The Fringe Grows

The Edinburgh Festivals

Course 5 · Chapter 3 · The Fringe Grows

The Fringe began as a handful of uninvited companies (The Edinburgh Festivals 2). Within a few decades it was larger than the festival it was named after. This chapter follows that growth: the rule of open access that made it possible, the society that organised it, the arrival of comedy and of the big venue companies, and the awards that made and broke reputations. It also asks what happens to an open festival when it becomes a business. Names, dates and figures are from general knowledge and flagged "check".

Open Access

The rule

The Fringe has no selection committee. Any performer who can find a venue and register can take part (check the current rules). There is no artistic director deciding who is good enough.

The Fringe Society

The Festival Fringe Society was formed in 1959 to give the Fringe a shared office, a programme and a box office, but not to choose what is shown (check the date and the aims).

The consequence

Anything can appear, from outstanding to dreadful, and the audience has to choose. The festival grows as long as performers keep coming, so its size is set by demand.

A word of caution. "Open access" means the festival does not choose performers, but money, venue availability and fees decide in practice who can afford to take part (Chapters 7 and 8).
The programme. The printed programme grew from a small leaflet into a large book, and is now supplemented by an online system (check).

Theatre, Revue and the 1960s

Development (check each)	Detail
Beyond the Fringe (1960)	A revue by four Oxford and Cambridge graduates, Alan Bennett, Peter Cook, Jonathan Miller and Dudley Moore, which was part of the official festival but became closely linked with the Fringe's reputation for satire (check).
Traverse Theatre (1963)	A new-writing theatre founded in Edinburgh, which became a lasting home for experimental drama (check the date and the founders).
Student and experimental groups	University drama societies and small companies filled church halls and rooms with new work through the 1960s and 1970s.

Comedy and the Venue Companies

Comedy takes over. From the 1980s stand-up and sketch comedy grew to become the Fringe's biggest category by ticket sales (check). Performers use Edinburgh as a place to try out and sell a new hour.
The venue companies. Private companies such as the Gilded Balloon, the Pleasance, Assembly and Underbelly turned pubs, university buildings and temporary structures into venues, each with its own brand (check the founders and years).
The business model. Venues take a share of box-office income and sometimes charge fees, performers often pay for accommodation and publicity, and many performers lose money (check, Chapter 7).
Free shows. A "pay what you want" model for free Fringe venues grew up alongside, with the audience asked to give money at the end (check).

Comedy awards The main comedy prize began in 1981 as the Perrier Award, named for its sponsor, and has been renamed several times as sponsors changed, now being known as the Edinburgh Comedy Awards (check the names and years). Winning has launched careers, and a prize shortlist can fill a venue, which is why the awards are watched closely. Their history also shows how much the festival relies on sponsors and on a few media outlets telling the story.

What Growth Does

Scale. The number of shows rose from a handful in 1947 to thousands in the 2000s and later (check the figures and how they were counted, see Chapter 1).
Visibility. The Fringe is the main way many performers are seen by agents, critics and commissioning editors, a role that gives it importance beyond the city.
Pressure. More shows compete for the same audiences and reviews, and costs rise. The open door remains, but the stakes are higher.

A British comparison Compare the Fringe with other open-access events such as Brighton Fringe, or with the competitive stand-up circuit in London (check the examples). The Edinburgh version is distinctive because the whole city becomes the stage for a single month, which is why venues and rents matter so much.

Check the details Figures for show counts, ticket sales and prize history change by year and by source, and some "firsts" are disputed. Check against the Fringe Society's reports, the awards' own history and independent accounts before quoting.

Exercises

Exercise 1

Explain what "open access" means for the Fringe, and give one advantage and one disadvantage of the rule.

→ Solution

Exercise 2

Describe how comedy and the venue companies changed the Fringe from the 1980s, in a short paragraph.

→ Solution

Exercise 3

List three questions you would ask before accepting the statement that "winning the comedy prize makes a career".

→ Solution

Quick Reference

Open access: no selection; the Fringe Society formed in 1959 (check)
1960s: Beyond the Fringe (1960), the Traverse Theatre (1963) (check)
1980s on: comedy, venue companies, free shows, the main comedy prize from 1981 (check)
The pressure: more shows, higher costs, performers often lose money (check)
The caution: "open" does not mean equal; money shapes who takes part