We’re getting the show back on the road - Karen Koren

We are so close to the Fringe now I can feel the anticipation in my bones. It’s going to be a strange affair this year – but it will definitely beat how things were due the pandemic last year.

Jack Docherty

Last year Edinburgh was creepy around the city streets, with no atmosphere and very few tourists and not a performer in sight, it was like a ghost town.

This year I think it will be like going back to when I started the Gilded Balloon in 1986 in the Cowgate, with only 10 shows in a studio theatre and only a handful of venues in the city.

This year our indoor shows in Teviot Row House, which has been our home since 2001, will only be in two of the usual nine rooms used for performance.

Jack Docherty as irresponsible Chief Constable Cameron Miekelson in mockumentary comedy series Scot Squad

This is due to the university deciding that we were only allowed to use two venues as they had to comply with proper airflow in the rooms. The Debating Hall, our biggest venue, did not comply. The university have assured us that they will fix the problems by next Fringe, which is better than continuing with the restricted airflow it has always had, but none of us realised.

The shows I had booked into the larger venue have been fantastic and have moved into the smaller venue. This is because, I think, they are really happy to be able to be in Edinburgh to perform.

We have managed to programme some excellent Scottish acts and other shows who were keen to come back to the Fringe.

We are delighted to say that Jack Docherty is coming with his first one-man show. Jack is leaving his character of Chief Commissioner Cameron Miekelson in Scot Squad behind to perform a semi-autobiographical show.

It’s the story of a guy who tries to reconnect with a woman he had a brief romance with 30 years ago. It’s about regret, ageing, loss, obsession, impotence. (You know, comedy!) But it leads to him reconnecting with his daughter instead.

Jay Lafferty is also with us, with her new show Blether.

Jay was crowned the Scottish Comedy Awards Best Compere in 2019. With her Edinburgh Fringe 2019 hit solo show Jay Lafferty: Jammy being made into a BBC Radio Scotland three part series.

Other shows at Teviot include the magic of Kevin Quantum, Fred MacAulay in Conversation, sketch group Just These Please, Shappi Khorsandi, Christopher McArthur Boyd, Rob Rouse and Rich Wilson.

Looking forward to a strong local Scottish audience coming to see these lovely shows.