William Burdett-Coutts is the founder and director of theatre and comedy promotion company

Assembly Assembly may refer to: Organisations and meetings * Deliberative assembly, a gathering of members who use parliamentary procedure for making decisions * General assembly, an official meeting of the members of an organization or of their representa ...

, one of the major venue operators at the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as The Fringe, Edinburgh Fringe, or Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest arts and media festival, which in 2019 spanned 25 days and featured more than 59,600 performances of 3,841 dif ...

, the world's largest arts festival. He was born in

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

, and began his career as a theatre director in Scotland in the late 1970s, before establishing the

Assembly Rooms In Great Britain and Ireland, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries, assembly rooms were gathering places for members of the higher social classes open to members of both sexes. At that time most entertaining was done at home and there we ...

as a

fringe theatre Fringe theatre is theatre that is produced outside of the main theatre institutions, and that is often small-scale and non-traditional in style or subject matter. The term comes from the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.Kemp, Robert, ''More that is Fre ...

venue in 1981, leasing it from

Edinburgh Council Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

. The venue has been referred to as the "National Theatre of the Fringe". Burdett-Coutts came to operate the venue after he was too late to find anywhere else to stage the play he intended to bring to the Fringe, The Madman and the Nun. He was working at the

Old Vic Old or OLD may refer to: Places *Old, Baranya, Hungary *Old, Northamptonshire, England * Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, M ...

at the time. The Assembly Rooms on George Street had previously been home to the Festival Club, but they had vacated the building after finding it unprofitable to operate. This left it available for Burdett-Coutts, and gave him space to host other shows. Burdett-Coutts fought for the Assembly Rooms to remain a venue only building, against Edinburgh Council's plan to turn the ground floor space into shops and a restaurant. He was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) in the

2021 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours for 2021 are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded ...

for services to theatre, comedy and the arts.

External links

Assembly website

References

Edinburgh Festival Fringe Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Officers of the Order of the British Empire {{Theat-bio-stub