Assembly in seismic shift to new base in the Old Town

THE Assembly Theatre, the biggest and best-known venue operator at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, is to move its giant festival operation across the city in a historic shift after 30 years at the Assembly Rooms.

• William Burdett Coutts: Old venue 'losing the hub factor'

In a "long-term" move, Assembly director William Burdett Coutts will run at least three Fringe theatre spaces and two Spiegeltents in and around George Square this summer, with a combined capacity of more than 1,500 seats.

The move will cement the Fringe's shift to the south, from the New Town to the Old Town area, with the festival's four biggest venue operators now centred firmly on buildings owned by Edinburgh University.

"We are moving from George Street to George Square. We are aiming to run at least five spaces and maybe six. We are just working on plans at the moment," Mr Burdett Coutts said.

"It's a huge move, it's going to take a lot of set-up work to get going. I would aim, inevitably, to make it a long-term thing."

It comes after he fought to block a council-backed refurbishment of the Assembly Rooms in George Street that he said will now permanently rule it out as a Fringe "hub".

Mr Burdett Coutts plans to place two Spiegeltents, mirrored performance tents, with seating for 450 and 200 people, in the George Square gardens.

He will take over the university's George Square lecture theatre as a 480-seat theatre space, along with two other spaces seating more than 200 people each.

In the 2010 Fringe, the Assembly operation drew nearly 300,000 people to 139 different shows at its long-time base at the Assembly Rooms, the Assembly Hall on the Mound and its new Princes Street Gardens venue.

But City of Edinburgh Council this month began a major refurbishment of the Assembly Rooms building, restoring its ballroom and music hall, with shops and a restaurant planned for other smaller spaces.

The building will close for this year's Fringe, and the council is inviting tenders for its operation in 2012.

The Assembly Theatre will register an interest, but is likely to make a permanent move to George Square.

"To me the change to the Assembly Rooms loses all its hub factor; you have to have that hub feeling and somewhere to hang out, so I suspect this will become the centre of our operations," Mr Burdett Coutts said.

Assembly now joins the Underbelly, the Gilded Balloon and the Pleasance with major venues in rented university buildings on and near Bristo Square.

"It means that the centre of the Fringe will be completely in the Old Town, and the New Town will be rather bereft of performance spaces," said Mr Burdett Coutts.

Chris Barnes, of the University of Edinburgh, said it was "proud of its association with a major player in the Fringe. They have a fantastic reputation for quality product."