As Teviot venue remains closed for a second year

The Gilded Balloon has confirmed it will not be back at its usual Teviot hub for this year’s Edinburgh Fringe.

However the venue – which this year celebrates its 40th year at the festival – has found a new home while its long-term base remains closed for a second year.

It is moving into Appleton Tower, an infamously ugly block in George Square, owned by the University of Edinburgh and close to the main hub of rival venue The Assembly Rooms.

Gilded Balloon is turning the building’s lecture theatres into seven apple-themed performance spaces, including the 301-seater Orchard and 285-seater Macintosh, the Bramley (185), Braeburn (169), as well as Pip, Eve and Ruby, which range from 40 to 60 seats, the Pink Lady bar and a separate space for events. 

The company will also continuing to stage shows in Patter House on Chambers Street (known as Adam House the rest of the year) and in the National Museum of Scotland. 

Artistic director Katy Koren called the Teviot's ongoing closure 'gutting news', adding that 'we were so looking forward to being back’.

'It's shite,’ her mother and fellow artistic director Karen agreed. 'For our 40th anniversary, it's not the best.’

Teviot Row House – a 120-year-old building that’s a student union when not used for the Fringe – had originally been due to open in the spring, but its rewiring proved more complex than anticipated and is now expected to reopen around Christmas. 

Speaking on the Korens’ Boss Wummin’ podcast, Karen said the Edinburgh University Students' Association has offered Gilded Balloon a three-year rental when it reopens, rather than an annual contract. She said: ‘They want to keep us, which is good. Teviot will live again and be fabulous!’

She added that she was also 'looking forward to it having a basement that doesn't stink of toilets’.

And she cast doubt on whether the Appleton, which she similarly described as 'a fabulous venue … very compact', will be more than a temporary home, saying that she thought EUSA would be 'mad not to give it to us in the future, but never mind.’

The Gilded Balloon held a party in the Appleton Tower at last year's Fringe for their prestigious So You Think You're Funny? new act competition.

Opened in 1966 and named after physicist Edward Appleton, the block previously served as the Fringe Central hub for performers and media. 

But is was nominated for the 2005 Channel 4 series Demolition about 'the worst buildings in Britain’ and geneticist Steve Jones has called 'the ugliness of the Appleton Tower' one of the wonders of the world.

Reputedly, a joke among students and staff of the University of Edinburgh is that Appleton Tower has some of the best views in Edinburgh, because it is one of the few places in the  city centre  where you cannot see the tower itself. 

Katy disclosed that one comedian was thinking of postponing their Fringe debut until they could stage it in the Teviot, which she described as ‘mad'.

'If you've worked on the show for two years, another year, surely you're going to be bored of that show by that point?' she reasoned. 'Why not just do it now?

‘Being at a Gilded Balloon venue, now matter which venue it is, you get the same treatment, whether it's at Patter House, the museum or Teviot. And with Appleton this year, it's going to be a massive, highlighted venue.

'No matter where you put your show, if your show is good, people will come. You need to believe in the show and as long as you're presenting the best show that you think that you can do within the time you've you've had to do it, then why not present it anywhere?’

Elsewhere in the latest episode of their podcast, the Korens revealed that, after continuing to struggle to find commercial sponsorship for SYTYF?, whose previous winners include Peter Kay, Dylan Moran, Lee Mack, Aisling Bea and David O'Doherty, they are now administering the event through their charity, Gilded Balloon Futures.

In addition to a cash prize and spots at various comedy clubs and at international festivals, the winner will also now receive a place on Soho Theatre's Comedy Lab stand-up course and mentorship from Channel 4 comedy commissioning executive Joe Hullait, creator of BBC Scotland's long-running mockumentary series Scot Squad. New acts can apply here.

- by Jay Richardson

Published: 26 Jan 2025