“[N]ew figures show the vast variety of thousands of performers making their way to Edinburgh every August – with acts this year from Sri Lanka, Ethiopia, Albania and Malta as well as the largest contingents from America and Australia. Since 2002, shows from England on the Fringe have gone from 650 to 1,206 – more than half the 2,159 total this year.” Meanwhile, “despite the weaker pound, foreign shows have dropped sharply amid the credit crunch.”