The Edinburgh Festival Fringe programme was launched today with the news that, despite the organisers expectations of a downturn, it has attracted a record-breaking 2,098 productions.
While the rise is modest - up just ten productions from last year - the comedy element of the programme has substantially increased from 32% to 35% of all events and breaks the 700 barrier for the first time.
There has been a consequent reduction in theatre productions, which fell a percentage point to only 28% of the programme. At 587, the total number of theatre productions has dropped back to the level it was in 2001. This fall is despite this year’s British Council Showcase, a biennial exercise to sell British theatre to world-wide promoters which traditionally boosts the number of theatre productions.
While the number of productions has risen slightly, the number of performances has leapt up, almost 10% to 34,265, indicating that not only are their more productions, but that they are staging longer runs. The number of venues has also increased from 247 last year to 265 this, which once again marks a record.
Combined with the appearance of such famous names as Clive James, Denise Van Outen, Julian Clary, Nicholas Parsons and cricketing legend Henry Blofeld, these figures indicate that performers and promoters see the world’s largest open-access arts event as being as important as ever.
The Fringe’s new chief executive Kath M Mainland said: “The fact that the programme is the same size or very slightly bigger than last year is hugely heartening for us. We weren’t expecting that.
“Of course we will wait to see how many people buy tickets and what the audience is, but I think the signs for that are pretty good too. The EIF is reporting good sales. Alistair Moffat at the Borders Festival is reporting a good year. Hopefully the fact that performers are willing and keen to come here will mean that the audiences are too.”
One particular issue for this year’s event is to repair the damage caused by the ticketing fiasco of last summer, when the fringe’s ticketing system failed catastrophically. It is an issue which Mainland says has been her main focus since being appointed in February.
She said: “We have been working throughout the winter with Red61 who are the company who have provided ticketing for the big four venues and who provided lots of ticketing for the fringe in the end last year. We have been developing a new update to the system and have been testing it and working on it with them for many many months.
“It has been used successfully in the Brighton Fringe and by the Underbelly in the Southbank in London. So there has been really rigourous testing”
On the issue of payment to fringe producers for tickets sold, Mainland said that proper safeguards were now in place: “The income generated from tickets that we sell on behalf of companies is ring-fenced for those companies. The problem was to do with accounting for it, rather than having it. Part of what the Red61 system will do is account for it as we go along.”
Fringe theatre highlights include: an updated version of Gregory Burke’s Gagarin Way staring Phil Nicol at The Stand; a new Traverse Theatre Company/Birmingham Repertory Theatre Company co-production Orphans by Dennis Kelly and directed by Roxana Silbert; a new adaptation of cult 70s horror movie The Wicker Man at the Pleasance; Linda Marlowe with The World’s Wife at the Assembly Rooms based on the collection by recently appointed Poet Laureate, Carole Ann Duffy - who is appearing in children’s show The Princess’ Blankets at the Scottish Storytelling Centre; and Morecambe by Tim Whitnall celebrating the life of Eric Morecambe staring Bob Golding at Assembly Hall.
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