The fifth Camden Fringe runs from 2-29 August 2010. The Camden Fringe was set up, and is still run by me and my business partner Zena Barrie. After a number of years of producing shows at the Edinburgh Fringe and leaving the venue we run in London - The Etcetera Theatre in Camden - empty during August, we decided to test whether there was interest in a London alternative to the Edinburgh Fringe. It turned out that there was - and the Camden Fringe was born.

In previous years we've added one venue per year, so we slowly progressed from one venue in 2006 (The Etcetera Theatre) to four in 2009 (The Etcetera Theatre, plus The Camden Head, Camden People's Theatre and the Roundhouse Studio Theatre). This year demand has been such that we've leapt up to eight participating venues: those four plus Upstairs at the Gatehouse, The Lion and Unicorn Theatre, The New Diorama, and The Sheephaven Bay - where we will converting a function room into a small space for stand-up and theatre.

This year applications to perform were close to double the volume received in 2009. We have instigated a new online application form which seems to have worked well. We've ended up with a programme of 209 different shows (at the latest count) making up 700 performances over the 28 days of the festival. We programme a mixture of theatre, comedy, musicals, children's shows, poetry, dance - anything goes, really. We have 10 shows aimed at children and families, which is quite a new area for us. Looking at the programme I think about a third of the acts performing with us this year have performed previously at Camden Fringe.

At the Camden Fringe we try to make applying, performing and watching a show a simple and fair process. We try to find space for everyone who wants to perform, and we set the ticket prices at £7.50 for every show. For £7.50 you could end up seeing 15 performers with an ambitious set performing a masterpiece fusion of medieval drama and clowning skills; or you could see one man with a flip-chart presenting a history of the lute. Part of the fun of our open programming is that you don't really know what you are going to get - some shows are wonderful; some can be disappointing. But we think fringe should all be about learning and trying stuff out, for both performances and audiences. (Lute fans please don't get excited - I made those examples up.)

Each year putting together the Camden Fringe is a learning progress. Dealing with new venues and new performers will always bring its own set of problems and delights - which can extend your people-management skills while shortening your patience. This year we've found out all about fluorescent ink (for our brochures and flyers), got quite into twitter (@camdenfringe), and learnt that there are 4 different Uri Geller board games on the market (for more UG facts and perhaps a glimpse of all 4 games see Uri and Me). There are some lessons that we learn anew each year - particularly that no matter how much useful information you can send out to companies about putting on shows and how to market them, most people won't read it. Sigh.

Given that we are still learning a huge amount and that the Camden Fringe is only a matter of years old, it seems bizarre suddenly to be relatively established. With a huge increase in newer fringes springing up all over the place, we're beginning to feel like veterans.

One thing I think that we have learnt to do well is our brochure. As we mention on the inside front page of this year's brochure, it's gone from being a double-sided A5 flyer in 2006 to an epic 56 page tome. I came across a copy of our 2007 effort - the first actual brochure we produced - and it seems quite crude in comparison. One disadvantage of having so many shows now is that it has become so big - nearly £1 to post by Royal Mail first class. And heavier to carry - we've bought a shopping trolley to cart them about!

Last year we were really pleased with the image we came up with for the print publicity - a punk pigeon set against a very bright pink background - and we knew that we'd have a real job coming up with something to top it. After much discussing and canvassing opinion, we decided to stick with a pigeon, but this time we have transformed it into another iconic Camden figure. Yes - the Goth. We've dabbled in luminous ink this year, so the goth pigeon stands out against an incredibly vibrant yellow background.

As always we are indebted to Chris Limb at Catmachine for turning our silly ideas into reality. Chris has designed our websites and print since 2002 (long before the Camden Fringe) and is incredibly patient with us. This year we set him the unenviable task of creating an A4 map of the venues for the centre pages of the brochure. It needed to be clear and accurate, but we wanted it also to be interesting and quirky. Chris has managed to pull this off perfectly - some of his finest-ever work!

One comment we've had a few times this year about the brochure and website is that they aren't categorised, and it would be helpful if they were. This is something that we've resisted in the past. How exactly would you neatly label something that describes itself as 'a tragic-comic one man Sci-fi Folk Cabaret'? Comedy, musical or theatre? Having produced in Edinburgh and realised how some shows suffer from being labelled wrongly as comedy or theatre, I think it's refreshing not to define shows in such simplistic terms. But I think it might be time to concede that the programme has become too big to resist doing this in the future. And if you want to see a tragic-comic one-man sci-fi folk cabaret, try Spade of Damocles.

Hopefully this year we'll get a chance to check out more shows that usual - we've employed a few extra people for August 2010, so Zena and I don't become too office-bound. Those that we are particularly looking forward to include: Taptrickz and Drumstickz (a history of tap-dancing in one hour); The Seven Ages of Women; Kevin Shepherd: Caronicle; the new show by sketch act The Intimate Strangers; Gerry Howell in The Fantastic Reality of Frederick Goodge; Big Baby, Siren, Tom's; The Quiz That Ate Your Brain.

END

(c) Michelle Flower 2 August 2010

Camden Fringe (www.camdenfringe.org) runs 2-29 August 2010. Michelle Flower and Zena Barrie are the joint directors. They are also joint directors of the Etcetera Theatre, Camden, London UK (www.etceteratheatre.com)

Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012

www.fringereport.com