A note from Peter,

A number of years ago I entered into a collaboration with an organisation called Laughing Horse.  However, during the course of this collaboration, several events made me slightly suspicious of their motives.  There has been much comment on this, but I thought I would describe the events in my own words.

In 2005 the collaboration began. The shows went ahead, and were successful, but I was concerned that several shows were booked without my knowledge.  I was worried about quality control. For 2006 I found two new venues, bringing the total to four. A second performance room was also opened at the UCW Club, bringing the number of spaces to five. The expansion could proceed. Again some shows were booked without my prior knowledge. Some of these booked shows promised to be good, and indeed were; others should never have been accepted. The good news was that the expansion worked; full audiences were seen at all venues, and they were happy. So were the performers.

It was on Thursday 24th August, ten minutes before my one man show started, that the Laughing Horse accosted me and informed me that they were taking over. They also told me that I was to consider myself sacked from the Free Fringe. I was also to consider myself dis-invited to the Free Fringe closing party.

I, Peter Buckley Hill, own both the name ‘Free Fringe’ and the majority of shares in The Free Fringe Ltd., so the position was extremely insulting, and ridiculous. Nevertheless, the Laughing Horse went on to three of the four venues used in 2006 for the rival festival they intended to organise in 2007.

This made me determined to to step in and ensure that they did not succeed.  Had they in fact succeeded, free shows may well have taken place, but the ideals and ethos of the Free Fringe would have died at that point. The concept of performers operating collectively would have been replaced by performers working for a promoter; no effective change to the status quo ante. The interests of promoters and performers can never be identical. the Free Fringe needed to continue with it's original ethos, and a focus on quality. 

Once more, I had to fight for my original idea and ethos of the Free Fringe. I blamed myself for involving the Laughing Horse in the first place, and not placing curbs on their activities sooner. But with the enormous help of supporters and those who believe in the true ideals of the Free Fringe, new and better venues were found. Performers will go back to acting as a collective and co-operating with each other, as was the original plan.

And this brings us to the present day. The Free Fringe has many, many venues, with good performers doing all sorts of shows. We have even taken on theatre, spoken word and embrace wider categories of shows. The Free Fringe concept shouldn't be limited to comedy; we can help other art forms also to do the Fringe at a reasonable cost.

We're still under threat; the rival "Free Festival", confuses the public into thinking that there is only one Free Fringe. The Laughing Horse, who registered the domain freefringe.co.uk on behalf of the Free Fringe, are refusing to relinquish it, and it points to their web site.  But we've fought off threats before; we're standing up to the bullies, because we believe in what we're doing. It's a good deal for performers, public and venue owners alike.

Please support us.

Peter Buckley Hill
Founder
The Free Fringe