I Won't Be at Ed Fringe This Year, Will You Be?

As I’m currently indoors I thought I’d do a few more blog posts. One every fortnight doesn’t seem excessive.

The reason I have time on my hands is the one thing we’re all talking about, the coronavirus pandemic.

Over the past few weeks I’ve been amazed. Partly at the love and acts of kindness being shown to one another, sometimes by total strangers, but mostly about how not loving and kind people are being. From buying every last toilet roll they could get their hands on to swarming across Snowdonia when they should be staying indoors, what we’ve seen is that unless people are told not to do something, then chances are plenty of them will do it, even if it seems like an obviously bad idea.

And that brings me onto being a magician. My job involves people. Without social gatherings my job is very hard to do. Right now I am experiencing some financial uncertainty*. However, it would be irresponsible for me to try to encourage social gatherings just so I could make some money. This is a virus that is sweeping across the world and killing people. It’s going to get far worse before it gets better and right now the best plan seems to be to try and spread out the cases over time so that the NHS can cope. In short, I don't want you to hire me for a party right now, because you shouldn’t be having parties.

Which brings me to the biggest show I’m involved in this year: The Edinburgh Fringe.

In the face of a pandemic that every scientist and doctor is telling us is going to get worse before it gets better, with events, concerts, even the Olympics and Paralympics being cancelled, the one concession the organisers of the Fringe have made is to postpone the deadlines for the program by a month.

The fringe has something like 55,000 participants from around the world, with over 2 million tickets being sold to an equally well travelled audience. It starts in August. Even if the virus is winding down by then, to host the largest arts festival in the world, just as we’re getting over a global threat seems incautious to say the least.

Now, I had been planning to do my show with PBH Free Fringe. They got in touch the other day saying they understood if people wanted to cancel their shows and that it wouldn’t be a black mark against them. PBH are a small orginisation who rely on donations to continue and struggle to not make a loss every year, yet I feel that they are showing more support to their artists than the Fringe.

That being the case, this morning I wrote the following letter to the Edinburgh Fringe Society:

Dear Sir/Madam,

As a member of the society I am writing to ask you to please cancel the Fringe this year. Both the Olympics and Paralympics have cancelled their events 'in order to safeguard the heath of the athletes and everybody involved in the games and to make a contribution to the containment of the virus'.This is clearly the right thing to do. By persisting in staging the Fringe, I feel as though you care less about the health of your performers and everybody involved in the fringe - including the audiences - than you do about putting on a show. I don't know if this is because of a misguided idea of the show having to go on, or because of financial reasons, but it makes me feel exploited and uncared for.

Further, the Fringe represents a sizeable investment to me. I have already paid just under £400 for my official listing. Plus travel, accommodation, marketing, production and everything else will see that investment rise considerably. Yet those of us who make a living through the performing arts have been dealt a huge financial blow. I myself have lost all income for the foreseeable future. Additionally, all self-employed workers are currently having to deal with a huge amount of uncertainty. Despite the fact that the Fringe will undoubtedly draw millions of people across the world at a time when we REALLY shouldn't be travelling, the numbers will still be much smaller than we might have hoped. This will affect any money made during the Festival.

I believe that,if you truly want to support the arts and artists, this year you should cancel the Fringe. Perhaps look into using digital technology to live stream from across the world. Direct the time and talent of the society in that way. We are already seeing a huge rise in live streamed shows and interactive sessions. If the Fringe is supposed to be a trailblazer, truly dedicated to giving a platform to any and all, surely this is a better way to do it?

So I am writing to ask you to please, do the right thing. Protect the health of everyone who comes together to make the Fringe great. Cancel the Fringe 2020 now and work on creating an amazing, digital event. And then next year, in 2021, let's be at the forefront of helping the world celebrate. We're all going to want a huge party.

I look forward to your response,

As I was writing this blog, I received a response. I didn’t want to include it here, but you can get the gist of what they said in my reply, which is below:

Hi ****,

Thank you for your response.

I am in an oddly fortunate position as I don't have to weigh up potential losses, health questions and even the morality of encouraging a large gathering if (in the best circumstances) a pandemic has just subsided. Bluntly, with the loss of income I am now experiencing, I can't afford the Fringe. The decision has been made for me. I'm devastated, as I've worked hard on my show and I am immensely proud of it, but it will have to wait until next year. I'm doubly fortunate as PBH have sent out an email saying that any cancelled show will not count as a black mark against a performer, and without their support I would be unable to participate in the Fringe at all.

I understand that the situation is changing day to day and even hour to hour, but frankly that is why the society should be making a definite decision sooner rather than later. There is no way people can organise any pre-show runs now, and the financial liability this now represents is extreme. I'm sorry if my previous email seemed harsh, but I really do feel a lack of support from the Society. As a lone performer entirely self-funding, the money I spent on my slot in the programme represents a significant investment. It really is the only reason I've had any pause about cancelling. But now, as I said, I'm forced to because of issues entirely beyond my control, and it looks like I've lost that money. To put it into perspective, that is my food budget for about fifteen weeks at a time where my income has been reduced to zero. If the Fringe did cancel and carry over programme slots to the next year, this would be so helpful to performers like myself.

Thank you for passing my email on, and I hope that you are staying safe. 

Yours,

So there it is. I am announcing that I won’t be attending this years Edinburgh Fringe before I’d even gotten around to announcing that I would be attending! Morally, it’s questionable. Healthwise it’s a bad idea. Financially, it’s impossible.  I am so sad right now, but I’m also healthy, warm, and have a stocked cupboard. That’s more than a lot of us are managing.

Stay safe, and be as generous as the person you wanted to be when you were a child.

*Translation: I have no money coming in and I’m terrified.