September 11, 2019

As the dust settles on the 7^th Guildford Fringe Festival I thought it time to reflect on a wonderful month and to thank a few people.

However, if you will forgive a little self-indulgence I would like to begin this blog about July with news of a rather momentous event which took place in August. Charlotte did me the very great honour of accepting my proposal of marriage and we are now officially engaged!

That’s right, Jake’s mum and dad are getting married and as you can see from this picture, he could not be happier.

So, back to The Fringe 2019, and what a start as G Live played host to Hal Cruttenden, Chris McCausland, Susan Murray and Paul Sinha for an opening night to remember. G Live is the largest Fringe venue and we are always delighted by the warmth of the welcome that we receive there, it really is the perfect stage to launch the festival with a bang!

Venues are of course vital to the success of any festival and here in Guildford we are blessed with a staggering variety of places to host events From pubs and theatres to High Street balconies and Natural Burial sites, we do like to think that we offer an assortment worthy of our productions.

Supporting local talent has always been a priority for us and this year we were thrilled to see productions from Nick White and his splendid team at GeeYou, the wonderful Guildburys Theatre Company and an evening of new writing selected and presented by students from the University of Surrey.

We should also mention Matt Pinches production of ‘A Bard of Ale’, most of you will know Matt from Guildford Shakespeare Company and we were delighted to have such a significant local luminary perform as part of The Fringe.

Music, as ever played a massive part in the event and once again we were over the moon to have such an eclectic mix on offer including Opera on the Balcony, a Free Fringe event taking place from the balcony of the Guildhall, a production that typified the spirit of The Fringe and the willingness of authorities, performers and venue to work together to bring an event to life.

Comedy can often be the lifeblood of a fringe festival and Guildford is no exception, of course we have a head start on other events because we host comedy events throughout the year, this does give us a certain advantage when it comes to securing the services of some of the brightest names in British comedy.

Indeed, visitors to all 7 Guildford Fringe Festivals would have had the opportunity to see Zoe Lyons, Arthur Smith, Andy Parsons, Joe Lycett and Aisling Bea. Many of these headliners appearing before they hit the big time, and that’s the joy of The Fringe, promoting new talent and watching it develop (in fact, developing so much we can’t afford some of them anymore!)

I began this blog with the intention of thanking a ‘few people’ but there are too many to mention, our sponsors, performers, promoters, venue owners and managers all play such a huge part, I sincerely hope that they all know how much we appreciate their support.

And a very special thank you to everyone that laughed, cried, danced and laughed some more as part of our audience, quite literally, we could not have done it without you!

Have a great end to the summer, see you soon

Nick Wyschna – Managing Director