While applications are still open for in-person shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, many performers won’t make it to Edinburgh this year.

For those people, and for in-person shows that want to stream their content, The V Free Fringe are offering a virtual space where performers can showcase way more than just a traditional 45-60 minute show. For three weeks in the middle of August, The V Free Fringe is asking performers to be adventurous with what can be achieved in the digital world. One positive from lockdown has been an explosion of online shows, a lot of it experimenting with different formats and platforms. 

The fringe has always been a great marketplace to showcase your work and this V (for Virtual) Free Fringe is no different, only without the constraints of space and time. The Virtual Free Fringe can accept applications for any length of show from a 5 minute sketch to a three week long experimental podcast, a gaming experience, a 30 minute panel game, workshops, animations...more or less anything so long as it’s online and, for the those three weeks at least, free to access.

There’s so much free content out there on TikTok, Youtube and a gaggle of other streaming services, and doom scrolling through it can eat up your life. The V Free Fringe aims to provide a curated three week experience where you can search for particular genres or formats, explore new ones, and join in Free Fringe chat rooms with mates and strangers.

All Free Fringe's virtual shows will have access to advice on filming, streaming, online marketing and more from other members in the organisation who make a living doing those things. 

All of this is, as the name suggests, free. PBH’s Free Fringe is a non-profit cooperative of performers. It exists to remove some of the financial barriers to putting on shows and provide a support network for those performers. 

To apply for either an in person or virtual Free Fringe show, click here.