How to get the most out of the Winnipeg Fringe Festival

While Winnipeg's sports teams regularly disappoint their fans, the Fringe Festival is big league all the way.

Starting Wednesday, July 13 until July 24, the Exchange District becomes a festive place where you can see almost anything theatre has to offer.

• Winnipeg Fringe 2016: read our reviews

If you haven't been to the Fringe, but would like to go, following are a few pointers gleaned from over 20 years of Fringing.

The first thing is to get a program, available at the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre, Liquor Marts and other outlets. For $3 you get a guide to the plays and how to buy tickets and attend shows. The festival has about 100 shows, so it's pretty much a certainty that something on offer will stay with you for a long time. The question is, how do you find it? 

Choose your own adventure

My first advice is to treat it like an adventure. The companies that offer their wares got the opportunity by having their names drawn out of a hat, so you could see everything from trained seals doing Death of a Salesman to sketch comedy to spellbinding storytellers.

I have seen early work from emerging artists and works that I would never have seen otherwise. I have seen plays that have uplifted and inspired me and others that have made my face hurt from laughter — and some that have done both. I have also seen some clunkers that made me wonder what made those involved think it was a good idea. 

So how do you find the wheat and avoid the chaff? I have no idea. I don't know you. When I mentioned clunkers, I should have added that almost always someone else thought it was the best thing since Chaplin leaned on his cane. Sometimes that person was a reviewer who awarded the show five stars. That's where the sense of adventure comes in. Tickets are $10, sometimes less, so there's no big financial risk involved.

It's all about letting go

The second pointer is to try to meet the performance halfway. I guarantee no one mounts a Fringe show with the goal of stinking the place out. Dennis Noble, my Canadian drama professor, suggested answering these three questions about a play: What were they trying to do? Were they successful? Was it worth the effort? 

For instance, perhaps you went to a show titled The Power of Ignorance and expected a motivational speaker. After a few minutes, you should have realized that was not what Chris Gibbs had in mind. You had two choices: you could sulk, or you could accept the premise Gibbs offered and go along for the ride. 

Even if you give the artists licence, sometimes the answer to the third question is no, and you discover that you've just lost 50 minutes of your life that you will not get back. I suggest two things. First, remember that the artists did not bore you on purpose. The second might seem a bit perverse: try to figure out why the performance missed the mark. Was it the acting? The pace? The subject matter? Was one performer particularly bad? Answering these questions will help make better use of time.

It's also worthwhile to mention that Fringe shows are low budget. Performers often dip into their line of credit or relinquish a few shifts at work so they have time to rehearse. On top of that, companies have only 15 minutes to set up before each performance, so sets cannot be elaborate. It's therefore a waste of effort to get upset if the furniture does not quite match the period, or the seats do not match the comfort of the Centennial Concert Hall. Sometimes you might have to imagine a door or a mountain, but theatre is a work of imagination, and using yours will enhance your experience.

Trust your judgement, but verify

You know you best. But you can make better use of your self-knowledge with research. Start with the program. All shows have blurbs meant to entice you, but some producers waste this opportunity by trying to be too clever with their words. I try to gauge what the experience will be from the blurb. Will it be a historical drama? An arty experiment? Standup? 

Fringe culture and traditions also come in handy. Performers employ a dignified form of panhandling called flyering. Some theatre companies just give you handbills, while others give you a refined sales pitch. Over the years, I have learned if they can't answer "What's your show about?" in a few sentences, it's probably not worth my time. 

Another valuable tool is word of mouth. If you ignore your parents' advice about not talking to strangers, you can learn a lot, although I prefer eavesdropping because of the risk of listening to a heartfelt recommendation from a performer's aunt.

Don't forget to say thank you

The Fringe is unusual in that you have a very good chance of talking to performers. Here's another place where it is OK to speak to strangers. If you liked their performance, say so, and try to be specific: "I loved the part where you pretended a chair was a lion tamer." It's also a chance to get clarification: "Was the seal playing Biff supposed to defecate onstage?"

Kevin Longfield has volunteered, attended, produced and written for the Fringe. He has even been on stage once or twice. This year, Kevin is behind Blizzard, playing at Venue 12 (The Asper Centre).