Wanstead Fringe director Giles Wilson invites South Woodford to join the cultural revolution that has been going on in Wanstead for the past few years. And, like all of us, it looks like the Fringe is growing up
The Wanstead Fringe, which started just after the 2012 London Olympics with comedy and open-air cinema, is now in its second decade and has blossomed into a full arts festival with theatre, music recitals, literary events and much more. As the years have gone by it has grown and its appeal has widened to supporters throughout South Woodford and beyond.
This year’s theme takes a line from Picasso as its inspiration: “Once we grow up,” in which he wrestled with the tension between getting older without losing childlike freshness. That’s something of what we’ve been trying to do.
This year will see a dozen different plays being performed at three sites, including for the first time Shakespeare, with a production of Richard II taking place at the Wanstead Curtain, a new theatre we have created in the hall of the Wanstead Methodist Church on Hermon Hill. Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads will be staged in a High Street cafe and several new works will be performed in the upstairs room at The Bull, including several plays which are coming to us directly after the Edinburgh Fringe. The Wanstead Curtain will also be the venue for three indoor Kinema screenings, ahead of the traditional favourite open-air Kinema in the grounds of Christ Church. This year’s family film is the hit musical Wonka, featuring the talents of one of the stars of last year’s Fringe, Paterson Joseph.
There will be a range of musical styles being performed, from the Replacement Hipsters through the award-winning Redbridge Brass to top concert instrumentalists and performers. Opera star Lucy Crowe OBE and husband Joe Walters will again be bringing a beguiling mix of musical styles to their eve-of-fringe Charivari in the stunning St Mary’s Church on Overton Drive. And that will also be the venue for two performances of All Rest, an opera written by local composer Simone Spagnolo which is set in the churchyard featuring some of the former Wanstead residents who are buried there.
There will be 10 literary events during the Wanstead Book Festival, which is part of the Fringe. Among the attractions are fake history-slayer Otto English (in conversation with Lord Victor Adebowale), comedian Paul Sinha, who will be speaking about his autobiography, philosopher Julian Baggini and Daisy Goodwin, author of a heartbreaking history of the life of Maria Callas.
We are lucky in this part of London to have such a range of events in easy reach. But with the Wanstead Fringe, we are trying to build something new and local, and we’re doing it for ourselves. Our neighbours in South Woodford are, as ever, our welcome partners in this and we look forward to seeing you at events once again this September.
For more information on Wanstead Fringe events, visit swvg.co.uk/wfringe
