Later Edinburgh Fringe hits children's shows ticket sales as schools go back

A performer behind one children’s show has cut her run short so she is not performing to near-empty rooms after the schools go back, while another admitted ticket sales for his award-winning performance had already been hit hard compared to previous years.

Meanwhile, the producer of a musical put on by a local children’s theatre company has been forced to schedule most of his “Fringe” performances before the official start of the festival - as his cast needs to return to school.

The Fringe is running later than usual this year, from 7 to 31 August. Meanwhile, many Scottish schools, including those in the Edinburgh Council area, begin to return as early as Wednesday, 12 August.

Greg Sinclair, whose show, Tongue Twister - part of the Scottish Government-backed Made in Scotland showcase - is aimed at children aged five to 12, said the late start to the Fringe had had a “big impact” on his ticket sales.

“We’ll barely have started our run when our primary audience will disappear and head back to school,” said Mr Sinclair, who is performing at Pleasance at EICC. “This is a major blow to ticket sales.

“Of course adults can attend children’s theatre shows without children, but the show often only makes sense when you hear the reactions of the younger audience members. It also seems such a pity that many Scottish children and families won’t get to experience this amazing festival that happens on our doorstep, especially when accessing the Fringe is already difficult for lots of people in the city.”

Penny Earey, whose company Theatre of Widdershins is bringing puppet show The Elves and The Shoemaker to the Scottish Storytelling Centre, has cut short her run to 12 days, performing only until 16 August, four days after the Edinburgh school term starts.

Ms Earey, who has attended the Fringe for 11 years, warned the soaring costs combined with lower ticket sales meant this year could be her last.

“We were performing at the Fringe last year when the dates for this year were announced and we were really upset,” she said. “I couldn't believe that they had timed it so that the local school children would miss most of the Fringe. This is our 11th fringe and we have noticed that most of our audience are local to Edinburgh and we love that.

“I thought that it was kind of the point, so when these dates were announced I talked to the venue and they had no idea that this was going to happen. So we thought about it and with the ridiculous costs of accommodation involved we decided that we would only perform until the 16th as we are sure that our audiences will be down to single numbers after that date, except for the weekends.”

She added: “Our ticket sales are quite slow but I am never sure if that is due to our venue, but we are friends with two other companies bringing their shows to Edinburgh which are both at the Pleasance and I know one of them has told me that their ticket sales are slow too.”

Lewis Baird, producer of Frozen The Musical, which is being performed at Broughton High School by Forth Children’s Theatre, has a cast made up of school-aged children who cannot perform beyond the school term start date.

As a result, the show has already begun, almost a week before the official Fringe start date, with just three performances timed so that they are eligible to be marketed in the Fringe brochure and website.

He said: “We’re technically only part of the Fringe for three performances - or two days - because we only do a week’s run prior to young people going back to school after summer. Therefore we’ve had to make the difficult decision of performing our Fringe production of Frozen The Musical mainly pre-Fringe.”

He said the company could not run into school term time due to its venue being a school - and also on other demands placed on its young cast as they start the new school year.

He said: “This has had a knock on effect for the start of our run as we haven’t been able to advertise our first three performances as part of the Fringe on the website or in the brochure. The majority is during preview time. Luckily we have our regular local audiences, but international and visiting audiences for Fringe really give us a ticket boost as we’re one of the few companies that stage full musicals during the Fringe.

“Next year the schools go back later so we are part of the festival, but this year it seems like there has been no consideration for Edinburgh’s local schools in the alignment of the start of term and retaining the Fringe kicking off the first Friday of August.”

Tony Lankester, chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, said he hoped schools would take advantage of the late-running festival to bring groups of children to shows.

He said: “I think we need to bear in mind that a lot of young people’s experience of the Fringe is when they come as part of a school group. So having them at school as part of a school group is their only opportunity.

“Their parents may be too busy, the tickets may be too expensive for them, for one reason or another, they don’t get to participate. We run a lot of schemes to get school groups to get youngsters into the theatre for the first time - and sometimes the only time in their lives - at the Fringe, so there are benefits to the Fringe running when the schools are on.”

He added: “With the scale of it, I don’t think there is ever going to be an easy time to run it.”