The Smarts: Coming to the Fringe this year are... oh, you knew that already?

THE Edinburgh Fringe will launch its 2012 programme at the end of May. But will there be anything left to announce by then?

More than any previous year, most of the cats are out of the bag already. The Made in Scotland programme was announced yesterday (see coverage elsewhere in the paper). Today the newly reopened Assembly Rooms reveals its line-up. And if you search the Fringe’s own website for “the first shows of 2012”, you get well more than 1,000 results – that, surely, is almost half the festival, unless it has dramatically grown yet again. Also, we already know that David Hasselhoff, below, is coming, and what could top that?

The reason for much of this is, of course, the Olympics – and the concern over the various ways in which London’s big bash could potentially take the shine off the world’s greatest arts festival – loss of talent, audiences from down south staying away, etc. So, the earlier people can be persuaded to book tickets, the better.

The longer run-up will, at least, give audiences more time to get their heads around how confusing this Fringe is going to be. There are, as you may have heard, two venues called Assembly this year, run by entirely different people (who, adding to the fun, have been arch-rivals for years). Some of what was Assembly will now be at the Roxy Art House, whose former director now has a new venue, Summerhall. Meanwhile – as will be revealed today – another long-established Fringe venue is to move to an entirely different part of the city.

Confused? Don’t worry, The Scotsman will keep you right when the time comes. Meanwhile, booking is now open for, well, LOADS.