MOST of us have taken a gamble on a Fringe show after a few jars and lived to regret it.
However, festival goers who secure tickets for a new Edinburgh festival show will have absolutely no come-back if they don't enjoy the evening's entertainment.
In this case, ticket holders will quite literally dictate the brief.
Taking inspiration from the hit TV show Whose Line Is It Anyway, that ran from 1998 to 2007, it takes audience participation to a whole new level.
Experts in financial technology and design are behind a creative project that will allow fringe-goers to design – and word – their own ticket in advance.
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They can then sit back and relax as actors from Glasgow Improv Theatre bring their written spec to life.
(Image: Katy Bridgestock)
Audience members will create their own briefs – which include an event description – using a new digital tool called a ticket designer.
Actors will perform scenes based on the descriptions for a show - Whose Ticket Is It Anyway? that is being broadcast live on the streaming platform Twitch on August 26.
It's part of a wider digital research project, based at the University of Edinburgh, called What is a Ticket?
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A team of tech wizards are exploring what will happen when tickets become more programmable, more data-driven and connect to a range of digital services.
In the future, the technology could be used in other ways, such as allowing gig goers to pick a set list.
Researchers have created the ticket designer tool to help artists, venues, audiences and ticket companies test inventive approaches to ticketing.
They say the return of live events after Covid-19 restrictions is an ideal time to rethink the relationship between audience and performer.
The actors tasked with delivering this month's show say they are expecting - and hoping - to be challenged creatively by the audience.
"We've not done anything like this before, "said Martin James, of Glasgow Improv Theatre.
"But the great thing about improv is you never know where the inspiration will take the show.
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"This is the first time we're using tickets as inspiration, but in the past we've used Spotify playlists, dating profiles, monologues, or even just a single word.
"We're expecting the audience to add some interesting tickets, hope they try and make it complicated for us."
The research team say the technology could also be used to build a buid a ticket that listens to Spotify playlists or even one that earns them money.
The project is being led by Chris Elsden, of the University of Edinburgh’s Institute for Design Informatics, who is no stranger to the stage himself and was part of a recent show at The Stand in Glasgow called the Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas.
He said: “A ticket is traditionally a piece of paper that gives the holder a certain right to enter a venue and view an event, but digital technology can help to transform this into a more responsive, creative and dynamic experience.”
People with "bold new ticketing ideas" can input to the project by using the ticket designer tool to create their own prototypes.
As more people create tickets, the project team will curate a library of new ticketing ideas, which it hopes will become an invaluable resource for the creative sector.
To create a ticket for the show go to https://ticket-designer.designinformatics.org/fringe
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