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Best of This Week's Theatre Blogs - 27 Nov 2009

There was one topic that was preoccupying Bloggers this week: the possibility of a London Fringe Festival to rival Edinburgh’s. On The Guardian Theatre Blog Veronica Lee made her opposition to the idea clear and suggested that a better focus for the energies of the organisers should be on London 2012. Andrew Girvan, meanwhile, looked into the details of the idea and, amongst other questions, found problems with charges being levied by its organisers.

If things were looking entirely negative for the possibility of such a festival then London is Funny decided to add some balance, resulting in that stalwart of decision making: a pros and cons list.

Elsewhere, in the wake of questions about audience behaviour, Aleks Sierz found a novel suggestion for ensuring that audience members stay awake (though not one which could guarantee their attention after that).

Finally, in case we should forget that even in the midst of debates theatre still has to be made, the West Yorkshire Playhouse continued to blog about their Christmas production of The Secret Garden, this week talking to adaptor Garry Lyons about why the story is relevant to children now.   

Guardian Theatre Blog, Veronica Lee - A London Fringe Festival? I don’t think so
"There appears to be little industry support for this idea, and I suspect it won't happen. What organisers should focus on instead – and I'll take a sidestep just here – is hosting a London fringe in 2012, when the Olympics come to town."

Andrew Girvan - Will Edinburgh Crush The New London Festival Fringe?
“Attracting an audience to fringe shows in London is notoriously difficult no matter what time of year you pick. Once the hardened fringe theatre goer has embarked on their annual jaunt to Edinburgh is there still an audience for fringe work in London? I fear the London Fringe may be a local event for London companies playing to smaller London audiences than they would expect at any other time of the year.”

London is Funny - The London Fringe Festival 2010 - early thoughts
“3) Edinburgh's belly is swollen... Over-priced tickets (for punters), venues and promotion (for comics) and accommodation (for all) make it ripe for an under-cutting. It may have to get realistic, which would save everyone else a fair few pennies.”

Pirate Dog, Aleks Sierz - Audience Behaviour
"I noticed that for Mike Bartlett’s Cock, at the Royal Court Theatre Upstairs, the makeshift staging has hard seats with no backs. If you fall asleep in this show, you’ll not slump, but fall over."

The Secret Garden Blog, West Yorkshire Playhouse - Adapting a Classic for WYP
“I was talking to one of the Arts Development team at the Playhouse, who has been distributing the script to various people for comment, and one person said that he'd been brought up in care, and that The Secret Garden had been one of his favourite stories as a child simply because he identified so strongly with Colin.”

- by Corinne Furness - Theatregoer Reporter

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