Day 2 of the Edinburgh Fringe with HiFi PiG’s intrepid John Scott.

Barnton Nuclear Bunker sits under a hill on the outskirts of Edinburgh, a penguin’s waddle away from Edinburgh Zoo.  The site was used as  a military facility during the second world war, the bunker being built in 1952 as the Sector Operations Centre for correlating information from radar stations throughout Scotland. In the early 1960s the bunker, which occupies three underground levels, and the surrounding site was re-designated as a Regional Seat of Government. The bunker was kept ready to accommodate 400 politicians and civil servants for up to 30 days in the event of a credible threat of nuclear attack and included a BBC radio broadcast studio.  If the threat were to have taken place during the time of the Queen’s annual period of residence in Edinburgh then the Monarch and the Royal household would have been relocated to the bunker along with government officials.

The bunker is currently being restored into a museum by a small team of volunteers.  It is one of the few places in Edinburgh that is currently not being used as a Fringe venue this year (any available space larger than a telephone box tends to get snapped up as a performance space) so why is HiFi Pig here today?

There are 3,535 shows registered in this year’s Fringe program and that doesn’t include the hundreds of street performers that visit the city during August.  The influx of Fringe performers is the equivalent of Edinburgh’s population being increased by that of a small town before we even take into account the technicians to run the shows, reviewers, broadcasters, journalists, and the many thousands of tourists who come to watch the shows.

All of these people need a place to stay. The rules of supply and demand economics result in increased accommodation costs which, while it is a boost for the local economy, puts a strain on performers’ budgets.

While these costs have always been a consideration for anyone wanting to put on a show or participate in the Fringe in other ways, there has been a significant change in recent years.   Until fairly recently, it was relatively easy for performers to secure a place to stay. Local residents often made a bit of extra cash by renting out spare rooms or even whole houses while decamping to live with friends or family for the month.  The rise of short-term holiday lets, particularly through online channels like Airbnb has monetised this activity to a level at which many performers now need to think twice about whether participation in the Fringe is viable.  Given that a successful Fringe run can genuinely be a life-changing experience in career-boosting terms, it’s a hard decision to have to make.

This was the dilemma faced earlier this year by Seven Graham, who performs as 7G, co-creator of the LGBTQAI+ comedy group, Alphabet Soup.  Having booked and paid £2000 for a venue, he faced a bill of £30-£35,000 to house the seven performers that make up the group.

7G was devastated.  “I thought that we would not be able to premiere our brand new LGBTQIA+ extravaganza at the Edinburgh Fringe,” he said. “ Then a West Hollywood gay friend told me that he was volunteering throughout the month of August to help restore Barnton Nuclear bunker to its former glory. As we LGBTQiA+ feel we’re in a war for our human rights right now, staying at a nuclear bunker feels like a God Shot. So we met with Ben Mitchell, whose family is raising £5 million to restore the facility for visitors, to tell him we were in.  Not only are we building an Alphabet Soup glamping campsite at a fraction of the cost of a house, and we each get our own room, but we are also helping Ben raise the profile of his good work at the same time as planning our campaign to  Love Bomb the hatred of those who seek to oppress us”.

7G’s  ” glamping” description may be stretching the definition of the term a bit.  The Alphabet Soup troupe is housed in a bunch of basic but serviceable 1980s static caravans with toilet facilities and a single shower in a nearby portacabin.  When 7G offered the group a chance to camp it up at the Edinburgh Fringe, I doubt that this was what any of them had in mind.

Canadian performer Jannaya Future Khan is taking the experience in their stride.  “When you get into comedy, you gotta have a good sense of humour,” they told me.  “I can’t think of a better story to have as a comedian, I kind of love it here. Why not be at a historic site?  I’m just going to say: If anything goes down, we’re in the right spot – this is a nuclear bunker. If it was good enough for The Queen, it’s good enough for me”.

For Alphabet Soup co-creator, Alyssa Poteet, the campsite has a deeper resonance.  “From the most right-wing of red states all the way to our home of Los Angeles California, you can feel the rise of LGBTQIA+ hostility growing in America, she says. “This concerningly well-organized and extraordinarily funded culture war is being seeded in our courthouses and legislatures and seeping into and infecting the hearts of US citizens. As we gear up to make our presence known and provide a new narrative about LGBTQAI+ in the wake of all these blows against us, it’s fitting that we must seek refuge in a war bunker as we fight our fight. Some may lie down at this obstacle –  we’re toasting marshmallows and breathing in the fresh Scottish air”.

A bit of luck and ingenuity has saved the day for Alphabet Soup but if the Fringe wants to continue to attract fresh young talent rather than relying on established acts who can afford to finance the costs involved, then the accommodation issue needs to be addressed and, to be fair, work around this has started.  Fleabag creator and Fringe Society Honorary President, Pheobe Walker-Bridge, has led out the Keep It Fringe Fund: 50 bursaries of £2000 to artists or companies bringing work to this year’s Fringe. It’s a welcome helping hand I’m sure but for the sake of both the Fringe and its performers, more radical solutions may be required to keep the event true to its roots in future years.  For this year though, Queens have finally taken up residence at Barnton Nuclear Bunker, if not in the way that was originally intended.

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John Scott

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