Edinburgh Fringe 2013
The Edinburgh International Festival may have come first, but generally it's the Fringe that Edinburgh is best-known for. There's really nothing quite like it - "the largest show on Earth".
The stats bear that out: the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe sees 42,096 performances of 2,695 shows in 279 Fringe venues. It's a sprawling, anarchic, sleepless month of live performances. There are also 814 free shows at the 2012 Fringe.
It's difficult to see the 2013 Fringe surpassing those figures, but with the Fringe anything is possible. We'll find out in the Spring when the Fringe programme is released.
Each year, EG's Fringe team follows the drama, on stage and behind the scenes at the Fringe.
Fringe Festival Coverage
- Festival Fringe Reviews
- Fringe news (see also feed on right)
- Edinburgh Fringe Venues
- Free Fringe (venues | map)
- Fringe Image Gallery
- Scottish Fringe Theatre Award
- Edinburgh Accommodation
Fringe Ticket deals
The 2012 Fringe Programme was launched on 31 May and is free from outlets around town and in digital form on the Fringe web site. Tickets can be bought over the phone and in person at the Fringe Box Office (see BO details).
Ticket deals are available from the Fringe Half Price Hut.
Tickets to BBC shows at Potter Row are free but due to popularity are distributed by a random draw. See www.bbc.co.uk/tickets.
In 2012 tickets can also be bought from Glasgow Queen Street Station from 27 July - 27 August between 8am and 8pm each day.
Tickets for shows generally tend to be cheaper at the start of the Fringe festival, with special deals at most venues and ticket giveaways, to get bums on seats during the crucial first week when the press are in. Some of the cheaper "preview" shows start at the end of July.
Booking online incurs a 90p booking fee up to a maximum of £5.40. Discounts are available for students, over-60s, unemployed, etc. There's often a 10% discount for groups of 10 or more.
In 2008, the Fringe introduced Fringe Ticket Frenzy for the first time, where "everything must go" on the final day of the Fringe. At the end of August all artists were offered the opportunity to sell all remaining tickets at half price.
