To answer the original question - there is not a central venue at Whitby in the same way that Shrewsbury has a main site - it's a very different type of festival. At Whitby, all of the venues are existing buildings in the town (no marquees) and as such are *fairly* spread out - Whitby has quite steep streets in places. Venues do tend to be smaller and quieter than Shrewsbury.

I've not been to the Edinburgh Fringe - the way you describe it sounds like you have to hunt for stuff you might want to go to - Whitby isn't quite like that either since there is a full programme telling you where/when everything is...

Are you restricted to that week of the year though? Other festivals which might meet your requirements would be Warwick (end of July) or Bromyard (middle of September).