Scotsman Announces Final Round of Fringe FirstsDate: 24 August 2007
The third and final weekly round of this year's Fringe First Awards were announced today (24 August 2007), with four more shows being singled out for distinction. In total, 16 productions premiered at this year's festival have been recognised with Fringe Firsts (See News 10 Aug & 17 Aug 2007).
This week’s final winners are: Subway (Traverse 3 – Drill Hall until 26 August), Vanishing Point's latest production about a young guy brought up in Leith returning home to find his dad in the year 2030; Mile End (pictured, Pleasance Dome until 27 August), Analogue Theatre’s multimedia production telling the story of a man who dies at Mile End station in London after being pushed onto the tracks; Hugh Hughes in… Story of a Rabbit (at the Pleasance Courtyard until 27 August), a piece exploring concepts of death and grief; and Wish I Had a Sylvia Plath (Underbelly's Smirnoff Baby Belly until 26 August), an amusing take on the story of Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath and their troubled relationship.
Winners from the past two weeks are: from week one, The Container, The Walworth Farce, England, Scarborough, Truth in Translation and Damascus (See News, 10 Aug 2007); and from week two, Ravenhill for Breakfast, Between The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, Hangman, Popsicle Departure 1989, The Smile Off Your Face and Emergence-See! (See News, 17 Aug 2007).
All 16 winners were presented with their trophies at the final Fringe First awards ceremony in Edinburgh this morning (24 August), when winners of this year's first-ever Musical Theatre Awards at the Fringe, presented by MTM:UK (Musical Theatre Matters) in recognition of outstanding musical theatre, were also announced (See Today’s Other News).
The Fringe First Awards were established in 1973 when there was concern that the Fringe was not attracting the right quantity and quality of shows. The awards are announced weekly during the festival, with the Scotsman Fringe Awards ceremony being held on 24 August 2007. There is no fixed number given and the only requirement is that the work must be new - having had no more than six performances in the UK, prior to the Fringe.
The 2007 Edinburgh Fringe, the world's largest arts festival and now in its 61st year, opened on 5 August and concludes this Bank Holiday Monday, 27 August (See News, 3 Aug 2007). During the Fringe, an estimated 18,626 performers have been presenting 31,000 performances of a record-breaking 2,050 shows in 250 venues. It is the first Fringe under new artistic director Jon Morgan (See News, 26 Mar 2007).
- by Tom Atkins
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