Jake Mace
Binge Fringe returned for our second Catania OFF Fringe Festival this October – an unforgettable and triumphant edition of the festival that broadened accessibility to international audiences and platformed underrepresented voices throughout.
The festival takes place in Catania, the so-called ‘second city’ of Sicily, located in the shadow of Mount Etna on the island’s eastern coastline. The city is a bountiful one – hosting monumental attractions like the Basilica Cattedrale di Sant’Agata off the main boulevard Via Etnea. Around the corner, in the edgy San Berillo neighbourhood you can find artsy courtyards and side streets hosting the concurrent African Festival. Squeezed in between the fish market and Castello Ursino, locals sip pints in aesthetically eclectic watering holes like bar Barnaut, with views of the volcano peaking above the baroque streets in the distance.
Inspired both by international Fringe festivals like the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and Prague Fringe, alongside the Avignon Off Festival, the organisation behind the spectacle also orchestrates Milano OFF Fringe in the weeks before. It’s a bumper month for Festival Directors Francesca Vitale and Renato Lombardo, who are often found mixing with artists and punters in the Fringe Village, located in a former sulphur works turned convention space on the quayside called Le Ciminiere.
Audience members arriving from further afield were delighted by this year’s increased focus on international accessibility and playing host to a wide programme of international performers – with non-verbal works like Sickly Victorian Rat Circus from Denver, Colorado entertaining audiences of all ages, and dance-based performances like WHO CARES by Evie Demetriou from Cyprus offering intrigue and opening conversations. From Greece, Savvina Romanou-Pylli brought When life gives you garbage, translated in surtitles both into Italian and English.
Meanwhile Swedish trombone cabaret performer Elias Faingersh performed a musical stand-up set in A Solo from the Pit, and British Fringe veteran Pip Utton brought his speculative historical piece At Home with Will Shakespeare for English speaking audiences.
Batting for the home team, a formidable array of Italian acts brought a cavalcade of joy, conversation, entertainment and spark in the Italian-speaking programme. The team at the Fringe Village are happy to arrange English language scripts for any international punter wanting to branch out and follow along at their own pace in the Italian-language performances.
Critics from British performance magazine Broadway Baby noted in particular L’Ombra del Gelsomino (The Shadow of Jasmine) as “a fluid blend of drama, dance, and physical theatre”, where the quality of performance was “simply outstanding”. Similarly, Italian solo shows shined with Maria Vittoria Barrella providing a “sharp and engaging” performances as a scientist desperate to be recognised for her intellect rather than her beauty in Troppo Bella Per Essere Vera. From the local Catania scene, Samuele Gambino brought a multifaceted solo performance in Come Ogni Domenica, exploring belonging and aspiration in both the Italian and Sicilian languages.
For Binge Fringe however, one show shined particularly in its ability to platform marginalised voices and in particular uplift a striking debate about trans liberation and institutional homophobia…
Binge Fringe’s Pick of Catania
OFF Fringe Festival 2025 Award
Rumore Bianco (White Noise)
In 2024, we awarded our Pick of Catania OFF Fringe Festival to The Sensemaker by Elsa Couvreur and Swiss-based company Woman’s Move.
For 2025, we will be passing the gauntlet onto Performer Danilo Napoli and Director Yari Gugliucci and be selecting Rumore Bianco (White Noise) with our Pick of the OFF Fringe Award – recognising the show that strives in alignment with Binge Fringe’s mission to uplift marginalised voices and seek out unheard stories.
In a five-star review published yesterday, Binge Fringe’s Lead Editor Jake Mace described the show as “dark, unrelenting and desperately urgent”, and that “without skipping a beat, Napoli lays forth what becomes an unexpected and brilliant call to arms against violent and institutional hate crime and transphobia.”
We’d like to pass our sincere congratulations to Danilo, Yari, and their team, and hope to see the work reaching international audiences soon.
Image Credit: Lukas Janßen on Unsplash
Lamesha Ruddock
Jasmine Silk
