Everything You Need to Know About… Newcastle Fringe Festival
Our guide to this year's exciting fringe festival
Away from Newcastle’s big theatres there’s a thriving underground in fringe theatres, pub backrooms and all sorts of other cultural spaces. From uproarious stand-up comedy to powerful theatre to remarkable dance, there’s always something going on in the city.
The annual Newcastle Fringe Festival celebrates exactly this, shining a light on the kind of cultural things that are happening all the time throughout the city and beyond.
It's a fantastic, two-week affair featuring theatre, comedy, music and more and ahead of its kick-off date in mid-July, we've compiled all the details you need to get the most out of this exciting festival – now all you need to do is get booking and immerse yourself in its performances.
What is Newcastle Fringe Festival?
Newcastle Fringe Festival describes itself as ‘ten jam-packed days showcasing the very best performing arts from Newcastle and beyond’ - and that seems like a perfectly good summary to us.
It’s a multi-venue, 10-day festival of comedy, theatre, music and more taking place all over the city, with more than 40 artists from across the UK appearing, all with the express aim of entertaining you!
The whole shebang has been produced by Ali Pritchard and Chloe Stott from Alphabetti Theatre and is brought to you by a big team of cultural freelancers from the region.
Where is it happening?
The hub of the festival is Alphabetti Theatre but there will be events at Dance City and Prohibition Cabaret Bar in the city centre and The Old Coal Yard and Cumberland Arms over in the Ouseburn.
When is it happening?
The festival runs from Tuesday July 16th to Saturday July 27th with performances taking place throughout the day. Check the official Newcastle Fringe Festival website for the full schedule.
Which artists and performers are taking part?
As usual, the Fringe Festival is offering a broad and brilliant range of entertainment. Comedy dominates - there’s stand-up and physical comedy from comics like Jessie Cave, Benny Shakes and Lost Voice Guy - but there's also the RPG gaming-meets-live-theatre of Roll For Initiative, hard-hitting theatre like You Need To Say Sorry, dance from the Dora Frankel Ensemble and music from Fossilheads and Bold Big Band. All the shows are previewed on the Newcastle Fringe Festival website.
Is it family-friendly?
Every performance has its own age recommendation, with some for all ages and others for 18+ audiences, so it's best to check the Newcastle Fringe Festival schedule for details. There are, however, some fantastic kid-friendly festival events like The Ballad of Billie and the Tree Stump and School's Out Comedy Club.
How much are tickets?
Again, prices vary depending on the performance so do check the website, but most of the events are priced at £10 (full price), £5 (concessions) and £3 ('No Questions', in line with Alphabetti’s long-standing determination to make culture as accessible as possible to everyone).
The phrase ‘something for everyone’ is probably overused but it’s absolutely true in the case of Newcastle Fringe Festival, which offers us everything from storytelling for kids and storytelling that’s definitely not for kids, comedy of all stripes from relationship anecdotes to songs about the apocalypse and even some puppetry. Get booking!
Newcastle Fringe Festival takes place from 16th July to 27th July. For more information visit www.newcastlefringe.co.uk.
