Meet the Edinburgh Fringe performers finding unconventional ways to fund their shows

Sarah-Louise Young in An Evening Without Kate Bush.

Over the decades that the Fringe has entertained us, the cost of bringing a show here has increased exponentially. The free access aspect, which was Edinburgh's glorious unique selling point, is all but gone, which is so sad. Up at the 'top', more and more control is being taken, albeit some of the control is gratefully received, coming as £2500 cheques for the ironically named 'Keep it Fringe' grants.

At the other end, the PBH Free Fringe (and those who followed behind, to a greater or lesser extent) has been keeping things affordable, from a performing space point of view, since 1996. But accommodation costs, and those of keeping your 60 minutes more noticeable than the next 3000, are quite terrifying. So how do the really smart, genuinely Fringe people fund their shows?

Well, if it is smart you want, Kate Smurthwaite tutors A-Level maths so she can make Edinburgh a cleverer, funnier place each August. In New York, comedian Kevin James Doyle teaches chess. He is funding his debut show by selling lessons in Washington Park. So how many lessons to fund a single week in Edinburgh?

“I would say about 40-50 hours,” he says. “I have been sneaking some jokes and stories from the show into my lessons, so that is 40-50 hours of rehearsals as well.” Smart, but maybe not as smart as Northern Irish comic John Meagher who buys and sells rare books.

“I started with £30, and reckon the collection is worth about £8K now,” he says. His Fringe has been paid for by selling first editions such as the copy of The Invisible Man by HG Wells, found in a charity shop, bought for £30 and sold for £700. “It’s actually worth a fair bit more, but I decided to pay for some of the Fringe expenses in advance so I let it go to a good dealer.” he says.

He also tracked down a copy of what’s considered the first published memoir of a spy, British Agent by John Whitwell. “It cost me £80 and I sold for £350, which is exactly how much my Fringe poster design cost and felt serendipitous. I am deciding now whether to let go of a first edition Lord of the Rings trilogy… but I might hold off in case I sell every ticket at the Fringe and avoid bankruptcy without letting Frodo and Sam head off from my bookshelf.” Five stars for business acumen.

Back in New York, Otter Lee has funded almost the whole of his Fringe by running games of Dungeons and Dragons at a game shop. “I've Dungeon mastered for celebrities I am not allowed to name, single parents and their kids, and polyamorous couples. I love getting paid to play pretend and voice hundreds of nonsensical characters so I can fund a show where I am just myself!"

Fringe favourite Caroline Cooke, an actress one can only describe as 'garlanded with awards', has taken them all off to do life modelling to fund her one week run of Gruoch - Lady Macbeth'. Art funding art. Marvellously appropriate. “Nakedness is 20 quid an hour, most sessions last two hours, and a whole day about £120. This year I have done around 25 bookings, which has paid for the venue, and a couple of £100 towards accommodation,” she says. “I find it very moving, I have a scarred and older body now and the artists love it as they get so many young skinny models.”

This year's highest risk nakedness – while also being a powerful political statement – is Megan Prescott's Really Good Exposure. The Skins actress is raising money to fund her fiercely pro-sex-worker play by selling naked pictures on her OnlyFans site which she started in 2020. “I've been asked for full naked content for years, so it just seemed logical to use it to help pay for my Edinburgh show,” she says. Brilliant, but risky given the continuing stigma around sex work.

“There will undoubtedly be some doors that will be closed to me now,” she says, “but I was on national TV when I was 16, nearly naked, imitating sex, depicting drug taking and underage drinking. If people didn't draw the line there, but did once I decided, as a 30 year old, to start an OnlyFans page, then we've got to question where that line is.”

BTW, talking of risk, Comedian John Tothill took part in a drug trial, was given a serious dose of malaria and became seriously ill. So do see the show, he nearly died for it. “It was either that or work a regular nine-to-five in the hope of saving money. Given my impulsive approach to finances, it was really a choice between a death sentence and a life sentence. I chose the death sentence and thankfully got away with it. And I’d do it again!"

There are some purists left with us. In 1998, for her first show, Sarah-Louise Young (An Evening Without Kate Bush anyone?) raised money by taking a photo of herself and getting people to sponsor body parts. “£10 for a finger, that sort of thing,” she says “A group of my friends sponsored my spine for £100.” But now she has a greater 'body' of successful work, she uses the income from one show to fund another in a rolling process. Be aware, anyone who fancies trying this, there are spreadsheets involved. “I don't think it is anyone's responsibility to fund me doing a show,” she says, “but I would be thrilled if they bought a ticket to see it. Tickets for previews are effectively funding the making of the show. There is nothing wrong with fundraisers, but they are just not for me. I like the honesty of the transaction. I am doing a show and you buy a ticket or you put money in the bucket and then it is up to me to do what I want with the money.”

Kate Smurthwaite’s show Late with Kate is at PBH’s Free Fringe @ Canon’s Gait, midnight, until 25 August.

Kevin James Doyle: After Endgame, Just the Tonic at the Caves, 5.05pm, until 25 August.

John Meagher: Big Year, Gilded Balloon Patter House, 4.20pm, until 26 August.

Otter Lee: Princess Syndrome, Just the Tonic at Cabaret Voltaire, 3.30pm, until 25 August.

Gruoch – Lady Macbeth, Hill Street Theatre, 12-18 August, 3.30pm.

Really Good Exposure, Underbelly Cowgate, 5.20pm, until 25 August

John Tothill: Thank God This Lasts Forever, Pleasance Courtyard, 8.45pm, until 25 August

An Evening Without Kate Bush, Assembly Checkpoint, 7.20pm, until 26 August.