Weekend Rewind: Beyond the Fringe

The Breaker Upperers.

As Auckland celebrates the opening of the 2019 fringe arts festival, NZ On Screen's Zara Potts looks back at some previous New Zealand fringe festival alumni.

Fringe festivals have always found a supportive audience in Aotearoa. From the very early days right up until present day, Kiwis have taken fringe acts to their collective hearts and helped make many of them mainstream.

We have a proud history of local acts doing well, not just on home shores, but also overseas. Arguably the most prestigious of fringe festivals, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, has seen Kiwi acts become firm crowd favourites – sometimes even before they 'make it' at home.

One of those crowd favourites was a one woman show written by the talented Toa Fraser and performed by Madeleine Sami – No 2. The play catapulted him (and Sami) to fame, winning the Festival First Award at the 2000 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The play was later turned into a film which won the prestigious Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival. The film also produced a hit song with Bathe in the River.

Watch the trailer for No. 2 here:

The Edinburgh Festival also proved a welcoming stage for comedic duo Flight of the Conchords, who won over audiences with their laconic humour. In this except from arts show The Living Room, the pair are about to embark on the journey from Wellington to Edinburgh and of course, unbeknownst to them, worldwide fame.

But before the Conchords, there were twins. The Topp Twins. Now national treasures, Jools and Lynda Topp had audiences rolling in the aisles at the Edinburgh Fringe. This documentary takes a look back at the Untouchable Girls, from busking in the streets to their successful TV shows.

Watch the trailer for Untouchable Girls here:

Arthur Meek took the theatre world by storm with his play On the Conditions and Possibilities of Helen Clark Taking Me as Her Young Lover, where he played the under achieving but over educated Richard Meros. The play garnered critical acclaim as well as applause from theatre goers. In this clip from The Gravy, you can get a taste of Arthur Meek in character.

Watch The Gravy here:

Comedian Rose Matafeo has also enjoyed success at the Fringe. Last year she won the prestigious Edinburgh Comedy Award for her show, Horndog. If you haven't managed to catch her on stage, then have a look at her cameo appearance in The Breaker Upperers.

Watch the trailer for The Breaker Upperers here: