Editorial Policy & Corrections

What counts as a review here, what does not, and revisions.

What is counted

A star rating a publication published itself, for a show at the festival in the year listed. Every rating links back to the review it came from, so you can check it. Nothing is written by us and nothing is inferred: if a publication did not award stars, there is no rating to record.

Ratings on other scales

Converted to five stars, labelled as converted, and rounded down. A publication giving 9/10 has said “very good, not perfect”, and rounding that up would put a show on the top line on the strength of a rating nobody gave it. The original is always shown beside the conversion.

One review, once

A publication counts once per show. Reviews from publications which have made multiple distinct reviews with different authors are accepted. The same review republished at a new address, or reposted with the headline slightly changed, is one review however many times it appears.

What is not counted

• Awards, longlists and showcase selections. Real recognition, but not a star rating.
• Mentions in a round-up that carry no rating of their own.
• Posts on platforms that refuse to be read. Instagram disallows all crawling, so a rating there cannot be verified by us or by anyone else, and we do not take it on trust.
• Reviews of another year’s run, or not specific to an Edinburgh festival.

Publications we are still reading

We do not include reviews where every rating we hold from that publication is five stars. A publication we have only ever seen award top marks has told us nothing that discerns one show from another.

Tickets

Availability comes from the festival’s own listings and is refreshed daily. “No allocation” means the Fringe box office has none left; the venue may still have allocation if contacted directly, which is why that is a choice you make in the filter rather than an assumption we make for you.

Corrections