The last two summers without a full Edinburgh fringe have been ‘strange’ for Kwong Chan and his improvisational comedy troupe in Norwich, but they’re delighted to be back and enjoy the same atmosphere as in 2019. This is the fifth Chan visit for inspiration. and see something you’ve “never seen before”: the only challenge is trying to choose from the festival’s huge and eclectic range of shows.
“Everyone is happy, it’s a positive atmosphere with a lot of energy. It’s great to be back, I’m not going to lie,” he said, adding that he has a hard time choosing from more than 3,000 shows. “There seems to be more going on than usual. More billboards, more to choose from.”
Kwong Chan with the Fringe show. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian
However, while he usually attends with 30 members of his group, he said this year numbers had dropped to 10 due to anxiety over Covid and the cost of living crisis, particularly as accommodation was noticeably more expensive this year.
By the time the Edinburgh strip officially kicked off on August 5, Bristo and George Square, two of the festival’s main venues, were already packed with revelers soaking up the sun at the festival’s outdoor bars in the early afternoon , as well as numerous artists handing out flyers to promote them. their shows.
Locals are reporting that a last-minute surge in ticket sales is bringing them close to or surpassing 2019 levels, which were the biggest streak ever. Tickets had lagged, but venues were hoping a post-pandemic trend towards last-minute bookings would push them back to 2019 levels.
Anthony Alderson, director of Pleasance, said he had seen “a fantastic increase in sales” over the past week. “The huge increase in sales is exactly what we needed to show that there is confidence in this incredible event and these amazing artists,” he said.
Underbelly, one of the main venues, said it was up 27% on 2019, while Laughing Horse said a “huge increase” in ticket sales on the day of the performance brought the venue back to 2019 levels .Assembly said it was still about 10% behind but was “picking up pace” each day, and Greenside was down 4.6% but expected to break even in 2019.
Attendees who spoke to The Guardian shared their joy that the strip had returned with the same buzz and atmosphere as before the pandemic.
Jimmy McGraw, 70, from Glasgow, has been attending the strip since 1974 and said that although it had become “disappointingly commercial” since his first spontaneous encounters with street performers, he would never stop coming for his ” magnetism”. “There is nothing like it in the world,” he said.
Jimmy McGaw from Glasgow. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian
He was excited by the “magic, the circus, the puppets” and said he also traveled daily from his hometown to entertain punters with free improv comedy to bring back “the spirit of the strip” and provide an antidote of how “everything is ordered, organized”. ”, including a record of street performers. “I came this way to make someone’s day.”
Barbara Jemphrey, a regular fan since she attended university in Edinburgh seven years earlier, was bringing her mate Peter Raine from Belfast to “show him what it’s all about”.
“I’m excited by the atmosphere and the buzz, we’re just soaking it up,” she said, adding that she had found it a very different experience last year, although she had appreciated the absence of crowds.
Barbara Jemphrey is disgusted by what her friends are paying for lodging. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian
The couple were relieved to have free accommodation with Jemphrey’s sister, who lives in the city, because it’s “disgusting what friends pay for”.
Susan Matthew, a local Edinburgh resident whose daughter works on the strip, said she was “thrilled” that the strip had returned. He acknowledged that “it’s a small city and there are infrastructure issues” but that it “means a lot to the city” and is a “big part of Edinburgh’s identity”.
However, many residents who live near the site’s main sites don’t feel so warm about the strip.
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Elspeth Wills, a long-time resident and organizing member of the Old Town community council, said 2019 had been a “nightmare year” for noise, crowds and anti-social behaviour. He is worried that this will happen again, as he has seen “a lot of talk but not a lot of action on the ground”.
Wills would like a more systematic way of recording and responding to residents’ concerns, as well as a more geographically distributed festival. “I would like the festival to benefit the whole city and not insist that everything has to happen downtown.”