There's so much on at this year's Wellington Fringe Fest, it's hard to know where to start! Here's our GayNZ.com guide to events featuring LGBT themes. Amanduh La Whore and Mia Slapper with Wellington Mayor Kerry Prendergast ON THE CORNER “When the lights go down, so do they” Tonight is the opening night of the Festival, and what better way to kick it off than with a theatrical cabaret show with a difference… featuring true life stories from Wellington's Red Light district. ‘Long Cloak Productions' presents ‘On The Corner', billed as “a colourful show which drags queens from society's fringe to perform in a camp Vivian Street scenario - with tributes to characters who have given the street a colourful, vibrant and evergreen reputation.” This R18 ‘adult only' show features colourful costumes with the Miss Drag Queen Wellington winners of 2003, 2004, and 2005 (Amanduh La Whore, Mia Slapper, Dawn Breaker and Maddison Parks) who portray the “ladies” of the street. Plus, award-winning local Singer/Songwriter Emma Paki performs a song written for the show, heralding her return to the Wellington music scene. As Director Anthony Johnston says, “The fun of this production is that it is staged in the heart of area in which the action portrayed took place. “The building the Bluenote Bar is situated in has a history of catering for “basic flesh instincts” and was the heart of Wellington's red light district when it was in its hey day of the 60s through the 80s. Whilst today this is still the case, the number of street workers has diminished as brothels and sex-on-site saunas have been licenced to cater for such tastes and prostitution itself legalised.” Producer and Writer Phil Rogers has researched stories of the area from the 60's 70's and 80's to produce a hilarious but sometimes chilling reality of the personalities that made the Vivian Street area the all night entertainment centre of the capital city. “Looking back and remembering the area and the lifestyle some of us lead at the time, then writing about it today, has reminded me of the hard reality of life under a Tory Government, particularly the Muldoon era, which was very cruel to those outside the norm of society”, Rogers says. “With the time-frame of production and the funding we have to work with, ‘On the Corner' really just skims the surface of those times - but I hope it helps bring a reminder and understanding to the more liberated society of today, particularly younger people who sometimes don't really appreciate the moral freedoms they have - and the hard times those on the fringe of society experienced less than 20 years ago”. On The Corner - An R18 restricted show 9pm, February 9 – 12 2007 at Bluenote Bar, Cnr Cuba and Vivian Streets, Wellington Tickets: $12 (Fringe Addict $10), available from: Bluenote Bar, getfunkd (Manners Street) The Chocolate Cake Company (Lambton Quay) or email: bluenote@paradise.net.nz LOVERS OF CENTRAL PARK The most romantic show at the Festival is ‘Lovers of Central Park'. The audience will be taken to the heart of the park with a montage of relationships between 1855-2011. Choose some sensible shoes and join your guide on a journey; with all romances it's sometimes uphill, full of drama, laughter and surprise revelations. LOVERS OF CENTRAL PARK, written by James Hadley 7-24 FEBRUARY 2007 - 6.30pm Wed - Sat AND DELIVER US Gay playwrights Patrick Graham and Paul Rothwell also have productions in the festival. Graham's 'LOST GIRLS', is the story of three everyday girls who all succumb to tragic fate, inspired by the true life abductions of several of New Zealand's young women. Rothwell's 'DELIVER US' is a terrifying new play from the producers of Hate Crimes, Golden Boys and the forthcoming Kissing Bone: "The moment the blue-tinged baby enters her home, Cherie's life changes completely. Thoughts of the baby consume her mind night and day, but enthusiasm for her premature granddaughter is soon overcome by morbid dread. Despite her family's fear she is losing her mind, Cherie knows maternal instinct never lies. Someone sinister grows in the nursery." More details about these and all other Fringe Festival events are on the official website - click the link below. Matt Akersten - 9th February 2007