Hard work pays off for Midlands Fringe organisers ahead of start of festival in Wolverhampton

As the biggest arts festival to hit Wolverhampton is set to begin, the organisers have been taking a second to reflect on how far they have comes.

Steve Pottinger and Emma Purshouse have, alongside their Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists colleague Dave Pitt, spent the last two months securing Arts Council funding, sifting through applications, picking venues and putting together the list of acts set to appear at the second Midlands Fringe Festival.

The festival runs from July 17 to July 26 at nine venues across Wolverhampton and follows on from the successful first year, with Steven K Amos and Lucy Porter headlining and a range of acts performing.

With just a few days to go until the start of the festival, Steve and Emma have both said they feel like they are in a good place about everything and said the previous year had helped them to better form things.

Steve said: “It differs from last year, largely because last year to about trying it to see if it worked and to see if there was an audience for it, whether people would come along and enjoy it.

“The feedback we got was so good and we couldn’t ask for better from those who came, so with that in mind, we thought let’s see what happens if we double the size and put it over two weekends, rather than just one.”

Emma said: “It means we can involve more local businesses as well, which was part of the idea behind it.

“I think it’s important that, sometimes, things happen not in the venues you expect them to, but in other places, because it makes people feel comfortable about attending something.”

The 2025 festival saw shows take place at four venues, including K Teas Cakes and the Qattery, both of which are part of this years festival, while new settings include The Wheatsheaf and Waterstones on Victoria Street.

As well as a diverse mix of acts, the festival has three headliners in comedians Phil Ellis and Shazia Mirza and former Chumbawumba frontman Dunstan Bruce, three acts both Emma and Steve said were signs of how the festival was being received.

Steve said: “Dunstan did a film called ‘I Get Knocked Down’, which is obviously the tagline of their major single, but it’s also about what happens after you’ve been a pop star and you’ve been at that level and then it all goes away.

“It’s a bit like ‘what do you do?’ and ‘what’s life about?’ and I love the fact that, from what I’ve seen, he has an alter ego in it, which he’s dressed the same as him, but with a giant papier mache head, sort of like Frank Sidebottom.

“With Shazia and Phil, I’m really pleased that they both agreed to come and I remember that the feed back from Lucy Porter and Steven K Amos was positive as they both had great audiences and it went really well for them.”

Emma said: “Both of them are really good and I think it’s lovely because they’re doing new material, as it’s nearly time for Edinburgh and so I suppose people are trying stuff out.

“It think that’s quite exciting that they’re bringing that to Wolverhampton and we’re getting the chance to see it first.”

The other acts at the festival are a really eclectic mix, ranging from tales of cycling around the world to poetry sessions to loving stories about trees to the deeper meaning of the works of Beethoven and much more.

Steve and Emma said they had received around 90 applications and had worked hard to find not only the best acts, but also build a programme with range, not just overloaded with comics or poets.

While the Poets, Prattlers, and Pandemonialists have been at the forefront of organising the festival, both Emma and Steve said that they would be lost without the volunteers helping out at the festival.

Emma said: “There’s people who are volunteering to do reviews, so every show gets a review, which is really beneficial, especially if you know you’re taking a show up to Edinburgh and you’ve not done it anywhere before and you want a little bit of feedback.

“All of our reviewers got a fantastic workshop to help them with their reviewing skills, then we also have volunteers at front of house as well with us.”

Steve said: “It’s part of what it’s all about, making sure we involve as many people and have a good crowd.

“That means it’s not just the three of us working ourselves into a standstill, but being able to go to people and asking if they want to be involved and building a talent pool from there.”

Steve also said that they had been helped by the feedback forms they had left a year ago to ask people what they thought of the 2025 festival, saying that nearly everyone who replied said they would come back again.

Both Emma and Steve said they would be seen around the festival, helping out at venues and corralling people into the right place, and said they felt the event was growing to become part of the national fringe scene, as well as a very diverse event.

Steve said: “There’s the whole of the West Midlands within this festival and of the 30 acts we’ve got on, there’s a good number from this region, as well as from the likes of Hull, London and Bristol, so it’s really important to have them all part of this.”

Emma said: “We’ve been really lucky to get Arts Council funding for it, which enables us to expand out and that has been brilliant.”