Fringe Festivals

The Edinburgh Fringe

The Edinburgh Fringe festival is a month-long festival that sees productions from across the globe, created by professionals, students, and amateur theatre-makers alike brought to every space in Edinburgh that could reasonably (and sometimes unreasonably...) be turned into a theatre. Each venue will have a whole programme of shows in it, usually backed up throughout the day into a schedule that may run from 10am to 2am the next day, and sometimes even later, in the busiest venues. In short, it’s the largest performing arts festival in world!

Many groups from the University of Oxford stage work at the festival every year, including theatre, comedy and music. In order to take a show there, you’ll need to approach a venue. There are countless individual venues across the Fringe, though the majority of student theatre productions perform at The Space or Greenside. Once you have a slot at a venue, you then need to register with The Fringe Society, the umbrella organisation that runs the festival.

The best place to start is on The Fringe Society’s website, which is full of useful resources and information: www.edfringe.com

For support with taking your work to the Fringe, do contact the University Drama Officer at [email protected] who can give you advice and guidance. Many members of the OUDS committee will be able to give you pointers too.

When do I need to start planning a Fringe show?

Professional productions start planning for the Fringe a year in advance. Venues such as The Space open their performance slots at the start of January, and will have filled the majority by the end of February. It is recommended that you are able to approach a venue by the end of January in order to get the best possible performance space and time for your show. The deadline for registration with the Fringe Society is usually around the start of April, so you’ll need to have your venue confirmed by then.

How long do shows perform for?

The majority of professional productions at the Fringe perform for the full length of the festival. However, most student productions take a run of one or two weeks.

What funding is available?

The Fringe is an increasingly expensive place to perform. Funding is available for productions from the usual places in student theatre. The Cameron Mackintosh Drama Fund (check with the UDO what funding is available for Fringe productions) and OUDS both regularly fund many Fringe shows, alongside the many college-based funding groups across the University. Many productions find additional funding, such as from Crowd Funding. Importantly, it is expected that your production company will be able to fund a significant proportion of the costs.

Beyond Edinburgh

Student production companies regularly transfer their work to venues across the country, often to Fringe and Pub Theatres in London or as part of other Fringe festivals. You’ll need to research possible venues and pitch your work to their programming team. Recent venues for Oxford University student work include: The Riverside Studios’ Bitesize Festival, The Camden Fringe, Offbeat Oxford and The Hope Theatre Islington.