The director of the Edinburgh Fringe, Jon Morgan, has stepped down after little more than a year in the job. Morgan, who I would still feel justified in describing as the ‘new’ director, claims that the role took him away from his true passion: theatre.
I don’t think anyone is likely to believe this.
This year’s ticketing fiasco has been well-documented. There were delays in opening the box office, which was then closed two more times; then they stopped selling tickets for some venues at all.* We were amongst the lucky ones who actually got their tickets mailed out in time.
A couple of weeks ago the company who built the useless new box office software went into administration, and three days ago it was reported that ticket sales had fallen by 10%, the first fall in 8 years.
As a result, Morgan’s resignation might have been inevitable. I imagine he was waiting for the ticket sales figures, hoping that they had been unaffected by all the problems, but alas not. Whether the problems were really his fault or not, he has fallen on his sword. I feel a bit sorry for him.
*When attempting to buy tickets for certain venues via the website, I was informed that they were no longer selling them, and I would be redirected to the venue’s own website. I’m not sure if this has been documented elsewhere.
