Edinburgh International Festival and the Fringe!

August 2004

The world's biggest arts festival, a three-week jamboree of the good, the bad and the frankly ridiculous, began on 8th August with a cavalcade through Edinburgh watched by a crowd of more than 150,000.


Seventy five Harley Davidson motorbikes led the parade, followed by the entire cast of the Edinburgh Military Tattoo.By the end of the month, 3,100 musicians, singers, dancers and actors will have contributed to 25,000 performances of nearly 1,700 shows at 236 venues.

It was in the year 2000 that I had been Edinburgh during the festival for the first time (OK!! That was also my last time!!).

The last few days of July each year are precious days for Edinburgh residents. Those who live in Edinburgh know that their world is about to be invaded by culture vultures and international travelers of every description. The last days before the invasion are savoured. Those working in catering and hospitality know that they won’t be having too many quiet moments over the next four weeks. Because of this, it’s a great time for travelers to pick up some work too.

Very early in August, the onslaught of international festivals begins. Explore The Edinburgh Military Tattoo, The Edinburgh International Arts Festival, The Edinburgh International Film Festival, The Edinburgh International Book Festival, The Edinburgh International Jazz and Blues Festival and perhaps most popular, The Annual Edinburgh Fringe Festival. All offer something different and you would have to be someone very hard to please if you couldn't find something to whet your appetite.

Edinburgh has always been a festival town. Indeed the multitude of festivals, which now occur in August, used to be spread over the entire year. Not long after the Second World War, the idea for the first fringe festival was born. The idea was to bring artists from all over Europe together to celebrate their various art forms.

Year after year the fringe grew larger and larger, and eventually into the huge international event it is now. So popular did the fringe become, and such was the impact it had on Edinburgh, it was decided to draw all the festivals into one long month of activity. It really has become a celebration of life.

The Fringe Festival, exhibits aspects of alternative entertainment, most notably comedy. Whereas, the International Festival, tends more towards the mainstream classics of music, drama, and the arts. The Military Tattoo, is a must for anyone who has never seen it before. While the Book, Film, and various music festivals live up to their names.

It is no surprise that the Fringe has a temper and a rebellious streak. Held up against the official Edinburgh International Festival, it is an interloper a youthful, impetuous, attention seeking hanger-on. In the early days, political theatre was suspected of propagandist motives and revues were chastised for their ‘scantily clad ladies’. Scripts were required by law to be read by the Lord Chamberlain’s office and approved, a practice that continued until 1968. Another law enforced the police to move on or arrest buskers and street entertainers, which meant that until the beginning of the Eighties, the Fringe did not live in the streets as visibly as it does now.

Without censorship of its own, calls to ban events on the Fringe have come from outsiders. The Lord Chamberlain, the police, the licensing department, the council, individual critics, trade union actions and the public itself have all taken a stab at show-stopping, some with the law behind them, or in the case of the audience, simply by choosing not to attend.

Being made of pretty strong stuff, the Fringe has rarely lost to the challenge of banishment. Performers miraculously find ways of jumping through regulatory hoops. On the Fringe, artistic freedom rules. When Lady Chatterley’s Lover was refused permission to play in a Catholic Church hall used by Richard Demarco for the Fringe, they moved venue, taking their nudity and a whole lot of publicity with them. A Slovenian group, again brought by Richard Demarco, this time to the august surroundings of George Heriot’s School, stuck their heads through the floor of the stage and put audience and cast in danger with real fire as the main prop. Three shows went ahead before a safety officer’s ban closed them down, but their point had been made.

There are also the rows which change the course of history, as happened in the early days of the Traverse Theatre. Artistic pioneers are an emotional, committed bunch, as vulnerable to casualty as they are prone to success. At the Traverse, first on the block was founding artistic director Terry Lane, whose achievements in launching the theatre and bringing in foreign plays were lost in what was a personally directed, acrimonious sacking in 1964. Jim Haynes, the keystone founder and later artistic director was next. In 1966, over a dispute about the right to hire full time staff, he offered his resignation to the board, which to everyone’s surprise was accepted. The press reacted with passion, as expressed by Harold Hobson in the Sunday Times; ‘I cannot think of any happier preliminary to the 1966 Festival than Mr Haynes should be asked to reconsider his resignation. It is, I repeat, a matter of international importance to the theatre’.

He was not reinstated, and the Traverse continued to develop as one of the Fringe’s most important venues, both for the social life of its club bar and its theatre.

There are even rows about the way the Fringe organises itself. Since the Fifties there have been complaints that it is too big, too risqué, too open, too unruly and, most recently, too commercial and too professional. And relations with the official Festival have at times been unseasonally frosty for August. In the Sixties, advice for Fringe performers was, ‘Festival vs Fringe. Do not expect much help from the official Festival Society. As a body it resolutely refuses to recognise its poor relations’.

By 1969 the Fringe was at least mentioned in the Festival brochure. A more friendly relationship developed and it was not until 1991 that the two had their next spectacular clash. Frank Dunlop, the outgoing Festival director who had previously enjoyed good relations, called the Fringe ‘a third-rate circus’, letting loose a full-blown media spat. He left and the Fringe of course survived.

Today, relations are good, with both festivals respecting each other’s very different territory. However; as the Fringe grows and grows, eclipsing the Festival with its sheer size and vivacity, who knows what kind of fireworks might be round the next corner.

The beauty of all of these festivals is that they are still well within the budget of everyday people. Tickets for most shows are readily available as late as on the day and very rarely will you pay more than £10 to see any performance. There is also a vast amount of free shows taking place every day along The Royal Mile. As an inside tip, if you go to a venue called 'The Pleasance' and have a drink in the beer garden during the day, promoters will often give away free tickets for shows that evening.

Even if you aren’t particularly interested in the vast array of entertainment that Edinburgh offers in August, it is still a very lively and happening time to visit Scotland’s capital. The city takes on a truly international feel and locals and visitors exist and happily intermingle.

The only downside to visiting Edinburgh in August is that it is both expensive and difficult to organise accommodation. If you are planning to visit, sort your accommodation early as it is not uncommon for the entire city to be sold out during this period.

The accommodation hassle is a small price to pay for an amazing experience in Edinburgh. If you're doing a long term backpacking trip, get to Edinburgh in July and plan to work through the festival. It's a fantastic way to immerse yourself in festival life.