Reykjavík Fringe Festival July 4-12

The third annual Reykjavík Fringe Festival is scheduled for July 4-12. This time, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the format of the festival is different than in previous years, a press release states. While the festival was being organized, it was unclear whether foreign participants would be able to come to the country and , therefore, they were all invited to stream their work online.

Local artists, on the other hand, will exhibit their work in downtown Reykjavík and stream them online as well.

The venues for the festival are the Secret Cellar, Tjarnarbíó, Hotel Hlemmur Square, Gallerí Fold and Samtökin ’78, but in addition, pop-up events are planned outdoors. Online acts will be streamed on crowdcast.io/rvkfringe. 

“The schedule this year is amazingly varied and extensive, states Festival Director Nanna Gunnars, “especially given the circumstances.”

You can view the schedule at rvkfringe.is, where more than 50 different acts are on offer, including stand-up comedy, art exhibits, cabaret, drag shows, theatrical shows and all sorts of happenings.

“There is something for everybody at the festival,” Nanna states, “and it’s very difficult to recommend only a few, but among the streaming acts, I’m excited to hear a real Icelandic horror story about Grýla, listen to the beautiful song of the clown on the fifth floor, and see the Icelandic work Þeir [Them], by the theater group Spindrift Theatre, about women’s view of manhood. Among the live shows, I’m very excited to see Guide to Guiding, about tourism in Iceland.”

The Festival will formally open Saturday, July 4, with a party at Hotel Hlemmur Square.

For more information, visit the festival’s website.

Single tickets can be purchased at tix.is. All proceeds from ticket sales go directly to the artists.