FINDING A VENUE>>

Pretty much the first question to ask yourselves is where to perform. There are some 200 venues in the Edinburgh Fringe. Some of these are year round theatre spaces, but most are converted into theatres each August and exist as community centres, conference halls, pubs, galleries, schools, churches or university buildings for the rest of the year.

Each venue is independently run and will have a number of performance spaces within. As a performer you have to ‘rent’ a ‘slot’ in one of these performance spaces in order to perform at the Fringe. There is a small community of venue managers who return to the Edinburgh Festival each year. Some of these venue managers use the same buildings as venues every year, others develop new spaces each Festival.

There is something of a league of venues at the Edinburgh Festival with the 'big four' at the top (the Pleasance, Gilded Balloon, Underbelly and Assembly Rooms) and then several 'divisions' that group together the other venues, but size and profile can fluctuate in what is a constantly changing scene.

Most venue managers will know what performance spaces they will be running at the following Festival by early January. Around this time they will publish a prospectus – normally available online and in print – which will tell theatre companies what spaces are available, what the stage space and capacity of each space is, what services they offer, what a slot will cost and how theatre companies should apply. The Fringe Society publishes a list of venues and their contact details in December – this is sent out in the Fringe Society mailing – this is a useful starting point for picking venues.

Different venues specialise in different kinds of theatre and comedy – some tend to go for bigger name actors, comedians and theatre companies, some specialise in new plays, some in amateur theatre, some in international productions. You need to apply to venues which will best suit your needs – both in terms of facilities and audience. If you’re a smaller or new theatre company you need to be realistic – the bigger venues are less likely to offer you a slot. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t apply, but you should investigate some of the smaller venues too.

Once you have picked the venues you are interested in you need to get yourself a copy of their prospectus and put in an application for a slot. Most venues have an application form to fill in, others will just ask you to put in a written proposal. Either way they will need the following information:

• Artistic information about the show you intend to perform – a copy of the script, a synopsis and description of the director's intentions.

• Details of how you plan to ‘stage’ the play.

• Details of how you plan to ‘market’ the play.

• Details about your company and past productions.

• Biogs of key team members.

• Press cuttings from past productions.

• Details of which of their performance spaces you want to hire, and the dates of your proposed production.

• The length of your show and the time of day you would like to perform.

Most people apply to two or three venues at the same time. Once you have sent in your proposals it is worth calling the relevant venue managers to check they have received your application.

After that you have to wait and see – during February and March most venues will start to plough through the pile of applications they’ve received and start to make offers, normally in early March. The deadline for the Fringe programme is late April so venues will have most of their programme in place by the end of March, and will start playing the ‘slot filling game’ making last minute offers in early-April.

Because many theatre companies would prefer to perform at one of the bigger venues, the smaller venues often have to wait until the 'big four' have confirmed their programmes before they can finalise their own (there will be shows they have offered slots to waiting to hear from the Pleasance, Gilded Balloon, Underbelly or Assembly Rooms. If those companies get a suitable slot offer at one of the big four, chances are they'll take it, leaving the smaller venue with a prime slot available – it can all get very complicated for the venue managers!)

Most venues are good at contacting unsuccessful applicants so you shouldn’t need to chase again, though if you haven’t heard anything by the beginning of April it might be worth putting in another phone call.