Milestones from Paul Gudgin’s 8 years with the Fringe:

1999

• The Fringe takes over the management of the High Street during August
• Assembly Theatre almost lose their venue after a long running feud with the City Council
• Al Murray wins the Perrier Award
• Shows receiving high praise from the critics include Nixon’s Nixon, Hopeless Games, Wreck the Airline Barrier, Danny’s Wake and The House of Pootsie Plunkett
• Pastor Jack Glass and his supporters picket the ‘Gay Jesus’ play Corpus Christi

2000

• A new venue, The Underbelly, is launched in vaults under George IV Bridge
• The Fringe loses two key venues as Café Graffiti and The Palladium close
• The Fringe becomes the first arts organisation in the UK to adopt real-time online ticketing which proves an instant hit
• Shows receiving critical acclaim include Picasso’s Women, Further than the Furthest Thing, King of Scotland, Decky Does a Bronco, Steven Berkoff’s Messiah, Are You Dave Gorman? and The Donkey Show

2001

• Gregory Burke’s debut play Gagarin Way proves a huge hit with critics and audiences
• Fringe launches 2-for-1 tickets increasing sales by 226% on the opening weekend of the festival.
• Rob Newman leads a call to boycott the Perrier Awards to highlight Nestlé’s controversial powdered milk sales in the developing world
• Fringe Sunday moves from Holyrood Park to The Meadows
• Notable shows included Bedbound, Mental, Man in the Flying Lawn Chair, Jesus Hopped the A Train and 3 Dark Tales

2002

• The Fringe sells 975,000 tickets outstripping this years’ Commonwealth Games in Manchester
• The Fringe features a large number of shows influenced by the September 11 terrorist attack on New York including the world première of a Steven Berkoff poem and The Guys performed by Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon
• Award-winners include Horse Country, Derevo: la Divina Commedia, Outlying Islands, Bomb-itty of Errors and Victory at the Dirt Palace
• Jerry Springer the Opera causes a stir, particularly when Jerry Springer turns up to watch

2003

• The Fringe sells one million tickets for the first time.
• The Fringe includes 204 venues, the largest ever number despite losing 3 venues including the Gilded Balloon in the Old Town Fire
• Site-specific venues are all the rage with a public toilet, a Ford Escort, a stepladder, a bus, a New Town flat and a lift all being used
• The Scottish Socialist Party backed Edinburgh People’s Festival challenging the established festivals for being ‘elitist’
• Fringe comedian Aaron Barschak makes national headlines after breaking into Prince William’s 21st birthday party at Windsor Castle

2004

• Christian Slater wows the critics in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest which transfers straight to London’s West End.
• The sexually explicit show XXX and Tim Fountain’s show Sex Addict cause widespread controversy
• Comedian Mark Watson completes an astounding 24-hour show
• Will Adamsdale is a surprise winner of the Perrier Award at his first appearance on the Fringe
• The City of Edinburgh Council and The Scottish Executive commission the ‘Thundering Hooves’ study as Edinburgh faces growing competition from other cities
• The Fringe open a new Press and Performers’ Centre in Old Fishmarket Close

2005

• Many shows deal with issues surrounding the War on Terror including Terrorist the Musical, Manifest Destiny (an al-Qaeda love story) and War, Terror and other Fun Stuff
• The Fringe boasts a greatly expanded theatre programme including Bill Bailey and Alan Davies in The Odd Couple
• Young survivors of the Boxing Day tsunami charm audiences with their show Children of the Sea
• Fringe stalwart Christopher Richardson steps down after 21 years as Director of the Pleasance
• Laura Solon becomes the first female winner of the Perrier Award for 10 years
• The Fringe open a Half-Price Hut and e-ticket tent which between them sell an additional 45,000 tickets.
• A City Council-funded economic impact study estimates that the Fringe generates £75 million annually for the local economy and generated media coverage in the UK equivalent to £6.6 million in advertising value

2006

• The Fringe sells over 1.5 million tickets for the first time, almost double the number sold 10 years ago.
• The National Theatre of Scotland present their first production, Gregory’s Burke’s Blackwatch, on the Fringe to full houses and rave reviews
• Over half of the tickets sold by the Fringe box office were sold online and www.edfringe.com received 73 million hits in August alone.
• After 25 years Perrier are replaced as sponsor of the comedy awards by Intelligent Finance, creating the if.comeddies
• The much anticipated report into Edinburgh’s future competitiveness as a Festival City ‘Thundering Hooves’ is published
• Retiring International Festival Director Brian McMaster wins the Jack Tinker Spirit of the Fringe Award
• All Edinburgh’s main festivals join forces to create ‘Festivals Edinburgh’. Faith Liddell is appointed as its first Director

Facts about the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

• The Fringe has a 75% market share of all attendance at Edinburgh’s year-round festivals and annually generates around £75 million for the Edinburgh and Scottish economy.
• Fringe 2006 featured 28,014 performances of 1,867 shows in 261 venues
• An estimated 16,990 performers were on Edinburgh’s Fringe stages.
• The Fringe sells 97% more tickets than it did only 10 years ago (679,147 in 1995, 1338,550 in 2005).

Box office statistics from Paul Gudgin’s Directorship

END

(c) Leroy Harris / Edinburgh Festival Fringe Press Office / 22 January 07

For more information, photographs and to arrange interviews contact Leroy Harris or Louise Page at the Fringe Press Office on 0131 226 0024 or press@edfringe.com

Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2008