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Post by stevej678 on Jan 7, 2020 15:06:51 GMT
Colour-coded spreadsheets at the ready! It's only three weeks and two days until the first shows of this year's Edinburgh Fringe are unveiled! The Festival Fringe Society will be announcing shows on 30 January, 27 February, 19 March, 16 April and 14 May, prior to the full programme launch on 10 June. The Edinburgh International Festival line-up is announced on 18 March. The EIF and the fringe both run from 7-31 August. I'll be in Edinburgh for a fortnight, split across two trips, and am already looking forward to finding out what Pleasance, Assembly, Underbelly and Gilded Balloon etc have in store for us in 2020. In particular, I'm really hoping this year will see the return of Lazy Susan to Edinburgh after their 2018 hit 'Forgive Me, Mother' which subsequently transferred to the Soho Theatre and Leicester Square Theatre, received a five-star rave review from the Evening Standard, and landed the duo a comedy short on BBC Two. Who else is heading up to Edinburgh this August and what's your strategy for planning what to see from the 4,000 or so shows on offer? |
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Post by duncan on Jan 7, 2020 15:23:08 GMT
Most people in Edinburgh would gladly run Underbelly out of town.
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Post by talkingheads on Jan 7, 2020 16:19:47 GMT
I'm going for the last two weeks (counting on contacts at British Comedy Guide to forwarn me of any shows likely to win awards so I can book ahead!)
Lazy Susan, Norris and Parker, Maisie Adam and Austentatious are always must see for me, Anxiety Club improv was a highlight of last year, I'm very much looking forward to scouring the listings!
As for planning, I spent countless hours on an Excel spreadsheet, tabs for each venue then a final day to day planning page (Thankfully I don't have to create it all again this year, just use the same template!)
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Post by zahidf on Jan 7, 2020 18:14:47 GMT
Lazy Susan are doing some feb sets in London which would indicate a Edinburgh run.
Pleasance.co.uk has an edinbrugh warm up season for tips on comedians playing!
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Post by talkingheads on Jan 7, 2020 18:50:07 GMT
Lazy Susan are doing some feb sets in London which would indicate a Edinburgh run. Pleasance.co.uk has an edinbrugh warm up season for tips on comedians playing! Thanks for that, so Norris and Parker are there, as are the quite wonderful Catherine Bohart, Sarah Keyworth, Olga Koch and Dane Baptiste, I can tell already it's going to be a great Fringe! |
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Post by stevej678 on Jan 7, 2020 19:32:43 GMT
Interesting that Freya from Lazy Susan is doing a work-in-progress solo show at the Pleasance so fingers crossed for both a new Lazy Susan show and a stand-up slot for Freya! Surely they will get a better and bigger venue this time too, rather than the sauna-like Box outside Assembly George Square Studios.
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Post by zahidf on Jan 30, 2020 13:24:35 GMT
A few shows on sale. Stand up comedy wise David Doherty, Daniel sloss, bridget Christie, foil arms and hogs big names. A student production of last five years as well
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Post by talkingheads on Jan 30, 2020 17:15:32 GMT
Bridget Christie is the only must book for me at the moment, we'll have a much better flavour when more get released in February.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2020 9:39:43 GMT
I’m doing Honk with my youth theatre at Gilded Balloon for the first week or so of the Fringe, which will be fun. I did Bugsy Malone with them last year and it was a great experience so I’m excited to do it all again
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Post by talkingheads on Mar 5, 2020 10:54:55 GMT
Not to be morbid but what do people think are the chances of the Fringe being cancelled due to Coronavirus? I appreciate that would be a huge undertaking but considering how important it is to Scottish economy, not to mentions the thousands of performers who rely on it to make new shows, but I haven;t booked accommodation yet and considering how much that will cost I'm being a bit cautious for the time being.
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Post by stevej678 on Mar 5, 2020 12:05:29 GMT
Not to be morbid but what do people think are the chances of the Fringe being cancelled due to Coronavirus? I appreciate that would be a huge undertaking but considering how important it is to Scottish economy, not to mentions the thousands of performers who rely on it to make new shows, but I haven;t booked accommodation yet and considering how much that will cost I'm being a bit cautious for the time being. I was just about to post the same thing talkingheads . I've got accommodation booked but it can be cancelled up to two weeks in advance so although it had to be paid in full at the time of booking at least it's fully refundable up to late July. I'm glad I paid slightly more to have that option now! I see the Fringe Society have been responding to questions on Twitter with the line that they're making their Fringe plans as normal while continuing to monitor Government advice. More shows are due to be announced in a fortnight, while the Edinburgh International Festival are set to unveil their full line-up on 18 March. I think for now it will be a case of Fringe shows being unveiled as normal (and the International Festival line-up too) and seeing how things develop. It will be quite strange shortlisting shows as they're announced without knowing if they'll see the light of day! It certainly discourages too much advance planning at this stage. The Government's current strategy seems to be to delay the worst of an epidemic until the spring and then up to 12 weeks of restrictions may apply. The situation is obviously very fluid though and it could be that by the summer we're over the worst and the Fringe can go ahead, though if it does I wouldn't be surprised to see a marked reduction in the overall number of shows due to the uncertainty. Perhaps when the Fringe programme is due to go to print in early June that might be the point where, if the situation remains critical, a decision will be taken. |
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Post by stevej678 on Mar 13, 2020 23:22:19 GMT
A statement was issued today from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society with regards to this year's festival and the Coronavirus. www.edfringe.com/covid-19 |
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Post by talkingheads on Mar 14, 2020 7:41:31 GMT
I can't even begin to imagine the financial implications for both the Edinburgh tourism and comics themselves if it's cancelled.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 14, 2020 9:32:48 GMT
I can't even begin to imagine the financial implications for both the Edinburgh tourism and comics themselves if it's cancelled. Same with Brighton festival and fringe - it starts in 7 weeks!!!! we are the 4th biggest festival in the world! |
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Post by duncan on Mar 16, 2020 10:23:03 GMT
Edinburgh will cope with no Festival very easily, the price gougers may miss out but the city as a whole isn't dependent on the Festival. Indeed many locals think it should be scaled back.
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Post by stevej678 on Mar 17, 2020 14:20:27 GMT
The launch of the Edinburgh International Festival programme has been postponed.
More Edinburgh Fringe shows are due to go on sale on Thursday although the list of dates when new batches of shows were due to be announced has disappeared from the Fringe website.
Underbelly and Pleasance usually unveil their new shows on their respective websites a couple of days in advance of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society. They've both extended their line-ups as usual this morning, though noticeably with no fanfare or announcements.
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Post by talkingheads on Mar 17, 2020 15:50:58 GMT
The launch of the Edinburgh International Festival programme has been postponed. More Edinburgh Fringe shows are due to go on sale on Thursday although the list of dates when new batches of shows were due to be announced has disappeared from the Fringe website. Underbelly and Pleasance usually unveil their new shows on their respective websites a couple of days in advance of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society. They've both extended their line-ups as usual this morning, though noticeably with no fanfare or announcements. Yeah I never thought it would come to this, but think about it - how are people meant to create and preview shows without audiences? Never mind draw audiences to Edinburgh. |
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Post by zahidf on Mar 17, 2020 16:23:09 GMT
Depends on how things pan out, but im expecting this not to happen this year
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Post by stevej678 on Mar 19, 2020 10:40:09 GMT
Another 280 or so shows have just gone live on the Edinburgh Fringe website. Feels very strange looking through them given the uncertainty as to whether or not they will actually go ahead! I think the Fringe Society are right to see how things pan out though, rather than calling it off now, given there's still four and a half months to go.
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Post by talkingheads on Mar 19, 2020 10:56:26 GMT
Another 280 or so shows have just gone live on the Edinburgh Fringe website. Feels very strange looking through them given the uncertainty as to whether or not they will actually go ahead! I think the Fringe Society are right to see how things pan out though, rather than calling it off now, given there's still four and a half months to go. But surely given the amount of admin there is, the later they leave it the worse it will be for everyone involved? |
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Post by stevej678 on Mar 20, 2020 17:39:49 GMT
A further update from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society. Programme launch delayed until July.
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Post by talkingheads on Mar 20, 2020 19:46:38 GMT
There is not a single hope in hell of Edinburgh going ahead, not now, especially after tonight with the 'financial help' being announced. Even if it did, I couldn't afford nor would want to risk it, this year at least.
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Post by properjob on Mar 21, 2020 11:10:48 GMT
I can't see it happening this year. Even if the virus has been suppressed by the summer it won't have gone away completely.
Therefore getting people from 100+ different countries to fly to one place spend an hour at a time crammed into a tiny room with fifty different people each time 5 times a day for weeks and then fly back to their countries is guaranteed to make it flair up again.
Also if you are a performer would you have the money to put your show on? Even if you did would it be worth it if the bookers/agents/TV scouts aren't there to see it?
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Post by firefingers on Mar 21, 2020 19:13:14 GMT
This is amazing! Superb tearing apart of the fringe.
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Post by NeilVHughes on Mar 21, 2020 19:17:55 GMT
The decision will most probably not be theirs to make.
A lot will happen between now and August.
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