DATES & TIMES>>

In terms of dates, this year’s Fringe runs officially runs from 5 Aug to 27 Aug, but each venue will have its own dates, some opening as early as 1 Aug, and others closing a few days before the bank holiday. Most venues prefer it if theatre companies run for the entire three (or more) weeks they are open, normally taking one or two days off during the run.

There are a number of benefits to doing the full run – you need to be open early on to ensure you get the press in, but the real crowds come into the city in the last two weekends of the month, so a full run enables you to get press coverage, for word to spread, and for audience to build.

The downside is that the extra costs involved in performing all three weeks (an extra week's accommodation, extra royalty payments) may exceed any increase in box office potential making a full run too expensive. And for some amateur theatre companies the thought of performing for 25 consecutive days is too daunting to consider.

Within reason, how many and which weeks you choose to perform is more or less up to you. You should decide your desired performance dates before you apply for a slot – and then negotiate with your venue accordingly. If you are performing for just one or two weeks remember week one is relatively quiet in terms of audiences, and if you only run for one week the chances of getting a review published before you close are actually quite slim.

In terms of time – most fringe venues have performances between 10am and 1am – so you need to think about what time of day you want to perform. Everyone tends to want the same time slots so often you have to take what a venue offers, but three things to consider are:

• Is there a certain time slot your shows suits? – childrens shows work well in the morning, dark new drama is probably better suited to later afternoon or evening.

• When do you want to perform – are you willing/able to perform first thing in the morning or late at night?

• Think about the competition – although performing at 8pm may seem most desirable that puts you against all the high profile comedy and theatre shows – you might sell better earlier in the day.

When thinking about times you should also think about show length. This will be determined by your script of course, but remember that the average Fringe show only runs for an hour. That said, there are many longer shows, but you might find too long a show is not attractive to either venue manager or audience member (both are trying to cram as much into every day as possible!).

Some venues might offer you a run with different time slots throughout the Festival – eg a 3pm start for the first two weeks, then 6pm for the last week. This is normally because they are trying to fit you around a busy schedule. That said having a time change can be a good thing – different time slots have different audiences so it might open your show to more people. It also means that if there is another 3pm show you’d quite like to see then you can see it in the last week. But try to make sure any time changes are not complicated, and that they are clearly explained on any publicity.