After two weeks, I've finally spotted one of our quad posters, on the far side of The Meadows facing away from the road. Still have yet to find the other poster.
Is Edinburgh Quieter This Year?
I’ve read nothing about the Fringe-going visitor population of Edinburgh being any lower than previous years, and I’ve not read any show complaining about low audience numbers. So, I’ve got to ask: is Edinburgh quieter this year?
I’ll be the first to put my head above the parapet and say my audience numbers are lower than previous years and the streets look relatively quiet to me.
The Socks’ Superheroes show is not doing badly, and by the standards of a lot of shows I know we’re doing well. I know this anecdotally, from having seen the size of queues going into other shows in my building. But looking at my sales graph, which shows me the Scottish Falsetto Socks sales for every one of their 10 years of shows, I’m looking at crowds that are just that bit smaller than before.
And it’s not as if we’re not going for them. Yesterday (Tuesday) I did the longest stint of flyering so far this year. The passing punters of Bristo Square got five hours of quality flyering from me. They were good (ie the sort of people who look like they go to comedy and theatre), they were receptive (they took the flyers and laughed and said thank you), they looked as likely to come to the show as any punters I’ve seen in my 18 years of Edinburgh flyering.
I even got to exit-flyer the audience of Chortle Fast Fringe where the Socks had just done a cracking three minute slot. You can’t do better and more efficient flyering than I did on Tuesday 14th August.
But despite all that, Kev F’s Theory Of Flyering failed to be borne out. My theory, established in 2001 and tested every year since, hypothesises that 3 hours of flyering will equate to 30 bums on seats. Celebratory blogs like this one from 2015 show me adding 100 sales in a day through intense flyering. Tuesday’s 5 hours of flyering turned the morning’s figure of 17 tickets sold to a final tally of just 36 tickets sold.
And it’s not as if we could be suffering bad word-of-mouth. This year’s show is in perfect shape now, with audiences laughing throughout and giving me great direct feedback. I know it’s vain, and could be self-deluding, but I think you know when your show’s good (for example, in 2015, I didn’t feel my show, Minging Detectives, was the best, and in fact found myself apologising for it in conversations with fans a year later). This year I have no such doubts. Superheroes is a hilarious show, and songs like Bechdel Test, Avengers Reel and Dead Ringer For Superman deserve 4 star reviews on their own. But we’ve had no reviews yet, which can’t be helping.
And we have crowds that, though lovely and voluble - and seemingly full, thanks to fellow performers getting in with their passes and filling up the back rows - just don’t include as many paying customers as past years. Thanks to the double oddity of having to cancel two shows in week one for family reasons and flyering less in week one because of my cold, our sales graph is deceptively low. But if you close up the two-day flatline on the graph, total sales for 2018 are behind every year except for 07 (debut show) 08 (Return) and 12 (the notorious Olympic year). Remember, just three weeks ago, we were looking at record-breaking advance sales. Suggesting that our core punters are as strong as ever, it’s the passing trade that’s fallen off.
So, I put the question out there, is Edinburgh quieter this year? Is any other show, which has been here before, seeing smaller attendances than before? Is anyone feeling that the bars are quieter, the streets are emptier, and the punters are staying away?
Or, horror of horrors, is it just us?
UPDATE. 8pm, twelve hours later i've had lots of responses to this blog. As well as conversations on the street with three comedians and two reviewers, all of whom agreed that things were quiet this year, these Facebook comments came in. My further thoughts are below them.
So, my further thoughts? The people above who are happy with their numbers, eg James, Steve, Alex are in Free Fringe venues (though others, eg Voodoo Rooms, in FF are struggling). Could it be that what punters there are will take a punt on free, but not on paid?
UPDATE. 8pm, twelve hours later i've had lots of responses to this blog. As well as conversations on the street with three comedians and two reviewers, all of whom agreed that things were quiet this year, these Facebook comments came in. My further thoughts are below them.
Patricia Silver yes it seems quieter this year
Daphna Baram It is quiet for me but this is my first full run since 2015 and my venue is a bit off the beaten track.
James Worthington We felt last year was much quieter than most, especially than the year previous. Is it dying out?
Dave Flynn I'm a punter at the Fringe, who has been coming here since 2007. I've seen 25 shows so far this year, and I've never been to so many packed out venues before.
Steve Day I've not noticed it being quiet. The pavements seem, if anything, more thronged than I can remember. I've been delighted with my numbers.
James Cook Personal perspective from the 3 shows I do:
1. A kids show at 10:45am - never done one before. Smallest crowd has been 3 families, biggest about 15. Increase on previous years - infinity per cent.
2. Board Game Smackdown. 3rd fringe in the biggest venue yet (100 cap) not uncommon for us to have standing room only and have had to turn people away a handful of times. Increase on previous years: easily 50%
3. A stand up show. Only the second non themed show I’ve done. Had 11 in last night and was disappointed - two years ago I would have been happy with that. Have been getting around 25, 50 at weekends.
Paul Savage Defo quieter.
Mill Goble Definitely quieter on the press front, and when flyering 12-1, 85% of the people I see are other folk doing shows or Spanish tourists. Of the five or so shows I've seen, they've probably been averaging about 35-50% full.
Lindsey Marie Silver There are more meeting places/watering holes this year. I think that’s why it feels quieter out and about.
Alex Petty I’ve not noticed it being quieter. cowgate is heaving and even more dangerous to pedestrians than ever, the mile is packed and venues are reporting increased takings - though a small increase rather than a giant leap. Show numbers around my venues seem to be good overall too from reports I’ve had.
Paul Currie It is apparently according to the taxi drivers .. and they know
Ewan Leeming Anecdotally:
1/ We're printing a lot more than usual - especially more flyers which generally means people let down by big companies or making last minute change of plans.
2/ Performers in central venues generally saying bigger audiences.
3/ Performers in less central areas generally saying lower audiences.
4/ Niche acts reporting bigger audiences.
Anthony Jeannot Nothing to compare it to, so not super helpful, but in a very small venue, I did not need to flyer this year and had it 70-100% full right through the run. In my first run, if this is what it's like in a down year, I'd love to see it at full tilt.
Andre Vincent (on an independent thread):
The Voodoo Rooms are not getting the traffic it used to get and they need bums on seats.
Pete Harris My experience this year is an noticeable increase in punters, probably, in part, to do with the good weather in the first two weeks.
My new theory, conjured up this afternoon, is that a new generation of millennial punters may be used to the concept of "A Festival" as a thing you pay to go to, where you meet friends, you hang out and eat and drink, and you'll watch acts performing for free - a la Glastonbury, Latitude etc - but you don't think of paying money in advance to watch an act.
Whereas, once upon a time, people went to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to watch a range of theatre, art and comedy, they now to go Edinburgh to "be at a Festival". But the seven-shows-a-day punter, with their tightly planned schedule and their deep pockets willing to take a punt on seeing something they've never heard of before, is an ancient beast on the brink of extinction.
Look at Bristo Square & George Square. Hundreds of people are sat at tables, drinking beer and coffee, and eating at a bigger range of street food stalls than ever before - just like they did the previous month at Latitude, Reading and Larmer Tree (is it any coincidence that all those open areas now have mock grass flooring to resemble a Festival in a field?). If someone had come up to them at one of those field-festivals waving a flyer asking them to pay an extra ten quid to sit inside and be performed at for an hour they'd have thought you were mental. Why, they ask quite reasonably, are these Edinburgh nutters breaking the rules of Festivals by doing it here?
So that's my follow up question. Have Festivals ruined the Fringe?
The Award Winning* Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre are Superheroes at The Gilded Balloon at the Edinburgh Fringe every night at 10.30pm until August 26th
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