The Edinburgh Fringe is three weeks away. Here's what to expect from me.

The world's largest arts festival kicks off in August. The Crush Bar's coverage begins next week.

Photo: Laura Meinhardt.

Hard hats on. It’s time to descend into the depths of depravity. Or, at least, it is almost time for the annual explosion of exciting, experimental, exhausting theatre that is the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to begin. I’m excited. Really, I am. And I’ve been preparing. That is why this newsletter has been on hiatus for the last month or so.

A lot has happened in that time. Shows opened. Shows closed. Some were great. Some were not. More shows, seasons and transfers were announced. Awards were given out in New York and, more importantly, Scotland. Industry leaders played musical chairs. Ian McKellen fell off the stage. James Corden watched the euros, which was fine.

Oh, and there was an election, and the results were not as depressing as those of previous votes. Shadow culture secretary Thangam Debonnaire lost her seat, which was a bit of a shame because she seemed to get it, but not that much of a shame because it was won by the Greens. Woohoo. She was replaced in Kier Starmer’s cabinet by Lisa Nandy, who, unlike Debonnaire, was not a professional cellist.

What all that means for theatre remains to be seen. All that has been promised so far is Change. If that transpires as more money for the arts and less weaponizing of them, then great. I really don’t think a cast-member of Starlight Express roller-skating a letter to Downing Street is the way to convince them, though: if I was culture minister, I think that would motivate me to immediately defund Arts Council England. Here in Scotland, meanwhile we are still waiting on that £100m the SNP promised us.

As I say, I am afraid I have not been paying much attention to any of this because I have been busy. Firstly, I went tromping around the Canadian Rockies and British Colombia: I saw two bears and several whales! Secondly, I started recording interviews for my thrilling podcast on the history of Scottish theatre. And thirdly, I have been getting ready for the world’s largest arts festival to arrive on my doorstep.

I have already summarised everything you need to know about this year’s festival in a big piece for The Stage. Annoyingly, it has not been published yet, though. I will send it on when it is. For now, I will just quickly explain how it all works in this newsletter for the 1200 or so subscribers who have not joined us on this rollercoaster before.

Basically, it involves a lot of emails. Like last year, they will mostly be recommending shows. Unlike last year, they are also going to incorporate brief – probably very brief! – updates about other festival-related business and other festival-related content published elsewhere. There is going to be about twelve emails in total and they are going to start on Tuesday. All of them will be sent, paywall-free, to all 3100 (!) of you.

One last thing. I am going to be very busy and stressed in August. I will be seeing four or five shows a day, publishing this newsletter twice a week, and contributing to several other publications, including The Stage and The Scotsman. I’ll be doing that for three-and-a-bit weeks straight. In other words, I am going to need a lot of coffee.

If you want to buy me one to help keep me functioning – and help me keep shouting about fringe theatre in this newsletter – then you can become a paid supporter below. It costs £5 a month or £50 a year. Oh, and if you wanted to share this newsletter with anyone interested in the festival, that would be great, too. That’s all for now. Thanks.

See you on Tuesday for the first of many Edinburgh Fringe emails.

Fergus