Nish Kumar says he ‘still believes in the Edinburgh Fringe’ as festival is accused of ‘elitism’

Isobel Lewis
·2 min read

Nish Kumar has spoken out in defence of the Edinburgh Fringe as it is accused of being inaccessible to emerging performers.

The world’s largest arts festival returned at full scale this summer for the first time since the pandemic.

However, this year’s Fringe has been laden with accusations that everyone but the wealthiest performers is being driven away by soaring accommodation prices in the city.

Appearing in a BBC documentary earlier this month, Frankie Boyle said that the Fringe had become an “elitist festival” and that many of the performers were “parasites”.

Writing in The Guardian, Kumar, who has performed at the Fringe since he was a student, said that despite its faults, the festival was where he “learnt how to be a comedian”.

“At times, it can feel as though defending the Fringe is morally indefensible, like eating meat or supporting Manchester United,” Kumar wrote. “The Fringe is supposed to be a place where performers can come to experiment and evolve. However, it is turning into a playground for those born wealthy – like Monaco, but with more people who went to clown school.”

The comedian then said that many performers were choosing to stay out of the city in caravans or campsites and commute in every day.

Kumar continued: “Being a performer at the Fringe can feel like being a character on a film set in Las Vegas, because the house always wins... [but] I still believe in the Fringe... I cannot separate my own life from the Fringe and the city of Edinburgh. It has given so much to me, professionally and personally.

“But even I understand that it stands at a crossroads. It must find a way to recapture its egalitarian spirit to remain relevant. It is not enough for charitable organisations to fill in the gaps; systemic change is needed.”

Kumar is performing Your Power, Your Control at Assembly George Square from 22 to 28 August. You can read The Independent’s four-star review here.

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