Steve Henwood is a founder and co-director of Bath Fringe. In 2007 he wrote a feature for Fringe Report which sets out what this incredibly exciting event is all about - what it is now, and where it came from. It also summarises with great eloquence exactly what 'fringe' means - across all the arts. That article is here and is warmly recommended - this year's Bath Fringe builds on the same roots.

This year there are around 174 acts in the programme, covering theatre, green events, music, dance, cabaret, film, multi-media, spoken word, free events, children's events, circus, comedy, at venues large and small scattered around the city. Bath has a compact centre, so walking around doesn't take ages, and where it does, at least one of the venues includes a free bike in the ticket price.

Bath is expensive to stay in overnight, so if visiting the UK generally and your itinerary includes London or the West Country, you may prefer to stay in London or Bristol and visit for the day by train - the station is called Bath Spa. For tickets bought on the day, the cheapest day return train fare on the fast route from London Paddington is £48 (at today's date), depending when you travel. Journey time is about 1 hour 30 minutes. There's a more roundabout route from London Waterloo for the adventurous at £27.70 - the ticket type is called cheap day return - taking about 2 hours 20 minutes. Details of all times and fares, advance fares, rail card discounts, are at sites such as www.nationalrail.co.uk, www.thetrainline.com, www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk.

Bath is historic, of course (Romans), but unless you're very keen on history, that part of Bath can be done in a couple of hours, leaving plenty of time to see shows or take part in other activities (Bath is also famous for its drugs and prostitutes). Sacrilegious to say so, and apologies to Tacitus (56–117), who spent ages documenting the Roman occupation, and to Isambard Kingdom Brunel (1806-1859) for building the Great Western railway line and station (very nice, 1840), and to classics fans generally for hours in libraries translating from Latin, but if you're reading this you're probably going there with more of a focus on the present. And that is what Bath Fringe is all about.

Bath Fringe features a lot of excellent visual art in venues around the city - empty shops, buildings are used imaginatively and with the active co-operation of the local authority and businesses - www.fringeartsbath.co.uk. In theatre, Kilter play Back On Track at Brassmill Lane Enterprise Centre, providing a bike hire in the ticket price. Mondays@7 at The Mission Theatre present Sweet Ladies (www.mondaysat7.com, mondaysatseven.livejournal.com). Back of the Hand Theatre Co does two one-man theatre / comedy shows back-to-back at Mission Theatre - Womb Man and Whacker Murphy's Bad Buzz (www.bebo.com/backofthehandtheatre) - both fresh from Brighton Fringe. Stretch Mark Theatre has Dodgy Keeper, also at Mission Theatre.

In music, Walcot International Music Festival, free at The Bell, has acts including Tafanari ('rockin' French Traditional music on pipes') and The Jazz/Reggae Sessions. Fringe Music & Cabaret Club at Porter Cellar Bar presents acts including The Blood Choir plus guests (http://www.myspace.com/thebloodchoir); Revere (www.revereonline.co.uk); Slovakia (www.myspace.com/slovakiaband); Captain Black (www.myspace.com/captainblack); Danny and the Champions of the World (www.thechampionsoftheworld.org); Urusen (www.urusen.co.uk); Rod Thomas (www.myspace.com/rodthomasmusic). Erich from Berlin plays accordion and tells stories in the free 2008 tour of great Bath pubs, at Green Park Tavern. Gascoyne Place has jazz and soul specialists The Joan Davis Collective (www.gascoyneplace.co.uk). Akabella at St Matthews Church has Kindle a Flame - '15 voices in glorious harmony'. Spiegel Music has Claudia Aurora (www.claudia-aurora.com). SWOMAD is Small World of Music and Dance at The Oriel Hall, (www.swomad.org). The Spiegeltent has musicians including Top Cats ('the best ska & rocksteady band in the country'), Sweet Billy Pilgrim, Bela Emerson, Gadarene. Bill Smarme & The Bizness - who modestly describe themselves as 'forgettable, avoidable, incapable, thoughtless, tuneless, witless, artless, pathetic, emetic, odious, dull. Comedy and music at its worst' - present Bill Smarme's Misguided Tour in 'The Streets and Doorways of Widcombe' with a free gig at The Ram later (www.billsmarme.com).

Children's events include a couple of free ones sponsored by Waitrose under the banner Children's Festival at The Spiegeltent: Talent Show; and Magic day with Professor Palmermoff. Spoken Word is well represented, with events including An Evening of Awen at The Secret Theatre.

There's a lot of comedy. Fringe Comedy Cavern (at Porter Cellar Bar) performers include Geoff Norcott, Aaron Counter (www.mirthcontrol.org.uk). Film includes Oxfam Double Bill 11th Hour and We Are Together at The Little Theatre Cinema (www.oxfam.org.uk, wip.warnerbros.com/11thhour/, www.wearetogether.org, www.picturehouses.co.uk). Brazilian Night, also at The Little Theatre Cinema has live music from Choro Band, and a musical documentary film from about Choro. (www.brasileirinhothefilm.com, www.mandolinexpress.co.uk/brejeiro.htm, www.picturehouses.co.uk).

END

John Park 29 May 08

Note - The 25 shows mentioned in this article were selected from the 174 in Bath Fringe's official diary using a random-number generator to ensure that the selection is fair, and representative of its scope.