Edinburgh Festival – Tips for Performers
I recently got back from doing my first-ever show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. I was part of a three-man magic act called Magic Cubed. It was a great success, we sold out the venue and got great reactions from the audiences.
But having never performed at the festival before, we threw ourselves in at the deep end and had to learn a lot in a very short space of time.
Here are some points that might help to make your show a success and give you a more enjoyable festival experience, particularly if you have never performed at the Fringe Festival before.
1 Book your venue early. There is huge demand for venues and they get booked up very quickly, so make sure you send your application in early.
2 Consider doing the Free Fringe. This means that you don’t charge money for tickets, however you avoid the potentially massive costs of taking a show to the festival. Taking a show to Edinburgh can cost around £10,000 and even if the show is a success, the best you’re likely to do is break even. Doing the Free Fringe allows you to learn the ropes without incurring big costs. Plus you make some money by passing a bucket around at the end of your show, rather like street performers do. If your show is good and you attract a good-size audience, you can still make quite good money.