The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is one of the greatest celebrations of arts and culture on the planet. For three weeks in August, the city of Edinburgh welcomes an explosion of creative energy from around the globe. I went to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival for the first time last year (2013). Here’s what I did and what I recommend for future visits.
My Itinerary
Friday
- 6:55 – 8:05pm, Assembly Roxy, 1984 Theatre Production, £14
- 8:30 – 9:30pm, Bristo Square, Tom Lawrinson Comedy Gig, £10
Saturday
- 10:30 – 12:30pm Greyfriar’s Bobby, A Tale of Two Towns Walking Tour, £12
- 4:10 – 5:10pm, Pleasance Dome, Adrian Bliss Comedy Gig, £13
- 5:30 – 6:30pm, Pleasance Courtyard, The Improvised Dr Who Parody, £12
- 7:00 – 8:00pm, Pleasance Courtyard, Andy Parsons Comedy Gig, £14
- 8:45 – 9:45pm, Greenside, We're All Mad Here Theatre Production, £6
Sunday
- 6:30 – 7:30pm, New Town Theatre, Spontaneous Potter: The Unofficial Improvised Comedy, £11
- 8:45 – 9:45, Gilded Balloon Teviot, Rhod Gilbert Comedy Gig, £14
My Recommendations
- Book as early as you can. Frustrating, they release tickets at different times. I ended up making 3 separate bookings for my tickets, which means 3 separate booking fees. But I did it to ensure I got tickets for the acts I wanted to see. They will sell out so make sure you subscribe to the official emails to hear when tickets get released.
- Concession- if you’re a student, make sure you select a concession ticket. Pretty much all the above prices are concession.
- Give new acts a go. I grabbed some tickets from comedians I new and comedians I’ve seen shorts from on social media. The non-established comedians were a gamble though. I had some that were excellent and some that were just weird!
- I don’t think I’m artsy enough for theatre at the Fringe! It was often quite “surreal” i.e. I had no idea what was going on and it didn’t follow the story it was supposed to be portraying at all. I was really surprised because I love theatre outside of The Fringe. I did enjoy an improv show though, which I wasn’t convinced I would enjoy (I’d never seen one before).
- Make accommodations for public transport. I was staying with friends in Galashiels. My train was cancelled and the next one wasn’t for an hour so I missed the Harry Potter improv show.
- I struggled to find the different venues. For example, “Pleasence” was an area created specifically for the Fringe, it’s not on Google Maps. So I had to ask for directions from many people multiple times to get to the right venue. Despite a very packed itinerary, I was fine making it from venue to venue but I did have to do a walking march at times!
- Expect Edinburgh to be much busier than you’ve ever seen it.
- You will be given so many leaflets (normally from the artists themselves) but it’s really hard to tell on the fly if an event will be good or not. I’m actually really glad I had a jam-packed schedule because I often would struggle in the time I had to have an act that just so happened to line up. But that could be because I visited the last weekend of the festival.
- Brand new cool outside areas get added all over the city. Think fairy lights and plenty of seating. They have a really nice vibe but the drinks are incredibly expensive!
