Edinburgh Fringe Can Bring Artists Fame, but Money's Another Matter

New York Times

3 days ago

By the end of last year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Nick Cassenbaum had a hit show: It was getting buzz, was selling out and had won a coveted festival award.
The show, 'Revenge: After the Levoyah,' was staged at Summerhall, a venue beloved by Fringe performers and audiences for its mix of experimental and emerging acts. It has presented shows that have gone on to much wider success, including 'Baby Reindeer,' the Netflix hit.
But after the Fringe ended last August and it came time for Cassenbaum to receive box office proceeds, there was a wrinkle: Britain's tax agency accused Summerhall Management, the entity that ran the venue's Fringe program, of failing to pay corporation tax for years. In September, the government issued a petition for liquidation and the company's assets were frozen.
The payout owed to Cassenbaum and dozens of other Summerhall acts — more than 10,000 pounds, about $13,500, for some — was in limbo. Cassenbaum said this period 'was really scary and was really worrying,' and he feared 'that all this work and success that we had was going to completely fall through.'
The legal wranglings lasted a few months as Summerhall Management challenged the order, and by December the government had dropped its petition and unfrozen the accounts. The artists were soon paid.
But the uncertainty around Summerhall's fate rattled the Fringe world. It seemed to represent another chapter in a never-ending story about the risks of bringing a show to the festival, where both artists and venues can operate on a financial knife's edge.
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