The Free Fringe is a way of doing the Edinburgh Fringe without having to pay thousands of pounds for venue hire. If accepted, you get a free venue and no charges from us, as long as your show is free to the public. Most people lose many thousands of pounds on an Edinburgh run; you need not. Our formula has been proved successful by established acts and newcomers alike. We have won numerous awards.
We will be happy to hear from acts who
- • are of a standard worthy of the Edinburgh Fringe;
• will conform to all Free Fringe conditions, not merely some;
• are in full agreement with our ethos.
But you must give back. You’ll be saving £4000 to £15000 compared to a paying venue, so it’s reasonable you should give something back. We don’t want your money. We do want your commitment, and we absolutely must have your full co-operation. Unless everybody works for each other and the team, the system doesn’t work. Unless venue teams take the initiative and solve any problems arising in that venue, the system doesn’t work. Unless you give of your expertise and commitment, the system doesn’t work. If you don’t want to do that, don’t apply.
You will get a basic space, usually in a pub or bar, but always separated from the general public by some means — you will not be asked to perform in a corner of a bar to people who haven’t come for the show. There will be a basic PA, found from members’ resources or belonging to the venue. Basic lights, and usually nothing else; everything else you need you must provide in collaboration with other shows at your venue. Anything you provide should be placed at the disposal of other shows in your venue.
The Free Fringe will make no charges on you, not even voluntary ones. There will be charges imposed directly by the Fringe organisation, for Fringe Programme entry and for membership of the Festival Fringe Society Ltd; we do not control these charges. Fringe Programme entry is currently about £322 + VAT, discounted to about £235 + VAT if you get your entry in early. Membership of the Festival Fringe Society Ltd is £10.
If you choose to apply, you must:
- • not apply for the Laughing Horse’s pirate “free festival”: you must not be in any negotiations with them and you must declare you are not; nobody in your show should be a regular performer at any of their shows at the Fringe;
• tell us if you are negotiating with any other provider of venues, and which one(s);
• not demand a particular venue. An application to the Free Fringe is an application to all venues. You may express a preference, but you may not say “Canons’ Gait or nothing”;
• indicate ways in which you might help the Free Fringe community.
If you choose to apply, we will look at your work, if possible in live performance, unless we already know you. We will also make a judgement on whether you will indeed do your part for the collective.
If accepted, you agree to do all of the following:
- • List your show in the main Fringe Programme unless agreed otherwise with PBH ;
• Join the Festival Fringe Society Ltd;
• Vote for the candidates of your choice on the Board of the Festival Fringe Society Ltd;
• Not make any substantial changes to your show without discussion with PBH or his appointed deputy;
• Not subcontract your slot;
• Finish your run;
• Perform all shows as scheduled;
• Find an emergency substitute if you are too ill to do your show at the Fringe itself;
• Provide sufficient leaflets to an acceptable standard for all shows;
• Not give out your own show’s leaflets without also giving out the full Free Fringe Programme;
• Ensure the condition above is complied with by anybody who is giving out your leaflets, including paid leafleters;
• Put any special non-performing talents you have at the disposal of the Free Fringe;
• Offer to loan to the Free Fringe such PA and other equipment you may possess;
• Fulfil the door control/greeting duty exactly as specified;
• Support all other Free Fringe shows;
• Hold the bucket for the show before you, unless that show tells you it does not want you to do this;
• If you break anything, or if your show does, or if anything breaks while you’re in charge, own up to it and replace it (or as agreed with the owner).
- 1 All full-run shows should be in the main Fringe Programme. If you apply later than the programme deadline, then of course this condition does not apply, but the amount of space available then may be very limited. One-off shows need not be in the main Fringe Programme.
2 This is NOT the same as registering at the Fringe Office or paying your programme fee. It is a separate process.
All the above are conditions of the Free Fringe and your run may be terminated if you do not conform to them.
Types of shows
Our roots are in Comedy. We want to encompass all the arts, but only when they can be successfully done within our model.
We do not want to mix Comedy and other types of show within the same venue. Otherwise audiences may not behave in a way appropriate to the show. We will try to dedicate different venues to different art forms, although depending on the venues we use and the shows we get we may not completely succeed.
In 2010 we hope to have programme sections for:
- • comedy
• drama
• cabaret
• science and related matters
• the spoken word
We will discuss proposals for other genres, but whatever is proposed must be a show, not a recital. Edinburgh demands that.
Within comedy, there are many sub-genres, and some are more suitable for some venues. It would help if we could know for each show the type of material expected, for example intellectual vs laddish, experience-based vs surreal, belly-laugh vs slow burn.
How the shows work (agreeing to this section is a Free Fringe condition):
• Your entry in the Fringe Programme must have the phrase “PBH’s Free Fringe” as part of the Performer Name field.
• You must provide enough leaflets/flyers to publicise your show; for a full run, 5000 is normally considered the right number to print.
• These leaflets/flyers must contain the Free Fringe logo in its original colours, or black and white if the leaflet is black and white.
• The Free Fringe logo must also be on any posters.
The Free Fringe setup and knockdown:
- If performing in the first week, you agree to be at your venue the day before the Free Fringe starts (usually at 1pm) and help with the setup. If performing in the last week, you agree to be at your venue the day after the venue finishes (usually at 1pm) and help with the knockdown and tidying of the venue and the recovery to its owner of property lent to the Free Fringe.
The procedure for door duty:
- • Be at your venue on duty from at least 15 minutes before the previous show ends
• Remain at your venue on duty until at least 15 minutes after the next show starts
• During these changeover times:
- o Greet incoming audience
o Exercise traffic control: stop your audience going in to the previous show in the last few minutes. Make sure the space is clear before letting the new audience up/down/in.
o Hold the bucket for the previous show if asked to
o Offer the Free Fringe programme to the outgoing audience
- o Plug the next show and the Free Fringe generally.
o Switch the ambient music back on.
o Leave the stage in a reasonable condition for the next show.
- • Do not leave this job and talk to your audience; do it first.
* * *
The Free Fringe works on honour. And on trust. We trust you to do what you promise, and by accepting these conditions you give your promise. We trust you not to damage the programme.
We don’t expect you to:
- • Having accepted an offer, pull out without discussing the situation
• Having accepted an offer, pull out shortly before the programme deadline
• Change substantially the content, format or cast of the show without discussion
• Use us as an ‘insurance offer’ while waiting for a decision from other venues
• Promise what you can’t deliver
• Lie
• Damage equipment without telling anybody
• Be rude to venue staff
• Ignore any email sent to you by the Free Fringe, however long it is
• Accept these conditions and not conform to them.
It would not be necessary to say these things but for a minority of people who have, in the past, shown themselves untrustworthy.
Performing at the Fringe for those who are new to it
The Fringe is hard. Harder than you can imagine. The average audience is six people. In your first year, you should not expect to do that well. If you come to the Fringe expecting the world to recognise your genius, forget it. The best in the world are there, and that’s who you will have to compete with.
You will have to work hard at street leafleting to get any audience at all. If you get even one, the show goes ahead. Shows are never pulled for low audience numbers. It’s a Fringe tradition and a point of honour.
You will feel like packing up and going home at least once a day. You must not. You tough it out.
Whatever goes wrong is nobody’s fault but yours. Do not blame your venue, your show time, me, the weather, the public, your lack of reviews or anything else. To make your show work, you yourself have to work, and if it’s going badly, work harder.
If you come to be discovered and get famous, you will have a miserable time and you will not succeed. If you concentrate on entertaining the people in front of you, whoever they are, you will have a much better time.
Do not overestimate yourself. Do not do a one-person show until you’re thoroughly ready. Not only are OPSs the least popular type of shows in the Comedy section; the history of the Fringe is littered with the corpses of those who tried to stretch 20 minutes material to cover 50 minutes.
The Fringe is not where you go to get good. The Fringe is where you come when you’re already good. If in doubt, don’t.
We are open to shows of all levels of experience, but the public must know what it’s getting. A show featuring predominantly inexperienced acts must have a blurb that says that.
The Free Fringe isn’t free because it’s rubbish. The Free Fringe isn’t rubbish. We aim to have a programme of shows whose normative standard is equal to the normative standard of shows at the money venues.
If you think you’re doing us a favour by applying to us (or condescending to join us), fuck off.
Venues
We will be using the following for Comedy and Cabaret: Canons’Gait, White Horse, Beehive, Whistle Binkies, Cabaret Voltaire: Speakeasy, Cabaret Voltaire: Large downstairs, Cabaret Voltaire: Smaller downstairs, Dragonfly, Speakeasy @ Voodoo Rooms, Ballroom @ Voodoo Rooms, Globe Bar Arches 1 & 2, Bannermans, Illicit Still, Royal Mile Tavern, Fingers Piano Bar, Jenny Ha’s (awaiting confirmation). We are currently negotiating for space for the Theatre and Spoken Word sections.
A sheet with more details on these venues is available.
If you do not know the venues, let us choose for you. An application to the Free Fringe is an application to all venues. You can express preferences, but you cannot give an ultimatum. When we offer you a slot, you may accept, decline or negotiate a change.
You can read the real uncensored reports of 2009 and 2008 participants on http://freefringeforum.org and talk to any of them to hear more.
Applying
Read this and email pbh@buckers.co.uk with details of yourself and your proposed show. If we don’t know you, say where we can see your work. Make sure you state whether your application is for a full run or a part-run; part-runs will not be allocated until full runs have been accommodated.
We look forward to hearing from you. PBH will answer any reasonable question.
Agents, manager figures and similar: we must hear from the act personally, not you on their behalf.
Theatre shows: no plays with themes of organised religion or “spirituality”. All non-original plays must have performance permission duly licensed and in place.