Programmes for the Fringe

Nothing about the Fringe is entirely straightforward, and that rule holds for programmes as it does for everything else. You have two options: the all-inclusive, but inevitably overwhelming, Fringe Programme, or the more skimmable brochures handed out by the Fringe's individual venues.

The Fringe programme

The heavy tome known as the Fringe Programme is the best-known of the printed listings. Listing every single show appearing on the Edinburgh Fringe, it's an increasingly unwieldy document - it's divided into just eight high-level sections (Comedy, Theatre and so on), within which all the shows on offer are listed in a simple A-Z form. But it's a fantastic reference: once you've got familiar with it, you can go in seconds to the essential details of any one of the Fringe's 2,000 shows.

You don't even need to lug it about with you - it's so ubiquitous in Edinburgh that, whenever you realise you need it, there'll be a copy to borrow or pick up within a few feet of where you're standing at the time. Whether it's worth getting one in advance is rather more moot, but if you'd like to see it before you come to Edinburgh, we have availability details in FringeGuru's Ticket Alert.

Venue programmes

Indispensable reference though the Fringe programme is, its all-inclusiveness counts against it when it comes to picking something to see: there are an impossible 2000 shows on offer, and each has just 40 words to promote itself. Despite that brevity, the programme still runs to almost 300 pages - making detailed perusal a near-impossible goal.

Venue programmes

Leafing through the venues' programmes is a real pleasure - where unexpected wonders seem to leap off the page, and the only question is how you can possibly fit in everything you've found

The so-called "Big Four" venue chains - Assembly, Gilded Balloon, Pleasance and Underbelly - are printing a joint programme for 2008, covering all their shows at a total of 16 venues.  The equally-impressive C Venues chain also prints a single programme, covering the six venues under its umbrella. You can grab both these booklets in the general vicinity of Bristo Square; get the Big Four publication from the Pleasance Dome or Gilded Balloon, then it's a short walk to the main C venue on Chambers Street to collect their offering.

With those two programmes in your hands, you won't be short of shows to choose from - but it would be a shame to neglect the smaller venues, which so often have secret gems to offer too. FringeGuru's City Guide section lists some of the most rewarding, and has pointers to their programming style.  Pick a couple you like the sound of, stroll past, grab a programme and see what they're doing this year.