Totally Stockholm 1
think we even have a Stoff baby! We can´t forget
that the Fringe is for the artists to show their work, but also to interact, be inspired and network with other artists. It´s a creative force bringing artists around the world into one melting pot of artistic freedom. If you look another ten years into the future, how do you think Stoff will have evolved and what do you hope to have accomplished? H: During the first years Stoff was very much run by the three of us, and now it has developed into several people taking ownership over the festival. I believe this is great for Stoff’s future in a way that it can get better nourishment and ideas from a more diverse group of people. I believe Stoff and the Nordic Fringe Network has all the potential to grow into something bigger, with more collaborators, and with that opening up more opportunities for artists both nationally and internationally. Our aim is also to launch a permanent Stoff House which will host artists, networks, talks and developmental opportunities all year round. L: We are working to become an open access festival, but to be able to accomplish that we need to get more venues onboard. Hopefully more theatres will open up their doors to the Fringe. This is what I hope to see in the future. A: We’d like to run a production house with our own stage. It would be a much-needed addition to a city with a chronic lack of performance spaces. And yeah, we’d love more organisations and theatres to put on their own Fringe events and/or share their stages one week a year, with talent from near and far, under the Fringe umbrella! This year’s edition is entirely comprised of female, non-binary and transgender artists. Let me know how you came to run with this theme, and what it means for the festival? H: Normally, we try to avoid having a theme, to enable everyone and all stories to apply to take part. We believe that is important to be able to see and take the temperature of the range of concerns artists are battling with, right here, right now. Over the past year however, much of the performing arts have been about metoo, about women’s experiences of sexual abuse, and as we have noticed in our application trend women, non-binary and trans artist are underrepresented as creators of performing arts. Their stories and voices are often left out from the stages, thus undermining freedom of speech. Therefore, it felt like an obvious choice this year, to mark our celebrations by highlighting these narratives. A: It’s an organic process. The Fringe reflects the world we live in. We have our eyes peeled for local and global theatre and performance. We frequent overseas festivals and are both inspired by the diversity of work presented and surprised by the lack of female narratives on stage. Despite already being a festival that puts women at the front, we want to take it a step further. What happens if Grebnellaw and the subatomic choir point just one. Apart from being so overwhelmed by the amazing artists that we see every year I think one quirky one was when we arrived with John Malkovich in an elevator to his dressing room located at floor 3.5… Otherwise we could write an epic novel about year one, all-nighters at the venue working out technical problems, opening the doors to artists in the morning dressed in PJs, running around town finding raw meat, blood and drums, coupled with sticky migration issues and unreal technical challenges. L: My favourite moments aren’t always the shows themselves, but what happens behind the scenes. The meeting between the artists, I know there have been many new collaborations and projects that have been brought to life by formers Stoff artists. I Peaches 13 Photo: ANGEL CEBALLOS