A lesson at Edinburgh Fringe

I’ve just got back from 10 days at Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I was performing with two improv shows plus a guest slot in another show, which made 15 performances. I had a great time! This year both the improv shows I’m in were at the same venue which made life significantly easier than last year, both in terms of energy (not having to stroll across town between gigs) and giving out our flyers. The venue has a selection of rooms and it was great to be able to give flyers to people waiting for or leaving other shows. They were already in the venue and were clearly people looking to go to shows, so they were mostly receptive to being pitched to about another show.

There were several months of lead-up to the Fringe. I did the logistics of booking the dates, venue and accommodation for one of the groups I’m in. Weeks before the Fringe started my Instagram feed was throwing Fringe-related content at me. Once the festival had begun I was being shown posts from comedians, improv groups, theatre companies and venues.

When you’re at the festival it very quickly becomes all-encompassing and you’re very aware of not only the shows you’re doing but what a lot of other people are up to. They might be selling out rooms, getting nominated for awards, being reviewed, having no audience show up at all, having venues flooded, getting sick. It feels as if the whole world is Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

So it was refreshing to have some perspective thrust upon me. One day I was giving out flyers at our venue and got chatting to an older couple. They were on a coach trip from Leicester to attend The Edinburgh Military Tattoo (which is separate to but happens at the same time as the Fringe) and just happened to be having a drink in the venue.

“What’s this Fringe Festival then? We’d never heard of it before today but it seems to be everywhere.”

This question stopped me in my tracks. They’d never heard of the Fringe! But it was the whole world? They were in Edinburgh, in August, and had no idea that the world’s largest performing arts festival was happening. In fact not only did they not realise it was happening now, they’d never even heard of it! I mean I’ve never been to Glastonbury or The Grand National or The FA Cup Final but I have heard of them.

So I found myself explaining Edinburgh Festival and the Fringe and how many shows there are and then explaining the shows I’m in and that they are in this venue today and for the rest of the week. Having taken all this in they countered with the classic:

“Oh, we’ve got a tour of the castle now and going home tomorrow.”

So they didn’t come to the shows, but maybe they had been inspired to visit the festival another year.

It was a great lesson. It might feel like success or failure is very important in the ecosystem you’re currently in. However, an awful lot of people, probably the majority, not only don’t care at all but actually haven’t even heard of that bubble.

It’s important, but not that important.