Comeback for cabaret as Fringe unveils its line-up

The event, which last year sold nearly two million tickets, gets bigger every year and this year is no exception -- the number of events in the programme has increased from 2453 last year to 2542, a record, in 258 venues across the capital.

Cabaret, an art form loosely containing song, dance, comedy and a master of ceremonies in a late-night or evening venue or bar, has enjoyed an upsurge in the August festival and this year’s programme contains more than 60 such shows.

In contrast, there are 935 comedy shows, 761 theatre shows, 359 music shows, 607 free shows and 105 children’s shows, including an appearance by Ricky Gervais, a play directed by John Malkovich, another featuring Marc Almond, a performance on the train between Glasgow and Edinburgh, many Scottish theatrical productions, and comedians including Richard Herring, Phill Jupitus, Russell Kane, Al Murray and Ed Byrne, among others.

Making an inter-city connection, Edinburgh/Glasgow, by Ishbel McFarlane, a “literal and literary tour to Glasgow” of “poetry and preconceptions” will take place on a ScotRail train on August 13 and 20 at 11.30am, and is free.

Kath Mainland, chief executive of the Fringe, said cabaret was acknowledged as a serious art form, and its evening or late night slots were increasingly appealing to ticket buyers. “We have cabaret as a new genre for the first time,” she said.

“It mirrors the fact that cabaret around the world is being seen as an art form that is good and of high quality. We looked at the amount of cabaret shows this year and thought: this could be a section on its own.

“As with everything in the Fringe, we don’t make the designation, the shows decide which category they go in.

“Maybe it’s more about having something in the evening that is not just comedy, and we have also seen theatre pushing more into the daytime.”

There are several innovations at this year’s Fringe, which runs from August 5 to 29.

Tickets can be bought in two new iPhone apps available from June 23, and a new app for the Android system in July. Tickets bought through these apps will be picked up from the High Street base of the Fringe, the Half Price Hut on the Mound and the visitor centre at Edinburgh University.

As well as the usual voluminous Fringe programme, there will be a PDF version to download from the Fringe website and an iPad version in the coming weeks.

Ms Mainland said she was delighted the Fringe was still an attractive place for artists, comedians, theatre companies and singers to present their work.

She said: “It is good that the number of shows is up, but it’s good that it’s across the board, in all genres, the whole thing has taken a small increase.

“That more people than ever see this as a valuable place to bring their work to show off to the world is a very good sign of the vitality of the festival.”

One notable factor in this year’s Fringe is the decline of the number of venues, from 265 in 2009 to 258 this year, and the clustering of venues around the Edinburgh University area of the south side of the city, with the Assembly company moving to George Square and the George Square Theatre as the Assembly Rooms undergo refurbishment.

St George’s West rejoins the programme after a year out, as part of Remarkable Arts.

Bedlam have a second venue for this year’s Fringe in the form of Bedlam Chambers, and Battersea Arts Centre and the Demarco European Art Foundation are in new venue Summerhall, which will involve some “freeform” work including Hannah Ringham’s Free Show Bring Money in which the audience decide how much they pay.

Ms Mainland played down the fear of congestion in the south side of the city and said: “The venue thing is a dynamic and shifting thing, a lot of the Fringe happens in the smaller spaces.”