AS THE curtain fell on the 62nd Festival Fringe last Monday, director Jon Morgan had certainly endured a baptism of fire in his first year at the helm.
Yesterday, he fell on his sword, announcing his intention to return to his first love "producing and presenting exciting performance to audiences".
So what went wrong? Well, there was the ten per cent drop in ticket sales; the meltdown of the Frin
ge's box office system; the threat of a breakaway comedy festival (backed by the big four venues, The Gilded Balloon, Underbelly, Pleasance and Assembly); and, after the demise of T on the Fringe, a rebranded music strand – The Edge Festival – which failed to attract big names to Meadowbank Stadium as in previous years.
All contrived to leave many Fringe-goers disappointed and performers and producers calling for a major shake-up of the event's organising body, The Festival Fringe Society.
Problems this year haven't just been confined just to the Fringe either. The 2008 Edinburgh International Festival programme has been described as elitist and obscure. The Book Festival made headlines when internet auction site eBay began offering tickets for the launch of Sean Connery's memoirs at £100 a time. With a face value of £9, tickets had sold out in just under an hour, leaving many regulars queuing in vain.
Also missing this year was the added glamour of a Hollywood star or two, normally supplied by the Edinburgh International Film Festival, which has decamped to June.
Add into the equation the credit crunch, the atrocious weather, the lack of a stand- out show and the attraction of the Olympics and the question is simple: Was this the worst festival season in recent memory?
Gerald Berkowitz of The Stage Newspaper, the London-based entertainment industry bible, believes not.
"A relatively small drop in total sales is not anything to panic about. Every Fringe is made up of the good, the bad and the indifferent," he says.
"The Festival experience is much larger than the sum of its parts, and as long as there is the excitement that the next show, or the one after that, might be fantastic and memorable, there can be no such thing as a bad year."
Julius Green, associate producer of West End production house Bill Kenwright Ltd, agrees. "This was my 30th year at the Festival. There is still no better environment in which to showcase a new play, and the success of Surviving Spike shows that there is still a taste for full-scale drama productions among Edinburgh Fringe audiences."
Acknowledging that there were problems, however, he adds, "We were wonderfully supported throughout by the skill and professionalism of the staff at the Assembly Rooms, and despite the obvious problems caused by the central box office issues, the weather and the economic climate, it seemed to me that the spirit of the Fringe is still very much alive and well."
It's a sentiment echoed by Nica Burns, producer of the if.commedies Awards, who says somewhat diplomatically, "This year has shown that this extraordinary, uncontrollable, vivacious animal that is the Fringe and its audiences rises above absolutely everything."
Not everyone is so buoyant. Evening News Drama Award winning amateurs Edinburgh Theatre Arts (ETA) were one of the companies relying on the Fringe box office to sell their tickets.
This year, the company, who have appeared at the Festival since the early 70s, sold just 182 tickets, a drop of nearly 300 on last year.
"I'm not surprised that Jon Morgan has resigned," says company venue manager, Simon Peers. "He was in dead man's shoes from the moment the box office crisis became apparent. That's their only function, to operate the box office.
"We would probably regard 2008 as the worst Festival since 2003 in terms of attendance overall. The poor weather affects us more, given our location outside the city centre, and Fringe sales are crucial in generating a profit to carry over to produce our next production.
"That would have been threatened by the box office failure this year, had it not been for sponsorship from the Sopra Group and Wise Property Care."
Peers believes that, in light of the way the box office crisis was managed, the Festival Fringe Society must also now examine the "reason for its very existence".
"It has been clear to many people that no long-term plan exists. The annual general meeting proved that it has lost touch with the vast majority of performers, venues, stakeholders, customers and patrons," he states.
"Membership of the Fringe Society should be automatic once a group/individual has paid for its Fringe entry. This would empower all performers and give them a stake in where the Fringe goes from here. Equally the venues need to be able to make their voice heard."
The failure of the box office system has, indeed, cast the biggest shadow over this year's proceedings. Many local and smaller groups found they struggled to sell tickets, while audiences discovered a number of the big name shows had been over-booked. However, it is not just local groups who have concerns about the Festival. London-based producer James Seabright who, over the last ten years has produced and promoted more than 100 Fringe shows, says, "The weather was the worst I can remember, but like the four main venues, my numbers across all my shows were better this year, despite all the problems."
That said, he cautions, "In fairness to Jon Morgan, he did come into the job at a difficult time, when a new box office system was late in being commissioned. But it is infuriating that even when resigning he cannot offer an apology for what happened on his watch.
"What this year has shown is that the Fringe Society needs to concentrate on the two key areas of its work: a box office that works, unlike the new system they launched this year, and the marketing of the Fringe around the world."
Marlene Zwickler of MZA, who has produced some of the biggest names on the Fringe for 20 years including Craig Hill and The Caesar Twins, is not surprised that Morgan has quit. "I just wish he'd been able to stay to see it through," she says.
Zwickler believes that transparency now requires the Fringe Society to "put up their hands" and acknowledge that "people have suffered as a consequence of mistakes that were made".
As for it being the worst Festival season in recent memory? "Financially it has been tougher, of course," she admits. "But artistically and professionally it has been just wonderful.
"In order to safeguard a Festival which brings so much into the economy of Scotland, not just Edinburgh, the board should make an egalitarian gesture to all companies participating in the 2008 Fringe by seeking the necessary additional funding from the Scottish Executive to waive their six per cent box office levy for all companies.
"It won't fully compensate people for the losses they have incurred, however quantifiable they may be, but it is the only possible 100 per cent fair way to make a meaningful form of apology to each and every person who participated in this year's Fringe."
The independent review process will identify the best way forward for the Fringe and be an excellent opportunity for every stakeholder to contribute to the organisation of future Fringes, insists a Society spokesperson,
Simon Peers remains to be convinced. "The Fringe has a commercial responsibility to be well run and managed and effectively handle transactions on behalf of the 247 venues. Confidence in this has been sharply reduced and will take time to restore.
"Local groups such as ourselves provide a substantial backbone to the Fringe. Indeed, the spirit of the Fringe can be found in the small venues staging performances year in, year year out with little or no financial support or support from the Festival Fringe Society."
In their defence, a spokesperson says, "The Festival Fringe Society has existed for 50 years and it will leave no stone unturned in order to make sure it continues to deliver successful Fringes in the future. I think that the independent review process will be very positive for the future of the Fringe."
Indeed, despite all the setbacks, Edinburgh's Festival season appears as resilient as ever. Book Festival ticket sales were up three per cent this year, and Sean Connery's appearance proved the fastest selling event in the event's 25 year history.
Another box office record was smashed by Matthew Bourne's Dorian Gray, which became the biggest selling dance event in the history of the Edinburgh International Festival – at the last count it was expected to sell a phenomenal 13,000 tickets.
And there's good news too for fans of the Fringe's music strand.
"Due to a lack of touring arena bands this year, we didn't stage performances at Meadowbank Stadium," explains Dave Corbet, promoter of The Edge Festival. "However, we will be looking at the larger shows again next year and will continue to bring the best homegrown as well as international talent to Edinburgh's audience in August."
Simon Peers of ETA sums up the thoughts of many when he says, "We all love the Festival Fringe and it provides a vibrant part of world culture. For example, entries from more than 46 countries were represented this year, but we have to address the issues above quickly, efficiently and in open debate and not behind closed doors if we are to preserve what in my view is a crown jewel in the British Arts scene".
To paraphrase Dickens, the 2008 Edinburgh Festivals season appears to have been "the best of times and the worst of times."
