KEY POINTS:
Ricky Gervais, whose one-man show Fame is one of the comic highlights of this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival, is at the centre of a row over ticket prices.
The Extras and Office star, one of the few British comics to make it in the United States, is due to play a one-off show in front of 8000 fans at Edinburgh Castle this month.
However, there is mounting distaste at the decision to charge £37.50 ($99) for 90-minutes of stand-up - three to four times the sum charged by other leading acts this year.
Last year's top-rated Fringe comic Phil Nichol is charging £12.50 for his show The Naked Racist and a ticket for Shazia Mirza will set her fans back just £9.50.
The cost of tickets is a perennial source of controversy as the festival has grown. But rumblings of discontent at the cost of seeing Gervais which began in the Scottish press have now been fuelled by Colin Fox, chairman of the Edinburgh People's Festival, set up as a grassroots alternative to the mainstream rival.
"When tickets for a stand-up comedian cost £37.50 it illustrates how far today's festival has forgotten its roots. Gone are the days when anyone could go from one show to another and still have change left to meet up for a pint or two with his mates," he wrote to the Edinburgh Evening News.
He added: "To me too much of the festival is geared up for an international niche tourist market and forgets those who live in the city."
The festival's new director, Jon Morgan, defended the addition of big-money names to the lineup but conceded the heart of the Fringe was up-and-coming talent. He said it was up to individual venues to decide whom to book and how much to charge.
A spokeswoman for Gervais shrugged off the criticism. "It is a big venue and it is sold out. Eight thousand people haven't been put off by the ticket price - what more is there to say."
- Independent
