Whispered Prompt Podcast 190806 Free Fringe

Free Fringe

The Free Fringe began in 1996, founded by Peter Buckley Hill, with his show Peter Buckley Hill And Some Comedians.

Peter saw the Fringe as it then was: performers losing thousands of pounds, venues with four or five people in them, and complaints about high ticket prices. He saw that this was a vicious cycle. As costs to the performers rose, ticket prices rose. As ticket prices rose, fewer people went to shows and even fewer went to shows by artists they hadn't heard of.

And this was bad for comedy; you can't make people laugh if there are only four of them, one in each corner of an otherwise empty room. And the more empty the audiences were, the more prices went up, to cover the rising costs of the venues. There seemed no escape from the cycle, and yet it was providing no opportunity for performers to rise through the ranks. The circle had to be cut.

Making the space free to performers would not be enough. The benefit had to be passed on to the consumer. Only thus could more people be attracted to see more shows.

The show that started the Free Fringe ‘Peter Buckley Hill And Some Comedians’ was the first of its kind. Peter paid a promoter for the space (there was no other option) and absorbed the loss. People called him mad. But audiences came. And came again. The bar broke all previous sales records.