PBH’s innovative Free Fringe is back and is leading the way to a credit crunch friendly Edinburgh Fringe in 2009. Peter Buckley Hill’s Free Fringe is the original, longest running and multi-award winning not-for-profit event at the Edinburgh Fringe and returns with more shows, venues and vigour than ever. Building on 14 (yes, fourteen!) years of experience in running the Fringe’s pioneering Free Fringe, PBH will be back at the world’s largest performance arts festival from the 8th – 30th of August ’09 with more comedy than you can shake a grimy branch at and a greatly expanded non-comedy section including Theatre, Poetry and Spoken Word.
With the average ticket price of the Fringe lingering somewhere around the £12 mark, average audience numbers at the Fringe continue to dwindle and 95% of shows lose thousands of pounds. The Free Fringe’s unique and innovative approach turns this negative experience its head with the underlying ethic that neither performer nor audience has to pay for the show. With more than 2770 free performances scheduled over 22 stages, 2009 will be the Free Fringe’s biggest year yet.
How do they do it? By hosting shows in some of the city’s much loved year-round establishments and bringing new audiences and bar revenue to some of the cities much-loved haunts. The Free Fringe aims to bring the Fringe back to the City of Edinburgh and many of the Free Fringe’s chosen venues are independently owned, further supporting the City’s local economy.
“We're bringing the Fringe back. Something around every corner; something you can try without having to pay; something with a brilliant spirit and a lot of rough edges; something that doesn't rely on elaborate stages and lighting rigs; something that gets close to the audience. You won't like all of it; how could you? I hope you will like most of it, and if not you can have your money back.” – Peter Buckley-Hill, Founder of the Free Fringe
In January 2009, and for the first time, a benefit gig was held for the Free Fringe at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London, organised by well-known comedians Sean Lock and Robin Ince, featuring many other famous faces including Daniel Kitson, Lucy Porter, Gavin Osborne and Dave Gorman. Prior to this all costs of the Free Fringe were met by PBH himself.
The Free Fringe remains true to its ethos of providing a Free to Performers, Free to Audiences choice at the Edinburgh Fringe but never scrimps on quality. The Free Fringe will showcase established and household name acts alongside new and up-and-coming performers – with every show quality controlled to ensure they meet the high standards of an Edinburgh Fringe audience.
Notes to Editors:
The Free Fringe began in 1996, founded by Peter Buckley Hill, with his show Peter Buckley Hill and Some Comedians and was the first Free to Performers / Free to Audiences arrangement on the Fringe.
The Free Fringe continues to be run by Peter Buckley-Hill and provides the only not-for-profit, performer led spaces on the Fringe.
Free Fringe Venues for 2009 are: The Canon’s Gait, 232 Canongate, Royal Mile, EH8; The White Horse, 266 Canongate, Royal Mile, EH8; The Beehive Inn, 18 Grassmarket, EH1; The Phoenix, 46 Broughton Street, EH1; The Voodoo Rooms, Speakeasy, 19a West Register Street, EH2; Fingers Piano Bar 61a Frederick St, EH2 Madogs, George Street, EH2; The Dragonfly, West Port, Grassmarket EH1; The Rowan Caves (x2 stages), Niddry Street South (South Bridge Vaults) EH1; The Mercat, Shandwick Place, EH12; The Voodoo Bar, 8 Torphichen Place, EH3, Bannerman’s, Cowgate, EH1, Nicol Edwards (x3 stages), 35 Niddry St, EH1; The Jenny Ha’s, Browns Close, Cannongate, Royal Mile, EH8; The Illicit Still, 2 Brougham Street, EH3; The Royal Mile Bar, 127 High Street, Royal Mile, EH1; The Rat Pack, 9 Shandwick Pl, EH2; Cruz, The Shore, Leith, EH6; The Grape, George Street, EH2.
Press Office Contact:
Donna McGrory
- Itsy PR
[email protected]
www.freefringe.org.uk
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