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The Fringe Blog - Sort Of! (8)Dateline: 25th August, 2005I did decide to make a flying visit! We've got two people in Edinburgh at the moment, but Ray has to fit reviewing round his own show and Rachel, apart from her own show continuing, is somewhat busy with completing her MFA in playwriting which even the most devoted editor has to agree comes before seeing Fringe shows. Both are continuing to fit reviews in where and when they can, but I thought I'd pop up and catch a couple of shows. It's actually quite possible to fit quite a lot into a day trip. The 8.41 out of Newcastle gets me to Edinburgh at 10.23 and the 21.00 back gets me home before midnight, so I have about ten hours. Unfortunately - as I think I have said before - most of the shows I want to see are at roughly the same time (afternoon and early evening) and yet again it proved impossible to fit in more than two in the afternoon. First up was one about which I had been hearing great things, the UK premiere of the musical Parade at Southside. At two hours twenty it's long, but was well worth making the trip to see. Its length, however, meant that it wasn't possible to fit another show in between it and the next one I had chosen, our reviewer Ray Brown's Living Pretty at Theatre Workshop. There were a couple of other shows I would have liked to fit in but they started at about the time Ray's show was due to finish and were at the other side of Edinburgh. Theatre Workshop on Hamilton Place is a bit off the beaten Fringe track and it took me more than quarter of an hour to walk (slowly because it's uphill most of the way: ah age!) to Princes Street. So I decided to do what I hadn't managed in my previous two visits, have a meal at the Jasmine in Grindlay Street, my favourite ever Chinese restaurant. It's two years since I was last there and in that time it's been redecorated and as changed its menu substantially but the food is as good as ever. Then it was a stroll the length of Princes Street to Waverley Station. I'd hoped I might have managed an earlier train but there wasn't one, so I sat reading until 21.00, and then, with the train on time, it was off to Newcastle. This was my final visit to the 2005 Fringe, which ends in a few days anyway, and on the train I found myself pondering on this year's event. Definitely a big improvement on last year, is the first reaction. Almost all regular Fringegoers (not just critics!) I've spoken to agree. OK, the high profile shows are not as high profile as last year - after all, even Bill Bailey and Alan Davies can't compete with Christian Slater and Frances Barber - but in some way that's a good thing, for the Fringe is not - or should not be - about high profile, commercial shows which are there to put bums on seats. Rather the Fringe is about new writers, new directors and new companies getting the chance to be seen , talked about and reviewed. No one goes to the Fringe in the expectation of making a profit (except for the commercially orientated high profile shows) - indeed, most will find themselves out of pocket, often considerably so - but for most it is a worthwhile risk to take for the rewards can be a national profile and greater opportunities in the future. And we are not talking here just about the near future: I spoke to one director who was approached for a booking for a show he had done more than five years ago. This was in addition to a reasonably high profile booking for the current show. But there is undoubtedly a creeping commercialisation of the Fringe, which is manifested not only in the high profile Odd Couples and National Heroes but in the increasing dominance of comedy. In the prime time evening slots, particularly in the major venues, comedy is ousting theatre. Three or four years ago the period from seven till midnight and even beyond was crammed with the kind of shows theatre fans would want to see: this year they were mainly squeezed into the afternoon slot. And it's my impression - I can't put it any stronger than that - that there are more comedies in the theatre offerings. Participation in the Fringe is becoming more expensive, accommodation in particular. Whilst bed and breakfast charges for tourists increase by about 50% during August, anecdotal evidence suggests that the charge for flats doubles or even trebles, and that is without taking into account deposits against damage. As for venue fees, they can range from £300 a week for a small venue in the morning to over £4,000 for a larger one during the peak 18.00 to 21.30 slot. Some venues require a percentage of the gross with a minimum guarantee (C Venues, for example, wants 40%). Needless to say, the more popular the venue is with the punters, the higher the fees are. Fees are usually payable in advance, as is the fee to the Fringe Society for registration and inclusion in the programme. A week of performances, then, for a company of three can cost well over £4,000 without taking any production, travel or subsistence costs into account. Is it any wonder, then, that many companies are avoiding the most expensive time slots and are bringing shows which have as wide an audience appeal as possible? Another warning bell for those who value the Fringe is the call from Assembly director William Burdett-Coutts for the Fringe and the EIF to unite. Whilst that has been roundly dismissed by almost everyone else (with many dark mutterings of "Ah, there's a hidden agenda there"), the unthinkable has been spoken aloud and already people are pondering the implications. The increasing commercialisation of the Fringe is a real worry. As a result of it, the open door policy of the Edinburgh Fringe, which is what distinguishes it from every other arts festival in the world, is gradually being eroded - de facto if not de lege. I heard this year of at least one venue which is refusing to take shows which, regardless of their quality, they don't think will take enough money. In some ways that is healthy, for it means that shows which are good but not necessarily commercial are being spread around, but if other venues decide to go down that path.... And on that somewhat gloomy note, here endeth my Edinburgh Fringe blog (sort of!) for 2005.
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