What will Edinburgh Fringe look like in 2021?
Pic Lisa Ferguson 04/12/2019 Shona McCarthy from the Fringe  Its five years since McCarthy  former boss of Derry/Londonderrys year as European City Of Culture  took up the job of Chief Executive of the Fringe Society, the light-touch body at the centre of what was by a long way, until the pandemic, the worlds biggest arts festival. And like everyone else in the performing arts sector worldwide, she has found herself, over the last 15 months, facing challenges of which she had never dreamed; including  in the case of Fringe  a profound threat to its very existence, as an open, self-producing festival that is is almost entirely dependent, in terms of its economic model, on the willingness of companies to invest in coming to the Fringe, and of audiences to show up and buy tickets. Every aspect of that equation was shattered by the arrival of the Covid pandemic in the spring of 2020; and although the sheer scale of the Fringe, and its growing concentration in Edinburghs university area, has caused real hostility in recent years, the idea of the city without the globally recognised Festival and Fringe that has helped to define its postwar identity is a daunting one, to put it at its lowest. Sign up to our daily newsletter The i newsletter cut through the noise Sign up Thanks for signing up! Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting...  Over the last year, though, the Fringe Society and Fringe venues have been working hard together to fly a flag for the continuing presence of the Fringe; first through a programme of online work, and also  as we have come to understand the virus better  through tentative planning for the kinds of performance that can survive its impact. Last week, for example, it was announced that ten Fringe venues had survived the rigorous application process for the Scottish Governments gateway funding to help produce Covid-proofed events this summer, and would share 1 million in support, mainly for the development of outdoor spaces; the beneficiaries include the Big Four venues  Assembly, Pleasance, Underbelly and the Gilded Balloon  along with year-round Edinburgh venues the Traverse, Dance Base, the Stand Comedy Club and Summerhall, all of which will be presenting outdoor work in Edinburgh in August. There will also be a complete 2021 online edition of the Scottish Government-funded Made In Scotland programme, designed to showcase the best of Scottish work to an international audience; and McCarthy emphasises that this years Fringe will very much be a rolling programme, so that if companies decide to come to Edinburgh at short notice, or want to present work online, they can register right through July and August, until the end of the Festival. To be honest, says Charles Pamment of The Space venues  which also qualified for gateway funding, and normally operate in half a dozen spaces across the city during August  the announcement that we might be able to go down to 1 metre distancing indoors, from 19 July, came a bit late for us, as we had already been planning for 2 metres. Normally, we would stage about 400 shows over the three weeks of the Festival, which makes us the biggest venue operator on the Fringe, although our focus on new work and emerging artists means we dont have as high a profile as the Big Four. This year, though, well probably be down to about 30 or 40 shows, generally with short runs  50 shows at most. Well be operating only at Surgeons Hall, where were building an outdoor space in Hill Place, and the amount of indoor work we can do depends on the space being big enough to work with 2 metre distancing. Obviously if we get the chance to go down to one metre, well be able to sell more tickets; but were not depending on that. Were just determined to be here, and to give artists who want to present their work live  about 50 per cent of them local to Edinburgh, this year  a chance to do it.  And over at the Pleasance, Anthony Alderson paints a similar picture of much reduced operations, with a heavy emphasis on outdoor work, combined with a real determination to keep the Fringe alive in tough times. Weve worked really hard to develop ways of operating safely, says Alderson, and I think well be offering maybe 20 per cent of our usual programme this year, almost all of it at the Pleasance Courtyard, where were building a covered outdoor space round the back. My sense is that a lot of people have material still in development, that theyd like to try out for a short run, and that very few will want to do the whole three weeks  although some will also be finished and perfect and brilliant.