A Newcastle woman has become one of the driving forces behind Eastern Europe's first fringe festival. She talks to Women's Editor Christen Pears.

ANYONE who has been to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival will know it can be a tiring experience - dashing from venue to venue to catch the next show, sides hurting from laughing too hard or head spinning following a thought-provoking performance.

Imagine then, just how exhausting it would be for someone to organise a fringe festival. Carole Wears has just returned from the Prague Fringe Festival and although she's happy, she admits she's tired. In fact, she's so tired I'm the first person she's talked to properly since she got back.

"I've been desperate to tell people how it all went but I just haven't had the energy. It's taken a while to recover," she says.

Carole co-founded the festival in 2001 with Steven Gove, a colleague she met at the Edinburgh Fringe, who now runs a language school in Prague, and Angus Coull, a producer for BBC Scotland.

Passionate about the concept of fringe, the three had been talking about the idea of a festival in Prague since Steven moved there six years ago but it wasn't until 2001 that they approached Prague City Council with their idea.

"There response was extremely positive and they supported us very generously. Shortly after that, the British Ambassador in Prague agreed to be our patron and that opened a lot of doors for us. The whole thing has been almost too good to be true.

"People ask if it is weird that three British people are running a festival in Prague but fringe isn't a concept people are familiar with over there."

Apart from Steven's link with the city, Prague was an obvious choice for the festival because of its long and close association with the arts.

"While the Prague Fringe is the first fringe festival in Eastern Europe, it is hardly surprising as there is a saying in the Czech Republic, 'A Czech is a musician'. This artistic link has proved true over the years. The country's first president was a playwright, the first lady an actress. The national anthem comes from a stage play. The uniforms of the Prague Castle guard were re-designed by an Oscar winning movie costume designer. The country has a vibrant film industry and is home to a plethora of cultural festivals, of which Prague Fringe is the latest."

When looking for a model for the festival, Carole turned to Edinburgh. She has worked there in various capacities over the last eight years, while on sabbatical leave from the Live Theatre, where she is house manager. "We wanted to give them some idea of what fringe was and how exciting it was, as well as how much income it can generate for a city. We chose Edinburgh as the template."

Edinburgh has also proved to be a fertile recruiting ground for acts. During the first summer, Carole, Steven and Angus saw 168 shows between them, selecting artists from as far afield as the USA, Norway, Australia and Canada

"The shows during the first year were mainly one person shows because they're small and designed to tour but it grew last year in terms of the shows and the audience, which tripled in size."

This year's festival, which ran from June 3 to 8 featured 100 shows by 27 companies from eight countries. The programme included innovative new work, including physical and visual theatre, comic pieces, musical cabaret, puppet theatre, dance and a children's festival. English, Czech, French and Serbian.

"We were all thrilled that it has grown so much but I think the main achievement has been that there was a second year at all. The city was under water this time last year after the floods but the council agreed to fund the festival again this year, which shows just how important they think it is.

"The performers have also been very keen to take part. Perhaps they may not have had enormous financial rewards but they have had a splendid time professionally. A lot of them has made links both with each other and the promoters who came out."

The audience has been a mixture of holidaymakers, British ex-pats and Czechs and Carole is hoping that next year there will be more subtitles and surtitles to help translation and encourage a bigger Czech audience.

Born in the North-East, Carole studied theatre at Glasgow University and returned to the region after finishing her course. Walking up the Westgate Road on a rainy day, still wondering what to do with her life, she spotted the offices of the then fledgling Northern Stage.

She walked in, partly out of curiosity and partly to shelter from the rain, and asked for work experience. It was the start of a long career in North-East theatre and she hopes the Prague Fringe will strengthen links between the region and the Czech Republic.

She says: "In future years we shall definitely be looking to book North-East artists and companies to appear at the festival. Several people from Newcastle travelled to the festival this year from Newcastle and next year, with the introduction of easyJet flights to Prague, I hope that this number will increase again."