Brian Cox is absolutely right to warn that the soaring accommodation costs in Scotland’s capital city are “cutting off the lifeblood” of young talent at the festival (Edinburgh fringe unaffordable for many young performers, says Brian Cox, 16 July). If it’s not the performers who have to give the property owners their huge profit margins, it’s the producers of the shows, and it’s inevitably going to staunch the flow of talent across the board.
It is a great honour to be invited to perform, and I was thrilled when the prestigious Assembly Rooms said they wanted to give a stage to my play Bloody Difficult Women for the run of the festival, but none of us had reckoned with a bill of £20,000-plus to accommodate our team, including our brilliant six-strong cast.
It’s right, of course, that production companies pay for accommodation where possible, but this significantly raises the barrier when it comes to breaking even. It also means that there is less money to pay our cast and crew.
I know of a number of companies smaller than our own that were all set to put on amazing shows, but have had to withdraw because of the costs. These are not merely going to turn away the talent, but also the punters who come to see them each year. The greed of Edinburgh’s landlords will be the festival’s undoing.
Tim Walker
Writer, Bloody Difficult Women
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