It’s summer in Edinburgh and visitors from around the world have arrived for the 77th edition of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the chaotic, scrappy, sprawling arts event that opened Friday and runs through Aug. 26. This year, there are more than 3,600 shows on the program, by artists from 58 countries: theater, stand-up, circus and cabaret performances, as usual — but also film screenings, whiskey tastings and a life drawing class with dogs.
Robert Ormerod, a photographer for The New York Times, was on the ground in Edinburgh to capture the atmosphere on the festival’s first weekend.
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Festival-goers crowd the pubs and restaurants in the Old Town district of the city.
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Poster and flyers — as well as performers hustling in the streets — help the public choose from the more than 3,600 shows.
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Fringe performers line up for a media event over the weekend.
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Spectators for a street performance on the Royal Mile, Old Town’s main thoroughfare.
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Tartan Heather, a Scottish artist who weaves fabric in the traditional pattern for spectators, on the Royal Mile.
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Handbills for Fringe shows cover a phone booth in the city center.
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Checking times and venues at the Underbelly box office in George Square, central Edinburgh.
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Nina Conti, a British ventriloquist who has been appearing at the Fringe for over 20 years, presents her show “Whose Face Is It Anyway?” at the Pleasance Grand.
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A performer from “I Wish You Well: The Gwyneth Paltrow Ski-Trial Musical,” performs an impromptu song on Friday after a power cut canceled the show.
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Julia VanderVeen in “My Grandmother’s Eyepatch.”
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The Fringe sold nearly 2.5 million tickets in 2023.
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The performers on the official Fringe program were joined by nearly 500 street performers in 2023, according to Fringe.
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Relaxing in Princes Street Gardens, a stone’s throw from the hubbub of the festival.
