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The Edinburgh Fringe Now Needs a Trigger Warning for Being Noticed

27 Jul 2026

The Edinburgh Fringe has always required a certain amount of bravery. You might emerge from a basement having witnessed theatrical genius. You might emerge having watched a man in a papier-mâché pigeon costume explain cryptocurrency through interpretive dance. There was also the ever-present possibility that a comedian would spot you in the second row and decide your evening was about to become everyone else's entertainment.

For anyone who has ever spent an hour desperately avoiding the performer's gaze

Now, thanks to an Edinburgh software developer, you can check in advance whether that is likely to happen.

The rather splendidly named isthereaudienceinteraction.com invites performers to disclose exactly how much audience participation their shows contain. Will you be asked a question? Invited on stage? Expected to pretend you're somebody's ex-partner for the next ten minutes? The information is there before you've even booked a ticket.

My first reaction was that we'd finally reached Peak Fringe. Have we really become a festival that needs a searchable database for eye contact? But the more I thought about it, the more sense it made. Plenty of people love live performance and genuinely dread becoming part of it. If knowing they can sit through a show without suddenly finding themselves under a spotlight persuades them to take a chance on live theatre, that's difficult to argue with.

Nearly 100 performers have already submitted details about their own shows, which is perhaps the biggest surprise of all. Comedians are not generally famous for announcing in advance where the jokes are, yet here they are cheerfully admitting they'll be prowling the front rows looking for volunteers.

Perhaps this is simply another sign that the Fringe has grown up. It now has accessibility guides, content notes, relaxed performances and sensory information. Why shouldn't it also tell you whether buying a ticket includes the risk of having to improvise your childhood in front of 150 strangers?

Besides, anyone who has ever spent an hour desperately avoiding the performer's gaze knows there's only one thing more exhausting than audience participation. It's the ten minutes beforehand, hoping you won't be chosen.

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