'Huge success' of Edinburgh Festival Fringe revival hailed as venues report better than expected ticket sales

Eliott Bibby was among the acts performing at Assembly's George Square Gardens venue.

The chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society says it is a "small miracle" that the event was able to go ahead at all this year - as venues reported ticket sales much better than expected.

As this year’s Fringe drew to a close, Shona McCarthy hailed it as a "huge success all round” given the eleventh-hour nature of crucial decisions on what restrictions would be in place during this year’s event.

She said artists and performers had reported that audiences had been "welcoming, tolerant and supportive" because they were so desperate to see live entertainment in the city again.

Ms McCarthy also hailed this year's festival as "a landmark moment" in the event’s 74-year history due to its hybrid nature, which allowed audiences around the world to experience shows, as well as in Edinburgh itself.

More than 18,000 tickets were sold for shows at the new MultiStory Fringe venue on the roof of the Castle Terrace car park. Picture: Alix McIntosh

The Fringe Society, which decided against publishing a programme or running an in-person box office, was forced to install a screen in the window of its Royal Mile shop to help people attend shows due to the number selling out in advance.

Ms McCarthy said: “Making a Fringe happen this year has been a small miracle in itself given that, as recently as June, we had no idea if live performance was really going to be possible in the city."The feedback I’ve been getting from those performers and artists who did manage to put on work this year is that they have had really good audiences, who have been particularly welcoming, tolerant and supportive because they were just desperate to get back and see live shows."The audience appetite was clearly there this year. We had to put a big screen in the window of the Fringe shop because we were inundated with people wanting to know what was the next show they could see and wondering why everything was sold out. "We won't know what our exact ticket sales will be yet, but suffice to say they have exceeded all expectation."It’s been a huge success all round, particularly given that it was all so eleventh-hour. "This year and last year have been the most challenging time in Fringe history, for the wider cultural sector and for society as a whole. We need to take a moment in the autumn and winter to reflect, look back and explore the things that were different that we might have liked and the things we would want to do differently going forward.”

The Scottish Government and the city council agreed to put an additional £1.3 million into the Fringe and International Festival to help pay for outdoor venues and infrastructure.

More than 65,000 tickets were sold by theSpaceUK across its four stages.

Director Charles Pamment said: “Eight weeks ago, we were unsure if we could make anything work, but thanks to the Scottish Government, the council and our wonderful venue partners at Surgeons Quarter we jointly took the risk to make something happen.

"Everything has been different, from planning to managing. We only had a few weeks to plan and curate a programme when we usually have several months.