For three weeks each August , the streets and squares of Scotland ’s capital letter buzz with activity as people pour into the metropolis for theEdinburgh Fringe Festival . bear side by side to the more conventional Edinburgh International Festival , it hosts a dazzling range of theater , medicine , dance , clowning , and more . 1000 of operation arespread acrosshundreds of different stages throughout the metropolis . Here are eight notable facts about the Edinburgh Fringe Festival , which kicks off in a crossbreed in - someone and virtual material body on August 6 , 2021 .
1. The Edinburgh Fringe Festival began in 1947 as a platform for those who weren’t invited to the main festival.
After theSecond World War , masses on the Edinburgh and British Councils wanted tocreate an external festivalof the arts to reconnect people from different countries . involution was by invitation only , which leave a turn of theater groups out in the cold . Eight of them make up one’s mind tocome to Edinburghand do their display anyway . The initial participants did n’t employ the termfringe(they described their grouping as the “ Festival Adjuncts ” ) ; the expression was usedin an articleby the dramatist Robert Kemp in 1948 when preview the upcoming second edition of the main festival . It continued to be used informally for a bit of age before bit by bit becoming the consequence ’s official rubric .
2. Millions of people attend the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
The Fringe ’s success has continued to rocket . In 2019 , a record - breaking3 million ticketswere deal , construct it the most successful art fete in the world , and thethird most popular eventof any variety after theOlympicsand the World Cup .
Because of theCOVID-19pandemic , in 2020 , the in - person shows were canceled and events weremoved online . For 2021 , some dowry of the Fringe are in - person , but practical events will continue to playa significant rolewithin the program .
3. Tom Stoppard’sRosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Deadpremiered at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1966.
Today , Tom Stoppard is view as one of the finest livelihood playwrights in the English language . But in 1966 , he was just a 29 - year - old emerging dramatist with only a couple of productions to his name . He fetch the first reading of what would later on become one of his most famous plays , Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead , to the Fringe . Out of the seven people in the audience , only one was a paying customer . The other six were critics — and some of their reviews were not kind . However , one reviewer was favorable enough to guarantee the play was denounce again in London , where it was ecstatically received andlaunched Stoppard ’s careerto a unexampled tier . The playing period ’s achiever as a Fringe world premiere has pep up generations of subsequent writers with hopes of launching a future classic there .
4. The Fringe is just one of many festivals held every year in Edinburgh.
A telephone number of other festival have emerge to join the yearly rota of result held in the Scottish capital , cementing Edinburgh ’s reputation as the “ festival urban center . ” Some of these fete let in outcome that were once part of the Fringe or the International Festival but have subsequently spun off to become celebrations in their own right : the Edinburgh Film Festival ( shape in 1947 ) , the Edinburgh International Television Festival ( which begin in 1976 ) , the Edinburgh International Book Festival ( created in 1983 ) , and the Edinburgh Art Festival ( first held in 2004 ) .
5. Robin Williams performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
In August 1971,Robin Williamswas an obscure drama educatee . The then-20 - class - older came to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival as part of a college product ofThe Taming of The Shrew , staged in the style of a western . He played the role of Tranio . The productionwas a hitand won a good of the Fringe laurels .
Williams ’s expiry at the age of 63 occurred while the 2014 version of the Fringe was afoot , and a phone number of that year ’s participants paid tribute to him at the event . In 2019 , on the fifth anniversary of his passing , the Fringe featureda benefit eventfor genial wellness charities in his memory .
6. One Edinburgh Fringe Festival venue is the oldest purpose-built student union building in the world.
The Gilded Balloon is one of the most important Fringe organization , and since 2002 it has been found atTeviot Row Housein Bristo Square . Teviot house the University of Edinburgh ’s student union . It was designed by the designer Sydney Mitchell and inspired by Scottish Renaissance styles . The building first opened to the university ’s undergraduate and postgraduates in 1889 .
While not the erstwhile building used as a scholar union in the human race , it doesboast the titleof the oldest building built specifically for this social occasion . For many year , Teviot Row House was also the locus for theFringe Club , which showcased highlights from across the fete every night .
7. The Edinburgh Fringe Festival’s first Comedy Award was won by a theatrical team including some of today’s biggest stars.
August 2021 marks the fortieth anniversary of the Fringe ’s Comedy Awards . In 1981 , the first of these awards plump to a theatrical troupe call theCambridge Footlights . The penis of this award - winning team of University of Cambridge students let in people who became some of themost lionize British actors and comediansof their propagation : Emma Thompson , Stephen Fry , and Hugh Laurie .
8. The Edinburgh Fringe Festival inspired similar festivals around the world.
Today , bang festivalsare a celebrate part of theater and performance events worldwide . The Edinburgh Fringe is now credited ashaving begunthe opinion of the outer boundary festival and popularized it to hearing across the globe . An annualWorld Fringe Daynow takes property on July 11 every year , when Edinburgh and more than 200 other fringe festivals around the earth celebrate the movement that has grow so successfully since that inaugural event in 1947 .
