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Festival goers fall off their seats with
laughter.
Rowan Atkinson and Billy Connolly are
just two giants of comedy who started
on the Edinburgh Fringe.Who are the
comedy superstars of the future? Well
if you had visited the Comedy Club
this year youmay have unknowingly
witnessed one or more.
Serious comedy also involves a
business mind and in 2013, comedian
Bob Slayer introduced a newmodel to
the Fringe where customers could ‘Buy a
ticket in advance to guarantee a seat or
PayWhat YouWant on exit’. This model
enabled performers to find a paying
audience without risking a large outlay
onmarketing.
Outside the venues on the streets you
can find performers from all over the
world playingmusic, miming, and per-
forming acrobatics or simply practicing
their roles on the street before a public
performance. The new venues charge
reasonable prices, with tickets for many
Fringe events ranging between 10-20
GBP. Late licensing for venues and pubs
until the wee small hours of the morning
means that you can still socialise after all
the shows have finished for the night.
The Edinburgh International Festival
and its fringes are pushing outwards and
upwards every year. Since the world is
advancing faster and faster with the help
of innovations and new technology, this
leaves festival goers wondering what
new fringes will be added to the festival
in the future.
of choices, arguably toomany to choose
from. A tell-tale sign for avid festival
fans is shows that are sold out, usually
indicating quality.
The Jazz and Blues Festival this year
featured everything from JohnMcLaugh-
lin, the world renowned virtuoso guitar-
ist to the funky vibes of the James Taylor
Quartet with an appearance by Scottish
veterans The AverageWhite Band.
For book worms, the Book Festival has
seen discussions by authors ranging
fromRoddy Doyle, the popular writer to
Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize winner
and Ian Rankin, Scotland’s own king of
crime fiction. This year also saw appear-
ances by Nicola Sturgeon, Gordon Brown
and the former Director General of the
BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation).
Performers fromall over the
world
The Film Festival, although held in
June, describes itself as ‘unashamedly
international’ - a claim supported by its
offerings of an eclectic mix of interna-
tional and domestic offerings across
different genres.
The Science Festival, held in April, has
been graced with visits by luminaries
such as Professor Richard Dawkins and
partners with organisations ranging
fromTheMedical Research Council to the
Royal Botanical Gardens, offering high
quality and engaging science events that
are linked with international projects.
It is not just new festivals that have
appeared on the fringes but also new
venues with numerous established
venues such as the Usher Hall and the
Playhouse (seating up to 3,000) being
complemented by the ‘Big Four’ venues
of the Festival Fringe.
The Stand Comedy Club is part of a
national network hosting a variety of
jokers. In the early days, comedians were
able to test their trade andmake a name
for themselves by making unsuspecting
Rowan Atkinson and Billy
Connolly are just two giants
of comedywho started on
the Edinburgh Fringe.
The FilmFestival, although held in June, describes itself
as ‘unashamedly international’ - a claim supported by its
offerings of an eclecticmix of international and domestic
offerings across different genres.