Another year, another summer and the Fringe season is on us again.

As we’ve written about before, a strong pattern of Fringe festivals has grown up over the summer months in the UK. With Brighton in May, Oxford in May/June, Buxton in July and Edinburgh – the biggest of  them all – in Edinburgh. The trail moves south to north as the summer progresses and a growing number of acts are moving with it.

Acts use this ‘Fringe Trail’ to road-test their shows ready for Edinburgh (the biggest live arts festival in the world) – or to kick-start a later tour. Conversely, many revisit the other Fringes after having had success in one.

Here at Underground we are keen to see this Fringe Trail grow so we present here the dates of the four Trail Fringes for 2014:

• Brighton Fringe | 3 May – 1 June | www.brightonfringe.org
• Oxford Fringe | 24 May – 8 June | www.oxfordfringe.org – see Underground Venues’ programme here
• Buxton Fringe | 9 – 27 July | www.buxtonfringe.org.uk – see Underground Venues’ programme here
• Edinburgh Fringe | 1 – 25 August | www.edfringe.com