Edinburgh Fringe Returns With 4,000 Shows Over Three Weeks

The world's largest performing arts festival returns to Edinburgh for three weeks and over 4,000 shows starting this weekend. Guardian comedy critic Brian Logan will answer reader questions about the event today at 1pm. Logan, who has covered the fringe for years, previously wrote that the festival must change or die, citing high costs excluding artists, insufficient diversity, and the overwhelming, gruelling experience for participants.

This year, dynamic pricing trials raise questions about who the fringe serves. Readers can submit questions by logging in or signing up. In recent years, my enthusiasm has been increasingly smothered by caveats: that the fringe is too absurdly expensive for artists, to a degree that excludes many; that it’s insufficiently diverse; that it can be overwhelming, gruelling and lonely for many of the people taking part.