For art’s sake, don’t sacrifice your sleep!

Co-founder of the Forest Fringe, Andy Field, warns artists not to mistake exhaustion for success.
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Performer on the high street during the Edinburgh Fringe, August 2016. Image via Shutterstock.

Hosting a free venue at the Edinburgh Fringe for 10 years has given UK artist Andy Field valuable insights into the pressures young theatre-makers place on themselves.

Speaking recently at the Australian Theatre Forum (ATF) in Adelaide, Field said that running Forest Fringe – a space for new and experimental work within the challenging commercial environment of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe – led him and his two co-founders down the very same path they were trying to avoid.

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Richard Watts is ArtsHub's National Performing Arts Editor; he also presents the weekly program SmartArts on Three Triple R FM, and serves as the Chair of La Mama Theatre's volunteer Committee of Management. Richard is a life member of the Melbourne Queer Film Festival, and was awarded the status of Melbourne Fringe Living Legend in 2017. In 2020 he was awarded the Sidney Myer Performing Arts Awards' Facilitator's Prize. Most recently, Richard was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Green Room Awards Association in June 2021. Follow him on Twitter: @richardthewatts