Bringing 344 shows to Edfringe 2018, theSpace is by far the biggest venue in this year's Fringe. This impressive number of productions helped theSpace place second in our recent Venue Analysis. At Friday's press launch, the venue showcased a mix of established and emerging performers, and our Trends tracker is picking up considerable grassroots support for many of these new companies and productions.

Way up front for the theSpace is promising newcomer Girl World (Daily Mentions 2.7, Positivity Share 0.6%). This provocative comic musical is a consistent member of our Top 25, and was created by Frisky, a group of young emerging performers who undertook a crowdfunding campaign to bring their production to Edfringe 2018.

The Amours of Lillie Langtry takes a strong second place (Daily Mentions 2.2, Positivity Share 0.9%) — this comic theatre piece has been newly written by Joan Greening and is brought to the Fringe by newcomers Lemon Squeeze productions. It's been a prominent player in our Trends analysis since we started collecting data, and it looks set to do well in its run here at Edfringe 2018.

Red Peppers, a re-telling of the classic Noel Coward play, takes third place in our tracker (Daily Mentions 1.3, Positivity Share 0.4%). New to the Fringe from the Blue Fire Theatre Company, this insightful comedy explores the unglamorous side of showbiz.

At Friday's launch, the team at theSpace reiterated their commitment to supporting emerging performers and maintaining the grassroots origins of the Fringe – an objective that seems to be paying dividends with prospective Fringe audiences.