Niall's Love Letter To The Fringe
Edinburgh Fringe, it barely feels like it has begun and yet once again it is almost over (though somehow it also feels like a lifetime has passed). It has been a magnificent year in so many ways, by far in a way this has been the queerest fringe in my memory and both clowning and storytelling really feel like they have solidified themselves as respectable art forms once more. Genuinely absurd shit is back and doing well and there is still space for more traditional straight down the road stand up and theatre. The weather hasn’t been too bad and the crowds, whilst not being back to 2019’s heady heights, have certainly returned in greater numbers than the year before. With the festival drawing to a close it is hard not to become nostalgic and rose tinted in my mindset.
For example, in the middle of the run I was sat on some stairs by my venue on the Royal Mile. I chatted, in surprising evening sunshine, with an old Fringe pal. We realised that I had been doing the fringe on and off since 2013 and she since 2015. For me that means a decade of Fringes and I have been coming as punter since I was but a babe. In speaking about the festival we reflected on how much it meant to us as Scottish people in the arts.
Back when I first started as a humble flyerer for a comedy company at the tender age of 19, I was blown away by it. The idea that the people who I watched and adored on tele weren’t just on telly anymore but were right in front of my face. They were people I could meet and work with, and the people I was working with were at the beginning of their journey to being household names. I am just saying I oversaw Mawaan Rizwaan’s flyering team in his debut 2015 run and look at him now (jokes he was stunning then and was always destined to make it).
I was also wide eyed and naïve to the difficulties of the festival. Living as a student in Edinburgh and unaware of the ludicrous rents being charged to those coming up, unaware of how much locals hated the festival, unaware of the incredible amounts of money some acts stand to lose when they choose to come up for the month. I knew of the sexism, the racism, the homophobia and inaccessibility of the festival for neurodiverse, deaf and blind communities, but wasn’t really aware enough to see how desperately problematic it all was.
Fast forward ten years and things have changed, in many ways for the better, but much has gotten worse. Performers, particularly women and queer people, are reporting regular inappropriate behaviour from audiences. The increasing prices for rent and venues are higher than ever, the cost of living crisis is biting deep and venues are reluctant to raise ticket fees too much, rightly to keep the festival affordable. This has simply priced so many artists, particularly those from working class backgrounds, out of doing the festival at all. Performers like Tamsyn Kelly have gone on record to say that she doesn’t think the Fringe will ever make financial sense for her, no matter how well she does and high profile figures like Fern Brady chose not to come this year despite being highly successful in her industry. Down south this has started to cause many London and London adjacent arts based performers to call for a boycott to the festival. It is easy enough to see why people are making these calls.
”Though it took me so long to work out my own sense of racial and queer identity I have no doubt the Fringe was hugely helpful in getting me there.”
From a brown perspective this Fringe has been a huge disappointment in terms of representation for bpoc people. Despite incredible work from Fringe of Colour and Nouveau Riche it still feels like we are going nowhere in terms of a genuine presence at the festival. A huge part of it is audiences, there is no getting away from the fact that they are overwhelmingly white. My own show, which explores race and gender in Scotland has been well attended by queers but has hardly had any bpoc folks in. The reviewers who review it are white and it is fairly disheartening to know that the work you make is only going to be consumed by people who it isn’t fully for, then this also has a natural knock on ticket sales and simply makes it immensely difficult to succeed at the Fringe. This isn’t to mention the daily racism that is still so present amongst Fringe audiences that bpoc performers experience.
At this stage I probably sound like I’m about to join the boycott and I really can see where many people are coming from. But I don’t think that boycott is the answer and it particularly urks me to hear London based creatives say that they want to see the Fringe end for good. It is easy for them, based in one of the most creatively exciting cities in the world, which is so expensive even myself (a generally privileged person) has had to move recently. As a Scot who lived in London for a long time I think it is very much a case of pot calling kettle black when London based artists talk about boycotting the Fringe because it is too expensive to take part in. As if London isn’t. Londoners don’t need the fringe, they have everything at their doorstep. However for Scots looking for a way into the arts, we have nothing like it in our day to day lives.
Though it took me so long to work out my own sense of racial and queer identity I have no doubt the Fringe was hugely helpful in getting me there. But far more important is that if it wasn’t for the Fringe I wouldn’t have ended up in the arts. It was the place I was first brought by my Dad aged 16 to experience the magic of live comedy and theatre, he snuck me a few pints and let me go to the 10pm show of Rich Hall and it blew my little mind. In 2018 it was the place I was able to do my first ever hour, courtesy of the stunning lighthouse bookshop, and then as a humble flyerer I learned that performers were just real people and if you really wanted to be one, you could.
The Edinburgh Fringe doesn't need to die, it needs to be loved, radically loved. The council and universities have so much power that they refuse to accept the responsibility that comes with it. They could ringfence affordable accommodation for performers, rent cap Airbnbs for the month, Creative Scotland and Arts Council could provide more funding for marginalised groups to come to the Fringe so the financial risks aren’t so severe and someone could ban the fucking silent disco people ( wouldn’t change much but I just can’t stand them). The festival could do with some area specificity to stop pissing off the locals and more can be done to help them feel that the festival is for them too. Ultimately for Scotland and Scots to lose access to this would be nothing short of a tragedy.
Thinking back to that moment with my friend, sat on the steps on the Mile I cannot imagine that I would be there if it wasn’t for Fringe's past. We talked about how walking down the street gives us flashes of so many happy memories. How to know that when I was 19 I dreamed of living the life I live now, and whilst it isn’t quite as dreamy I imagined it would be, I am living it. I feel lucky to share the festival with peers I admire so much and many of whom need no flyering because they are flying. Festivals past and this one too have also given me some of my most joyous moments in the arts and the same for so many Scottish pals. We should know we are lucky to have it and should desperately reform and defend it to keep it alive. But to lose it all together, that would be more of a loss than not getting a ticket to see Lorna Rose Treen this year.
Recommended organisations to support:
Nouveau Riche, Award-winning creative movement. Currently producing several shows at this years Fringe.
Fringe of Colour, As their 2023 Festival has finished, Fringe of Colour Database is now live and accepting entries. The database exists to highlight and support shows and events taking place at the Edinburgh festivals in August where 50% or more of the performers or speakers on stage are Black people or People of Colour.
Neurodiverse Review, Dedicated to autistic, neurodiverse and disabled artists. Click here to see who they have highlighted in this years Fringe
The A.L.T Book Fringe, a series of events hosted in tandem at 3 bookshops, Argonaut Books, Lighthouse Books and Typewronger Books