User:Peaky76/Edinburgh Festival Fringe 1981

In 1981, William Burdett-Coutts first promoted shows at the Assembly Rooms on George Street]. The building had previously been the Festival Club, but this had been unprofitable. This meant it was vacant for Burdett-Coutts, who had applied too late to other venues to stage the play he intended to bring to the Fringe, [[The Madman and the Nun. It also gave him space to host others. This was the foundation of Assembly, who would become one of the "Big Four" Fringe venues, promoting shows at multiple venues across the city.

"more successful than many of its predecessors by statistical, if not artistic, measures"

454 companies, 739 shows and 8,868 often bizarre performances.

The Fringe was still reported as "related events that swirl around the official festival" in the international press. although the "vibrance of the fringe had to some extent overshadowed the official festival"

A production of 2001 performed to an audience of two in the back of a Hillman Avenger car. A revue in a hotel's checked baggage room. Acme Acting, who performed an individually selected production at the customer's choice of location.

Alexei Sayle made his first appearance in 1981, (contradicts with this which says Tony Allen (comedian) and Sayle performed at [[Heriot-Watt Theatre in 1980.

Alternative Cabaret, a show featuring Tony Allen, Jim Barclay, Andy de la Tour and Pauline Melville, became one of the critical hits of the Fringe at the newly launched Assembly Rooms. The quartet did not go on to gain the mainstream TV coverage of some of their contemporaries, but the show was significant in Fringe terms.

as did Eddie Izzard, who at the time was studying accountancy at Sheffield University. He called the Festival Fringe Society, sat in their office and begged them for advice on what to do.

Cambridge Footlights won the Perrier Award for their revue The Cellar Tapes at St Mary Street Hall. Their programme blurb read simply "The annual revue: one of the strongest casts for several years, has already toured in southern England with great success." They were presented with the award by Rowan Atkinson.

Former Footlights performer, Clive Anderson, by now working as a lawyer was in a show with Griff Rhys Jones, who had just started to perform in TV hit Not The Nine O'Clock News. At the time, it was regarded by some as poor form to exploit TV fame at the Fringe.