Sleepless In Melbourne

Felix Preval is a man on a mission. His goal: to see 60 shows during this year's Melbourne Fringe Festival. It's a mighty effort but perhaps not totally surprising when you learn that he is the Fringe's Independent Arts Manager. “I get no sleep during the festival,” he admits with a wry laugh.

In a way it's typical of the kind of passion that the Fringe evokes. Indeed, Melbourne's annual orgy of indie artistry is now a well-established cultural staple; and in 2012 it lurches into its 30s. Since its 1982 inception, MFF has showcased over 50,000 artists and this year alone will feature 4,000 across more than 100 venues over three insomniac weeks.

At the ripe old age of 30, the event has become an institution, so much so that Preval is able to speak without irony about the broader function of the Fringe. “I think the role of the Fringe Festival is to offer a platform primarily for young and emerging artists to experiment with form and content and to be able to show their work in a forum where there's a critical mass of like-minded artists.”

Although the event isn't as big a deal in Melbourne as the Adelaide Fringe is across the border, Preval contends that it has definitely embedded itself in the city's psyche. “I'd like to think that the Fringe transforms Melbourne to a degree that it opens Melbourne's eyes to something that's happening all the time,” he says. “The vast majority of the artists in Melbourne Fringe are Melbourne based. It really is a very local festival, so there is something of Melbourne inherent in the festival.”

While it's not hard to imagine a list of benefits for artists, the Fringe is also about permitting audiences to be adventurous. As Preval notes, “In some ways Melbourne supports the independent arts year 'round but Fringe time is a really exciting time because it offers audiences an opportunity to step out of traditional theatre spaces. That's one of the big things that really encourages people; seeing things on trams and in loungerooms and toolsheds.”

As ever, MFF is a broad church. However, the 30th anniversary has given event organisers the chance to dig through the archives and give 2012 a 'back to mine' feel. “For us, we're definitely talking about the 30 years,” Preval declares. “Some of that is reflected in the club program and some of it in a few of the classics coming back; things like the Real Hot Bitches, The Last Tuesday Society, Shut Up & Dance. Y'know, real Fringe favourites.”

For local audiences that means everything from the compulsory bacchanalia of North Melbourne's Fringe Club to Abbotsford's much loved but slightly less mind altering Fringe Furniture exhibition. This year's program also features a festival family album called Double Take, which aims to showcase punter pics from three Fringe decades; and to top it off there's the festival's first ever AFL Grand Final call.

But wait! Where's all the weird shit? Where's the 'fringe'? Fortunately, Preval is suitably reassuring: “There's some dance stuff, some cabaret, some really exciting visual art that represents that spirit of the Fringe, which is about experimentation and work that defies convention.”

Phew. Thank God 30 doesn't mean boring anymore.