After years working in bars and call centres, Brookes’ absurdist show netted him the Edinburgh comedy award. So why does he want to want to blow the whole thing up? It’s an hour after Jordan Brookes’s life changed, and we’re sitting in a cafe yards fro…
Continue ReadingFringe of Colour campaigns to persuade venues to give free tickets to young local people of colourIt prides itself on being the biggest arts festival in the world, but the “overwhelming whiteness” of Edinburgh festival fringe can be off-putting to pote…
Continue ReadingSofie Hagen, Phil Wang, Nish Kumar and others reveal their favourite festival spots, from Portobello Beach to the middle of the Royal MileMy girlfriend did a show in Ciao Roma and ever since the owner has treated her like his child. When we walk in, it…
Continue ReadingLineup for 71st edition includes hard-hitting debuts and plenty of nostalgia
An array of provocative debuts will mix with a heavy dose of nostalgia at the 71st Edinburgh fringe festival this August, as creative takes on the #MeToo movement are performed alongside a theatrical tribute to Blue Peter, the world’s longest-running children’s TV show.
Launching the 2018 fringe programme with 3,548 shows, the most in its history, the event’s chief executive, Shona McCarthy, said: “Whether this is your first or your 50th time visiting the fringe as a performer or audience member, this is a place where new discoveries wait around every corner.”
Continue ReadingThe Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which is happening August 3rd through the 27th in 2018, is the largest performing arts festival in the world. Every year, thousands of performers go to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival to showcase their work, build a UK following, make valuable connections, sell their shows to producers, and seek out local and […]
Continue ReadingComedian who quit Cambridge University for online poker says both his careers are based on ‘extreme punishment or reward’
They say comedy can be found in the most banal of subjects, and the 2017 winner of Dave’s Funniest Joke of the Fringe award puts that theory to the test.
Proving that even money can be funny, Ken Cheng has won this year’s accolade with his one-liner on the UK’s redesigned currency: “I’m not a fan of the new pound coin, but then again, I hate all change.”
Related: From scissor attacks to diabetes improv: comedians’ weirdest gigs
Related: Standups on why they quit comedy: ‘I have nightmares about having to do it again’
Continue ReadingFrom Sara Pascoe’s new standup to a strange evening with Martin Creed, via acrobats, Samuel Beckett and a wild girl from Borneo, here are the sights so far
All photographs by Murdo MacLeod
Continue ReadingRunning a festival venue is about more than booking acts and selling tickets. From converting lecture rooms to spending £25,000 on Astroturf, we reveal the costs of putting on a show
Ten years ago, at the Edinburgh festival, Anthony Alderson became the not very proud owner of 44 Vauxhall Astras. Alderson, the Pleasance’s director, had bought 22 of the cars from a scrapyard for a show called Auto Auto, staged in the Grand, the largest of the Pleasance venues. But it turned out they were the wrong kind of Vauxhall Astra. The show turned cars into comedy percussion instruments and these all had sun-roofs. So Alderson had to buy another 22. “I think the scrap dealer thought he’d hit the goldmine,” he recalls ruefully.
Related: Theatre producers’ unbreakable rules for the Edinburgh fringe
One year, a large dance company made back the costs of their entire Edinburgh run with a single gig in South America
It’s tough to run a venue, and it’s getting tougher. People do it because they are addicted to Edinburgh in August
Related: Edinburgh festival 2017: what to see and where to go
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