Verge Festival 2011

Overview

The Verge Festival has everything. Experimental Cinema, claims of the Best Comedy Ever, great sunset film screenings and croquet. With origins as a festival of experimental art, the Verge has grown into a University-wide arts festival with events ranging from pure weird to straight up drama — but all of them with something that takes their efforts away from the everyday.

Opening night is packed with music and art by its hosts, the charity-supporting Major Raiser, who'll be dedicating the night's efforts to youth mental health — a subject close to their heart. Closing night promises a laser maze on the dance floor, while the middle of the fest sports Pride Week Party and night markets. During the rest of the festival, the Uni's flashy promenade, Eastern Avenue, will be taken over by giant shipping containers as part of Uncontainable, as artists decorate the containers' outsides, and fill the insides with pre-made exhibtions. Some occasional Impro playmaking is promised, while Underbelly artists Fetish Frequency offer a DIY audio story to drag you around the Sydney University campus.

There will be nights of nice words at Outspoken, and the Story Club's return from the Comedy Festival, starring Playschool veteran Benita Collings. SUDS is getting into the festival spirit by staging the bloody Titus Andronicus, as well in-situ drama like Animals at the University's tiny Roundhouse and and some Strindberg in the tennis courts.