The Free Fringe (also known as PBH's Free Fringe, after its founder, Peter Buckley Hill) is an organisation that promotes free shows during the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

, the world's largest arts festival, every August. Unlike most event promoters at the Fringe, the Free Fringe does not charge performers for use of performance spaces, on the condition that they do not charge an entry fee into their shows. Audience members are, however, asked to make a donation at the end of a show. This business model has been cited as an important development in the Fringe's culture and infrastructure, and has been credited with restoring the "idealistic spirit of the Fringe". Peter Buckley Hill was awarded the Panel Prize at the 2009

Edinburgh Comedy Awards The Edinburgh Comedy Awards (formerly the Perrier Comedy Awards, and also briefly known by other names for sponsorship reasons) are presented to the comedy shows deemed to have been the best at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland. Establ ...

in recognition. The organisation should not be confused with other promoters of free events at the Fringe, which include

Laughing Horse Laughing Horse is a British comedy promotion company and venue operator. The company was established in the UK in 1998, and now operates venues in Aldershot, Brighton, Cirencester, Hitchin, London (Brixton, Covent Garden, Lancaster Gate, Paddin ...

, Just the Tonic and

Bob Slayer Bob Slayer is an Edinburgh Comedy Award winning comedian, musician and promoter. He has been part of a new economic model for venues at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe which has made the event fairer and more affordable for performers and audiences. ...

's Heroes. Free Fringe venues are commonly independently run bars and nightclubs which create performance spaces in their premises for the duration of the Fringe. Predominantly the shows are comedy but the programme has expanded from its comedy roots to include magic, theatre, science, cabaret, music and spoken word. Performers range from newcomers to major names such as

Phill Jupitus Phillip Christopher Jupitus (, ''Given name#Name at birth, né'' Swan; born 25 June 1962) is a retired English stand-up comedy, stand-up and Improv comedy teacher, improv comedian, actor, performance poetry, performance poet, cartoonist and podc ...

and established cult figures such as

John Otway John Otway (born 2 October 1952) is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter who has built a cult audience through extensive touring. Biography Early life Otway was born in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire. From the age of nine all he ever wanted ...

History

The Free Fringe was started in 1996 by comedian Peter Buckley Hill with the show "Peter Buckley Hill And Some Comedians". Buckley Hill had lost £4,000 as a performer at the 1994 Fringe. The venues used by the Free Fringe have increased since 1996 from the original Footlights and Firkin venue to (in 2015) 529 free shows on 59 stages - over 9,260 performances. From 2004, Buckley Hill worked with the team behind comedy promoters

on promoting Free Fringe shows. However, the partnership ended in 2006. After the split, the two parties operated separate programmes under the "free" banner - Buckley Hill continuing to bill his programme the "Free Fringe", with the Laughing Horse adopting the name the Free Edinburgh Fringe Festival. By 2009, PBH's Free Fringe had 176 shows at 19 venues, a growth of 50% in a year. In 2014

John Kearns John Kearns (born 10 April 1987) is an English comedian and actor. Kearns was awarded the Best Newcomer Award at the Edinburgh Comedy Awards in 2013, followed by the Foster's Edinburgh comedy award for Best Show in 2014, making him the first a ...

won the

main prize with his Free Fringe show, having previously won Best Newcomer in the previous year. In 2016

Richard Gadd Richard Gadd (born 11 May 1989) is a Scottish actor, comedian, and writer, best known for creating and starring in the 2024 Netflix drama series '' Baby Reindeer'', which was based on his one-man dark comedy show of the same name. Gadd won three ...

won the Edinburgh Comedy Award for his show ''Monkey See, Monkey Do''. Buckley Hill stepped down from managing the festival in 2016.

Locations

Both Free Fringe companies focus on venues in

Edinburgh's Old Town The Old Town () is the oldest part of Scotland's capital city of Edinburgh. The area has preserved much of its medieval street plan and many Reformation-era buildings. Together with the 18th/19th-century New Town, and West End, it forms part ...

, especially the

Cowgate The Cowgate (Scots language, Scots: The Cougait) is a street in Edinburgh, Scotland, located about southeast of Edinburgh Castle, within the city's World Heritage Site. The street is part of the lower level of Edinburgh's Old Town, Edinburgh, ...

and its side streets, PBH has a strong presence on Niddry Street but also a satellite group at Picardy Place and extending down

Leith Walk Leith Walk is one of the longest streets in Edinburgh, Scotland, and is the main road connecting the east end of the city centre to Leith. Forming most of the A900 road, it slopes downwards from Picardy Place at the south-western end of the str ...

Awards

Since 1996 the Free Fringe has won several awards including... * Tap Water Awards: Spirit of the Fringe 2006 *

Chortle Chortle is a British comedy website launched in 2000 by Steve Bennett. The site is a major source of comedy news in the UK. It also reviews comedy shows nationwide, including extensively at the annual Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and presents the C ...

Award for Innovation 2007 *

Award for Best Off—Stage Contribution 2007 * Three Weeks: Editor's Choice Award Additionally, in 2009, Peter Buckley Hill won the

Panel Prize, in recognition of his work on the Free Fringe. He was also nominated for the Malcolm Hardee Award for Comic Originality in 2008 and in the "Most Likely To Make A Million Quid" category at the 2014 Malcolm Hardee Awards, where organisers said he would have won the "Least Likely To Win A Million Quid" Award The Free Fringe has been described as 'the true spirit of the Fringe' by comedian

Sean Lock Sean Lock (22 April 1963 – 16 August 2021) was an English comedian and actor. He began his comedy career as a stand-up comedian and in 2000, he won the British Comedy Award, in the category of Best Live Comic, and was nominated fo ...

Controversy

In 2015, there was a dispute between PBH Free Festival and rival promoters Freestival over the Cowgatehead venue. Freestival believed they had secured the lease for the building and booked a full programme of over 120 events. After the Fringe brochure deadline, by which time most acts had already paid to register their show, PBH Free Fringe announced that they had secured the building and would be booking a programme of their own. Peter Buckley-Hill stated that he would consider applications from Freestival acts if they agreed to the Free Festival "Ethos and Conditions", which forbid being a permanent member of a show in any rival free venue. The majority of shows were eventually rehoused in venues organised by Just the Tonic and

. Later in 2015,

Stephen Carlin Stephen Carlin is a Scottish-born stand-up comedian and writer, now living in London. He was named by Stewart Lee as one of the 'Ten Best Comedians In The World Ever'. He has appeared on television and radio including ITV2's ''Comedy Cuts'' and ...

was ejected from the Free Fringe and not allowed to continue his run at The Canon's Gait when the Free Fringe organisers realised that he also had a permanent role in a play at a

show. This action was against the PBH Terms and Conditions that Carlin had previously agreed to. In 2016, Peter Buckley Hill issued an instruction that Free Fringe acts could not use flyering companies which also promoted other free shows, saying that "by using a service that leaflets for both without distinction, you are endorsing their tactics of riding on our coat-tails and taking our credit".

References

External links