Show must go on but Fringe's main players push for change

Published on Friday 29 August 2008 09:17

'IT felt a bit like herding cats," ex-Fringe director Paul Gudgin once recalled. "You don't really direct the Fringe, you just cling on to it and hope to be there at the end."

By this measure Jon Morgan, who quit the role yesterday, a year after taking the reins from Gudgin, was a success of sorts. At least he made it to the end of his first Fringe as head man, if only just.

But he leaves behind quite a mess for his successor, and former colleagues at the Festival Fringe Society, to sort out.

Gudgin's testimony might make the job of overseeing the world's biggest arts festival sound challenging in the extreme.

But throw in a computer-generated box office disaster, the prospect of a breakaway by your four biggest venues and incessant internal bickering – not to mention the growing financial strains and increasing competition from festival cities – and it begins to sound like mission impossible.

The only glimmer of good news for Morgan's successor is that the biggest problem – the box office – should be solved before they are even appointed.

"That needs to be sorted out now," says Tommy Shepherd, owner of the Stand Comedy Club and a recently-appointed member of the Fringe board.

"I don't think we can afford to wait for a new director to be in place. I would, ideally, like to see decisions being made about the box office before Christmas, and I would be surprised if we had a new director in place by then.

"Everyone is agreed that this is one of the top priorities for the Fringe. We have to run a central box office and we have to get it right."

The job of "getting it right" will fall largely on the shoulders of Tim Hawkins, the general manager of the Festival Fringe Society, who will have to take up the reins until a new head is found.

Shepherd, who acknowledges the widespread demands for changes in the management of the Fringe, describes this summer's troubles and the two independent reviews they sparked – into the running of the box office and the Fringe itself – as "a chance to have a completely clean start".

The loudest demands for change are perhaps coming from the Fringe's "big four" venues – the Assembly, Underbelly, Pleasance and Gilded Balloon – which together account for half of all ticket sales. They are demanding a bigger slice of the lucrative sponsorship available and this year ran their own breakaway comedy festival to help achieve that.

But the challenges are far greater than simply pacifying the big four. It is a balancing act, as those behind many of the other 250 shows – who together, don't forget, account for the other half of the Fringe's ticket sales – are demanding change too. One of the biggest pressures is for a cut in the cost – almost 300 – of having a show listed in the Fringe guide, the only way of really being part of it

With other costs going up, many producers feel something has to give, and don't feel they get good value from the Fringe Festival Society in return for their hefty listing fees.

There is also growing pressure to lobby for more public funding or find other ways to raise money to support the myriad acts that make up the Fringe.

Bill Burdett-Coutts, who has been director of the Assembly for the past 28 years, also echoes another widespread gripe, that an increasingly distant Fringe bureaucracy needs to simply re-connect with the people putting on the shows.

"The Fringe office has been very self-serving in recent years, and I do not think it has engaged with the venues in the way it needs to," he says. "There are serious issues that need to be addressed, chiefly financial. The cost to the performer is going up, the cost to the public is going up and yet these costs are not been met with increased revenue."

Leading producer James Seabright adds: "From my perspective, the main problem was the lack of communication: the Fringe is all about collaboration and open discussion, but Jon chose to be a more distant figure than his predecessors, not returning calls and refusing to engage."

There are also calls for the new Fringe director to look at ways of attracting the crowds, following a drop in ticket sales this summer, including cheaper tickets.

Nica Burns, promoter of the if.comedy awards, who has been working on the Fringe as an actress and producer since 1982, says: "The new director will have to be a real leader in order to take it forward.

"The cost of putting a show into the programme is one area they could look at bringing down. While ticket prices are set by the venues, the board needs to see if there is any way they can help bring those down – the half-price tickets have been a great success, and perhaps more deals like that could help.

"The council needs to start putting proper funding into the Fringe in order to make this happen – it brings in 75 million a year to the local economy, and investing in it would make sound business sense as it could enable it to grow and bring in 80m or 90m a year.

"The role of director is not a creative role, and they do not need a creative person – they need to be a brilliant administrator and someone who can engage with the local council."

A Fringe spokesman said they did not want to pre-empt the recently ordered reviews of its operation. But councillor Steve Cardownie, the council's festival and events champion, warned that amid all the hand-wringing going on it had to be remembered just how successful the Fringe remains. "Like most of the festival, it could no doubt make a case for more funding," he says.

"All of the cities festivals have an international reputation that is the envy of the world and we want to help them go from strength to strength. If that means we need review our funding then there is nothing to stop us doing that.

"There have been a lot of issues for the Fringe to deal with this year, not just the box office – there has also been the impact of the weather and the Olympic games, and all of that needs to be taken into account.

"Given all that, I don't think it has been too bad a year for the Fringe, and I don't think it needs to change too much. The Fringe itself needs to beware of becoming too bureaucratic – what makes it so special is that anarchic quality which means you are never sure what you are going to get."

SHOW STOPPERS

THE resignation of Festival Fringe Society director Jon Morgan followed one of the most chaotic Fringe Festivals in recent memory. Here are just a few of the problems that the organisers had to deal with:

&#149 Computers

The Fringe box office's new system, the Liquid Box Office, costing 335,000 crashed under the weight of inquiries after tickets went on sale in June. The problems forced the Fringe to suspend ticket sales on its website, box office and over the phone. A week later it was still crashing and a new system was quickly put in place.

&#149 Licences

A new licence for street performers was greeted with outrage. The 50 charge to perform on the Royal Mile was blasted a "disgrace".

&#149 Overzealous stewards

Fringe wardens chased performers who had not paid for a licence, ordered a whisky shop to remove its barrel, were compared to Chinese military police after breaking up a CND peace protest and were even accused of stopping journalists.

&#149 The Weather

Festival-goers are accustomed to a little bit of rain, but this year saw an unprecedented downpour, with two-thirds of August's average rainfall pounding the city in just 24 hours, and heavy rains continuing for most of the run.

&#149 Computers – again

Just when they thought it was safe to go back online, Fringe organisers were forced to abandon their closing day two-for-one Ticket Frenzy after temporary software patches used to shore-up the Liquid Box Office system were unable to cope with the half-price sales, leading to more complaints and massive queues.