The Edinburgh Fringe Free Showlist – 2023

Welcome to 2023’s most beautiful, culturally resonant and occasionally absurd Arts Festival!
From the 4th till the 28th of August, the city of Edinburgh’s central thoroughfares, church halls, hotel function suites, pub backrooms, Masonic lodges, and every other place imaginable will transform into a venue for some form of show.

And it needn’t cost you a penny to enjoy it.

A complete guide to the Free Fringe Shows of Edinburgh’s Festival Fringe 2023:
Downloadable here: FREE FRINGE SHOWLIST 2023!

If you’ve used the Showlist before, then you’ll know precisely what to do, and if not then read on!

Note: There are a LOT of shows to look through, and since most shows at The Fringe are new each year, and this is especially true for the Free Fringe, there’s really no way for me to recommend anything. It’s also useful to use the showlist in conjunction with the Fringe Programme so you can check out the show’s content & description. There are also what are referred to as Pay What You Want, or PWYW, which are shows where tickets can be bought, but also you can alternatively just pay on the door. (THESE HAVE NOT BEEN INCLUDED ON THE SPREADSHEET) These aren’t free as such and so for clarity’s sake I have omitted them, but even with a free show, you really aught to be expecting to throw a few pounds into the hat at the end of a good show (it’s only polite)
I also have included several free On Demand shows, which can been seen from the comfort of your own home. Naturally these don’t have a timeslot, instead just follow the instructions on the Official Programme for these shows.

This is the easy part.  But since the online sheet is locked (to stop people accidentally altering it) it needs to be downloaded onto your own computer.

1. Click on the link and go to the page.  Where you will find the guide.
2. Go to the top left corner and click ‘File’, scroll down to ‘Download As’
3. Depending on your software of choice, you should choose a spreadsheet package  (Excel if you have MS Office, if not then get Apache OpenOffice here for free & use OpenOffice Calc)
4. Once it has downloaded, open the file up (assuming it hasn’t automatically) & if it’s “read only”, then change this setting to off.  In the case of MS Office, you should see a handy yellow banner with PROTECTED VIEW written on it. Simply click the ‘Enable Editing’ button on that banner.
5. Now save it somewhere handy (I prefer my desktop)The spreadsheet has been optimised for both systems, and should work on other spreadsheet programs as well.

One aspect of this guide, is that it’s fairly large and cumbersome.  At this stage you might want to chop a few days off the calendar, to suit your personal schedule, or time in Edinburgh.

1. The easiest way to do that is simply to click on the Letter in the column above the dates you want to remove (which will highlight the whole column)
2. right-click on the highlighted area
3. scroll down to ‘delete’ and select it

NOTE:    It’s also a good idea to FREEZE the top row, and the dates section. This is done in OpenOffice by clicking the top box in the dates area (the 31st) and choosing ‘Data’, then scroll down to ‘Freeze’.  That stops them getting mixed into the rest of the info when you sort or filter it.

I also like to use the SPLIT command, by clicking on the top show time on the first calendar day, this allows you to scroll along the dates while still seeing the show info in the left hand panes.

Another option is to remove show categories.  As many people only come for the Comedy, or the Theatre alone, it may be an idea to remove unnecessary categories (although I’d recommend enjoying a smattering of different styles of show, it’s far more fun!)

1. click on the Category heading
2. click the Data heading in the top menu bar
3. scroll to Filter and click it ( then click autofilter if you are using Open Office)
4. a drop-down Triangle tab will have appeared beside the word Category, click that to open it up
5. Click on whatever category you want to remove
6. You should now only have the shows in that category
7. highlight them and delete!
8. click data and filter/autofilter to go back to seeing everything again
9. repeat as necessary

Planning Your Day & Scheduling some Fringe Fun

If you’ve followed the directions so far, then you’re ready to plan out some shows you want to see!

1. The first step should be to highlight any box on the Top Row on the guide, (the one with Show Title, Length, Category, Venue etc etc…)
2. then click Data, then Filter, (then finally Autofilter in Open Office)
3. A small downward pointing triangle should now be in the right of each cell on that top row. This is fine.
4. If you want, then click the triangle in the Category list. Then whatever show category you wish to see that day  (e.g Comedy)
5. You should now only see the Comedy shows,  (You can undo this by simply clicking the triangle again and Select All)
6. Choose a relevant Date  you wish to plan out.  (For example 6th)  and highlight that cell on the Title Row
7. Click Data in the top right menu, then Sort
8. The Box that pops up will let you sort by anything on the Title Row, Length Category or any date. Choose the date (For example 6th) & click OK, and smallest to Largest (or in ascending order)
9. Now click the triangle on that Date’s cell
10. Choose Standard Filter, which will make a new box pop up.
11. For MS Office – scroll to the bottom of the checkboxes of times, and uncheck the box marked Blanks
12. For Open Office – Under Field Name ensure it says your chosen date (For example 6th) and under Value, select Not Empty  – Then click OK

You now have all of the Comedy shows sorted out in order of start times for the date you have chosen. (In my example the 6th) So to follow my example the first show at the top should be Late With Kate starting at midnight (00:00) at Canon’s Gait (PBH)  Using this, you can now easily look to when you want to start seeing shows; see what is on, where it is on, and for how long. Allowing you to work out a daily showlist.

e.g. Say you wanted to see a comedy show around 8pm on the 6th. You could pick Jarred Christmas: Silly Billy at 20:00 in 32 Below (LH) which is one hour long. Then look down the showlist a few entries and see that at 21:30, Eleanor Conway: Oversharing with Strangers is at the same venue, or alternatively, Bipolar Badass at 21:50 just down the road at Paradise in the Vault giving you almost an hour or so to skip down the road to where you’ll find that venue.

A Word on Etiquette

It’s also tempting to think that since a show is free, then you can chat and talk, and I hope my readers are more sensible than that! But it happens. Now in comedy shows, or some others, there is an element of audience participation. But just remember the old quote from the TV show Firefly:

“You’re going to burn in hell… in a very special level of Hell.  One they reserve for child molesters, and people who talk in the theatre.”

Everyone loves to have fun in the theatre, or in a comedy show especially. But it’s important to remember that although these are “Free” shows, or “pay what you want” shows, that these are still hard working people on the stage trying to entertain you.  As such, it’s still a good idea to drop a few pounds into the bucket or hat at the end of the show. Especially if you had a good time, and enjoyed yourself.

In that same mode, if you found this guide and the attached showlist helpful. I’m more than happy to receive a kind word. But if I have time maybe I’ll set up a Kofi or something and gratefully accept the price of a cup of tea or so, if any folks are thus inclined to generosity.

Otherwise, have fun with the Fringe!