11th June 2009 - And now even bigger....
Today we'd like to welcome the National Museum of Scotland into the Free Festival programme, with
two aditional Free shows runnung throughout the month at the museum, and one of these is an
exhibition also running in June and September. More details are on the National Musueum page, click here. This now means our 2009 festival has grown to 14
venues, 233 shows and 3413 performances in August.
7th June 2009
- We're Back! and we're bigger and better than ever!
Today we
have today launched our programme for the 2009 Edinburgh Fringe, with a huge and
varied selection of shows, featuring everything from teenage comedians to a senile stripper.
With shows running this year from August 6th to 30th in 19 performance
spaces at 13 venues across Edinburgh, this year we have grown to feature 3,363 performances of
231 different shows - making the Free Festival not only the largest producer of free Fringe
shows, but one of the largest producers of shows in the whole Fringe.
It is worth
noting that this year the Fringe itself has only increased by 10 shows from 2,088 shows last
year, to 2,098 shows this year, where The Free Festival has increased from 156 to 231 shows,
indicating a clear shift in Fringe performances from paid venues to free venues. On their own,
the two largest free venues in Edinburgh, The Counting House and Espionage, which boast three
performance spaces in each, have a remarkable 95 shows between them
This year
sees a large expansion of the Free Festivals non-comedy programme, with the Introduction
of The Free Music Festival, located outdoors at The Counting House and Pear Tree venues every
day of the Fringe, and also with a much increased number of theatre productions, made possible
because of the re-furbishment of the main room at the Counting House, and the addition of the
large stage at new venue The Hive.
We hope you
enjhoy our new programme, and keep an eye on this page up until and throughout the 2009 Fringe
to hear what's new, what's coming up and what is happening with this years Free Edinburgh
Fringe Festival!
The new
programme is now available here |