Things you need to know for going to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

With this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe well underway, we’ve taken a look at the things you need to know when heading to see shows this year.

Transcript

00:00Hello I'm Edinburgh Evening News reporter Kevin Quinn and with the

00:04world's largest arts festival in town again for another month we've taken a

00:09look at all the things you need to know when going to the Fringe this August.

00:13The Fringe has seen so many talented comedians and actors going to achieve

00:18fame after performing at the Fringe including Phoebe Waller-Bridge who won a

00:21Scotsman Fringe first award for her show Fleabag in 2013. Other household names

00:26who appeared at the Fringe earlier in their careers include Kevin Bridges, Jude Law,

00:30Emma Thompson and Billy Connolly who is pictured here picking up an award at the

00:33Fringe in the 1970s. Street performers entertain the crowds across the city

00:39centre during the Fringe every year including on Edinburgh's Royal Mail and

00:43at the Grassmarket. Here you can catch Fringe performers giving a sneaky peek

00:47of their shows an almost try before you buy approach. You can spend hours

00:52watching these performers for free although donations are most welcome.

00:55There is nothing worse when you are running between shows across the city

00:59centre during the Fringe and you hit a bottleneck. The Pleasance Courtyard and

01:03Bristol Square are notorious bottlenecks due to the amount of Fringe venues at

01:06each location. These can really hold you up as you go from one show to another.

01:10However due to the sheer volume of people in Edinburgh during the month of

01:14August bottlenecks can pop up anywhere. There's always a good chance of seeing

01:19some famous faces at the Fringe in Edinburgh every August as well as the

01:23actual performers we mingle freely with the crowds. The Fringe also attracts some

01:28big names to Edinburgh every August catching some shows themselves including last year

01:32film star Ewan McGregor. Almost everywhere you turn during the Fringe you

01:39will have a flyer forced into your hand. Try to be picky, look at the flyer before

01:44accepting it. If it is a show for you you might be interested in then by all means

01:48accept it and possibly check out a show you didn't know about. However be wary as

01:52you could end up weighed down by hundreds of flyers by the time you get back to

01:56your hotel or home.