Following 49,497 performances of 3,193 shows in 299 venues across Scotland’s capital city, The Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2014 has come to an end for another year.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society has announced that by Monday afternoon, with hundreds of performances still to take place, an estimated 2,183,591 tickets had been issued for shows and events in 299 venues across the city, reflecting the continuing popularity and cultural significance of the Fringe. This is 12% more than the overall number of tickets estimated to have been issued by the same point last year.
Kath M Mainland, Chief Executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society said: “Once again audiences from Edinburgh, Scotland, the UK and across the globe have been exposed to a completely fantastic cultural experience. Over the last 25 days performers, writers and artists have given their all on stages across Edinburgh in a truly international celebration of culture and entertainment.
“On behalf of everyone who visited and enjoyed this year’s Fringe, I would like to thank all of the immensely talented and courageous participants who brought their work to the Scottish Capital during August – without them this festival would simply not be possible.
“It’s wonderful that after 67 years the Fringe remains the ultimate destination for audiences embrace the arts. With over 2,183,591 tickets issued and many thousands seeing over 706 free shows it seems there is still a huge cultural appetite amongst audiences in Edinburgh and much further afield. In a year that places Scotland on the world stage, the Fringe has once again responded by being the greatest explosion of arts and entertainment on the planet.”
The 2014 Fringe saw a range of new developments to enhance the experience of the world’s largest arts festival for both audiences and participants. Customers could use a new online ticketing experience designed to make searching for shows and buying tickets easier, particularly for the increasing number of people accessing Fringe information on tablets or smartphones.
Visitors to edfringe.com could also create their own calendar of events and share booked and favourite shows with their family and friends. They have also been able to use the website to search for information on venue accessibility. For the first time ever audience members were able to post reviews of any shows they saw directly onto edfringe.com, bringing the concept of word of mouth recommendations into the twenty first century.
Fringe participants were able to add more content to their online show listings by adding social media links, sneak previews and other media files.
The number of Ticket Collection Points around Edinburgh was once again extended to make things easier audience members. New collection points this year included the Institut français d’Ecosse in the west end of the city and the Domestic Arrivals Hall at Edinburgh Airport. For the third year running Fringe tickets could also be collected from Glasgow Queen Street Train Station, allowing those at the Commonwealth Games a convenient collection point.
There were a number of new venues for audiences to visit during the 2014 Fringe proving the continuing growth of the festival. Northern Stage moved to a new premise at the King’s Hall on South Clerk Street whilst for the first time ever The Famous Spiegeltent was located in St Andrew’s Square, alongside Stand in the Square. The city also boasted some new pop up venues for site specific works including Sandy’s Boxing Gym, Summerhall@Portobello Beach and even a rickshaw.
During August the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society hosted the second World Fringe Congress as part of the Culture 2014 Programme which accompanied the Commonwealth Games taking place in Glasgow. This year’s congress was attended by 56 delegates from 38 fringes from around the world and was supported by the City of Edinburgh Council, Creative Scotland, Event Scotland and the British Council Scotland. The World Fringe Congress underlined the important role of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe at the heart of a worldwide network of fringe festivals. This network offers huge possibilities for artists to present their work across the globe.
Following the success of last year’s inaugural Fringe Central Welcome Address, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society once again invited distinguished Fringe alumni to welcome participants to the Fringe and introduce them to the extensive range of events on offer throughout August. This year’s addressed was delivered by multiple award-winning director Rachel Chavkin and four time Fringe First winning writer Chris Thorpe.
Awards continue to be an integral part of the Fringe and as always a huge number were on offer throughout the festival arranged by a wide range of organisations. 2014 marked the 20th year of The Stage Awards for Acting Excellence which exists to recognise outstanding theatre performances on the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. A Special Award was created to mark the anniversary and was presented to performer, writer and director Chris Goode from Men in the Cities (Traverse Theatre).
Full list of awards (and it’s a long list!)
Allen Wright Award
Ben Williams from Time Out Magazine
Amused Moose Laughter Award 2014
Celia Pacquola: Let Me Know How It All Works Out
Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award
Cuckooed (Traverse Theatre)
The Arches Brick Award
Christeene: The Christeene Machine (Underbelly)
Brighton Fringe Emerging Talent Award
Lorraine & Allan (Pleasance)
The Broadway Baby Bobby Awards
Thrill Me: The Leopold & Loeb Story (C Venues)
Semi-Toned: Toned Up! (SpaceUK)
The Duck Pond (Bedlam Theatre)
Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award
The Object Lesson (Summerhall)
The Chortle Student Comedy Award
Jamali Maddix (Laughing Horse@The Free Sisters)
Dave’s Funniest Joke of the Fringe
Tim Vine
The Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Awards
Best Comedy Show
John Kearns: Shtick (Voodoo Rooms)
Best Newcomer
Alex Edelman: Millennial (Pleasance)
Panel Prize
Funz And Gamez (Just The Tonic)
Fringe Review Outstanding Theatre Awards
Death, Duck and Tulip (Summerhall)
Belfast Boy (Spotlites)
2014 Fringe Sustainable Practice Award
The Handlebards/Peculius (Royal Botanic Gardens Edinburgh)
The Herald Angels
Archangel:
Olwen Fouere from RIVERRUN (Traverse Theatre)
Angels:
Lippy (Traverse Theatre)
Falling in love with Frida (Dance Base)
La Loba (Zoo)
Clara Brennan for Spine (Underbelly)
HUFF (Traverse Theatre)
Black Grace (Assembly)
Chris Stout and Catriona McKay for Scotland’s Harps (St Andrew and St Georges West)
Little Devil Awards:
Andrew Maxwell: Hubble Bubble (Assembly Rooms)
Louisa Adamson, Production Manager for The God That Comes (Summerhall)
Holden Street Theatres Awards
Mush and Me (Underbelly)
Blood at the Root (Assembly)
The Malcolm Hardee Awards
The Malcolm Hardee Award for Comic Originality:
Candy Gigi: I’m Not Lonely(The Hive)
The Malcolm Hardee Cunning Stunt Award (for best Edinburgh Fringe publicity stunt):
Christian Talbot: Hello Cruel World (Underbelly)
The Malcolm Hardee Act Most Likely/Act Least Likely To Make A Million Quid’ Award:
Luisa Omielan
The Musical Theatre Network Awards 2014
Alba – A New Scottish Musical (SpaceUK)
Bonenkai (Underbelly)
The Duck Pond (Bedlam Theatre)
The Future for Beginners (Summerhall)
Janis Joplin: Full Tilt (Assembly)
Lorraine & Alan (Pleasance)
The Outback Games: A New Musical (SpaceUK)
Riptide: The Slasher Musical (Sweet Venues)
Symphony by Ella Hickson, Nick Payne and Tom Wells (Assembly)
Victorian Vices – The Picture of Dorian Gray (SpaceUK)
Primary Times Children’s Choice Award
Arabian Nights (Gilded Balloon)
The Scottish Arts Club / Edinburgh Guide Award
Donald Robertson is Not a Stand-up Comedian (Traverse Theatre)
The Scotsman Fringe First Awards
Winners – Week 1:
Cuckooed (Traverse Theatre)
Chef (Underbelly)
The Collector (Gilded Balloon)
Confirmation (Northern Stage)
Men in the Cities (Traverse Theatre)
Spoiling (Traverse Theatre)
Winners – Week 2:
Sanitise (Underbelly)
The Carousel (Traverse Theatre)
Pioneer (Zoo)
The Day Sam Died (New Town Theatre)
The Object Lesson (Summerhall)
The Initiate (Summerhall)
Lippy (Traverse Theatre)
Winners – Week 3:
Spine (Underbelly)
Travesti (Pleasance)
Letters Home (Edinburgh International Book Festival)
No Guts, No Heart, No Glory (Northern Stage)
Hand Made in China: Moons, Migration and Messages (Summerhall)
Pondling (Underbelly)
So You Think You’re Funny?
Aidan Strangeman
The Stage Awards for Acting Excellence
Benny Young for Unfaithful (Traverse Theatre)
Olwen Fouere for RIVERRUN (Traverse Theatre)
Rosie Wyatt forSpine (Underbelly)
The ensemble of Tumanishvili Film Actors Theatre Company of Tbilisi for Animal Farm (Assembly)
The ensemble of Sirens (Summerhall)
The ensemble of The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quijote of La Mancha (ZOO)
Declan Perring from Belfast Boy (Spotlites)
Bryan Burroughs from Beowulf: The Blockbuster (Pleasance)
April Hughes from Freak (Assembly)
Special Award Winner:
Chris Goode from Men in the Cities (Traverse Theatre)
Three Weeks Editors’ Awards
Bec And Tom’s Awesome Laundry (Gilded Balloon)
Tamsin Clarke for Manuelita (Underbelly)
Cariad Lloyd
Matt Panesh for Monkey Poet: Shit Flinging (Banshee Labyrinth)
Klanghaus (Summerhall)
Unbound Productions for Travesti (Pleasance)
Divallusion with Christina Bianco and Velma Celli (Assembly)
The cast and crew of The Bunker Trilogy: Agamemnon (C Venus)
Will Franken: The Stuff They Put in Sleep (Just The Tonic)
Ricardo Garcia
Total Theatre Awards
Emerging Company/Artist:
Backstage in Biscuit Land (Pleasance)
Physical/Visual Theatre:
The Object Lesson (Summerhall)
Innovation, Experimentation & Playing with Form:
Lippy (Traverse Theatre)
Near Gone (Summerhall)
Total Theatre & Jacksons Lane Award for Circus:
Bromance (Underbelly)
The Judges Award:
Looking for Paul (Summerhall)
Kim Noble: You’re Not Alone (Traverse Theatre)
Significant Contribution Award:
Ridiculusmus
And remember – if you just can’t get enough culture, the official Edinburgh Festival goes on until this weekend!
