|
| |
Pleasance Times (Edinburgh)Search |
SponsorshipEdinburgh welcomes 750,000 visitors to the city each August, many of them there for the world's largest arts festival, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The Pleasance first opened in 1984 and is now the largest Fringe venue, selling over 240,000 tickets for some 150 shows - almost a quarter of all Fringe tickets. The Pleasance offers a varied programme of theatre, music, dance and comedy. In its first 21 years the programme has included a veritable hall of fame: Joan Rivers, Timothy West, Jo Brand, Paul Merton, David Baddiel, Graham Norton, Richard Whitely, Steven Berkoff, Leslie Phillips, Nicholas Parsons, Julian Clary, Mel & Sue, Bill Bailey, Frank Skinner, Mark Steel, Harry Hill, Al Murray, Nichola McAuliffe, Reduced Shakespeare Company, La Feura dels Baus, Eleanor Bron, David Strassman and Omid Djalili. "The Pleasance Courtyard has become the place to meet people. Friendly, unpretentious and unthreatening with an unwritten rule that the recognisable can be as private or as public as they wish."
The Stage This is the most popular venue for up and coming comedians, and has hosted the winner of the prestigious Perrier Award for 9 years out of the last twelve. In 2005 six of the ten Perrier nominees performed at the Pleasance. Over the years the theatre awards have also been numerous, with several Fringe Firsts awarded almost every year.
The thirteen performance spaces at the Courtyard and the five at the Dome are supplied by outdoor and indoor bars. Between them, they sell some 18,000 gallons of beer across the three weeks. You can sit and sup your beers, drink your coffee or eat your pasta while deciding which shows to see. For committed celeb-spotters, an added bonus at the Pleasance is that you might just find yourself rubbing shoulders with megastars - anyone from Sean Connery to Billy Connolly - queuing up for a show alongside the everyday punter.
The Pleasance is the largest fringe venue and the courtyard is a first stop for the majority of fringe goers, including many who don't buy tickets for Pleasance shows, but just come for the atmosphere and the bars. "You can't move in Edinburgh for camera crews, in the Pleasance courtyard all you need to do to get on the telly is stand in a queue. Scarcely a round gets bought without a comedian being interviewed."
The Herald With up to 150 shows in the Pleasance programme each year, there will be as many as 1,000 performers, producers, directors and supporting crew connected to the venue. They will all share the much sought after membership of 'Brooke's Bar', a club for performers and press, situated at the Pleasance Dome. Other members will include press, promoters, agents and talent spotters. Fringe Audience Profile
For all enquiries regarding sponsoring the Pleasance please contact Anthony Alderson (anthony@pleasance.co.uk - 020 7619 6868). |
The Pleasance is the only venue to offer the true 'Fringe day out' and few Fringe goers leave Edinburgh without at least one visit, regardless of whether they buy tickets for Pleasance shows. 
From Breakfast TV to Edinburgh Nights, the media opportunities are there to be had. The Pleasance courtyard has become synonymous with the Fringe and therefore tends to feature in any TV coverage. As well as numerous news pieces, the Pleasance featured strongly in Channel 4's docu-soap "Edinburgh or Bust". The BBC's Comedy Awards have been recorded here along with BBC 1's The Stand-Up Show. The Pleasance is the venue chosen by BBC Radio 4 for its dozen or so Edinburgh broadcasts. The Pleasance courtyard became the backdrop for the feature film 'Festival' in 2004. Features in national papers and on national radio give the venue more coverage than any other. (Videos and press cuts are available on request).