Free Festival Programme Launched

In the current economic climate people will be playing closer attention to anything that can get them a good deal at the Fringe. A large part of my blog will have hopefully helped readers find the best deal and made it easier to pick up freebies, especially for shows that you normally have to pay for! (The Theatre Ninjas app has now been downloaded and I'm looking forward to using it. See my last blog).

The Five Pound Fringe were a great company keeping the cost of tickets down but sadly they have disappeared this year.

But you still don't need to look very hard to get a freebie with two major promoters offering free shows for the entirety of the Festival!

Peter Buckley-Hill has been around longer with "PBH Free Fringe" but in recent years he has been overtaken by the Laughing Horse Free Festival, who this year have 6725 performances of 339 shows in 17 venues (approximately twice the size of PBH)! Laughing Horse managed to secure the first Edinburgh Comedy Award nomination (Best Newcomer) for a free show last year with Imran Yusuf who this year moves to The Pleasance for £11 a pop; which goes to show that there are lots of great up and coming comics who aren't neccesarily charging a fortune!

I've already recommended a few shows from the Free Festival in a previous blog so I won't repeat those, but another safe bet is to try out one of their many 3-4 comedians for the price of one. They have shows at Espionage at 6pm, 8.30pm and 11pm and similar shows at other venues which are well worth a look such as Jock's and Geordies at the Meadow Bar.

If you are wondering how promoters can put on a free show at the Fringe and not lose a fortune, here's an article that tells you how.

So have a look at the guide and try it out! Not every act will be 5/5 but in terms of value for money there's nothing better on the Fringe. You can take a wander into any of their venues, buy a drink an just jump into the next show that starts! That's certainly what I'll be doing!