Half-price deals and loyalty schemes

Beyond the first weekend, you'll still find 2-for-1 offers around, usually on shows which haven't been selling as well as expected. These aren't available from the Fringe box office - you have to go directly to the venue hosting the performance - and they aren't advertised centrally. You either need to wander round the venue box offices looking for deals chalked up on the blackboards, or wait until someone hands you a flyer advertising an offer.

The half price hut

The Fringe Half-Price Ticket Hut

The shows on offer at the hut change daily, and are marked up on screens above the ticket windows. Frustratingly, the Fringe doesn't publicise the day's deals anywhere else - the only way to find out what's available is to go down to the hut itself.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to work out that these shows couldn't sell their tickets at full price; but that's often more to do with marketing than the quality of the performance, and there are some real bargains to be found here. As always, if you check the reviews you shouldn't be disappointed. The hut opens daily at 10am and long queues sometimes form for its opening, so unless you're chasing down something specific, it's probably better to wait until late morning before you pop along.

Venue deals

As well as the deals run across the whole Fringe, a few of the major venue chains also operate their own discount schemes. They're all designed to keep you going to one company's family of theatres - so your best bet to take advantage is to pick your favourite venue chain, then stick with it once you've chosen.

The most flexible and best of the major deals is offered by the ever-expanding C Venues. They operate a stamp-card system: pick up a card when you buy your first ticket, present it each time you purchase thereafter - and once you've racked up five shows, you'll get your next ticket for free. Each card can only be stamped once per show and, strictly speaking, you can only get your card stamped when you buy the tickets from C (not if you've booked through the Fringe office or another venue). In practice, though, wherever you've bought your ticket, presenting it at the C box office will usually get you your stamp.

Rival chain the Pleasance operates a similar, though far less convenient scheme. The Pleasance's system also requires you to buy five tickets for different shows - but they have to be purchased in a single transaction, and selected from a restricted list. It's a bit of a pain to organize, but if you manage to get it all together, your skills are rewarded with a handy £10 discount.