Fringe tickets

Too many possibilities for one moose!

bruceonthefringe 2026, Comic theatre, Edinburgh Fringe 2026, Edinburgh Fringe Programme, Fringe tickets, Pay What You Can, Pay What You Want, Theatre Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Later than I intended (it’s been another gorgeous day outside) but here’s a few musings on what’s caught my eye in the Theatre section of the Edinburgh Fringe 2026 programme. Oh crikey, there’s a lot of cuttings, the majority will be bin bound (especially once I’ve taken my scissors to Comedy), but I prefer having groupings of faint possibilities that can be discarded than wondering if I should have another look through the programme, if it’s not been cut out, tough (besides, there’s always more chances of consideration once the Fringe is underway).

The classics, kinda. Five hovering around Shakespeare, I’ve often enjoyed these sorts of productions; two have puppetry as a keyword, the whimsy in me is a sucker for that stuff; and 11½ Angry Men, just because I saw Guy Masterton’s 2003 comedians production of 12 Angry Men, mind, only a preview ticket. Prices are certainly going up now, but that’s partly because the booking fee is now included in the ticket price, so no getting annoyed at the extra fee, but hey, if you buy more than six tickets at a time then you’ll pay slightly less as there’s still a cap of £9 booking fee on a single order (slight whoop there). Still, at £25.00 within a bunch of tickets, nope, that’s two other shows I can see.

I always have a pile of Half Price Hut hopefuls to keep an eye out for once the Hut is up and running. Some of the pile will be potential previews too, but as the preview prices are generally just the first Wednesday and Thursday (Friday was a preview day until very recently, damn them), I can’t see as many as I used to. The Half Price Hut is once again operating from the Fringe Box Office and so shuts at six in the evening, still bloody stupid, I say (I’ve done a full blown rant on this before, it irks me).

The vast majority of tickets in the Theatre section are set prices, checking through I’ve no Free Fringe possibles, oops, one! It jumps between categories a lot, this is a Theatre year, that perennial A Young Man Dressed as a Gorilla….17, as usual, one performance only, on Tuesday 18th. Could this be the year I see it?! I have just two Pay What You Want and two Pay What You Can in my possibilities. Quick recap, PWYW gives one ticket price to buy in advance to guarantee entry while PWYC gives four price options to pay in advance. A word of advice/warning, if you’ve bought a ticket in advance to one of these shows you’ll probably find yourself apologetically bleating “honest, I bought a ticket” as you exit past the bucket.

There’ll always a few shows that aren’t on until the final week, that’s a separate pile of it’s own. No need to think about them just yet, and a lot can happen before the last week of Fringe. There are some possibilities that don’t fit any where particular in my head, they’re probably looking at each other thinking, how did I get stuck in a pile beside you?! And I seem to have created a pile of best publicity pictures, when I’ve reached for the scissors at first glance; yeah, Film Noir Frog is very appealing (come on, it’s a frog, they’re always great).

Yeah, these six shows all have a high chance of getting on my calendar; and then there’s five absolute definites, oo, I’m looking forward to these…

REDACTED: The Cover-up of a Cover-up of a Cover-up is the new show from the brilliant Voloz Collective, physical theatre at its very best. Their previous Fringe shows were among the best of all Fringes for me, really (and they’re performing The Man Who Thought He Knew Too Much again this year, honestly, I could be tempted to see it again, I love it’s style and sass). That most august of Fringe institutions Thom Tuck is playing The Wolf of Poyais, nuff said, I’m going. The Crimes of Pete is the latest play by Hughie Shepherd-Cross, I thoroughly enjoyed his previous three plays, don’t let me down Hughie! The creepy, unnerving Flabbergast Theatre are back again, this time with Endgame by Samuel Beckett, always a mesmeric watch this theatre company. And Top Gunchained because Yippee Ki Yay was so damned awesome, both years (different actors) I saw it.

No picture of all my other possibilities in the Theatre section, too many will have to go unseen, and after all, there’s no science to how I picked them, just my Fringe-dar twitching. Next time the Comedy section of the Edinburgh Fringe 2026 programme. You have been warned.

Toodle pip!

You may want to, but can you?

bruceonthefringe 2023, Edinburgh Fringe 2023, Fringe tickets, Half Price Hut Tags: , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Uufh, time is marching quickly on! Less than four weeks to go now. Still no mention about this year’s Half Price Hut setup nor a peep from Assembly about ticket offers for locals. I have a pile of possibles if they are HPH-ed and a pile of Assembly offer possibles, and another pile to be moved over if Assembly don’t come through. Oh, I have lots of piles, hahaha. There’ll be some whittling down, obviously; without further cheaper options it’ll be an axing not a little whittle.

On closer inspection of all my possibilities I’ve spotted there is a distinction between Pay What You Want and Pay What You Can. Call me unobservant, well, I was kind of aware, just not paying much attention.

Pay What You Want has been going a few years now, most noticeably at Monkey Barrel Comedy and Just the Tonic. Oo, I’ve spotted that a couple of my fancies are PWYW at Paradise in The Vault, which I believe is new for that venue (it happens to be one of my favourites). Hmm, I wonder how it works, does a venue have to okay having PWYW tickets or is it just up to the shows themselves?

I notice Ahir Shah is doing a show at Monkey Barrel, he’s very popular (well, he is a very intelligent, funny guy), always does very well; tickets are £12 to guarantee entry or PWYW – you’d have to be there pretty early to be in with a chance of seeing the show without a ticket, there’ll be some seats still available but not many!

Pay What You Can is the new kid on the block from the Free Festival folk (possibly brought in as a response to controls during covid?), alongside their free non-ticketed shows. Rather than one ticket price there’s usually three or four options ranging from £5 to £12.50 to guarantee entry, or donate at the end. There is occasionally a £2.50 option – c’mon, that’s just a deposit, I would definitely give more at the end, unless it was a really duff show.

Whilst these newer payment options are great and no doubt help to put bums on seats, they are a cause of consternation for some Fringe-goers. They shuffle out past the bucketholder quietly mortified or feebly mumbling, “I bought a ticket, honest”, poor things (I am a bit like that at times, it depends on the demeanour of the bucket-person!) Of course, there’ll be others who feel great that they can breeze out of a show without anyone knowing they haven’t parted with any money (w*****s).

So there you go, the difference between Want and Can. You may Want to see a show but can’t because you didn’t buy a ticket, but you Can see a show when you’ve already paid what you could. Got that?

Toodle pip!