‘I don’t have any family connections in comedy or television, my leg up was that I went to a posh university that had this relationship with Edinburgh,” says Nish Kumar, who joined sketch group the Durham Revue while he was a student and got his first taste of the Edinburgh festival fringe – and his future career – as part of the troupe. “The Revue going to the fringe created so many opportunities for me. There is nothing anywhere in the world like it. For all of its problems, I still see that it has this ability to change people’s lives and teach people the job of being a comedian.”
Now, as the cost of taking shows to the fringe continues to rise, current members of the Durham Revue and other student sketch groups say they are being priced out of the performing arts festival.
