Anger over ticket prices for Gervais's show

Ricky Gervais, whose one man show Fame is one of the comic highlights of this year's Edinburgh Fringe Festival, is at the centre of a row over ticket prices.

The Extras and Office star, one of the few British comics to succeed in the United States, is due to play a one-off show in front of 8,000 fans at Edinburgh Castle later this month.

However, there is mounting distaste at the decision to charge £37.50 for 90-minutes of stand-up - between three or four times the price commanded by other leading acts this year.

Last year's top-rated Fringe comic Phil Nichol is charging £12.50 to see his show The Naked Racist while a ticket for Shazia Mirza will set her fans back just £9.50.

The cost of tickets is a perennial source of controversy as the Festival has grown. But rumblings of discontent at the cost of seeing Gervais, which began in the Scottish press, have now been fuelled by comments by Colin Fox, chairman of the Edinburgh People's Festival, which was set up as a grass roots alternative to the mammoth mainstream rival.

"When tickets for a stand-up comedian cost £37.50 it illustrates how far today's festival has gone in forgetting its roots. Gone are the days when anyone could go from one show to another and still have change left to meet up for a pint or two with his mates," he said in a letter to the Edinburgh Evening News.

He added: "To me, too much of the Festival is geared up for an international niche tourist market and forgets those people who live in the city."

The International Festival's new director, Jon Morgan, defended the addition of big-money names to the festival line-up but conceded the heart of the Fringe was up-and-coming talent. He said it was up to individual venues to decide who to book and how much to charge.

"Big names are useful and helpful, but they are a means to an end. The Fringe is about the less experienced and less well-known artists. People come here to cut their teeth or to take their act up that extra notch," he said.

A spokeswoman for Ricky Gervais shrugged off the criticism. "It is a big venue and it is sold out. Eight thousand people haven't been put off by the ticket price - what more is there to say," she said.