Search

Saved articles

You have not yet added any article to your bookmarks!

Browse articles

GDPR Compliance

We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience on our website. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies, Privacy Policy, and Terms of Service.

Durham Fringe Festival 2025: A Rising Fringe Stop with Castle Views

15 Jul 2025

As Fringe season kicks off, many eyes turn instinctively to Edinburgh. But those in the know are increasingly looking one stop earlier on the calendar—and one stop down the East Coast Main Line. The Durham Fringe Festival, now in its fifth year, returns from 22 to 26 July 2025, and is fast establishing itself as a serious contender on the UK’s alternative fringe map.

a chance to see new work before it tours—or before it sells out.

Founded in 2021 by a group of North East-based friends and theatre lovers, the festival started with a modest goal: to bring the spirit of fringe performance to Durham’s historic streets. Since then, it has grown steadily, attracting over 7,500 attendees last year, up from just over 2,000 in its debut. The festival has been supported by local businesses, community partners, and an increasingly enthusiastic regional audience.

With more than 110 productions across 270 performances, Durham Fringe offers the scope and variety of a major festival, but in a format that’s still walkable, welcoming, and wonderfully un-chaotic. Events take place across a network of intimate venues, many within sight of the city’s famous cathedral and castle—where, incidentally, you can book a room during the festival. If you’ve ever wanted to combine fringe theatre with turreted accommodation, now’s your chance.

This year’s line-up continues the festival’s mix of new writing, family theatre, music, comedy and devised work. One standout for younger audiences is Who Stole My Hammer? by Myth-Fits, a physical storytelling adventure steeped in Norse mythology. Kids help Thor retrieve his missing hammer while learning about bedtime stories Viking-style—expect puppetry, mischief and a surprising amount of fact beneath the fun.

For something entirely different, 3 Minutes Inside My Brain invites audiences into the wonderfully odd mental landscape of performer Jennifer Jordan. Using puppets, live science, and a ball pit, this show explores neurodiversity and mental health in a way that’s been praised for being both accessible and absurdly enjoyable. It was a hit at Brighton Fringe earlier this year.

If your tastes run more toward the whodunnit end of the spectrum, Leslie Bloom Solves A Murder might hit the spot. This semi-improvised solo comedy from Sweet Productions sends its audience into the world of amateur sleuthing with high camp, audience interaction, and frequent side quests involving baked goods. Think Midsomer Murders meets clown school.

Music fans should seek out Isabel Maria, the Durham-based singer-songwriter who’s had an extraordinary couple of years. At just 18, she’s already picked up a North East Culture Award, been featured on BBC Introducing, and earned praise from Rolling Stone Español. Her alt-pop songs, tackling everything from mental health to social awkwardness, are sharp, self-aware, and hard to shake. Definitely a name to watch.

Other shows explore darker or more intimate terrain. Aftertaste, by Rocket Theatre Company, is a post-breakup monologue about late-night oversharing, unsolicited yoga advice, and the fine line between heartbreak and wine-fuelled denial. Believers, from Durham-based Wrong Tree Theatre, is a physically devised piece set in a remote island town where a woman grapples with her late mother’s cryptozoological research into the Loch Ness Monster.

Finally, Secret Admirers from Foot of the Hill Theatre is an original musical set inside a bureaucratic government agency that monitors global romantic connections. Two secret agents try to help their assigned targets fall in love—only to find themselves catching feelings in the process. With original songs and a spy-romcom twist, it’s a curious but promising mix of Much Ado About Nothing and The Office.

What sets Durham Fringe apart isn’t just the quality of the programming, but the way it balances ambition with scale. It’s big enough to feel exciting, small enough to feel manageable, and cleverly timed just before the Edinburgh rush. For artists, it offers a low-pressure launchpad. For audiences, it’s a chance to see new work before it tours—or before it sells out.

More information, including the full programme and booking links, can be found at durhamfringe.co.uk.

Related to this article: