Buxton Fringe hosts party to celebrate publication of programme

The festival is looking ahead to a more normal year, with a fantastic 168 entries this year, which is back to pre-covid levels.

The traditional programme will be published for the first time since 2019 this year, with 52 pages of performances and live events in a range of categories. Available from the beginning of June at locations including the Buxton Visitor Centre, the programme is free.

An open to all party to celebrate the publication’s launch is taking place at the Green Man Gallery in Buxton on Saturday starting at 7.15pm. It will feature performances by folk trio Rare Occasion and comic stars Angela Bra and Henry Churniavsky as well as food and drink.

The fringe itself runs from July 6 to 24 in parallel with Buxton International Festival. This year all three managed venues are taking part: The Green Man Gallery, the Rotunda and Underground at the Clubhouse and the Arts Centre Studio. Other venues include the United Reformed Church, Buxton’s magnificent Crescent and unusual locations such as Pooles Cavern and, out of town, High Peak Bookstore and Eyam Parish Church.

Comedy, music and theatre are particularly strong with award-winning comic talent including stand up Alasdair Beckett-King, Nathan Cassidy, fringe favourite Kate Butch, Impromptu Shakespeare Improv Company and Upstart Crow’s Rob Rouse.

Music will fill the town thanks to choirs such as Albion, Kaleidoscope and the new Buxton Community Choir plus classical recitals and fine instrumental performances from the likes of pianist Adrian Lord, harp-guitarist Jon Pickard, classical guitarist Jonathan Prag, multi-instrumentalist Rik Roberts and others. There are small ensembles and orchestras and every variety of style from tango to big band and folk to rock with a touch of the unexpected thanks to Egriega’s genre-busting Adventures in Sound and Light.

Theatre promises more innovation with a one-woman Jekyll and Hyde, a Dr Faustus with puppets (and potatoes) and dark physical theatre in Kafkaesque. There are one-person shows such as Fotheringhay in which Jane Collier invites us to meet Mary Queen of Scots, Little Boxes featuring Little Britain’s Joann Condon, Make-Up from NoLogo, Badass, a love letter to the NHS by Sarah Mills, and The War of the Worlds as realised by Ross Ericson. Young talent abounds with Shadow Syndicate and Buxton’s own REC rubbing shoulders with highly experienced professionals keen to tread the boards again.

This is just a small taste of a wealth of entertainment, some of it free, including art trails, magic shows, poetry, film, dance and more. Full listings are available on www.buxtonfringe.org.uk and on the free to download Buxton Fringe App. During the Fringe, the Fringe Information Desk, now in the Pavilion Gardens Conservatory near the restaurant, will be open every day from 10am-5pm.

The Fringe will also offer its traditional free showcase of events, Fringe Sunday, at the Pavilion Gardens on July 10th as well as Fringe@5 and busking outside the Fringe Desk.

Fringe chair Stephen Walker said: “The Fringe is back to full strength with a programme full to bursting with exciting performances and exhibitions, and we're looking forward to sharing the programme with our audiences on June 4.”