Richard III and a baby help Festival and Fringe reach ticket total record
EDINBURGH’S festival boom has continued in spectacular form this year, with both the Edinburgh International event and the Fringe posting record ticket totals.
The Fringe, which this yearsawababyasthestarof a show, a hit musical play, Counting Sheep, based around Ukrainian unrest, and record sales at several venues, said 2.45 million tickets, the largest number ever issued, had been taken up for 50,266 performances across the capital in the last month.
The number of tickets issued reflects a 7.7 per cent increase in comparison to tickets issued by the same point last year, which itself was a record year.
Four of the major venues at the Fringe, Assembly, Gilded Balloon, Pleasance and Underbelly, sold 1.3m tickets together at the Fringe, also a seven per cent rise and a record for the venues.
Charlie Wood and Ed Bartlam of Underbelly said: “Did the first Fringe producers in the world 70 years ago have any idea what they were unleashing? Well, there are about 2.3 million people applauding their genius now.”
The International Festival (EIF) also boasted increased numbers as well as acclaim for shows such as The Glass Menagerie, Norma, Monumental, Richard III, Alan Cumming’s Sappy Songs and Barry Humphries Weimar Cabaret.
Audiences to the EIF, which was closing with its annual fireworks concert, are estimated to be more than 440,000, 12 per cent up on last year and hitting more than £4m in ticket sales for the first time.
Of these numbers, 27,000 attendees were counted at the free opening show, the Standard Life Opening Event: Deep Time, which saw Edinburgh Castle transformed by digitally animated projections inspired by the city’s past, created by 59 Productions.
The EIF also registered a “record year” for classical music ticket sales, with the Queen’s Hall series in particular marking a high point in ticket sales. This year marked Shona McCarthy’s first Fringe as chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society.
She said: “In 2016, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe has once again been a spectacular success, welcoming performers and audiences from across the globe, and issuing an estimated 2,475,143 tickets.
“We hope that all those who attended ticketed shows, as well as the thousands of people who attended the 643 free shows in the programme, truly enjoyed their Fringe experience.”