Theatre is always one of the busiest sections in the Buxton Fringe programme, but this year's performers have shown they are not afraid to take risks, stretching the boundaries in exciting ways.
Classic plays are given a twist as Macbeth is pared down to an hour by Butterfly and performed underground at Poole's Cavern while Theatre by Numbers take The Tempest outside at Buxton Cricket Ground. (Those averse to fresh air can also see their other performance at Burbage Institute). Meanwhile the Young REC Theatre Company have the best of both worlds, performing A Midsummer Night's Dream in the shelter of their Marquee in the Poole's Cavern grounds.
Familiar stories are revisited in very different ways. In the comedy 15% of The Seagull, two actors struggle to put on Chekhov's classic drama, while Genieoutthe bottle's Joe reimagines Shirley Valentine from the perspective of her husband. Multi-award-winning actor Alex Moran's Hyde brings to life Dr Jekyll's alter-ego and Tiresias & Player King look at Oedipus and Hamlet from the standpoint of supporting characters.
Famous figures are brought to life onstage in a number of eye-catching shows: Big Daddy vs Giant Haystacks celebrates two wrestling giants of the 70s and 80s and the author of Alice in Wonderland is recreated in The Carroll Myth. There is a terrifying study of murder in Jack: A Ripper's Tale, while, in a bold new venture, Buxton favourites Three's Company and George Telfer join forces in Not The Messiah, about Monty Python's Graham Chapman.
Amongst the new writing on offer, human relationships are dissected in the award-winning Nick Brelsford's All Tomorrow's Parties, and in flat-share comedy Being Nice, the domestic drama Peacefully at Home and twisted love story Strangers/Etrangers. Comedy takes a dark turn in Irish tale Dev's Army and the even darker Question No One from Blue Dragonfly Productions inviting the audience to 'the last funeral there will ever be'. By way of light relief, Fiona Paul was inspired by Joyce Grenfell for her new character monologues in Excuse Me, I'm Trying to Please You.
Several new pieces aim to disturb. Comedy and spine-tingling horror combine in The Haunting while the horrors of World War I and Afghanistan are contrasted in Paper Tom.
New writing combines with a new theatrical approach in Criminy, reinventing slapstick silent comedy. The movies are also the inspiration for a double-bill of new drama in The Telegram & Cinema Limbo. Gold Flower's Story offers a physical theatre spectacle set in the Chinese revolution while Stephen Wymark's Fragments claims to 'push the boundaries of where performance ends and our own realities begin' and Telling Lives offers a Brechtian account of life in Prestwich County Lunatic Asylum. The Mole and the Worm from Teatro Entre Escombros offers an underground Spanish adventure that will actually be performed in that language on July 22. Proving the power of one, GC Morgan presents one-man psychological drama Witzelsucht & Moria and closer theatre company previews its one-woman show about a swimmer's Olympic journey in What Would Sharron Davies Do?
2011 sees the welcome return of several memorable Fringe regulars including Whitebone Productions with the Bane trilogy, Planet Rabbit with Blitz Bride and Small Portions, Library Theatre Touring Company with the Chekhovian romance I Take Your Hand In Mine, Three's Company's time-travelling comedy The Importance of Being Frank, Imagine with Terry Pratchett's Maskerade, The Off-Off-Off Broadway Company with The Sexes, MADS with the melodramatic Three Hisses for Villainy, Blue Dragonfly with their acclaimed drama Somewhere Between Six and Seven and Buxton Drama League with the winner of their Act One playwriting competition, Hungry Generations.
Some of the most dynamic shows come from the Fringe's younger performers. In addition to the popular Young Rec, this year's Fringe boasts Craft Theatre Company with 4.48 Psychosis, Looking Glass Theatre Company with a fresh take on Billy Liar, and Shadow Syndicate with Abi Morgan's Fugee about child refugees.
Stretching boundaries or not, there really is something for every taste. Fans of observational comedy could try Double Booked, which sold out in Edinburgh last year, or Wooden Spoons' That's Not the Way to Do It about married puppeteers in crisis, while adventure seekers might want to learn How to Climb Mount Everest with the wacky Autojeu Theatre or discover the history of a very special diamond in The Maharajah and the Kohinoor. And for those who want to experience something really different, Nose2Nose's Space straddles comedy and tragedy in a highly physical one-man show.
With Street Theatre also continuing to thrive in the changeable weather conditions of Buxton thanks to the return of Landau Forte Youth Theatre and the ever-popular Shakespeare Jukebox, theatre lovers are truly spoilt for choice when it comes to selecting their Fringe entertainment this year.
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