From a small pilot program in 2011 featuring just 23 events to almost one million in attendance last year, Perth's Fringe Festival has grown so rapidly it is now the third largest in the world.

Only the long-running Edinburgh and Adelaide fringe festivals can boast of being bigger than Perth's Fringe World Festival.

The 2018 instalment begins today and will run for five weeks; 750 performances are scheduled in an array of venues across the city.

Festival director Amber Hasler attributes the rapid growth to the fact that Perth's population was already predisposed to welcome an arts event during warm summer evenings.

"It's a celebration of summer," she said.

"People want to be out and about seeing arts and entertainment in their city then."

The Pleasure Garden at Russell Square in Northbridge is one of the pop-up hubs during the festival. ( Supplied: John Leonard )

Audience willing to take risks

Most of the tickets cost around $20 and the performances last no longer than an hour, meaning audiences are more willing to spend their money on a show they know little about.

"It's an opportunity to take a risk," Ms Hasler said.

"There can be nights where you have planned to see a certain show and other nights when you take a punt."

Another attraction, various Fringe hubs throughout Northbridge occupy spaces that are normally empty after dark, including the Perth Cultural Centre and Russell Square.

"There is a sense of reinvigoration and reclaiming of some of our urban spaces," Ms Hasler said.

But not everyone is happy.

There have been grumblings from established pubs and bars in Northbridge in previous years that have felt the pop-ups draw customers away from their venues.

It is an issue Ms Hasler said they tried to address this year.

"We are working alongside bricks-and-mortar [venues] in what we offer this year, and that is really important for us — Northbridge is part of the Fringe World experience," she said.

A marketplace for performers

For performers, the Fringe is an opportunity to launch a new show to a potential audience of thousands, but numbers are not guaranteed.

It is an open-access festival, meaning any performers can register their show and the festival will list it in the program, sell tickets through the box office and give a portion of sales to the artist.

But it is up to the performers to publicise their shows and, in some cases, find a venue outside the Fringe hubs.

yourseven is just one of the many shows at Perth Fringe Festival in 2018. ( Supplied: Aaron Webber )

While some acts will sell out and generate huge buzz, others will find themselves performing for just a handful of people and a sea of empty seats.

Perth-based performer and director James Berlyn isn't perturbed by the idea of a small audience.

He has created yourseven, an intimate theatre work that takes the audience into a custom-built set.

"It's an examination of the seven ages of man, live in seven photo booths," he explained.

"It's a very bespoke experience.

"It asks you to recall moments in your life and examine your expectation of those ages still to come."

The performers, all members of the West Australian Youth Theatre Company, take polaroid photographs during the show and present audience members with a photo album at the end.

For Berlyn, presenting the show during a festival where audiences are willing to take a punt on offbeat shows is an advantage.

"[Fringe] is a time when the length and breadth of contemporary performance is embraced," he said.

"For local performance makers, it's really a time to explore and take risks and try things."

Doing the legwork yourself

British comedian Kate Smurthwaite, who has performed her routine at festivals around Europe for years, is in Perth for the first time.

Comedian Kate Smurthwaite is performing for the first time at the Fringe Festival. ( ABC Radio Perth: Emma Wynne )

"I write a comedy show every year and I tour it and I'm always looking to take it somewhere new," she said.

Smurthwaite said she was upbeat about the do-it-yourself nature of promoting her show, in which she tells personal stories of polyamory and open relationships.

"The brochure seems to be everywhere and people seem to have heard about the show," she said.

"You still have to do all the legwork yourself, but that's true everywhere, anywhere you tour.

"Performers these days don't rely on big PR machinery — you go on social media instead."

ABC Radio Perth Drive will broadcast live at the Fringe on February 2 and will present the ABC Radio Perth variety gala on February 3.