Mairi Hedderwick, author and illustrator, talks about her most famous creation, Katie Morag, and offers some wry insights and observations from behind the scenes of the multi award…
He promises that next year he’ll bring his comedy show to the Fringe, but right now Ricky Tomlinson has serious matters to discuss.
Will Hutton examines how Britain could create an economy, society and democracy in which the mass of citizens flourish – reinventing and repurposing core institutions like the co…
Crime writer Mark Billingham and country band My Darling Clementine come together for The Other Half, a blend of storytelling and music about love, loneliness and broken promises.
A sage said ‘nothing can be certain but death and taxes’.
Meades’ recent An Encyclopaedia of Myself was described as ‘a masterpiece’ by Roger Lewis in the FT, and ‘by far the best picture of the 1950s I have read’ by George Walden in the …
Author Tessa Dunlop hosts a one-off, revelatory session with three of the extraordinary women who were involved in Britain’s most secret wartime operation and feature in her book…
Chris Ingham (piano/vocal) and Paul Higgs (trumpet) salute the great American songwriter.
Observer restaurant critic and chair of BBC Radio 4’s Kitchen Cabinet, Jay Rayner examines our fascination with lousy reviews, recalls some of his worst nights out and shares the…
The Dloko High School Choir from Umlazi Township, South Africa, return to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, having performed sell-out shows in the Assembly Rooms in 2014, where it was…
In Owen Jones: The Politics of Hope, Jones proves himself to be an engaging and eloquent speaker without any airs of pretension.
Is there one kind of life that is the true and right life for all human beings, or are many kinds of good lives possible? If the latter, does this mean that there are no absolutes …
Carol Grimes, the Piaf singer/songwriter of British music.
One of the most exciting solo shows of the past decade.
Nina has won a British Comedy Award, stormed Live at the Apollo, and made a BAFTA nominated film.
The nightmare continues.
Alexei’s varied career spans work as comic, novelist, actor and columnist.
Jo Brand, Phill Jupitus, Mark Thomas, Susan Calman, Bridget Christie, Liz Lochhead, Arthur Smith, Jo Caulfield, Fred MacAulay and Angela Barnes.
Long established as one of the UK’s best female comics Jo talks about her career in comedy with Olly Double, curator of British Stand-Up Comedy Archive.
In this exciting collaboration, award-winning vocalist and performer, Jungr, and Grammy and Emmy Award winner McDaniel investigate The Beatles; celebrating Paul, John, George and R…
Sandy Nelson’s comic play examines the intriguing events of the 2010 Reykjavik Municipal elections, in which comedian and actor, Jon Gnarr, became the Mayor of Iceland’s capital, d…
Did Scotland vote the wrong way on independence? Predicting the future is hard, but if we carry on the path we’re on what becomes of our grandchildren? There is no way that every…
A bumper-length show giving you the chance to help raise vital funds for Barnardo’s while previewing a selection of this year’s top Fringe shows, courtesy of some of your favourite…
Steve Richards Presents Rock N Roll Politics 4.
At 70, Virginia Ironside writes a regular agony column for the Independent and the OIdie, and her latest comic novel is Yes! I Can Manage Thank You! In her one-woman show she expla…
The new Gaelic language play Sequamur, by Donald S Murray, reflects on the life of educationalist William J Gibson, headmaster of the Nicolson Institute, Stornoway between 1894 and…
Award-winning stand-up comedian, writer and actress talks about her career in comedy, with Olly Double, curator of British Stand-Up Comedy Archive.
Richard Wiseman, psychologist and bestselling author of several popular psychology books, returns to the Fringe to talk for an hour about the psychology of perception, touching on …
Glasgow-based Birds of Paradise Theatre Company is arguably Scotland’s most innovative and ground-breaking theatre company when it comes to exploring disability and producing ful…
Stephen K Amos has charmed and entertained audiences all over the world with his natural, assured delivery and his honest, original material.
Founded in 1960, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas boast a string of classic Motown hits, including (Love is Like a) Heat Wave, Nowhere to Run, Jimmy Mack, Bless You and Dancing in t…
Comedian and activist Mark Thomas talks to Olly Double, curator of British Stand-Up Comedy Archive, about how his comedy has evolved to embrace both theatre and politics.
Comedians Daniel Kitson, Mark Steel, Mark Thomas and Ivor Dembina join forces to raise money for IMET2000, a charity bringing front-line medical relief to victims of last year’s bo…
Is it possible for one person to journey around the solar system in the space of a human lifetime? This show is as much about the alien worlds in our planetary neighborhood as it i…
Once called ‘the greatest sports writer in the English-speaking world’, Hugh McIlvanney is garlanded with awards and remains sharp and perceptive in the Sunday Times.
Six superb showcases featuring the very best comedy from across the Fringe.
Award-winning maths comedian and Rubik’s cube world record holder Matt Parker is once more forming a maths + comedy venn diagram with lively stand-up and mind-boggling maths.
“The thing I was going to show you – well there’s a few things to show you – but I want to tell you something else first,” says Robin Ince some time into this intellectua…
The British soul, jazz and r’n’b singer who topped the UK pop charts with The Communards in 1986 with ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’.
Elaine C Smith the comedienne, actress, singer, writer, raconteur, political activist and star of Rab C Nesbitt returns to the Fringe with a new one woman show – a brilliant mix …
The English have been typecast as imperial snobs, rule-bound, repressed, class-ridden, prejudiced – their racism cuts and scars.
Churchill, Attlee, Thatcher, Blair.
Listening to Charlotte Green talk for an hour on any subject is an enjoyable way to spend any afternoon, but hearing her talk about her long and distinguished career as a newsreade…
Ever made a joke on Twitter that came out wrong and as a consequence been torn apart by a crazy mob? Or been part of crazy mob tearing someone apart for telling a joke on Twitter? …
Stuart Cosgrove is one of Scotland’s sharpest and wittiest contemporary observers.
More and more people don’t want children.
Journalist, film-maker and author, John Pilger is one of only two to win British journalism’s highest award twice.
Politics or religion as a source of conflict? From the Israeli Palestinian conflict, via Iran and ISIL, much of what we hear about the Middle East is couched in the language of anc…
One of the biggest names in crime writing, McDermid’s novels have been translated into 30 languages and sold over 10 million copies worldwide.
Bartlett talks about his experience immersed in the internet’s most shocking and unexplored subcultures, from buying cannabis on the Amazon of drugs to hanging with Bitcoin anarchi…
New material in preparation for the next series of BBC Two’s Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle.
In a typically idiosyncratic twist Carol-Ann Duffy is collaborating with her ‘favourite’ court musician John Sampson for a reading of work from across her gargantuan oeuvre.
Ostensibly, Worbey and Farrell’s show is a piano recital.
Science and panto combine in this energetic family romp that means well, but ultimately fails to stick together as a whole.
From the award-winning star of Catastrophe (Channel 4) and Uncle (BBC3), and the producers of award-winning megashow The Wrestling comes the anarchic late night gang-show of your d…
Radical satirical Scottish comedy, following the sell-out success of Aye Right? How No? at the 2014 Fringe, and on global television.
Louis Pearl has been thrilling audiences around the world for over 30 years with the art, magic, science and fun of bubbles.
BBC Radio 4’s smash hit – live! Hancock’s Half Hour, lovingly recreated with a stellar cast led by Kevin McNally as The Lad Himself.
Stand-up comedy and theatre rarely interact in meaningful ways.
Looking over my time at this year’s Fringe, there have been several topics that have come up time and time again.
The Soweto Spiritual Singers are at the Fringe with two shows, this later one at the Assembly Rooms called The Return, is an uplifting and enjoyable hour of African spirituality.
When Tom Stade walks on stage you can tell he’s at home.
An audience with Rodney Bewes.
The second ever Scots Makar (national poet) Liz Lochhead has teamed up with saxophonist Steve Kettley for this nostalgic selection of her favourite poems from a 50-year career.
How is life for Fred since leaving BBC Radio Scotland after all these years? And why did he leave? Did someone forget to get him a hot latte? Were any punches thrown? If you miss h…
Margaret Thatcher was – still is, two years after her death – a divisive figure, loved and hated in equal measure.
Though Jane Austen is undoubtedly one of Britain’s most prominent literary names, Persuasion is perhaps her least widely read work.
What’s living in the garden, among the grass and in the trees? Is it a bird, or is it a bee? Maybe it’s the Garden Man? Come along today and see! The Garden Man is a story insp…
Ian Macpherson is perhaps best known for a joke he came up with years ago: ‘They say you play at _____ twice in your career.
In short, we’ll let others speak! ‘Doing it his way, the ghost of Sinatra lives on’ (Times).
Die-hard fans of classic BBC Sitcom Dad’s Army will particularly enjoy this panel discussion, Q&A and selection of nostalgic clips from Ian Lavender, aka Private Pike, and fellow…
Imaan is in Love.
If you’re going to see one show this year, make it Count Arthur Strong.
The Missing Hancocks is a genuine blast from the past.
Returning to AR Fringe after a 2014 sell-out, sold out off-Broadway, and front page of ThreeWeeks.
We’ve all got ‘em: struggles, self-orchestrated pitfalls, flat tyres, ball cancer… Un/fortunately we can’t all make a living droning on about them to room full (dreamer) of peopl…
Hijinks and flying kicks abound in this piece of non-verbal physical comedy from the Hong Kong-based Tang Shu-wing Theatre Studio, last unleashed on an unsuspecting Fringe in 2012.
The much-loved Celia, housewife and host, returns, on tour with her Toxborough Village Hall Chat Show, in aid of the Animal Hospital, for a kitten who needs an iron lung.
Award-winning comedian and failed Buddhist monk Sam Brady explores his ongoing struggle to be a good person, and asks why kindness is so undervalued and so hard to practice.
You know those moments that happen on the bus, or in the street, where you eavesdrop on someone’s conversation and gain a brief window into their world? Do you ever think that yo…
Come see the birth of a true modern jester, a voice for the people.
The Gospel Inquiry by Sandy Nelson.
Simon Singh has a very easy style and voice which belies the genius within.
Mary Beard is an unlikely rockstar.
In the lavish surroundings of the Assembly Rooms, Guardian journalists Polly Toynbee and David Walker dive straight in at the deep end.
In a brand new show, award-winning political columnist and broadcaster Steve Richards takes you behind the scenes as the referendum looms and the next British general election move…
‘Forensically, mordantly, occasionally lovingly, Meades deconstructs the 1950s.
Successful stand-ups usually have a memorable on-stage persona; it may be manic, taciturn or just ‘nice’, but it’s what they’re remembered for.
I gave up studying all forms of science at the age of 15, so on the surface, I would not be the natural choice for Jim Al-Khalili’s Quantum – Still Crazy After All These Yea…
The welcome recording over the PA tells us that this event is part of the Assembly Rooms’ ‘Enchanting ideas’ series for a ‘more discerning audience’, getting a chuckle …
We’re back with another bumper-length show for a fantastic cause! Hosted by Jo Caulfield, this comedy extravaganza gives you a chance to preview a selection of this year’s top …
We’re straight from the research field to the Fringe! Bright Club is the freshest thing in stand-up - an academic comedy cocktail synthesised for your entertainment and enlighten…
John Bird started The Big Issue magazine. His story is achingly funny and powerfully inspiring. It will make you want to rush out and start making changes in your own life.
Who doesn’t love a good murder? Most of Britain does apparently and this preoccupation is not a recent event.
In the ironically grand setting of the Assembly Rooms, Owen Jones gave a rallying and convincing cry against the establishment.
Prepare to be offended and amazed.
Night School is an odd ‘show’ that seems to hover somewhere between an entertaining lecture and a TED talk.
The true roots of fiction are often misunderstood, strangely explained and just plain lied about.
TV’s favourite stunt scientist (from Brainiac, Blue Peter, etc) reveals his top secret science recipes for amazing experiments you can do at home - but probably shouldn’t! Liquid m…
The show is narrated by a theatre director who is reflecting on his school days in 1970’s Edinburgh.
The Dloko High School Choir from Umlazi Township, SA explode on stage with gospel, Zulu songs and dance.
Romp through a 32,000 year history of visual satire, the life and work of William Hogarth and the power of giving and taking offence, along the way exposing the techniques, practic…
Bridge Over Troubled Lager (Volume 2) from Rory McGrath and Philip Pope is an evening of easy listening funny tunes and mild jokes.
Virginia Ironside writes a regular agony column for the Independent and the OIdie and her latest comic novel is No! I Don’t Need Reading Glasses! In her one-woman show she explai…
A celebration of the life and legacy of one of our finest politicians.
Three women, three generations, tied together not only by blood but also by the magic of the river that runs through their remote Finnish town.
In John O’Farrell’s 25 Years of Writing Stupid Jokes, he tells the story of his comedy career: first as a writer on the likes of Spitting Image and Have I Got News for You a…
Pam Ayres returns to the Fringe for the first time since 2006.
Tanya Byron shares powerful stories from her years of training as a clinical psychologist and highlights the struggles of patients and staff alike on the journey from chaos to clar…
Environmentally friendly? Sustainable? More like greenie hogwash! Red Dwarf star Robert Llewellyn suggests we take off our Clarkson ear muffs and hear a different take.
George Galloway is best known as the fiercely pro-Palestinian Respect Party MP for West Bradford.
Serial innovator Simon Munnery turns host and fylm director, to introduce the Fringe’s top comedians to his camera, projector and cinema screen for a one-night only slice of stan…
Former Labour minister and fellow diarist, Chris Mullin, for 35 years one of Benn’s closest friends, offers a sympathetic but not uncritical assessment of one of the most signifi…
Itison presents seven superb showcases featuring the very best comedy from across the Fringe.
Jay Rayner is a real presence, a big guy with a big voice who is very comfortable with addressing an audience.
Only Ruby Wax would have the tenacity to walk on stage, hardly acknowledge the audience and make herself a cup of tea before beginning to even think about starting her show.
Award nominee and star of the Edinburgh Fringe, Andrew Maxwell returns for just 12 shows, with a fantastic new hour of mischievous charm and boundary-nudging wit.
With three decades of performing under her belt, Elaine C.
The Oxford Dictionary describes ‘Diva’ as: “A celebrated female opera singer, a famous female singer of popular music, or a woman regarded as temperamental or haughty”.
Rooted in the past of a dystopian pre-independence future - that means a minimalist set littered with industrial remnants and a broken toilet - Scotland’s greatest heroes, Wallac…
Cutting through the audience with a sunburst Fender acoustic guitar, Rob Deering attempts to capture the spirit of Richie Havens at Woodstock, before singing a frustratingly catchy…
Owen O’Neill is a much better poet than he is a comic.
“What happens when you think you’re being hilarious and other people just think you are causing anarchy?” Despite beginning with a gripping premise about censors, sensitivity a…
The Fringe’s late-summer position in the calendar means that few of those who visit the Scottish capital ever experience one particular form of indigenous theatre — pantomime…
Looking back at it, Tom Stade is the ideal performer to subdue the rowdy (but never disruptive) last-weekend-of-the-Fringe, Friday-night-on-George-Street, Assembly-Rooms-Ballroom c…
Veteran comedian, ‘brilliantly satirical’ (Time Out) co-creator of No Pressure to be Funny, ‘one of the best topical comedy podcasts out there’ (Huffington Post), BBC’s N…
In 1717, three young women strove to discover ‘what we might attain unto if we were as industrious to cultivate our minds as we are to adorn our bodies’, and so set up the soci…
Liz Lochhead’s solo spoken word show at Assembly Rooms opens with songs from Joni Mitchell’s delicately moody album ‘Blue’ on the sound system; appropriate not only for her…
There’s a particular pleasure in seeing someone do their job incredibly well.
Stand-up comedy’s foremost creepy-faced ginger man, star of BBC1’s ‘Live at the Apollo’ and a regular on Channel 4’s Stand-Up For The Week.
At the risk of damning Fred McAuley with faint praise, this is an extremely competent set.
Writer and performer Jessica Sherr claims she has always been in love with the 1930s and 40s and it shows in this enjoyable and insightful one-woman show.
You might find yourself wondering how far into the past you’ve strayed during this excellent piano concert by Steven Worbey and Kevin Farrell.
Children will love this fun spectacle of bubble-blowing and even grown-ups will be impressed by the Amazing Bubble Man’s feats; not ten minutes into the show, I heard a Dad in fr…
For all its claims of being a one-man show, the stage can get pretty crowded during The Pitiless Storm.
You’ve probably seen the posters featuring a half-naked man covered in oil- exactly what Herman Hesse had in mind when he wrote his classic philosophical novel.
Age hasn’t softened Scott Capurro; nor, it has to be said, has marriage.
Colour The Clouds present Billy, The Monster and Me! Join Billy on his adventure of a lifetime! Find out what happens when a Monster appears in Billy’s bedroom on the very day th…
Through the 60’s and 70’s BBC television went through a golden period for producing some of the best situation comedy, amongst which was the great Dad’s Army.
You can’t help but wonder how many people fall in love with Camille O’Sullivan during her show each night.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I shall now bid you all good day.
American stand-up Tom Shillue opens by asking why he, a comic on his first run at the Fringe, has the right to stand on stage for an hour and talk about himself.
Basing your second Edinburgh show on the serious medical crisis which cut short your first run at the Fringe the previous year is patently logical.
Jane Fonda is one of the most controversial anti-war activists in American history.
The Trouble with Being Des, according to Des Clarke, is that he has an inner demon man child inside him which makes him “weird”—not least within the context of growing u…
Tensions are building north of the border.
Phoenix Nights’ Holy Mary, Janice Connolly, returns to the festival with a shrewd, sharp and current new show exploring the on-going battle we have with keeping nature at bay in …
This topical drama casts Scotland and England in the roles of bickering husband and wife, mediated by a third party functioning as both marriage therapist and collective child of B…