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Fringe street events return to city centre sites in 2023
The Fringe street events bring an explosion of breath-taking sights, sounds and experiences to the streets of Edinburgh - and we are delighted to announce details of the Fringe 2023 street events programme, a popular element of the festival experience [n 2022 56% of Fringe audiences watched street events performances, with iconic street scenes shared around the world across social media].
1. On the Royal Mile
Family-friendly performers will take to the spaces of the High Street from 11:00 every day. Professional street performers from home and abroad will delight with a mix of theatre, comedy and circus skills. In busker pitches dotted around the area, magic, music and sideshows will engage with audiences, with over 500 buskers performing over the festival. Living statues will deliver a range of surprises to those wandering by, with young children enthralled by the vibrant costumes while often confused by the seemingly impossible positions and shapes they take! In a tradition dating back decades, each day at 10:00 a street events draw will define the performances which will take place that day. A list of those performing will then be published on edfringe.com and shared across Fringe social media channels. Working towards making the Fringe more accessible, the Fringe Society are again working with the team at Deaf Action, and BSL interpreted street performances will take place on various days throughout the Fringe, at the stage in West Parliament Square.
2. On the Mound Precinct
This year the Fringe Society are delighted to welcome Belhaven Brewery to the festival as a new sponsor. The Belhaven team will be running a bar within this popular space, for audiences to enjoy their award-winning beers while watching nearby performers. A large circle pitch will be central to this space, for daily street performance across a huge range of artforms. The popular Taster Stage for Fringe acts will also return this year, with an opportunity for local community groups to perform over three days of the festival.
3. In the St James Quarter
will once again be joining the street events programme this year following a successful debut in 2022. Supported by Essential Edinburgh, they will be showcasing Fringe artists by programming 33 busker performances during the festival.
About Fringe Street Eevents
There’s lots to see at the Fringe street events. Here are just some of the performers and activities you’re likely to see during your visit.
- Buskers: Music, magic, circus, sideshow. You’ll see all these and more in our busker pitches dotted around the event arenas. We register over 500 buskers, so there’s always something new to see.
- Street performers: These professional performers come from around the world to perform at the Fringe, using a mixture of comedy, theatre and circus skills.
- Living statues: There are plenty of statues in Edinburgh, but not all of them move. Strange characters, wonderful costumes and a surprise await should you drop a coin into the hat. All our living statues make their own costumes and create their own micro-theatre scenes.
- Festival vendors: Among the performance areas, in every nook and cranny you’ll find someone exchanging a skill for a donation: portrait artists, caricaturists, hair braiders, face painters, palmists and more.
Street performers rely on audience participation to create an exciting performance. Many performers will invite members of the audience "on-stage" to be part of a trick or stunt. As an audience member, taking part in a street event can be a thrilling and memorable experience!
The Fringe street events are family-friendly and a great way of introducing kids to the festival and live performance. Many of the acts are specifically geared towards children and while there might be a few cheeky moments, all shows should be generally suitable for children.
The Fringe street events staff are positioned throughout the event areas and will be happy to assist you with anything you need. They will be wearing red tops with "Fringe Street Team" on the back. We have a dedicated first aid team on hand so let us know if you need medical assistance. All our staff have access training and will be more than happy to help those with additional access needs.
The Fringe street events is a busking festival. This means that the only people paying the performers are you, the watching public. If you enjoy a show and you can afford it, please show your appreciation and put some money in the hat.
Did you know?
Eddie Izzard's career began as a street artist at the Edinburgh Fetsival Fringe in the 1980's.
I first discovered street performing at the Edinburgh Fringe. I was there for the first Fringe Sunday in 1981 and that’s where I first saw a street band called Pookiesnackenburger (from whom Steve McNicholas and Luke Cresswell later became STOMP) who played huge gigs on the street. That got me interested in street performing.
Then in 1982 they did this hugely popular show called Lunchtime at Mr Cairo’s at 1pm. Me and my friends went almost every day to see it. They definitely had the ‘it’ thing. Everyone was coming, everyone liked it – you never knew what was going to happen next and it had a magical quality about it. I realised then I had to develop that quality.
Seven years later, in 1989, I had an experience that made me feel I had finally achieved it. I was street performing on the Mound in Edinburgh and I had set up my street performing equipment as usual (animal tea cosies, manacles, 5ft unicycle – I was doing an escape act on top of a tall unicycle). I started performing in my usual fashion – performing as if they was a large invisible audience in front of me. I would just talk even if no-one was there.
Then, as I was improvising away, this man who had noticed me cried out, ‘Oh!’ and then just ran away, off down the Mound towards Princes Street. I thought, well that's an odd thing to do – someone just running away from a show. But then about a minute later, he came back, dragging his wife and two children, who he plonked down in front of the show. I realised then that he must have seen me before and was insisting that his family watch what I did because he thought my show was going to be unusual. Later I realised this implied that I was doing something different and intriguing and maybe I was going to make it after all. That was my eighth Edinburgh. It took me eight Edinburgh Fringes to finally arrive!