The Edinburgh fringe is a shaggy old beast with many ailments. It’s too big, too white, too expensive, according to its critics. The Succession star Brian Cox, who first went at 17, was among those to speak out after 1,600 comedians and producers signed an open letter last year criticising its management. This year, its problems are compounded by legislation designed to curb short-term letting, now making its way through the Scottish parliament, which will make accommodation even pricier and harder to come by for seasonal visitors.
But for all its faults, as Cox pointed out, the three-week-long jamboree in the Scottish capital still matters. It is where generations of performers started out, and it remains part of the lifeblood of an international entertainment industry spanning film, television and theatre in all its forms and craft skills.
Last year, 15,000 artists are estimated to have taken part in more than 3,000 shows. Nearly 200 productions are already on sale for this summer, and the rest have until mid-April to sign up. Some artists have expressed doubts. A good moment, then, to sprinkle some water on the grassroots. Cue the announcement of a £100,000 fund, spearheaded by fringe success story Phoebe Waller-Bridge, which will be distributed to participants of this summer’s festival in 50 no-strings parcels of £2,000.
Part of the fund comes from a campaign, launched by Waller-Bridge in 2020, to channel into charity the money made from streaming the NT Live production of her hit, Fleabag. The Fleabag for Charity pot was conceived to help those on the frontline of the pandemic, through charities that are still struggling with a rolling crisis. But a portion of it was earmarked for supporting theatre workers and freelancers.
As fringe performers, and their audiences, are predominantly young, they belong to a generation that has been inordinately disadvantaged by the disruption of the last three years in terms of both resources and opportunity. Those who don’t have a bank of mum and dad (as Waller-Bridge has acknowledged she had) need all the help they can get. This matters if the country is not to develop an even more skewed culture of haves and have-nots than it already has. The grants will admittedly be small and unregulated, but they will also be bureaucracy-light and available quickly.
Above all, it is a statement of belief that the creative economy isn’t just a question of beer and skittles. “Who are we going to miss out on who could have really changed our minds about things?” mourned one performer when the 2020 fringe was floored by the pandemic. This is an issue that goes far further than a single year at the Edinburgh fringe. The Oscar-winning costume designer Sandy Powell spoke out last month about her fear that years of cuts were breaking the connection between an innovating theatre scene and commercial entertainment, with the risk of leaving only “formulaic kinds of creativity”.
It’s all too easy to rage and do nothing, as Fleabag herself might have done. So all credit to Waller-Bridge for supporting the creative futures of those who are not starting out with her own advantages.
