Thousands of performers, theatre goers and reviewers are currently flocking to Edinburgh for the annual Edinburgh Festival Fringe. With 2,453 shows across 259 venues, it can be pretty hard to hit the right shows by chance, so below are my top sites and tools which can help you through the festival with only the best shows under your belt:
1) The Fringe Official Website
Making it first onto the list is the festival’s own site, which strives to give you as much information as you can handle. From the official programme through to insider tips, this site should be your first port of call. Make sure to check out the Daily guide and the Planning Your Trip guide to make sure you’re all set for your visit.
Whilst over at the website, make sure to download the Festival’s official app for the iPhone/iPod. Featuring News, ticket offers and venue information it’s the handiest thing to have in your pocket to help you through the crowds. The ability to share your personal festival diary with your friends makes squeezing all those shows in a little easier. The app can be downloaded by those over 17 from the app store for free.
3) iFringe App
Sticking with the apps available to download, make sure to have a browse through the unofficial apps available out there, but in particular make sure to check out iFringe. All the features of the official application are included along with the addition of independent reviews. Stuck in Edinburgh with no plans? Allow the app to access your location and it will tell you which shows are about to start near to where you are…perfect for last minute deals!
4) EdTwinge
One of my personal favourites for reviews is EdTwinge. This handy site takes all mentions of shows on Twitter and gives them an overall mark out of ten using karma based scoring (sentiment analysis) as shown below:
Fringe Reviews
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Obviously this can be quite easy to manipulate, but it seems that nobody is bothering to sit there punching their show into Twitter a thousand times to get their show up on top. Make sure to change the ratings by category to get a better picture of what’s scoring high.
5) Five Pound Fringe
Squeezing in so many shows can be fairly damaging to the purse strings, but fear not! Head on over to Five Pound Fringe and you’ll find over 70 shows coming in at just £5!
What are your favourite sites to keep up with the Fringe? Make sure to leave them in the comments so I can have a bit of a nosey!