Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the largest arts festival in the world, and in the 25-day Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2012, 2,695 works from 47 countries were staged. The Fringe is also the freest theater festival in the world, for it establishes no selection committee to ensure the diversity of entries. Thus it is a heaven for the presentation of many experimental works. The organizing committee is mainly responsible for unified publicity for the festival, programming and ticketing, while negotiation of theaters and publicity for shows should be in the charge of each theatrical company. In 1947, to promote British arts in the wake of the Second World War, the British government decided to host an invitational international arts festival in Edinburgh; however, when the first Edinburgh International Festival was held, eight theatrical companies turned up uninvited, and performed outside the main venue. They did not have professional stages and facilities and made no preparation, but they performed according to local conditions, which provided the audience with fresh experiences. Since then, every year, when the International Festival is held, the Fringe is held as scheduled at the same time. To this day, the original features have still been retained. Most performances are not given in perfect theaters, so any conceivable place such as bars, schools, churches, the open air, etc. can be a venue for a performance. Since there are a great number of shows, it becomes great fun selecting what you like for enjoyment as well. Selection lists of many well-known theater critics will be quickly spread shortly after the start of the Fringe, causing that a lot of shows will be instantly sold out. Nevertheless, most of shows still need to attract the attention of the audience through a variety of ways, thus street publicity also becomes a unique landscape of the Fringe.
愛丁堡邊緣戲劇節(Edinburgh Festival Fringe)是世界上最大的藝術節,今年長達25天的藝術節彙集了47個國家2695部作品。愛丁堡邊緣戲劇節也是 世界上最自由的戲劇節,不設選拔委員會,以此保證參加作品的多樣性,因此這裡是很多實驗作品展示的天堂。組委會的主要工作是完成統一宣傳、節 目編排和售票。劇場洽談和劇目宣傳都要各個劇團獨自負責。1947年,二戰結束後,為了振興英國藝術,英國政府最終選定愛丁堡組織邀請性質的國際 藝術節,然而在第一次藝術節舉辦之際,有八家劇團沒有被邀請參加,這八家劇團卻都前往愛丁堡,並在主會場之外進行了演出。他們並沒有專業的場 所,設施和準備,卻發揮了因地制宜的優勢,讓觀眾耳目一新。從此之後,每年,與國際藝術節同期,邊緣藝術節也如期舉行。時至今天,當初的特色依 舊保存。大多數劇目的演出並不是在完善的劇場上演,比如酒吧、學校、教堂、戶外等等任何可以想像的地方都可以是演出的場所。由於劇目的繁多,挑 選觀看也成為很多戲迷的一大樂趣。很多著名戲劇評論家的選單在藝術節開始後不久就會被瘋傳,導致很多劇目門票瞬間告罄。但是大多數的劇目還 是要通過多樣的方式吸引觀眾,因此街頭宣傳也成為愛丁堡邊緣藝術節特有的一道風景。
