THE FREE FESTIVAL RETURNS TO EDINBURGH FOR THE 2009
FRINGE
The Free Edinburgh Fringe Festival is returning to the Edinburgh
Fringe in 2009, with its biggest and most eclectic programme since it began in
2004. Growing from a single venue, the Free Festival now features 3,413
performances of 233 shows in 14 venues, with a vast selection of comedy,
theatre and music, plus a selection of other genres including children's
shows, art, cabaret and opera.
Free shows now make up a remarkable 25% of all Fringe shows,
a percentage that has rapidly increased in recent years, and the Free Festival
is once more at the forefront of this as the largest Free organisation at the
Fringe. The Free Festival boasts half of all of the Free shows presented this
year, and in this year of cut-backs, the credit crunch and recession free shows
will be welcome more than ever at the Fringe, with the Free Festival shows the
perfect antidote to high ticket prices.
Highlights of the programme this year
include:
Comedy: Leading comedians
Nick Wilty, Lewis Schaffer and Sol Bernstein produce new solo shows, plus new solo
from many Free Festival and comedy circuit regulars; Award-winning Lynn Ruth
Miller, the 75 year old stripping granny, returns to the Fringe with another
cabaret show and thought-provoking storytelling show; "The Laughing Horse
Comedy clubs" return, which in previous years have seen free performances
from the likes of Alan Carr, Brendan Burns, Russell Kane and Pappy's Fun
club amongst many others.
Theatre: with "A
Personal War", an already-recommended account of the Terror attacks on Mumbai;
"A Tribute - Gielgud's ages of man" from leading
character actor George Innes; "No Parole - Family is a life sentence"
from award winning San Franciscan Carlo D'Amore.
Music: The Kopparberg Free
Festival stage at the Pear Tree Featuring many touring and local bands every
day of the Fringe.
Childrens: Childrens shows "Miss
Googiepants", "The Mildly terrible revenge of the slightly evil
brainwashing puppets"; "Garden Detectives"
Plus there are Cabaret, Storytelling, Opera, Poetry, Magic,
Musicals and Art shows and a Free Festival Nightclub.
In 2009 the Free Festival runs from August 6th to
30th, with additional shows at The Meadow bar running up until
September 5th. The Full Free Festival programme and the venue
listings are available on www.freefestival.co.uk.
This years Free Festival press launch will
be at the Counting House (venue 170)
from 9pm on August 5th, with a chance to meet the performers and see
a selection of Free Festival Performers. For press tickets please contact Alex Petty.
The Free Festival was launched in 2004, and is run by Alex Petty and Laughing Horse Comedy. It was set-up
to combat both high ticket prices for Fringe audiences, and also the high cost
of taking part in the Fringe for performers. It encompasses all Fringe genres,
with the largest programming areas being comedy, Theatre and Music. Once in a
single venue, the Free Festival now takes place across 19 stages in 14 venues,
12 of these are managed by Laughing Horse, with additional shows at The
National Museum of Scotland, and St Martin's
Church. 2009 has also seen the Free Festival expand to the Brighton Fringe,
with Free shows as part of the Laughing Horse's Brighton Fringe
programme.
- Log in to post comments