1,800 shows head to Edinburgh

This year’s Edinburgh Fringe programme has been published – with a huge explosion in the number of shows.

Between August 4 and 28, the festival will host 28,000 performances of 1,867 shows – about 1,000 performances more than last year.

Organisers described demand for the Fringe as ‘mind-blowing’, although some observers fear the event is becoming too big, with one calling it ‘a bubble about to burst’.

As usual, a bizarre selection of venues have been pressed into acton,  including swimming pools, bouncy castles and even trees.

And among the more bizarre shows in the comedy section of the programme, the Underbelly is charging up to £6 to hear an act read out the telephone directory for 15 minutes.

Other shows not previously announced on Chortle include Bill Bailey  on at the EICC for a week; Paul Merton introducing silent film classics at the Assembly Rooms; and Aristocrats director Paul Proveza, who will be inviting comedians to perform the set they’d most like to do, but usually daren’t, before talking to them about the art of comedy.

Fringe director Paul Gudgin said: ‘It's wonderful that, to mark the 60th Fringe, we officially have more performances than ever. To think that there are over 28,000 different opportunities to see a show on the Fringe this August is mind-blowing.’

As always, theatre makes up the biggest slice of the programme (32 per cent), followed by comedy at 27 per cent. It would take you 5 years, 11 months and 16 days to see every performance back-to-back

Published: 8 Jun 2006