Edinburgh Revisited

I’ve been to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival many times over the years and in various different guises. Over the last two years, I’ve not missed the combination of excitement and gut-wrenching anxiety that often accompanies me on the trip north of the border! Although I look forward to seeing great new female comedy talent at the world’s largest arts festival it does always involve financial risk. But I’m glad to say I will be back this year for a fleeting visit.

I have had both amazing experiences and terrible ones up at the fest and don’t have enough time or space to explore them here! Do say hi if you see me out and about, I will, of course, be happy to recommend shows featuring as many Funny Women alumni and supporters as possible.

Women-led shows at the Fringe have been increasingly successful over the years since I created Funny Women 20 years ago. Recognition for the many performers, writers, and creators who take part in comedy competitions, including our Funny Women Awards, helps them build confidence to take a show to the festival. Plus participation gets them seen by promoters and bookers who help new acts to debut as part of mixed bills or with a work in progress.

This year’s Fringe is seeing a few rebirths and reinventions of what so many of us have done over the years. There’s plenty of creativity and energy about – look out for Standing Ovariation: The Rebirth as part of PBH’s Free Fringe and an exclusively female roster at The Tron, run by Just the Tonic. It’s good to see a wealth of diversity too in terms of age, class, ability, gender, and culture. For example, I welcome the fact that menopause is now discussed as part of the comedy landscape as well as periods and pregnancy.

In 2013 we created the Funny Women Pop Up Fringe and ran our own venue at Le Monde. This was an extraordinary experience and not for the fainthearted! I had a year off running shows at the festival after that and, since then, we’ve curated showcase runs with the Gilded Balloon and Assembly, produced and supported a couple of associated acts, run semi-finals for the Awards, organised workshops with Fringe Central and campaigned for various causes.   

Controversially the Fringe Society, the charity that runs the festival, is not producing an app this year but everything is listed online at edfringe.com, and the venue websites. Plus, you can check in with our Q&As on here spotlighting acts going the Fringe.

My hope for Fringe visitors this year is that you support new and grassroots acts, particularly those making their debut and the Free Fringe shows. These shows will reward and surprise you, they really encapsulate the spirit of the festival.

Be brave in your choices and try new things. Every audience member is a gift to hardworking Fringe artists because they need and want your attention. This is where they hone and develop their material and where you might see the next Katherine Ryan, Zoe Lyons, Jayde Adams, or Desiree Burch… all of whom won the Funny Women Stage Award in the early stages of their now glittering careers!

Times are still very hard for everybody right across the live entertainment industry and, to ensure that we deliver the 2022 Funny Women Awards in all its brilliant and innovate glory, we’re staying online until the live final on Thursday 29^th September at the Bloomsbury Theatre in London. Please book ahead and I might see you before that in Edinburgh!

Pictured: Funny Women acts campaigning at the Fringe in 2017 with Monica Lennon, MSP for Central Scotland, to End Period Poverty. Photo by Steve Ullathorne. Read the full article from our archive here.