews, people are going to know who is good and bad instantly.”
Beginning on Monday, Critic reviews will be posted online at www.taipeifringe.org/Content/StarList.aspx.
Audiences can be critics too — both of the performances and the Critic Troupe — by adding their comments to the online reviews or adding Post-it notes to the hard copy reviews at Cafe Mezone.
Audiences can also vote for Fringe Stars, which include Best Performance (one each for dance, theater, music and other), Best Space, Most Creative and Future Star categories. Audience votes make up 30 percent of the tally, with 60 percent coming from the Critic Troupe and 10 percent from organizers. The awards will be announced on Sept. 17 with the “best in show” receiving NT$50,000.
The Fringe Opening Parade sets off from Taipei Cinema Park (電影公園廣場) at the intersection of Wuchang Street (武昌街) and Kangding Road (康定路) at 5pm and finishes at the Red House Theater, 10 Chengdu Rd, Taipei City (台北市成都路10號) at 8pm. All Taipei Fringe acts will participate in the parade and some will give short skits along the way.
Taipei Fringe tickets are available through Walkie Ticket (www.walkieticket.com), NTCH ticketing (www.artstickets.com.tw), ERA ticketing (www. ticket.com.tw) and Books ticketing (tickets.books.com.tw). Detailed information in Chinese and English for performances can be found at the festival’s Web site (www.taipeifringe.org).
Festival highlights
Pippy Longstocking (皮皮) by Enspyre Theater
The Taipei-based theater group, consisting of a Swedish director and Taiwanese actors, will present a unique interpretation of Pippy Longstocking, the assertive young girl who mocks adults and loves adventure. With music, song and dance, this performance is one for the whole family.
■ Sunday and Sept. 2 at 2:30pm and 7:30pm,
and Sept. 4 at 7:30pm. Guling Street Avant-Garde
Theatre (牯嶺街小劇場), 2, Ln 5, Guling St, Taipei City (台北市牯嶺街5巷2號). Tickets are NT$300, available at www.walkieticket.com
Kaohsiung Happy Go (招弟復興打狗趣) by Chi-Chiao Opera Troupe (奇巧劇團)
Chi-Chiao Opera Troupe combines Taiwanese opera and Henan opera in a performance that humorously examines the misunderstandings between Taiwan’s various ethnic and linguistic groups.
■ Sunday at 2:30pm and 7:30pm at Red House Theater (西門紅樓), 10 Chengdu Rd, Taipei City (台北市成都路10號). Tickets are NT$250 at www.walkieticket.com
Stand Up Unlimited (卡米地站立幫脫口秀不設限) by various comedians
Six comedians and guests will bring you the best comedy acts performed at Taipei’s Comedy Club over the past few years. Director Social Chang (張碩修) has promised some new material as well.
■ Tuesday and Sept. 6 at 7:30pm at Taipei Artist Village, Rooftop (台北國際藝術村4樓屋頂), 4F, 7 Beiping E Rd, Taipei City (台北市北平東路7號). Tickets are NT$250 at www.walkieticket.com
The Moment of Gothic Renaissance by Renascimento (文藝復興樂團) and Psalmodeath
(詩篇之死樂團)
The Moment of Gothic Renaissance brings together Renascimento and Psalmodeath for an evening of “gothic metal.” Renascimento was form ed by Taiwanese bands Trinity and Unknown. Its music mixes heavy metal and classical music with Chinese literature and serves as “an attack on the field of underground music.” Psalmodeath combines metal with country music.
■ Psalmodeath performs at 7:30pm and Renascimento performs at 8:30pm on Sept. 2 at Reykjavik Lab (雷克雅維克實驗室), B1, 7, Jinan Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市濟南路一段7號B1). Tickets for both performances are NT$250 at www.artsticket.com.tw
Very Foreigner (老外Why不壞?) by Bubonic Productions
“Love is never easy, especially when dating a foreigner,” declares the introduction to Very Foreigner, a romantic comedy from the producers of the sell-out Edinburgh Fringe Festival show Plague! The Musical. Hsiao-li (小莉) is gaga about foreign culture and her newfound boyfriend Michael, who hails from the US. But soon their relationship descends into chaos amid a “clash of cultures, genders, desires and hopes.”
■ Thursday, Sept. 9, Sept. 10 and Sept. 11 at 7:30pm at Taipei Stock (倉庫藝文空間), 3樓, 34, Bade Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市八德路一段34號3F). Tickets are NT$350 at www.walkieticket.com
The Sirens Moment (兩種聲音在幹嘛?) by Sirens and Moment Singers
The Sirens Moment brings together Sirens and Moment Singers, two A Cappella groups that is produced by Vocal Asia (中華暢聲亞洲音樂協會), a newly formed organization that unites a cappella groups from across Asia. Sirens took top honors and best vocal at last year’s Chuncheon A Cappella Festival in South Korea, and best vocal and stage performance at last year’s Taiwan International Contemporary A Cappella Festival (台灣國際重唱藝術節), a competition that saw Moment Singers take first place. The a cappella duo will team up to croon pop and jazz favorites.
■ Sunday at 2pm and 7:30pm at A House, 18, Alley 5, Ln 107, Fuxing S Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市復興南路一段107巷5弄18號). Tickets are NT$280 at www.walkieticket.com
What We Want! What We Play! (印是要醬子跳!) by Alma Negra (深靈舞窟文化館)
Alma Negra presents a folk dance performance based on styles from India’s Rajasthan and Punjab provinces — but with a twist. What We Want! What We Play! incorporates Chinese rap, street dance and Aboriginal culture to bring Indian dance in Taiwan to “a level never seen before!” according to the performers. Alma Negra won the third Taiwan India Creative Dance Competition.
■ Sept. 4 at 7:15pm at Taipei Artist Village, Bamboo Room (台北國際藝術村幽竹廳), 1F, 7 Beiping E Rd, Taipei City (台北市北平東路7號). Tickets purchased in advance are NT$250, available at www.walkieticket.com. Tickets at the venue are NT$350
Closer: Jackie and Jako in Wonderland by DADADA ! ! ! ! ! ! !
Interactive video projection and sound art are combined in this story about destiny. The multimedia performance follows Jako, an inexperienced drug pusher who gives up dealing for kidnapping. But when he goes through with his plan, one which finds him abducting the soon-to-be married Jackie, “strange things happen” and “strange people appear.” DADADA ! ! ! ! ! ! ! has earned a reputation for its interdisciplinary performances, international collaboration and bizarre use of punctuation.
■ Sunday, Wednesday and Sept. 7 at 8pm and Sept. 10 and Sept. 11 at 2:30pm at Wolong 29 (臥龍貳玖), 29, Ln 136, Heping E Rd Sec 2, Taipei City (台北市和平東路二段136巷29號). Tickets are NT$400 at www.walkieticket.com
Squat: UN-Limited House (臨蹲─不設限房) by Multi-X
Squat meditates on the global phenomena of people taking over unoccupied space for living, social movements or art displays. Multi-X, a recently founded hub for artists from all disciplines, uses an abandoned building, Ruin Academy (廢墟建築學院), where every floor interweaves “live music, dance, theater performances, sound installation and lighting.”
■ Monday, Thursday and Sept. 2 at 7:20pm and 8:30pm at Ruin Academy (廢墟建築學院), 2, Ln 85, Zhonghua Rd Sec 1, Taipei City (台北市中華路一段85巷2號). Tickets are NT$250 at www.walkieticket.com
Cafe Cantante (歌唱小酒館) by La Gitanita (小野狂花)
Cafe Cantante unites flamenco music with dance in a program that tells the story of a guitarist and dancer who hope to team up with a famous Andalucian singer. La Gitanita is composed of musicians and dancers who met at their university’s flamenco clubs. They have studied flamenco in studios, workshops and festivals in Taiwan, Japan, the US and Spain. The group publishes Naranja a magazine that seeks to promote flamenco music in Taiwan.
■ Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday at 7:30pm and Tuesday and Wednesday at 3pm at Somebody Cafe (貳拾陸巷), 3F, 131 Xining S Rd, Taipei City (台北市西寧南路131號3樓). Tickets are NT$350 at www.walkieticket.com
You Can Be the Kinky Star! by BDSM Company (皮繩愉虐邦)
Last week Joseph Nye, the well-known China scholar, wrote on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s website about how war over Taiwan might be averted. He noted that years ago he was on a team that met with then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), “whose previous ‘unofficial’ visit to the US had caused a crisis in which China fired missiles into the sea and the US deployed carriers off the coast of Taiwan.” Yes, that’s right, mighty Chen caused that crisis all by himself. Neither the US nor the People’s Republic of China (PRC) exercised any agency. Nye then nostalgically invoked the comical specter
Relations between Taiwan and the Czech Republic have flourished in recent years. However, not everyone is pleased about the growing friendship between the two countries. Last month, an incident involving a Chinese diplomat tailing the car of vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) in Prague, drew public attention to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) operations to undermine Taiwan overseas. The trip was not Hsiao’s first visit to the Central European country. It was meant to be low-key, a chance to meet with local academics and politicians, until her police escort noticed a car was tailing her through the Czech capital. The
April 15 to April 21 Yang Kui (楊逵) was horrified as he drove past trucks, oxcarts and trolleys loaded with coffins on his way to Tuntzechiao (屯子腳), which he heard had been completely destroyed. The friend he came to check on was safe, but most residents were suffering in the town hit the hardest by the 7.1-magnitude Hsinchu-Taichung Earthquake on April 21, 1935. It remains the deadliest in Taiwan’s recorded history, claiming around 3,300 lives and injuring nearly 12,000. The disaster completely flattened roughly 18,000 houses and damaged countless more. The social activist and
Over the course of former President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 11-day trip to China that included a meeting with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping (習近平) a surprising number of people commented that the former president was now “irrelevant.” Upon reflection, it became apparent that these comments were coming from pro-Taiwan, pan-green supporters and they were expressing what they hoped was the case, rather than the reality. Ma’s ideology is so pro-China (read: deep blue) and controversial that many in his own Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hope he retires quickly, or at least refrains from speaking on some subjects. Regardless