Brighton Fringe ticket sales exceed expectations for 2021 festival

Brighton Fringe has reported exceptional ticket sales after a year of closed doors.

Organisers have worked to ensure that the most weird, wild and wonderful shows from around the world still have a home at England’s largest arts festival, both in person and online.

More than 40,000 tickets have been sold so far so far, the target of £250,000 has been surpassed with sales above £300,000.

There are still 517 in-person and digital events at 90 venues to enjoy at Brighton Fringe this year which continues into July.

Brighton Fringe CEO Julian Caddy commented: “The enthusiasm has been overwhelming and the scale of the sales has taken us all by surprise.

“I’d like to thank everyone involved at Brighton Fringe for their incredibly hard work in getting everything together and also of course our audiences for having faith in us that we can deliver live performance safely, whilst also offering a massive selection of online work as well. There are still 5 weeks left of Brighton Fringe activity though so make sure you enjoy it while you can!”

JD Henshaw, Artistic Director at Sweet Venues, commented: “It’s been an amazing start to Brighton Fringe 2021 – glorious shows and wonderful audiences! Being able to welcome both new and regular audiences back to our spaces has been humbling. It means the world to us and our performers that so much support is out there. The sheer amount of talent and hard work on stage is staggering and we’re delighted to have the chance to present it in a safe and friendly environment. A huge thank you to everyone for coming back in such a big way and we can’t wait for the next few weeks! ”

Brighton Fringe artists Rich Bright and Ross Dinwiddy from The Tragedy of Dorian Gray added: “We were last on stage in August 2019 with The Geminus which had premiered earlier that year at Brighton Fringe. Then we went straight into preproduction on The Tragedy of Dorian Gray to premiere it at Brighton Fringe 2020.

“Well, we all know how that worked out. We have loved getting back on the stage at the beautiful Rialto Theatre this summer and bringing Dorian Gray to the coast finally. Being part of the celebration that is Brighton Fringe – it’s been thrilling.

“We’ve been truly humbled by the enthusiasm our play has been greeted with – the first half sold out at the end of May, and it looks very much like the second half at the end of June will do the same. We had no idea what to expect when life began to open up again, but this sunny and joyous time here in Brighton right now feels so special and we wouldn’t have missed it.”

The full programme of shows and tickets are available online from www.brightonfringe.org.