The Edinburgh Fringe and Edinburgh International Festival is coming to an end this weekend. Theatre Scotland has been proud to be allowed to cover the work of brilliant artists from various countries and backgrounds. As we say goodbye to Scotland’s glorious festival for another year we reflect on the successes and the things we must improve on for future years.
First of all, we must thank all the theatre companies, venue staff, marketing teams and PR assistants who helped make our coverage so broad and made it possible for us to give commentary on the theatre playing in Edinburgh this month. Due to personal commitments, availability, scheduling logistics and other issues, we only covered roughly 70% of the productions that reached out to us, and for that we apologise. As this is our second fringe, and first fringe of this scale, we were not nearly prepared for the demand which we faced. However, we have taken this as a learning curve and will make sure that we can supply a larger and more effective coverage of the Fringe next year.
It was also clear there were not enough critics available in general at this year’s festival; with companies not getting the coverage they needed to boost ticket sales or general promotion for future endeavors. Theatre Scotland like other theatre focused media outlets are very aware of this issue and will work on strategies to ensure that there is a more availability within our schedule for future years.
In terms of the programme, this year it was a delight to see loads of female lead productions and also many LGBTQ+ performers grace Edinburgh’s make-shift stages. This ranged from drama to comedy, cabarets to musicals, and the creativity was so beautiful to watch unfold. There were also many established performers who returned to Edinburgh to make their mark on this revitalization of the world’s most prominent festival.
With that being said, it was disheartening to see such a lack of diversity in this year’s Fringe. There is room for so much more Black, Asian and creatives of other ethnicities to tell their stories and showcase their talent, but that was not facilitated nor present in this year’s line-up ultimately. Yet, the Edinburgh International Festival, National Theatre of Scotland and TravFest are to be commended for their diverse and stunning line-up which showed various narratives that gave us an insight to stories which challenged audiences to see new perspectives.
One thing which was really admirable was the sense of community in Edinburgh this year. Performers supporting each other, collaborating or promoting each other’s shows. Also, the acts themselves being so accessible to their audiences, there was no sense of “us and them”, just one large community.
We’re currently living in a disheartening time where the country is on it’s knees, costs and strikes have impacted the festival. Venue hire, travel fayres and accommodation are extortionate, and it’s not just inflation that’s impacting this, there’s also ridiculous profits being made by landlords and some venues which are unjustifiable. They are stopping acts coming to the fringe and it needs to stop. Affordable accommodation and venues need to be made more available in Edinburgh. We are losing the festival’s working-class roots by there being next to no funding or financially viable paths to playing Edinburgh.
Yes, this year has had its major successes, look at our reviews, the talent has been incredible. But we must learn to move forward and adapt. Theatre Scotland as a company is doing just that, and we believe the Edinburgh Fringe society and their associated venues should do exactly the same.
Theatre Scotland 