Dunedin Fringe Festival Resounding Success

Media Release

Dunedin Fringe Festival Resounding Success
Sunday 5 April 2009

A strong programme, sell-out performances, and complimentary reviews places the 2009 Dunedin Fringe Festival amongst the most successful to date.

The festival attracted local, national and international performers to Dunedin, many of whom hope to return to the city again next year. The refined programme meant dancers, comedians, musicians, artists and performers all got good exposure to Dunedin audiences.

Newcomers to the festival, Seek Dance Crew from Wellington, were thrilled with the response to their show. Seek’s manager Daphne Seyb says they were overwhelmed by the support of local audiences.

“This was our first show outside of Wellington. We had great audiences that were really diverse, from small children through to the elderly. This experience has taught us heaps and the positive reviews have led to other opportunities – we love Dunedin now”.

Wellington based Simon Upton, Director of Drowning Bird, Plummeting Fish and winner of the most original concept says that the cast were really impressed with how the fringe took over the whole city.

“Even though we’re from Wellington, we felt like we were a real part of the festival, it was so inclusive”.

This evening the best of Dunedin Fringe was celebrated at the ‘Glam Awards Night’. This year’s Dunedin Fringe Festival winners were:

ARTFORM AWARD CATEGORIES

Winner Best of Fringe: Das Roq Opera
Winner Best Comedy: Te Radar
Winner Best Dance: Self Portrait
Winner Best Outdoor : 3rd Horse
Winner of Best Music: Lines of Flight
Winner of Best Theatre: Ella and Susn
Winner of Best Visual Arts: WISH: About Spaces
Winner Best of Fringe: Das Roq Opera

GENERAL AWARD CATEGORIES

Winner of Best Production Design: 3rd Horse
Winner of Most Original Concept: Drowning Bird, Plummeting Fish
Winner of Stand Out Performer: Simon O’Connor
Winner of Most Promising Work: Tono with His Big Words and Opinions About Things
Winner Best Poster Design: Portraits: The Woman Outside

Festival director Paul Smith said he felt like this had been one of the most successful festival yet and he was excited about the prospect of taking things even further next year.

“The success of the festival has endorsed the shift to an annual festival and every year we learn more about what makes this festival so good. It’s fantastic to get such positive feedback from our performers, audiences and the media, but were still working to make things even better next year”.

ENDS

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