The Stage

Edinburgh Fringe doubles size in a decade

Published Thursday 10 June 2010 at 13:05 by Thom Dibdin

Despite the economic climate and growing competition from rival events, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe has announced a massive 17% increase in the number of productions in this year’s programme, which runs from August 6 to 30.

The rise, of 355 productions to 2,453, is the largest in the festival’s 62 years and means it has almost doubled in size over the last decade - there were 1,354 productions in 2000.

Commenting on the increase, Fringe Society chief executive Kath M Mainland told The Stage: “We’re obviously very pleased - we believe it’s an indication of the underlying strength of the fringe’s worldwide reputation. The fringe continues to be a place where careers are made and talents developed.”

The biggest increase comes in the theatre line-up, which passes the 700 mark for the first time as it returns to its 2008 proportion, at 29% of the total.

However, comedy holds steady as the largest sector, with some 850 shows and 35% of the total.

While emphasising the open-access policy of the fringe, Mainland commented on the programme, saying: “I think it is good that theatre is holding its own, that the breakdown is similar this year. That means that the model has been successful and is continuing. The chatter of increasing comedy and comedy taking over isn’t borne out by these statistics.”

Most productions - more than 83% - are UK-based, with almost a quarter coming from Scotland. There has been an increase in numbers from North America and Australasia which, as Mainland points out, is where the Fringe Society has taken its international roadshow over the winter months to promote the event.

The largest individual venue operator is now C Venues, with 210 different productions. The Pleasance has 206 productions, while there are 122 different productions at Assembly. More than a fifth of the total productions, 558, are free, pointing to a strong increase in the Free Fringe.

Of the fringe’s own events, there is no return of Fringe Sunday, but there is a daily programme of participant events at Fringe Central, aimed at helping individuals and companies get the most out of their participation in the fringe. Although the number of ‘events’, such as Q&A sessions and workshops, is small as a percentage total, it has also risen. It will include, for the first time, a Q&A session organised by the National Theatre, as well as symposia on different performance skills.