June 29th - July 1st 2007

It's happened - and North Devon's first Fringe Theatre Festival was a great success.

It was modest in scale but perfectly formed. And solid foundations have been established from which the festival can grow and prosper.

8 local companies pioneered the way. It was a festival entirely made up of original work. There was everything from full-on drama to madcap revue by way of contemporary dance and a magic show. The eclectic programme attracted an eclectic audience - ages 4 to 94 (literally) and from all walks of life. Many dedicated theatre-goers but also many attracted by the "buzz".

There were 501 attendances over the weekend with a core of the audience seeing up to 5 of the shows on offer. Many audience members signed up to help develop the Fringe Fest next year.

More than anything we truly created the Fringe experience here in Barnstaple. We're a town of 25,000 with a lively but disparate arts community. This event provided the focal point for groups and individuals to come together and to create something bigger than the sum of the parts.

North Devon College hosted the Fringe in The Factory, an Industrial Unit that houses their Music Performance and Technology courses and which they are developing as a venue.

North Devon Theatres Trust (who manage the North Devon Festival) equipped and staffed the Fringe Fest, provided box office facilities, underwrote publicity costs and promoted the event widely as part of the North Devon Festival.

multi story theatre company managed the event, liaised with companies, created publicity material, programmed and time-tabled proceedings and generally chivvied and cajoled. And at the centre of proceedings were the companies - a mix of professional, student and community groups - who made it happen on stage.

In the true tradition of Fringe everybody did more than was asked of them. The students created a great juice/coffee bar area where we had quality music acts in between the theatre shows. Our technician took immense pride in both the venue and the productions and in particular contributed a striking lighting design for the dance piece. Performers were generous in their support of each other's work. We had a volunteer house-manager who covered everything from road-signs to health-and-safety and ensured the smooth-running of the weekend. We couldn't have asked for more.

you may want to check out the 2007 programme and schedule

you may want to check out the list of musicians who played in the acoustic cafe