Freestival .vs. PBH .vs. Sanity

The world of Fringe was shaken up this week by the one and only (thankfully) Peter Buckley Hill. He's claiming Freestival's flagship Cowgatehead venue is his. Apparently he did it last year as well and failed miserably. Freestival just today released all their confirmed acts in an attempt to cement their claim. Which is a little bit annoying because it pre-empts our formal announcement of the free show we're putting on this year (though we do still have a trick up our sleeve with regards to it (ooh I'm teasing again!)). Basically I'm just writing openly here that this dispute is absolute nonsense. In every way. The Free Fringe (and the Fringe generally, really) is about the performers, many of which will have already paid for Fringe registration, accommodation, travel, taken time off work, all this stuff that's been said before. I would simply like to add to the argument that they have already arranged all this, Freestival have already put in all the leg-work, and done a really good job as well might I add - the whole team is fantastic to work with. So regardless of whether PBH thinks he has a claim on the space or not (believe me, I do respect the claim, though personally to avoid the faff I'd rather it stayed with Freestival), if he's going to dispute it, he needed to do it in advance. Well in advance. Not 11 weeks before the Fringe starts. It's just simply too late. If we all want the Free Fringe to work, which of course we all do, stop making it such a hostile environment. It's meant to be stress-free (and monetarily free) fun, not whatever the opposite of that is.

Info on our shows to come very very v soon. Be excited!

Will B