15/09/2024 Dundee Fringe
JD Henshaw, theatre maker, producer, event director, and University of Dundee Alumni launched Dundee Fringe in 2021, which brings together talent from across the city and beyond.
We sat down with the inspirational Henshaw to discuss all things Fringe, Dundee Uni, Theatre and Sweet Venues. Henshaw’s contribution to the theatre community is momentous. Dundee Fringe is a unique event, rooted in the city itself, with a commitment to artistic risk taking.
‘How did you get started in the Fringe?’
JD Henshaw: ‘I’ve performed and worked in the Fringe for over 20 years. Wow, that's a lot. So, I began by taking shows (to the fringe) from my university theatre group, at the University of Dundee. And then as time went on, that eventually became a theatre company in its own right. We hit a point during 2008, 2009 where you know, you start thinking about what to do next- can we make this happen? The decision to get into venues came from there and I began running venues at Edinburgh Fringe.
‘What does running venues involve?’
Henshaw: ‘So I build venues in different spaces. In Edinburgh we converted hotel conference rooms into full theatres, I’ve converted churches into theatres, multi-story car parks, old shopping centres. I build full scale theatres in spaces where you wouldn’t normally find that sort of work. That’s sort of one of my things.'
‘How did you get started with Sweet Venues?’
Henshaw: ‘So I started Sweet Venues in 2009, and we have been going ever since, crikey 15 years! We have venues now in Dundee and Brighton which are year-round spaces. We host permanent work that’s based there and we welcome companies from local areas and all around, and I also create festivals. So, I’m the Artistic Director of Brighton Horrorfest, Dundee Fringe, and our production arm make and tour work [as well as] look after other people’s work. We tour internationally.'
‘When doing some research, I saw that you run a Fringe in Prague- what other Fringes do you run?’
Henshaw: ‘Prague Fringe is great, we love that beautiful Fringe, really amazing. We’ve taken work there; I still write and direct so we’re currently touring a one-woman version of Jekyll and Hyde.’
‘What makes Dundee special in comparison to the other Fringe’s you run?’
Henshaw: ‘I think obviously every Fringe has an identity. It has its own specific flavour vibe. My aim with Dundee Fringe is to make something that really belongs to the city that you couldn't remove it from Dundee and put it anywhere else. To be visceral about it, the muscle and capillaries of this festival are built into the body of Dundee. Yeah, that's so important and it's got to represent the city, the people our community. I think the thing about our Fringe is- and it's a lovely thing to hear from other critics and reviewers that come to visit- it's a very fringy Fringe. You know, you'll get people saying that this feels like Edinburgh used to feel. That's really important to us.
We want it to be a really strong sense of community, a really good opportunity for people to meet each other, communicate, network, rather than well, other fringes where the financial risks are considerably higher and the opportunity to take artistic risk therefore is considerably smaller.’
‘Why is it important that Dundee hosts these events’
Henshaw: ‘Because we deserve it? Dundee is amazing. I came to Dundee for two reasons; a girl and university- university definitely outlasted the girl and Dundee far outlasted all of it. I thought that I would move on, but instead I stayed and did further, higher level degrees, taught a little bit in the English department. Dundee University was a big part of my life and then after that I changed and moved into theatre arts... Dundee has been very important to me. It's been a point of frustration to not be able to get these things going sooner, but, but now we're here we're definitely not going anywhere.
I would say I am making sure that I’m contributing my part to our community. it's weird to be in the position where you are touring high level piece of work, you're working with all of these things but not in your own time. And this is a great city, and deserves great things, and it has great things; but imagine if we just really enhanced all that and work together more, bring all of it together.'
‘Did you study English at Dundee?’
Henshaw: ‘Yeah, I did. I really loved my time at Dundee Uni, it was great. Some really great teaching professionals, some really great people, lots of lifelong friends. My theatre company was built out of the people we were together with at uni- which is amazing, and we're still together now and that's been almost 20 years. We're still pals and make work together, tour the country together. I mean, how mad is that? they’ve gotten married to each other, had kids’.
‘Do you think there is a bright future for the Dundee Arts and Culture scene and how does it compare now to when you were at University?’
Henshaw: ‘That’s two very good questions. The flat answer is yes. I think the future is bright. We have an amazing scene. You know, obviously the city's a UNESCO destination for design. We have a tremendous depth of performing arts, lots of disciplines. You know, huge music scene, you've got a massive amateur musical theatre scene with multiple companies around the city who lay on big productions, and they're really also integral to community. Again, they're built out of their folk who: their mum was in it, their Gran was in it, you know? And that's- that's an amazing thing. Obviously, there's the Rep, there's Little Theatre, Whitehall, there's all of these places, and that's very exciting.
I think there's a struggle for finding space, struggle for making that platform. That's one of the big reasons that I made Sweet - as a venue opportunity. It's why we've got a room here, because also it's finding that opportunity that is at a scale people can afford-and afford can be financial or afford can be emotional, because you're worried: 'I can't fill 150 seats, but I know I could do 50'. It’s that, it's where you want to pitch the work, and that's the stuff we need to work on together, that's the stuff that is... I'm not going to be dramatic and say, is it live or die?
[but] Kinda, well, I think there's an awful lot of people in this city who that is the direction they're pulling in. People want it but they don’t know how to manifest it.
And how does it compare? It stops and starts. It's a weird one. Yeah, the music venue scene for music has collapsed a bit. Yeah, there's obviously a lot of that in the press at the moment. It doesn't mean there aren't any spaces. It's about us putting our heads together and making the spaces happen. Cost of living and all of that is making it incredibly hard. The funding situation is awful and it's hard to make a living in art when it shouldn't be because it's an integral part of people. But again, I am an optimist and a futurist, and I believe we can turn that tide.
It's all about being collaborative. We need to dismantle a lot of the gatekeeping. We need to accept a mutual ownership.'
‘What are you most excited for this years Dundee Fringe?’
Henshaw: ‘It's just the vibe. It's the audiences, the performers, the amazing chats that are happening right now between people who have literally just met and are now talking like their old friends, the amazing instant bond that a love of this form of art just creates.
And it's an amazing thing that that Fringe concept now that's moved beyond the idea of being a festival that is on the fringe of another festival. Now that we use Fringe to encompass a concept of shows that run around about an hour, no interval, a type of way we perform. There is theatre, music, comedy, burlesque, cabaret, magic, spoken word, keep naming genres and they will all fit- but they don't necessarily have big budgets.
They are from poor theatre and funded through planning, rather than funded through bank of Dad or big funding pots.
And that is one of the enemies and worries that is flowing around certain other festivals that are available, that the cost of being part of them is becoming increasingly prohibitive and at the point where you can't afford to sleep in the city, afford to live in the city, and then you still have to perform in the city. How do you go there with a brand-new show and only just enough money to make it work, because there's no wiggle room, there's no chance, and you're just absolutely solid, left facing debt, rather than just at least being able to break even.
We've built this Fringe out of no registration fees. Very, 70/30, split to the artist, very artist focused. I know it's still a risk, but our goal here is to try and reduce that risk to something that people can, in a very eyes open way, look at it and go, yeah, I can take the chance. I can make new work. Yeah, I can. I can put on stage that thing that I don't know if
it quite works yet, and I can put on stage that thing I know does work to a new audience. There are loads of folk here who they're seeing different sizes of audiences, as they're trying to reach out to people who've never heard of them, which is a huge challenge, and Dundee is great. You know, people really, they go for it, it's brilliant’.
‘Thank you for your time and best of luck with the rest of the Fringe!’
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Written by Eva Milne, Lifestyle Editor for The Magdalen
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