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Invading Poland
30/01/2018 11:40 pmIt’s that time of year again. The freaky Fringe Festival is in full swing. Time for all the weirdos and freaks to come out of their broom cupboards and celebrate their strangeness
Izzie is no exception.
There are 700 shows and four weeks to see them.
It has gotten to the stage that the printed program is now in size 6 font so the serpent has to resort to the website to gawk at stuff
There are lots of cabaret, burlesque, comedy and circus shows but the greatest juggling act is the art of snaffling tickets for shows.
There is the eternal trade off between taking a chance on cheap tickets (officially called Rushtix) for a desired show or missing out completely due to being such a cheapskate
Learned from experience that certain performers don’t do cheap. Sometimes this is a philosophical attitude and sometimes it is due to being around awhile and getting a reputation of being absolutely fabulous
Way back in 2013 there was this quirky mob called Briefs who were a bunch of queer Dole bludgers from Queensland.
They were best described as Drag Queens do steamy circus stuff. Also known as Boylesque
Their first two shows were listed under the cheap tickets and this serpent snaffled the second night for the princely sum of $20. Even if the show was crap, it was worth the price of admission just to get inside a 1920s Spiegeltent all the way from Belgium.
But it was sizzling and sexy and very impressive.
By the third show word had gotten around they were well and truly sold out and since then have never ever needed to sell cheap tickets. Now they can charge $48 per ticket and they run for three weeks with sell out shows
Back in 2016 I went to a show starring Cougar Morrison who can best be described as an androgynous singer who does amazing impersonations of Edith Piaf. Got into that show for a ridiculous $10 and was so impressed that I will now happily pay $20 to $30 for anything with his/her name on it.
There is another mob called Bogan Shakespeare and their tickets sell like hotcakes. So this time did not take any chances and got in early but still miffed on missing out on MacBeth last year because that is by far this serpent’s favourite Shakespeare play
Every year we get some amazing Americans called Sound and Fury who specialise in Shakespeare parodies and the odd Alfred Hitchcock show and they are also always on the Izzie shopping list
So when peeking through the program and coming across Mein Camp the question was - to buy or not to buy?
Whether it is wiser to buy tickets in advance to be sure of getting a show or to take a chance on being a cheapskate and missing out altogether?
The Show had a run time of Saturday 27th January to Thursday 1st February.
Finally decided to wait until Saturday to get cheap tix that day and if not available would then take the plunge and buy at full price for Thursday 1st.
If not for the big fat full moon tomorrow taking a likely cheapskate day off the agenda, would have probably chanced it
So there were no cheap tix on the Saturday. Sunday was not an option due to the constraint of public transport so I figures that it’s better safe than sorry so went ahead and splurged on a full price ticket. So of course Murphy’s Law dictates that it has been half price Sunday, Monday and today.
A bit miffed but it would be much worse to be left wondering if it turned out to be a sell out show and the serpent had been waiting for cheap tix
The rules have changed for the better. It used to be possible to turn up any time after midday at the box office to peruse the list of cheap tix. Then last year they made them online only from 11am which meant that I had to adopt the strategy of paying full price on work days and taking a chance on the other ones.
Also the online booking fees of $2 means that it makes sense to snaffle 3 shows in one session rather than just one
So gone were the days of just showing up and seeing what was available and taking a chance. More plotting and planning would be required
This year they went back to allowing in person purchases and added the nifty feature of a daily email with a list of the cheapies. So much more civilised than rummaging through the website from hell, one show at a time trying to find interesting things
So the year they have made it easier than ever to indulge is the very year that the serpent has a budget of $200 silver sickles.
Every year since 2012 I have been to between 16 and 20 shows nearly all of them at half price or less.
There are some duds but they are the exception not the rule ( except for stand up comedy which is nearly always sad and pathetic)
Added another show to the wish list - just the title alone is reason enough to sign up
Cardinal Sins - Pell in a Cell
But even without attending any shows, just lurking around the assorted venues and the Pleasure Garden is a magical way of spending the evening.
So strange that the city is at its safest when the freaks are unleashed.
Izzie is no exception.
There are 700 shows and four weeks to see them.
It has gotten to the stage that the printed program is now in size 6 font so the serpent has to resort to the website to gawk at stuff
There are lots of cabaret, burlesque, comedy and circus shows but the greatest juggling act is the art of snaffling tickets for shows.
There is the eternal trade off between taking a chance on cheap tickets (officially called Rushtix) for a desired show or missing out completely due to being such a cheapskate
Learned from experience that certain performers don’t do cheap. Sometimes this is a philosophical attitude and sometimes it is due to being around awhile and getting a reputation of being absolutely fabulous
Way back in 2013 there was this quirky mob called Briefs who were a bunch of queer Dole bludgers from Queensland.
They were best described as Drag Queens do steamy circus stuff. Also known as Boylesque
Their first two shows were listed under the cheap tickets and this serpent snaffled the second night for the princely sum of $20. Even if the show was crap, it was worth the price of admission just to get inside a 1920s Spiegeltent all the way from Belgium.
But it was sizzling and sexy and very impressive.
By the third show word had gotten around they were well and truly sold out and since then have never ever needed to sell cheap tickets. Now they can charge $48 per ticket and they run for three weeks with sell out shows
Back in 2016 I went to a show starring Cougar Morrison who can best be described as an androgynous singer who does amazing impersonations of Edith Piaf. Got into that show for a ridiculous $10 and was so impressed that I will now happily pay $20 to $30 for anything with his/her name on it.
There is another mob called Bogan Shakespeare and their tickets sell like hotcakes. So this time did not take any chances and got in early but still miffed on missing out on MacBeth last year because that is by far this serpent’s favourite Shakespeare play
Every year we get some amazing Americans called Sound and Fury who specialise in Shakespeare parodies and the odd Alfred Hitchcock show and they are also always on the Izzie shopping list
So when peeking through the program and coming across Mein Camp the question was - to buy or not to buy?
Whether it is wiser to buy tickets in advance to be sure of getting a show or to take a chance on being a cheapskate and missing out altogether?
The Show had a run time of Saturday 27th January to Thursday 1st February.
Finally decided to wait until Saturday to get cheap tix that day and if not available would then take the plunge and buy at full price for Thursday 1st.
If not for the big fat full moon tomorrow taking a likely cheapskate day off the agenda, would have probably chanced it
So there were no cheap tix on the Saturday. Sunday was not an option due to the constraint of public transport so I figures that it’s better safe than sorry so went ahead and splurged on a full price ticket. So of course Murphy’s Law dictates that it has been half price Sunday, Monday and today.
A bit miffed but it would be much worse to be left wondering if it turned out to be a sell out show and the serpent had been waiting for cheap tix
The rules have changed for the better. It used to be possible to turn up any time after midday at the box office to peruse the list of cheap tix. Then last year they made them online only from 11am which meant that I had to adopt the strategy of paying full price on work days and taking a chance on the other ones.
Also the online booking fees of $2 means that it makes sense to snaffle 3 shows in one session rather than just one
So gone were the days of just showing up and seeing what was available and taking a chance. More plotting and planning would be required
This year they went back to allowing in person purchases and added the nifty feature of a daily email with a list of the cheapies. So much more civilised than rummaging through the website from hell, one show at a time trying to find interesting things
So the year they have made it easier than ever to indulge is the very year that the serpent has a budget of $200 silver sickles.
Every year since 2012 I have been to between 16 and 20 shows nearly all of them at half price or less.
There are some duds but they are the exception not the rule ( except for stand up comedy which is nearly always sad and pathetic)
Added another show to the wish list - just the title alone is reason enough to sign up
Cardinal Sins - Pell in a Cell
But even without attending any shows, just lurking around the assorted venues and the Pleasure Garden is a magical way of spending the evening.
So strange that the city is at its safest when the freaks are unleashed.
