New writing

Vivarium

Vivarium

As anyone who’s been to an Edinburgh Festival Fringe can attest, word of mouth is crucial to a show’s success. There’s a reason Vivarium has been hot on the lips of many this year... 

Year Without Summer

Year Without Summer

Cast Iron Theatre have rocked a minimalist set – an intimate three chairs and floor space surrounded by a ring of audience members – and have stretched it expertly to the peak of its credibility... 

Finding Fassbender

Finding Fassbender

The Fringe is all about first impressions; the opening minutes of a free stand up show, the six word spiel spurted at you by flyerers with an outstretched hand, the carefully chosen pose for the poster that will adorn Edinburgh’s walls for a month... 

In Your Own Sweet Way

In Your Own Sweet Way

Hoghead Theatre Company Returns to the Fringe with their devised piece In Your Own Sweet Way. It's performed by six actors who playing six friends in search of a play.Soon they will all be heading off to university or taking other paths... 

Beep

Beep

Beginning in a frightening dystopia with five people wearing surgical masks manhandling one other as the audience enters, then as the show starts transforming to a happy young party student crowd is a little unsettling... 

A Generous Lover

A Generous Lover

A Generous Lover is La JohnJoseph’s heartfelt account of caring for a bipolar partner. Orpheus and La JohnJoseph pass through various institutional limbos including health services, art therapy seminars and medication focused recovery plans... 

Signals

Signals

There are shades of Beckett but without the plodding pretentiousness in Signals, Footprint Theatre’s new show all about human connection and the search for life beyond Earth. Two unnamed scientists (refreshingly played by two women, Eve Cowley and Immie Davies) are on the night shift, poring over piles of data and endlessly waiting for a reply to all the messages humanity has thrown out into the cosmos... 

Grace

Grace

Katie Reddin-Clancy’s solo show has the potential to be fantastic – with a delicious, sharply observed script that is slickly performed. It is a show that appropriately evades simple labels, a mix of character comedy, cabaret, variety, new writing, monologues, solo-show and theatre, all wrapped into one... 

Hatty's Last Stand

Hatty's Last Stand

Harriet Stand (Hatty to her friends) is auditioning for a part in the critically acclaimed play Life. Harriet’s dilemma is to find the right role to audition for. We follow her trials and smiles in this relentless pursuit of a role... 

Creative Project: An Afternoon With Wendy and Friends – Road to Meikle Seggie

Creative Project: An Afternoon With Wendy and Friends – Road to Meikle Seggie

Creative Projects: An afternoon with Wendy and friends at Greyfriars Kirk. 24 August 2018 13:30. Free, includes reception and discussion. The afternoon is a collection of songs, poems, art, orchestral poems, dialogues and connections inspired by Richard DeMarco’s Road to Meikle Seggie... 

3 Years, 1 Week and a Lemon Drizzle

3 Years, 1 Week and a Lemon Drizzle

This is an intensely personal, sometimes funny, sometimes uncomfortable window into the relationship of two sisters at the toughest point of their lives so far. Alexandra and Kate Donnachie play themselves in this piece which as they say is written by Alex and Kate but mostly by Alex... 

Drip

Drip

I can’t imagine that anybody has nostalgia for life in their early teen years. You’re an awkward bundle of nerves so tightly wound that you can’t make a smart decision if you try, and even when you do, you can barely look someone in the eye to acknowledge them... 

The House

The House

A blissfully domestic sitting room in a nameless American suburb is the setting for Brian Parks’ riotous comedy The House. We open as two couples arrive fresh from their lawyer’s offices following the completion of the sale of the house from one couple to the other... 

Nowt as Queer as Folk

Nowt as Queer as Folk

Set in rural England, this pale ale drenched parable explores village life juxtaposed with urban sprawl. Topical issues of sexual impropriety, love lost, love rediscovered and fiddling finances are interspersed with song and slapstick scenes... 

Job-Cher

Job-Cher

Two struggling Cher impersonators are disrobed and disheartened in Job-Cher. Waiting in their dressing room between costume changes, Sandra and Donna stare at the empty diary and wonder how on earth to revitalise their tired double act... 

Epiphany

Epiphany

A must-see, hilarious and deeply moving one-woman show from Belfast! In one moment a woman’s jaded world is turned upside down and the dying embers of her spirit are reignited... forever!  

Working Class Hero

Working Class Hero

Working Class Hero’s biggest flaw is that it isn’t about anything. It involves issues but mentions very little about their impact, and even if it did, our main characters are just insufficiently developed or interesting to make me care... 

The Fun Club Presents...

The Fun Club Presents...

I’m not sure how to explain The Fun Club Presents… Three performers – Sara Page, Franny Anne Rafferty and Alistair McPhail – in a room, all in animal face-paint, talk obliquely about themselves... 

Sitting by Katherine Parkinson

Sitting by Katherine Parkinson

Sitting, the debut play by comic actor Katherine Parkinson (The IT Crowd, Humans), explores the lives of three characters who are sitting for portraits. Through a series of dramatic monologues addressed to the artist offstage, we gradually discover these characters’ stories and what has brought them to be painted... 

Other People’s Teeth

Other People’s Teeth

Other Peoples Teeth is a unique, visceral and violent vignette, exploring the emotional depths of brutality. The performance opens with a Tarantino-esque scene, featuring two contract killers in a stand-off where only one person can survive... 

Harpy

Harpy

Harpy is an intricate portrayal of a nuisance neighbour, with more nuances than one would expect to squeeze into a one hour show. Su Pollard excels in her primary role of ‘Birdie’, also inhabiting various other characters to extend the cast... 

Good Grief

Good Grief

Good grief is full of sarcasm, laughter and the occasional tear as we try to show that there is no "correct" thing to say to someone who is grieving. Based on the experiences of one of the cast, follow Amy's journey as we analyse the generic reactions and things that are said to people facing the loss of a loved one. 

Diagnosed

Diagnosed

What if you met someone who was perfect. Now what if you met that person at the worst possible moment in your life? A new piece of writing by first-time writer Matt Anderson. Diagnosed explores the big problems found within relationships, as well as all the little joys there are in-between... 

Antling

Antling

What happens when a fortysomething single woman rediscovers her childhood crush on an 80s pop icon? A liberation from pissed off boredom and an awakening of sexual fantasies. Sometimes fierce, sometimes sad but all encased with a feisty sense of humour... 

Good Things Come to Those Who

Good Things Come to Those Who

Good Things Come to Those Who explores our generation's relationship with work, debt, big data, surveillance and public/private space: when everything you have can be an asset, what is left just for yourself? The show explores six characters in an imagined but not-too-distant future, where those in the creative industries have to compete intensively for any full-time work left in their sectors, and where the vast majority are on zero-hour contracts in the gig economy just to get by. 

Dolly

Dolly

Rural Ireland - rich in personality and culture yet teeming with the stigma and prejudice of another age. It is against this backdrop that the dark and humorous tale of Dolly is told... 

How to Do Acting (Properly)

How to Do Acting (Properly)

This curious interactive lecture given by actress and software business advisor Zoe Cunningham offers some great advice and practical tips for anyone who wants to do acting (properly)... 

I Am Not Your Woman

I Am Not Your Woman

'If I had a name for every woman with a story, I'd run out of space and I'd be writing forever'. One night, Cate, Ben, Jess and Kim's lives are turned upside down... Inspired by real stories and #metoo, this poignant, vital, and hopeful play challenges our attitudes towards sexual assault and gives a voice to those who often go unheard... 

Yer Aul' Da

Yer Aul' Da

Malcolm is in his mid-40s and going to be a grandad. His way of coping with this? Drinking and partying all the time. His son, Ryan, is having none of it and just wants his old Dad back... 

First Snow / Première neige

First Snow / Première neige

Those familiar with the work of the National Theatre of Scotland won’t be surprised by the style or the content of First Snow / Première Neige.Matriarch Isabelle calls her clan – including her adult foster son of sorts François, her Scottish friend Fletcher and her daughter’s Congolese-Scottish boyfriend Thierry – back to their family home in the remote Quebec countryside... 

The Squirrel Plays

The Squirrel Plays

Many productions at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year discuss female freedom of choice, but few do so as creatively as The Squirrel Plays. In this show from Part of the Main, Tom and Sarah are young professionals thrilled to be buying a new home... 

The Dame

The Dame

Peter Duncan’s The Dame is hosted at The Dome, one of Edinburgh’s glitziest and most glamorous buildings. The sparkling chandeliers, oversized vases of flowers, ornate furnishings and the sound of champagne corks popping make it the perfect setting for a spectacle... 

Stardust

Stardust

Let’s talk about drugs. Let’s talk about the way we talk about drugs. Most importantly, let’s talk about the drugs industry itself, and the effects that the production and export of cocaine has had on the livelihood of Latin America... 

Marie

Marie

With the aid of a tea towel, a glass, and a stool, Sarah MacGillivray skilfully portrays a wide variety of characters in a modern re-telling of the story of Mary, Queen of Scots – sort of... 

Fast

Fast

Washington State, 1910. "Doctor" Linda Hazzard opens her sanatorium to the public. The public do not always survive… Fast by Kate Barton is a new dark psychological drama based on true events... 

Love on Blue Canvas, 1890

Love on Blue Canvas, 1890

Three lovers. One engagement portrait. Someone is out of the picture. Two hundred years later, a story remains. Twisted by time, the portrait becomes an object of fascination to the people who see it – but not for the right reasons... 

In Their Footsteps

In Their Footsteps

Over 50 years ago, thousands of young American women went to Vietnam to serve their country during the war. Infinite Variety Productions interviewed five of these women; two military officers, three civilian employees, all volunteers... 

An Algorithm Named Kevin

An Algorithm Named Kevin

An algorithm is a plan for solving a problem, but how many more does it create? Instagram's official blog 2016: 'To improve your experience, your feed will soon be ordered to show the moments we believe you will care about the most... 

This Is Yorkshire

This Is Yorkshire

Inspired by the blistering 2007 film This Is England, this hard-hitting new play examines working class life in early 80's Yorkshire through the eyes of a 12-year-old boy who becomes embroiled with two very different skinhead gangs... 

Roman Candle

Roman Candle

‘And I tell myself, I think – if you f*ck it up, you f*ck it up. But don’t f*ck it up. Please, please don’t f*ck it up.’ 22-year-old Angie is living a life she never signed up to... 

Gutted

Gutted

An Irish, black comedy set in 1980s Dublin where the fish factory floor becomes the stage for three women’s stories of one life-changing night... Through dynamic, interactive monologue, pure Irish storytelling, comedy and 80s music, three women dramatise the events of a significant night, taking us on a fun and poignant journey of self-discovery... 

Like Drowning

Like Drowning

E and V are women, or so they think. But what is a woman anyway? Using artificial intelligence to generate characters, Like Drowning explores identity, abuse and the pervasive gender inequalities that still exist in today's society. 

F*ck Off.

F*ck Off.

A journey of a kid from foster care to superstardom. Henry has the world in his hands but his past eventually catches up with him. Boxing is all Henry knows; relationships, money management and being a role model are hard lessons which Henry quickly learns until he is left with nothing... 

The Interview

The Interview

In a comic exploration of the disjoint between what we think and what we say, The Interview questions the meaning of living a life worth rewarding. In an interview waiting room, Alex grapples with the sudden appearance of his subconscious as a walking, talking, sarcastic bundle of joy... 

My Mate Dave Died

My Mate Dave Died

When Dave dies and is sent back to the living, he is only visible to his best friend Jimmy. It soon becomes clear their reunion is more of a curse than a blessing. Together, Jimmy and Dave must discover how to break down the walls between the living and the dead so that Dave can pass over... 

Bare Knuckle

Bare Knuckle

Bare Knuckle sheds light on the brutal (and often hidden) male world of bare knuckle fighting. This new one-man show specially written for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, reveals the emotional battles between father and son... 

Hotel

Hotel

Welcome to the Hotel, a magnificent establishment offering luxury beyond fantasy. Have you checked in? We have artisanal menus, artisanal bed linen and artisanal balconies! Enjoy your stay, but beware; some things may just be too good to be true... 

Party Night

Party Night

December, 1979. Keith and Valerie have been together for 15 years and are very much in love, but he is keeping something from her. Will a chance phone call change everything? A dark new play inspired by real-life events... 

Fast

Fast

Washington State, 1910. "Doctor" Linda Hazzard opens her sanatorium to the public. The public do not always survive… Fast by Kate Barton is a new dark psychological drama based on true events... 

Roxy Likes Cats

Roxy Likes Cats

Last night, Roxy had a phone call from her mum. She packed her bags and started the long journey home. Now she’s outside her door, knowing when she goes inside, things will never be the same. 

The Way Out

The Way Out

The Way Out is a dark absurdist comedy based on the frustration of living in the modern age. Judy Gale, a woman in her 20s, finds herself in the reception of a vast office block. As she struggles to find where it is she is meant to be going, she slowly realises that achieving the one thing you want isn’t always a simple task... 

Drunk!

Drunk!

A funny play set to a dark backdrop. Meet the standard drunks you see every night in your local, in a completely different setting. three men meet in a bar for the 100th time and one for the first – and the last. 

Nine Lives

Nine Lives

A social experiment like no other. Contestants – known only by a number – go through rigorous trials to make it to The Live Show, the ultimate reality show where all bets are off... 

Shovel

Shovel

Two tales overlap in this National Theatre New View's Award longlisted dark comedy set in Backmuir Forest, 20 miles outside Dundee. One depicts a mild-mannered call-centre operator lost on his way to a job interview, who finds himself entangled in a world of madness, murder and mystery... 

I'm Your Man – Letters of the World's Most Ambitious Job Applicant

I'm Your Man – Letters of the World's Most Ambitious Job Applicant

This unbelievably ambitious, deluded, multiple job-applicant failure attempts to inspire his audiences to become the best they can be... Think Pope, Prime Minister, James Bond... and many more! Complete with tantalising, hilarious visual snippets of his ridiculous letters! 

Crack/ed

Crack/ed

Warden, a young single mother, is determined to fight to get her addict son Ryan the treatment that he needs, before it’s too late. But can nurse Clive help guide him to sobriety, or will Ryan’s past and toxic friendship with Simon dictate his future? Highlighting the reality of men’s mental health and addiction. 

Under the Fig Tree

Under the Fig Tree

Inspired by the famous fig tree passage from Sylvia Plath\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s novel The Bell Jar, these semi-fictional characters gather in a pub to share their stories and fears about life, loss and regret... 

Rainforest Dreams

Rainforest Dreams

In collaboration with TV producer/eco campaigner Phil Williams and Ecuadorian Kichwa tribe this new multimedia play will connect you with what is happening now in the Amazonian rainforest... 

The March

The March

We protested because we believe in a better country. We protested because we believe in gender equality for all. We continue to protest through performance because we believe these conversations are worth having... 

The Drowned Bride

The Drowned Bride

A new musical by Helen Brown and John Moore, based on Daphne Du Maurier's Rebecca. A naïve and lonely young woman meets a mysterious widower in the glamorous surroundings of the French Riviera... 

Brawn

Brawn

Brawn is a portal into the world of a young man named Ryan. A world consumed by image and obsession, where self-worth is measured in muscle mass and where self-improvement becomes self-destruction... 

A Necessary Woman

A Necessary Woman

Census night, 1911. Suffragette Emily Davison is hiding in a cleaning cupboard, in the crypt beneath the Palace of Westminster. Emily plans a daring and courageous act in Parliament for Monday morning, but with a greater police presence and security tighter than usual, will she achieve her ambition before she is caught and returned to prison? Written and performed by Deborah Clair and Philippa Urquhart to celebrate the 2018 suffrage centenary... 

ScotlandsFest 2018

ScotlandsFest 2018

What was it like to paint Muriel Spark’s portrait? What is the connection between computer code, myth and magic? How do we grow a better Scotland? Does politics matter? All this and more at ScotlandsFest sessions with writers, artists and thinkers, where you are also invited to have your say... 

Birth Control

Birth Control

An intensely dramatic short play inspired by authors such as Sarah Kane and Martin Crimp, our script is an original attempt at an absurdist horror story. With themes such as rape and psychological torture, this show aims to shock and alienate the audience by distorting perceptions of reality in order to ask difficult questions about morality, retribution, and scientific progression. 

Wings

Wings

Eva is a stand-up comedian. James is head-writer for hit sitcom Flat Pancake. Their relationship is hilarious. So hilarious that it's falling apart. And there's nothing funny about that... 

Bullingdon Revisited

Bullingdon Revisited

Bizarre is the word that has stalked my mind since watching Bullingdon Revisited. Telling the infamous story of Dave, Boris and a pig, we follow a young David Cameron as he arrives at Oxford and pursues the attentions of the Bullingdon Club... 

The Quest: A Fantasy Musical

The Quest: A Fantasy Musical

Questing Voles – All’s Well That Ends As You Like It, 2017: ‘a pretty anarchic hour of fun and frolics’ (FringeReview.co.uk); Piracy!, 2013: ‘recommended show’ (FringeReview... 

Sunbathers

Sunbathers

How does it feel to be loved? A lonely office worker reflects on a past life in an idyllic countryside with his university friends. An intimate couple travel to the French Riviera, finding that they want to be together for the rest of their lives... 

Uninvited

Uninvited

‘No-one leaves home – unless home is the mouth of a shark.’ Uninvited is an original theatrical piece documenting the personal odyssey of one young migrant as he flees his war-torn home for the promise of peace abroad... 

Hysterical

Hysterical

Feminism is a tricky word. Misunderstood, misused and missing out men. Or is it? How is gender understood by the general public and what does it mean in the age of Trump, #metoo and BiC Pens for Her? We have had awkwardly frank conversations with everyone from a suffragette grandmother to pornstar Ben Dover... 

Dangerous Giant Animals

Dangerous Giant Animals

Dangerous Giant Animals is a one-person show about growing up with a disabled sibling, based on writer/performer Christina Murdock's real life experiences. As she says at the end of the show, this kind of 'everyday tragedy' is rare to see portrayed on the stage or screen... 

Timpson: The Musical

Timpson: The Musical

I sat through an hour long fever dream yesterday entitled Timpson the Musical, and to get the recommendation out of the way, I would easily go again. It’s a slapdash style of unrelenting absurdity that makes it hard not to at least crack a smile when you’re sitting there watching, if not laugh outright... 

Man Down

Man Down

Man Down emerges from three years of research and hours of interviews and discussions with people in Baltimore, USA. It is steeped in the politics of today and the #BlackLivesMatter movement... 

Everything Not Saved

Everything Not Saved

What can you remember from five years ago? Or five days ago? Five minutes ago, even? What can you be absolutely sure, beyond all doubt that you remember? MALAPROP Theatre’s new show Everything Not Saved takes the scientific theory that on a neurological level memory and imagination are exactly the same, open to endless manipulation with sometimes amusing, sometimes chilling results... 

Doom’s Day

Doom’s Day

Doomsday preppers: people who ready themselves and their homes for survival in the event of an apocalypse. Who are they? What prompts their strange behaviour? These are the questions posed by The Wax House in their compelling production of Doom’s Day... 

Alfred Hitchcock's Writers' Room

Alfred Hitchcock's Writers' Room

You do not often look around an audience during a show and see barely any unsmiling faces; scarcer still, there is unanimous overheard praise afterwards.And yet, Alfred Hitchcock’s Writers’ Room is a funny little play from the Reading University Drama Society that achieves both of those things... 

Grace

Grace

Nigel (Jonny Davidson) and his wife Sarah (Ella Dorman-Gajic) are sitting down to a dinner of soup and parsnip wine when they are interrupted by a knock on the door. The couple are initially hesitant about answering in the midst of a storm, with Nigel worried that the stranger may be a robber or a "loony"... 

Bucket Men

Bucket Men

Bucket Men takes place in a small basement studio at C Royale where two men coincidentally have jobs in a small basement of a faceless government building. They turn up for work every day, though not together, for one of them is always late... 

Hunch

Hunch

Hunch, one of two productions from DugOut Theatre this festival (along with Songlines at the Pleasance Courtyard) continues the company’s new approach of single-person storytelling with personal but universally accessible narratives... 

Goodbye Rosetta

Goodbye Rosetta

Goodbye Rosetta abounds with youthful enthusiasm and passion. That’s hardly surprising given its development by 30 young actors in collaboration with writer Katherine Manners and Director, Conor Baum... 

Ailsa Benson Is Missing

Ailsa Benson Is Missing

The synopsis of this intriguing one-woman drama can more or less be summed up by its title: Ailsa Benson Is Missing. Schoolgirl Nina, played by Samara MacLaren, is fascinated as the police arrive at school and she appears on local news... 

Skin a Cat

Skin a Cat

Rive Productions are shining the light on a condition more common than many realise: vaginismus. In this performance written by Isley Lynn and directed by Blythe Stewart, teenager Alana has a feeling she might be different... 

Queens of Sheba

Queens of Sheba

Great theatre often takes deeply personal experiences and weaves them together into stories and sequences that tap into a universality and profundity that the experiences alone wouldn't have been able to... 

Nina's Got News by Frank Skinner

Nina's Got News by Frank Skinner

It’s hard to review Nina’s Got News without revealing what Nina’s news actually is. Nina’s Got News is a kitchen-sink comedy which riffs on sexual history and status – it is a play about rising up, beyond what old friends may think is possible, and what happens when the person at the bottom becomes the person on top... 

The Insignificant Life and Death of Colin McKenzie

The Insignificant Life and Death of Colin McKenzie

Colin McKenzie has only forty minutes left to live! Come join us for the final moments of Colin's brilliant, majestic and totally mundane existence! A once in a lifetime opportunity to witness what we are all destined to become... 

Ulster American

Ulster American

Acclaimed writer David Ireland’s new play is a visceral, violent and incredibly explosive punch to the gut that passionately tears into the confused state of British identity, the politics of theatre, and society's violent undercurrent... 

Chihuahua

Chihuahua

Becky works in a café in Edinburgh. There’s a ghost and lots of types of milk, but no, J.K. Rowling did not write Harry Potter here. A collaboration between Sara MacGillivray and Phil Bartlett, last year’s winners of the Scottish Arts Club’s Bright Spark Award, this one-person show performed by Gillivray follows Becky on a journey to rediscover herself following a messy break-up... 

Care Not, Fear Naught

Care Not, Fear Naught

Piracy is not just a man’s trade in this thrilling piece Care Not, Fear Naught from Temporarily Misplaced Productions. With outstanding flair, writer and director Emily Hutt illustrates the little-known life of Anne Bonny... 

Kids Play
BOBBY WINNER

Kids Play

Glen Chandler, Edinburgh’s theatrical detective story-writing son, returns to the Festival Fringe this year with yet another ingenious triumph. The only similarity to Kids Play and anything that might be found in Taggart, however, is a pair of handcuffs... 

Waiting for Ofsted

Waiting for Ofsted

Oh how easily this ambitious project could have fallen flat on its face and oh how wonderfully it sustains itself. Making their debut at the Festival Fringe, Westcliff Boys Theatre bring their take on Samuel Beckett with Waiting for OFSTED... 

The Big Lie

The Big Lie

If the thought of watching a one woman play about a Kurdish refugee turned lawyer helping to broker a major arms deal for a Swedish law firm doesn’t thrill you then think again, as The Big Lie is a little gem... 

Shell Shock

Shell Shock

"A British soldier never runs away from a fight", Tommy Atkins proudly proclaims. All battles, however, are not the same, and neither do they all involve being on the front line... 

Eat Your Heart Out

Eat Your Heart Out

Anorexia takes centre stage in this emotional piece devised by eating disorder sufferers and survivors. Bel is a typical teenage girl studying in the lower sixth. She excels at school and loves to gossip with her close group of gal pals... 

Busking It

Busking It

'If I don’t know you and you don’t know me, then you're free in your anonymity.' Cities are full of stories – it’s amazing what you hear if you stop and listen. Drawing on her decade of singing on the tube, Danusia Samal’s Busking It is a journey through the tunnels of the London Underground... 

Sarah Keyworth: Dark Horse

Sarah Keyworth: Dark Horse

Dark Horse covers lots of ground and it is evidently the result of Keyworth tirelessly exploring multiple comic avenues. The hour touches on gender, sexuality, the comedian's childhood, and her current job being a nanny to two children from a very wealthy family, but it is well-structured and never spreads itself too thinly... 

Power, Fame and Sex

Power, Fame and Sex

As old as humanity itself. As well known as gods. Pillars of our society. But what happens if they are forced to face each other, society’s judgments and – worst of all – themselves? Three powerful personifications trying to show society who and what they really are while getting tangled up more and more in their complicated relationships with each other and their own inescapable natures. 

Deadline

Deadline

Imagine knowing when you’re going to die, exactly when you’re going to die. It would make you live your life to the fullest, right? Enter a world where at 16 you find out your date... 

Women for Trump

Women for Trump

A verbatim play created from interviews conducted across America in late 2016, Women for Trump explores why five women were, or were not, persuaded to vote for Donald Trump. The play examines why such a vast number of women chose to vote for him, despite many considering him deeply misogynistic, and considers the long-term social and political factors which may have led to this... 

Death Is the New Porn

Death Is the New Porn

'It doesn’t matter how we do it, we’re always going to end up with the same result.' Three Edinburgh vigilantes crave the thrill of murder to avenge victims of brutal crimes. Cracks begin to show dividing them and audiences alike... 

Mis(s)treated – Free

Mis(s)treated – Free

Mis(s)treated – a dark and twisted comedy about human trafficking and prostitution. Come and see how A, B and C, the owners of the town's most successful business, try to find solutions to keep their street prostitution business up and running... 

Same Old Same Oldies

Same Old Same Oldies

Three Northerners and three Southerners residing in one nursing home. How could they possibly get along? Brimming with awkward disputes and one particular loud mouth amongst the group, these oldies always find something to complain about... 

Breakfast Plays: Youthquake

Breakfast Plays: Youthquake

Three young Scottish playwrights from the Traverse Young Writers’ group join forces with three leading British writers (Ella Hickson, Kieran Hurley and Sabrina Mahfouz) to explore a pressing question of our time: how can the younger generation be a catalyst for social and political change? Paired with pieces from their professional mentors, this brave new body of work from young voices is a defiant demand to be seen as more than avocado-fuelled millennials... 

Zoo

Zoo

Zoo is a play which touches upon awkward social contracts between people, and the total indifference of the natural world. It opens with an impending event: a hurricane is about to strike a Miami zoo... 

The Gin Chronicles in New York

The Gin Chronicles in New York

The Gin Chronicles in New York is the latest saga in this well-established series that by now has something of a following. On this occasion detective duo John Jobling and Doris Golightly visit the Big Apple on holiday but are soon drawn away from sightseeing and find themselves investigating a mysterious case involving the manufacture of fake gin in Hell’s Kitchen... 

Really Want to Hurt Me

Really Want to Hurt Me

Self identity, depression, sexual awakenings and The Smiths are all topics central to writer/director Ben SantaMaria’s incredibly touching and heartfelt play about growing up gay in the 1980’s... 

No One Is Coming to Save You

No One Is Coming to Save You

No One is Coming to Save You is an abstract piece of theatre which eschews character development and plot narrative, in favour of exploring recurring images. Glasses of water, a hammer, a television set, and a dawning and dying light... 

That Bastard Brecht

That Bastard Brecht

Bertolt Brecht: genius or charlatan? The question is answered in a piece of pure Epic theatre featuring 15 new songs and choreography. The story is told through the eyes of Brecht’s most significant collaborator, Elizabeth Hauptmann who is now reputed to have written at least 80% of The Threepenny Opera... 

The Surface

The Surface

Set in a post-apocalyptic world this student-run, original musical theatre production takes place after humankind has destroyed the surface of our planet. After several decades living in the darkness, humanity hasn't changed its ways... 

The Electra Legacy

The Electra Legacy

The Electra Legacy: a modern telling of Sophocles’ ancient Greek tragedy with a brilliant new music score, this is a tale of revenge, passion and crime. An oracle informs Orestes that he must return to Argos, find his sister Electra, and take rightful, bloody revenge against Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus... 

Living With a Dark Lord

Living With a Dark Lord

When three sisters come together on their autistic brother’s 30th birthday, they can’t help but mull over their childhood with him, which was shaped by his insistence that he was, in fact, the Dark Lord... 

Rat Race

Rat Race

Rat Race is a dark tragicomedy set in a rat cage that is at the center of a badly handled experiment. Kenneth is just a PhD student doing his best, how is he supposed to know that his three lab rats are going through existential crises? The rats are trying to get on with their work in peace, but they are disrupted by a new occupant in the cage; an occupant who makes them think about their purpose for the first time... 

An Act Of

An Act Of

You’d usually begin with the start, but here the end explodes first. At the end there is always a party: some good, some not so much. This being the latter. There will be confetti... 

Trans Pennine

Trans Pennine

Trans Pennine is a funny, fast-paced, and emotional play about family disagreements, gender-identity, and caravan holidays. Following her death, the family begrudgingly go to scatter Mum’s ashes in the Yorkshire Dales – a commemoration of a wife and mother none of them liked... 

Hecate

Hecate

The chilling time travel story of the genesis and death of Lady Macbeth. Hovering in a lucid dream, helpless as she wrestles with her innocent self, the line between good and evil disappears as she is seduced by the fateful Hecate into making a damning life-changing choice... 

A Dog's Tail

A Dog's Tail

Two walks a day, food, water and love is enough for dogs, but what about their owners? It's a complex world in the park and only the dogs can make sense of it all. Can they help their owners find enlightenment or are the attempts to help them "be more dog" doomed to fail... 

Falkland – The War the World Forgot

Falkland – The War the World Forgot

Two unlikely friends find a camaraderie against a backdrop of bitter conflict, questionable politics and moral debate waged overseas. Inspired by real events, this is the extraordinary story of the ordinary people of a tiny island at the bottom of the world, the 10-and-a-half week war the world forgot and the inhabitants whose lives were forever changed by the decisions of political leaders a world away... 

Thaw

Thaw

‘They say life begins at 80...’ ‘I'm not 80. And whoever said that has never spent an afternoon in Poole.’ Thaw tells the story of Laura. At the peak of her life and at its end... 

The Bacchanals

The Bacchanals

THE BACCHANALS A Comedy Tell me what they are those rituals of yours? Mikra Theatricals invite you to draw back the curtain and take a peek backstage, into a world of paranoia, madness and drama... 

Bitches in the Ford KA

Bitches in the Ford KA

Cold Dinner Theatre return to Edinburgh with their new comedy. Fake IDs at the ready, they’re expecting booze, boys and hopefully some bonking. Bitches in the Ford KA includes a series of disasters involving cheap vodka and a MacDonald’s Fillet-O-Fish... 

A Fair Tale About a Fairy Trade

A Fair Tale About a Fairy Trade

A new musical adaptation of the classic tale of Cinderella, by Charles Perrault. However, in this modern-day version, Cinderella is not only a slave at home, but in a twist of events she ends up being trafficked and becomes a sex slave... 

Shirley; or the Inexplicable Question of God's Actions

Shirley; or the Inexplicable Question of God's Actions

Three men arrive to an audition, only to be trapped there by none other than God himself. Yes, God. And his side-kick Shirley. You’d think she’d help them escape but she rather care for her geranium... 

Tinderella and the Seven Deadly Sins

Tinderella and the Seven Deadly Sins

Ever felt like you were a princess in a fairy tale of Tinder-ella and the seven twats? Me too. Tinderella and the Seven Deadly Sins is a one-woman 'scary tale' following Eve as she navigates her way through dating in the modern world to the tune of 80s music and taste of tequila... 

The Pleasantries of Peasantry

The Pleasantries of Peasantry

The latest comedy from Theatre with Teeth. A misunderstanding results in five medieval misfits joining the Crusades with some slightly better qualified knights, travelling through Europe and leaving their lowly peasant lives behind... 

A Dangerous Woman

A Dangerous Woman

Fringe First and DarkChat Best Director winner Renny Krupinski's new one-woman play is funny, poignant, touching and disturbing. When a woman’s perfect marriage descends into a mixture of apathy, rage and enforced dependency, the reality of losing everything brings about a completely unexpected, unimaginable career change... 

Decibels

Decibels

A new one-woman show. We meet Stephanie, a twentysomething who has just moved to the city for a fresh start. She takes us through the disaster that is her life so far – drunken sex, awkward waxes, the list goes on... 

You Only Live +

You Only Live +

'The more I drink in real life, the more my babies are taken away by social services in my Sims life.' Between job interviews, Charli downloads a life simulation app. Rapidly cycling through avatars, she starts to lose sight of where its algorithm ends and the real world begins... 

I Love You... But

I Love You... But

What is your idea of love? There's a very blurred line between a protective, loving relationship and one that's abusive. When there are no visible scars, just mental ones, how do you escape when you're trapped? A budding journalist gets the opportunity to write her own column but struggles with how to use this new-found platform... 

The Hollywood Effect

The Hollywood Effect

There's a monster in your closet. Your first kiss was magical. Your heroes are perfect. Your closet is empty. Your first kiss sucked. Your heroes are flawed. Movies present a version of "normal" life we think we ought to conform to... 

Brand-New Jew, a DNA Comedy

Brand-New Jew, a DNA Comedy

What happens when a DNA test gives an adoptee a brand-new view… of herself? Playwright and performer Monica Bauer (The Year I Was Gifted) takes on her own unexpected results, along with a cast of comical characters including a reassuring Rabbi, a Brit who’s not British and Judy from Atlanta, who may be related to George Clooney... 

The Threesome

The Threesome

Cameron and Maddie meet at a singles night. While Cameron may be somewhat of an oddball, it's Maddie who begins to show herself to be more dangerous than she first appears. When they meet Lex, a quirky cat-rescue volunteer, things take a dark, gruesome, bloodthirsty, jealousy-driven turn for the worst in the most hilarious of circumstances: a threesome... 

Conchies!

Conchies!

Hundreds of thousands marched for peace but when war came, only a few dared to be different. Conchies tells the story of WWII conscientious objectors who refused to fight. Instead they strove to create a community where they could put into practice their beliefs in co-operation and nonviolence while the rest of humanity was smashing itself to bits... 

Spoiler Alert

Spoiler Alert

Maddy and Jim’s relationship is having problems. Amazingly, it’s not because Jim has forgotten her name, but because Maddy\'s suddenly become prophetic. As she ventures through Prophetics Anonymous and Prophetic Pride, the disheartening futures of her primary school students and a startling discovery about her boss, Jim tries to support her while also trying to remember her name... 

Born on a Monday

Born on a Monday

Button your shirt. Go get a haircut. Saturday's a great day to die. How do we prepare for life knowing full well that nothing will go according to plan? Based on the classic Solomon Grundy nursery rhyme, born on a Monday is a grimly humorous look at life, death, and all the days in-between... 

This Script and Other Drafts

This Script and Other Drafts

At a time of schisms within feminism, ongoing revelations of #MeToo, endless discussions about womanhood, and sirens being the soundtrack to our newsfeeds, Jenny Lindsay found herself getting a bit angry in 2017… Putting that anger to work she wrote a series of univocal poems, invented a superhero on her period, explored the rifts within feminism, set up a date with capitalism and penned some poems based on comments on PornHub videos... 

Fast

Fast

Washington State, 1910. "Doctor" Linda Hazzard opens her sanatorium to the public. The public do not always survive… Fast by Kate Barton is a new dark psychological drama based on true events... 

A Beginner's Guide to Populism

A Beginner's Guide to Populism

Getting power is easy. Find out what the public care about and make their cause your own. The residents of Little Middleton are up in arms about proposals that could spell the end of their historic community... 

Nomad

Nomad

The flat is empty. Everyone had moved out. Except for Laura and her ancient dog named Roy. Tonight she is staring down the lens of her 30th birthday. Come and celebrate one woman's intimate and darkly comic coming-of-age story, a biological kick off the edge of the cliff into the face of her hopes, desires and hot yoga. 

Walk Swiftly and With Purpose

Walk Swiftly and With Purpose

History Boys meets Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour as we follow four girls on the cusp of adulthood in this new take on the classic coming of age tale. Until now they've lived mostly in their imagination – suddenly real life interrupts and their friendship bears the brunt of it... 

Vox: A Fairy Tale for a New Age

Vox: A Fairy Tale for a New Age

Vox: A Fairy Tale for a New Age is a new work inspired by real-life occurrences in the life of Rowlett High School students. Our website has more information about our journey creating the show and the events inspiring its creation. 

Tenacious D: The Musical of Destiny

Tenacious D: The Musical of Destiny

This epic rock comedy tells the story of a young rocker JB, from Kickapoo, journeying to find his counterpart in rock KG, and together they form the band… Tenacious D! Once formed, they decide to chase the legend of a magical pick that has shaped the history of modern music for decades and will give them ultimate rock power! Along with a group of rambunctious roadies, a super sugary groupie girl and a take-no-shit tour manager, they will put their musical spirits and their friendship to the test. 

Marsistan

Marsistan

Project Venture seeks to establish a permanent human colony on Mars and Dr Aysha Malik will be among the first brave souls to make the trip, but she’ll have to contend with her traditionalist sister Nasreen first... 

Upcastle Downcastle

Upcastle Downcastle

UnderOwl Theatre present their debut show: Upcastle Downcastle. Evil sorceress, Morgan le Fay, has stolen the Holy Grail! With King Arthur gone a bit loopy, it’s up to unassuming royal chef, Rowan, his mother, the amorous Lady Matilda, and a few familiar characters from Arthurian legend to save the day! A madcap, slightly raunchy, comedy pantomime for grownups, filled with ridiculous characters, stupid puns, frankly bizarre plot points, more drag parts than we originally intended, and a very, very low budget... 

Let's Be Frank!

Let's Be Frank!

When age and illness takes hold, sometimes there is a burning desire to tell the disturbing truth of life's great triumphs and sadness. A showbiz life... a life that is Frank Sinatra. 

The Meeting

The Meeting

Traversing Edinburgh in August is sure to invite all sorts of flyerers. But this festival, you may be asked “Have you ever met a psychopath?” I suggest you follow up immediately... 

On the Exhale

On the Exhale

“You always thought it would be you”. This line repeats and echoes throughout the first half of the play, reminding the audience just how real these situations are. In the six years since the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting, the prevalence of school shootings has been unavoidable... 

Warhol: Bullet Karma

Warhol: Bullet Karma

Warhol: Bullet Karma invites you to meet everyone’s favourite eccentric pop artist. We bear witness to Andy Warhol as he tells of his Pennsylvania roots, his move to New York and the establishment of the famous ‘Factory’... 

User Not Found

User Not Found

Amid the hubbub of cafe chatter and the hiss of milk steaming a mobile phone vibrates with messages of condolences.Terry (Terry Donovan) is about to get a lesson in 21st century grief - his ex-boyfriend, Luka, has died and left Terry in charge of his social media accounts as his ‘online legacy executor’... 

The Vanishing Man

The Vanishing Man

Knowledge = Belief and Truth. This is the backdrop to the performance, as we enter the room to an Edwardian showman - David Aula – standing on a grand piano. With a brooding sense of anticipation, Simon Evans reassures us that "it’s going to be okay", and with that we are catapulted into the story of the greatest magic trick ever performed... 

The Cat's Mother

The Cat's Mother

One of the most valuable functions of theatre is to offer us a way to explore difficult issues without fear of blame without fear of censure. By creating a fictitious character and charting their path through a tricky situation, we offer a way to gather reactions and opinions without making it personal... 

Revelations

Revelations

James Rowland may not strike you as a sperm donor if you met him in the street, but this is a man prepared to go to the ends of the earth to help his best friend and her wife find their happy ending... 

Proxy

Proxy

A one woman show, Proxy delves into the lives of mother and daughter Dee Dee and Gypsy, two women from the southern states of America. Both parts are played by Caroline Burns Cooke – Dee Dee a protective mother who believes she’s doing the best for her daughter, and Gypsy, a sick child who just wants to live... 

Beaker's Place

Beaker's Place

Beaker’s only friend in the world, his cat, is dead. With nothing left to live for, Beaker decides to end it all, but not before work comes calling. And he doesn’t have just any old job, he disposes of dead bodies for those who drop them at his door... 

Ladykiller

Ladykiller

With little more than a bedside lamp, a leather armchair and a helpful cadaver, The Thelmas have brought to life a deliciously morbid monologue that will please fans of Fleabag, Making a Murderer and everything in between... 

Island Town

Island Town

The Paines Plough Roundabout is an incredibly versatile venue. Though its playing space is small and surrounded by audience seating, it often feels expansive – inclusive of the characters’ whole worlds... 

Badgered

Badgered

A traumatic event involving her husband and a fish leaves Annabelle feeling emotionally abused and vulnerable, heightening her existing empathy towards the issues of animal cruelty and exploitation... 

Twa

Twa

A powerful performance that weaves together memoir and myth in a blend of theatrical storytelling and digital and live drawing response. Award-winning writer Annie George and visual artist Flore Gardner unwind contrasting stories about women who are silenced or censored and who discover other means of expression besides the voice to convey their truths... 

Cat-in-a-Box

Cat-in-a-Box

A play in 10 short scenes. Henry and Kate are on holiday in a cottage on the Firth of Lorn. Henry is a poet. He has come here hoping to save his marriage. But each time he tries, he is relocated by the power of physics from one parallel universe to another, always looking for the one where his wife still loves and cares for him and won’t eventually leave... 

The Death of Edgar Allan Poe

The Death of Edgar Allan Poe

In the moments before his death, America’s most celebrated author of the macabre reveals how his sins and the tragedies of his life lead to his descent into madness and alcoholism, inspiring his dark and thrilling works... 

She Taught Me How to Breathe Again

She Taught Me How to Breathe Again

A one-to-one performance for a group of individuals. Put on your headphones, listen in and imagine yourself in the place of another... Premiering at this year's Fringe, She Taught Me How to Breathe Again combines new writing and live performance in a show which examines human relationships, differences in perspective and asks how we might change when we think someone's watching... 

You're a Star!

You're a Star!

'Zoe. Get me God on line one. And while you’re at it, bend the space-time continuum, I’m going to be late for my Nobu lunch with Terry Wogan.' You're a Star! is a comical and at times tragic deep dive into the high pressured, often ludicrous world of personal assistants. 

Fronting

Fronting

A bold and convention-bashing introspection on the impact of HIV, through the medium of two young gay men. David and Will catch each others’ eyes over the mist of a steamy nightclub... 

Missing Hypnos / Free Frestival

Missing Hypnos / Free Frestival

Ollie has chronic insomnia, a mental and physical illness that affects 10% of people in the UK. What started as a few sleepless nights on holiday in New York in 2007, quickly turned into a decade-long struggle with insomnia... 

A Queer Love of Dix

A Queer Love of Dix

A new piece devised for this year’s festival sees Aletia Upstairs, cabaretist extraordinaire, follow-up her Mata Hari Fringe success with an exploration of Weill, Brecht, and Weimar cabaret songs like Falling in Love Again, Alabama Song and I Am a Vamp relating them to contemporary events, against a backdrop of expressionist painter Otto Dix... 

Mungo: Legend of Glasgow's Saint

Mungo: Legend of Glasgow's Saint

The Bird, the Bell, the Fish, and the Tree... all part of Glasgow's coat of arms, but do you know the full story? Written and directed by Stephen Callaghan. Music and songs by Vincent Mellon... 

Rocket Man

Rocket Man

Set in the heyday of glam rock and science fiction, Rocket Man is the story of a young man with bipolar disorder. When Tristan is caught in a deadly obsession with fleeing the Earth to live on the moon, he loses his job, his fiancee and his friends... 

Let's Inherit the Earth

Let's Inherit the Earth

World premiere. Global warming, environmental destruction, mass extinction – this is the life! Morna Pearson’s punky new climate change comedy with songs, directed by Ben Harrison, design by Ulla Karlsson, and music by Jonny Hardie... 

Kelty Clippie the Musical

Kelty Clippie the Musical

Based on the popular traditional folk song, Kelty Clippie follows the comic adventures of a bus conductress in Fife. Maggie gets trained up on her new job and surely this is a career for life? She meets some interesting passengers and ends up in the legendary Kelty Club, but will she find romance? Lots of laughs and new original songs from Willie Logan from this award-winning company... 

Your Alice

Your Alice

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a story most people know, but the life of Charles Dodgson, alias Lewis Caroll, and the real Alice Liddell is much less popular. Your Alice combines elements of both real historical events and the fantasy world of Wonderland to create an absolute masterpiece of modern theatre... 

BaseCamp

BaseCamp

Fever Dream Theatre’s BaseCamp promises an immersive experience in the rivalry between two world-class mountain climbers preparing for a joint ascent of a Himalayan mountain. The audience is split between their two tents, hearing one side of the multi-faceted story of their relationship and career... 

Square Go

Square Go

What’s a ‘square go’? Noun: A rammy. A stramash. Fisticuffs. A fight by the school gates. A rite of passage. A chance to prove yourself.Square Go convincingly showcases Gary McNair and Kieran Hurley’s status as two of Scotland’s leading playwrights with their foul-mouthed love letter to Scottish boyhood... 

Lucille and Cecilia

Lucille and Cecilia

“Arf, Arf, Arffff.” What do you mean you expected this performance to be in English? The first opening scenes of this original comedy from new writers Banging Average Theatre is entirely in sea lion, and completely, physically, bonkers... 

Games by Henry Naylor

Games by Henry Naylor

Multi-award winning playwright Henry Naylor returns to the fringe with a stunning two-hander set in Nazi Germany that is both incredibly poignant and unnervingly timely.Games takes place across multiple Olympic games during the 1930s, focussing on two German athletes... 

Agenda

Agenda

Are men really from Mars and women from Venus? Is it still just a man's world? Will wearing the trousers make a difference and what is wrong with wearing skirts anyway? Do I have to be the breadwinner? Throw like a girl? Man up? Cluck like a hen or buck like a stag? Agenda is an episodic play that explores gender, the pressures of growing up and the struggle to find an identity. 

All Change

All Change

All Change is a new bittersweet comedy about growing old. Ivor appears physically robust, but somehow fragile; not unhappy, yet not quite there, the world inside his brain a psychedelic mixture of the present and the past... 

The Myth of the Singular Moment

The Myth of the Singular Moment

On a train heading south, the eyes of a tired man meet those of a woman weeping, if only for a moment. Nothing more than a look links these travellers, though over the course of the next hour, performers Jim Harbourne and Kirsty Ella McIntyre will convince otherwise... 

What Girls Are Made Of

What Girls Are Made Of

The Traverse One stage looks more ready for a gig than a piece of theatre, but while music undoubtedly runs through the heart of Cora Bissett's latest, most autobiographical work, this is equally a heartfelt examination of parent-child relationships, presented with passion, tenderness and the fuck-you attitude of rock 'n' roll at its best... 

In for a Penny

In for a Penny

In For A Penny is Libby McArthur’s true-life tale of the unforeseen consequences of an unpaid parking ticket - how one person can fall foul of a system that sees only the facts and not the context and how one oversight can spiral to far more serious consequences... 

Blackout

Blackout

I’ll begin by noting that this particular viewing was unfortunately tarnished by a very inconsiderate audience, where both latecomers and six mid-show phone calls bombarded the five actors with distractions... 

When You Fall Down: The Buster Keaton Story

When You Fall Down: The Buster Keaton Story

If silent Hollywood star Buster Keaton is remembered for anything, it's his emotionless, mask-like expression; so the initial shock here is that this Buster speaks and smiles. "Yes, I have a voice... 

Blackthorn by Charley Miles

Blackthorn by Charley Miles

Home is a powerful concept. It rejuvenates you but it can also demand; it gives you a solid base from which to move forward as well as the chains that hold you back. So what do you do if your home isn't just a place but also a person?In the village of Blackthorn, two children are born two years apart; Her - precocious, bright and curious - and Him - clumsy and bashful but brave and strong... 

Unsung

Unsung

With the advent of the internet, smartphones and social media, today’s politics happens under an unprecedented level of scrutiny. Our leaders live their lives out in the open, permanently exposed, public figures made more public than ever... 

The Egg Is a Lonely Hunter

The Egg Is a Lonely Hunter

Single person monologues have long been a fringe staple, but nevertheless they are incredibly difficult to successfully pull off. With her show The Egg is A Lonely Hunter, Hannah Mamalis just about manages... 

Sticks and Stones

Sticks and Stones

Free speech is a right fiercely protected in today’s society. To deny someone a voice is to deny them a fundamental part of their existence. Yet this inalienable right to speak is balanced by the need to take care what you say, especially when one word out of turn can dog you forever... 

Legacy: The Book of Names

Legacy: The Book of Names

At first glance The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland's two collaborative productions with the American Music Theatre Project may seem remarkably similar to last year's pair. Two tales of the journey between Scotland and America, bridging the gap between the nations in a manner similar to the collaborative nature of their creation... 

Frau Welt

Frau Welt

An outstanding singular performance by Peter Clements, that draws upon - yet uniquely embraces - the fine traditions of drag queen finesse, dark humour, sexual allure and celebration... 

Canoe

Canoe

“Who are we, now that we don’t have kids?” Matthew Roberts performs as three key characters in this touching one-man performance: as two fathers, David and Tom, that lose their 9 and 11 year old children in a tragic accident; and as their adopted son, Andrew... 

De Fuut

De Fuut

Winner of the 2017 Best International Performance Award at the 2017 Fringe Festival, Amsterdam and hit of the 2018 Brighton Fringe. The thing about Lolita is that you're just completely consumed and engrossed by the ardent passion of a man, who is forever doomed to crave something sinister, something twisted... 

Dangerous Giant Animals

Dangerous Giant Animals

A kick. A scream. A tantrum. When it comes to disability, what’s allowed? What’s forbidden? This is a middle-child story of the extraordinary range of experience that comes from growing up too soon alongside a sister who will never grow up... 

BBC Pop-Up Radio Drama Studio at Summerhall

BBC Pop-Up Radio Drama Studio at Summerhall

The BBC is creating an intimate live pop up radio studio at Summerhall. Eight fresh audio plays from leading writers are being recorded for broadcast on BBC Radio 3. This is a unique opportunity to see how a radio drama is put together – complete with a full cast and live sound effects... 

Primrose Path

Primrose Path

Chriss and Damon are in love. They have rules, they have roles – and they play games. Sometimes, they hurt each other. When they play. Such is love. Love is winning. Chriss and Damon are in love... 

Meek

Meek

The Traverse Festival program has jumped into action, already selling out full days' worth of shows at a time. The venue has high reputation for its new writing and for good reason... 

How to Swim in Hollywood

How to Swim in Hollywood

“Up, up, up. Down, down, down.” This is just one of the many repetitions Alice Sylvester uses to build the time capsule that is How to Swim in Hollywood. Sylvester begins at a white vanity in a white nightgown with long blonde hair, immediately invoking images of Marilyn Monroe before her death... 

Alma, a Human Voice

Alma, a Human Voice

Alma: A Human Voice is a one-person performance focused on portraying and contrasting two characters from the early 1900s. One of these is painter Oskar Kokoschka, who famously made a life-size doll of his former lover, and muse, Alma Mahler; the other is the main character in Cocteau’s Opera, La Voix Humaine, a heart-broken woman... 

The Half Moon Shania

The Half Moon Shania

Punk and theatre aren't the strangest of bedfellows, but there is something that often feels false when collectives of art school graduates and professionally-trained actors attempt to go rock 'n' roll for the evening... 

Shower Thoughts

Shower Thoughts

The bathroom of a student flat is not a place you'd want to spend 5 minutes, let alone an hour. Often unhygenic, unclean and coated in everything from shaving foam to old pizza boxes, they are not an enjoyable place to be... 

Paper Dolls

Paper Dolls

Paper Dolls is advertised as a one-man show, but the person standing in front of us for the next hour isn't the show’s performer, writer, director and producer Shaun Nolan; rather it's Billy, a young man who apparently decided to become a politician and sprouted his first pubic hair on the same day... 

Greyhounds

Greyhounds

Set in the small village of Shuttlefield, Greyhounds sees the local amateur dramatic society attempt to raise money for a Spitfire fighter aircraft by putting on a production of Shakespeare’s Henry V... 

Of Rags and Bones

Of Rags and Bones

Inspired by the short stories of Anais Nin, NYT present new fables of modern love and ritual. On the night bus, on the last train, amongst the detritus of deserted pubs and clubs and in the secret corners of the city, pickpocket poets steal the stories of the lost... 

Theatre Uncut: Women on Power

Theatre Uncut: Women on Power

The multi award-winning political agitators are back at the Traverse with a morning of outstanding new writing and fiery debate. Join the Theatre Uncut team as they present their brand-new collection of plays by some of the UK's most dynamic female playwrights exploring the theme of power... 

Casanova Dreaming

Casanova Dreaming

The greatest master is passion, who makes slaves of us all... Asleep in bed with his first true love, 19-year-old Giacomo Casanova is visited by an old man who shows him his future – but is what he sees a promise or a warning? In this one-act drama, award-winning playwright Martin Foreman casts a sympathetic eye on the famous libertine and the women in his life... 

Achilles’ Heel: TLC

Achilles’ Heel: TLC

Tony believes in the healing powers of stories; Iain’s been scrubbing his fingers since 3am; Saffron’s stalking her piano teacher. The group emerges: ready for therapy. But Cressida deflects her gaze... 

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow

There's a lot teenagers don't know about the world. But there's a lot more that no one knows. Georgia finds a black hole in her bedroom – everything has been floating away since her sister's death, and this is the final straw... 

Pre-View

Pre-View

Four readings from brand-new plays by Erica Mack, Felix Maxwell, Madison Pollack and Derek Roland, who are graduating from the MSc in Playwriting at the University of Edinburgh. Performed by professional actors... 

The Only One in the World

The Only One in the World

Meet Liv – clever, funny, confident – everything a 15-year-old girl wants to be. Until her world is turned upside down and inside out. Meet Liv – lonely, hurting, vulnerable – everything a predator wants his victim to be... 

And Then There's Me...

And Then There's Me...

The world is full of wonderfully different people – dramatic, dreamy, daring and disturbing! Join our medley of characters on an energetic journey through their dreams, hopes and fears as they each discover what makes them different and exciting... 

Sad Clowns

Sad Clowns

Can you decide how you're remembered? Would you want to? Would you leave a video behind just in case? Two people on stage. One person has hit the record button. What ensues is a cabaret of various ways in which one can attempt to preserve their memory, from a death tango to a reality TV skit... 

Dick Whittington – The Panto

Dick Whittington – The Panto

Is that a panto I see on the Fringe? Oh yes it is! Join Dick Whittington, his cat and a host of colourful characters on a fun-filled family adventure from Liverpool to London... then on to the tropical island of Fandango... 

Skirt

Skirt

Becs is a single mum and leader of the opposition party in Scotland. Oldest daughter Ellie is about to go off to university while Neve is still at primary school and struggling. Becs is offered the chance to head up the party at Westminster... 

613 Seeds

613 Seeds

An original piece exploring the words we let fly, stop signs, and those we meet at the crossroads. Textured and amplified by Chicago voices, 613 Seeds rejects the premise that you need to know the answer. 

A Dangerous Woman

A Dangerous Woman

Fringe First and DarkChat Best Director winner Renny Krupinski's new one-woman play is funny, poignant, touching and disturbing. When a woman’s perfect marriage descends into a mixture of apathy, rage and enforced dependency, the reality of losing everything brings about a completely unexpected, unimaginable career change... 

The Fetch Wilson

The Fetch Wilson

The Fetch Wilson is the type of play that might work very well as a film, or so you might think upon leaving the theatre. The story follows Liam Wilson, or Bill, as he becomes after encountering a child at school with the same name... 

Elise

Elise

Elise Cowen. The poet who disappeared from history, leaving little more than an envelope of burnt verses as her legacy. In these dramatised interviews which were recorded after her suicide, various figures from Elise’s life struggle to put the writer into words... 

Awakening

Awakening

Kirsty Osmon captivates the audience from the first moment her drunken anti-heroin wakes. Love, loss and the consequences of a night out from hell are all tackled in this blackly comedic and, at times, heartbreakingly bittersweet new one woman show, brought by Empty Wallet Productions, to this year's festival... 

Angry Alan by Penelope Skinner

Angry Alan by Penelope Skinner

Walking into the dark depths of the Big Belly at Underbelly, my expectations are low as I take my seat and note there’s a leak in the roof above my chair. My eye catches the on-stage screen, scrolling through social media tweets and posts featuring anti-feminist ‘men's rights activist’ rhetoric about the oppression of men... 

Tinderella – An Adult Panto

Tinderella – An Adult Panto

This is the story of Tinderella on the hunt for a sexy fella. Sick of being single, she bags herself a hot date with a Z-list celeb – Made in Chelsea’s Spencer Matthews. But before she can get her hair fixed, nails done and fake tan sorted, disaster strikes! Her wicked stepmother cuts her benefits... 

Someone Somewhere by Sam Potter

Someone Somewhere by Sam Potter

Summer. A music festival. A group of friends celebrate their exam results. Hazel wants to get drunk. Diana wants to lose her virginity. Vampire Boy wants to change and Livi... well, Livi just wants to forget about everything that has happened for a while but some things are just too big to forget, even if it’s only for one weekend... 

Strangers: Mindreader

Strangers: Mindreader

There is a man who reads minds and predicts the future. How he does this remains a mystery to most. His explanation is bizarre, but is it all lies and trickery? Or is it stranger than you could possibly imagine? Returning to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe after two successful previous years, director and multi award-winning magician Joe Strickland presents a show that uniquely blends magic with storytelling... 

Prehistoric

Prehistoric

In an empty and decaying room four performers armed only with limited props, a beat up collection of instruments, and a selection of microphones bring to life a tale of anger, rage, and protest that lifts the spirit and goes down as one of the most thrilling and unique shows you’re likely to see at the Festival this year... 

Glasgow '14

Glasgow '14

Glasgow ’14 is a one man show, inhabiting the minds of four very different men and their experiences of mental illness. The backdrop is Glasgow 2014, and the events of the bin lorry crash at George Square... 

Brenda's Got a Baby

Brenda's Got a Baby

Brenda’s Got a Baby was birthed from a concept created by Molly Rumford, financed via Crowdfunder and the culmination of interviews and news stories from real people. The audience joins Amy and Brenda in the intimate setting of their living room, as a voiceover narrates the attitudes and experiences of working class girls reflecting on their life destinations... 

Providence

Providence

"Life is a hideous thing," we're told by the lean figure of Simon Maeder, dressed for dinner and sitting in a leather armchair like some classic teller of ghost stories... 

1-2-1 This Sex Is Real

1-2-1 This Sex Is Real

Ever get that sinking feeling that you will never be enough? Take a nose dive into toxic millennial sex and online dating in this brutally honest, highly comic look at a very millennial relationship... 

The Last Sesh

The Last Sesh

After a hugely successful run in 2017 – 'I didn't expect for it to be that damn excellent' (LexicalLunacy.wordpress.com) – Ball Pit Theatre are back with their brand-new and original piece, The Last Sesh... 

You've Got To Be Kidney Me!

You've Got To Be Kidney Me!

Inspired by the true story of Dr Horror: a 2008 case against a man from Brampton, Canada guilty of organ theft. This satirical dark comedy surrounds the story of three childhood friends who are reunited years after going their separate ways... 

Bag for Life

Bag for Life

Dark comedy exploring morality and mortality. Laura walks in on a suicide for the second time in her life, and breaks every rule she knows just to stop it happening again. Toby is saved from a suicide attempt by a sarcastic stranger (who won’t shut up), and he’s forced to re-evaluate his actions and wonder if he’s doing the right thing... 

Parker and the City in the Sea

Parker and the City in the Sea

Colleen is angry at her peers, angry at her teachers and angry at her brother, Parker, who imagines himself as an undersea explorer in a one-man submersible. But when faced with the possibility that she might lose everything she has, Colleen must undertake a journey to face her own demons; a journey that carries her from the halls of her high school to the depths of the ocean floor... 

The River Was a God

The River Was a God

BBC and UK slam poetry champion performs poems and songs from The River Was a God (published this year by Stairwell Books), a collection of three poetry shows performed at the Fringe: Science, Love and Revolution; Building God; and The Other Side of the Flood... 

Uke Belong to Me

Uke Belong to Me

Big Squirrel return to Edinburgh with their latest award-winning comedy. Tom, a quirky 25-year-old zoologist stumbles across a dishevelled runaway bride, Kitty Chen, stuck in a tree... 

Bite-Size Plays Presents: Neverwant

Bite-Size Plays Presents: Neverwant

Neverwant: the algorithm of life. A brand-new story about a passion that can't breach the firewall. If everything you've ever yearned for is just a constant impending update, what's left to want? Isn't the definition of freedom a heart without desire? Neverwant explores a world where love is nothing more than a bug in the system... 

bad things happen here

bad things happen here

The nation has never been healthier. Crime is down. Streets are clean. Civility reigns. But out of the corner of your eye you might catch a glimpse of the men keeping things orderly... 

Strangers: Pairs

Strangers: Pairs

Survivors on a desert island, siblings in their mother’s attic, magicians preparing a new show. These pairs tell three stories interwoven with magic and illusion to create an audience experience like no other... 

The B in the Room

The B in the Room

Dana's 39, happy, comfortable. Elliot is a teenager from a Christian background. When they both reach moments of crisis, they have to ask themselves why it's so hard to go against their relative norms... 

Monsieur Somebody

Monsieur Somebody

What’s the biggest lie you’ve ever told? The biggest secret you’ve ever kept? Claude the fraud is a deliciously despicable Frenchman that we love to hate, hate to love… But who could possibly love Claude? An absurdly comic tale of betrayal, barbiturates and a brew... 

Scratch

Scratch

Squabbling House Theatre are delighted to present their first piece of original writing: Scratch. Scratch is a collection of original writing shorts created by members of Squabbling House and compiled into one 50-minute performance... 

Moonlight On Leith

Moonlight On Leith

From the Burds that brought you Bawsoot Theatre – inspired by Dylan Thomas’s Under Milk Wood, Moonlight On Leith is a love letter to Edinburgh’s wayward daughter. A comic insight into the lives of Leithers – come slip on the shoes of her nocturnal residents and take a stroll to the shore after dark… 

Bristol Revunions Present: Hoops

Bristol Revunions Present: Hoops

The Bristol Revunions return to the free Fringe with their show Hoops. Featuring a three-week rotating cast across the festival, the show promises to be a 'masterclass in student sketch comedy' (Epigram, 2017). 

hunger

hunger

Joanna Ward and Ryan Hay's hunger is an original short opera inspired by Kafka's A Hunger Artist. This radical and claustrophobic piece follows a woman artist raging against the reductive categories into which the art world forces her... 

9/11 Was a Conspiracy

9/11 Was a Conspiracy

Modern dating and a devastating terrorist attack do not, at first, seem like complimentary subject matters for a romantic comedy, and yet in 52Up Production’s new show 9/11 Was a Conspiracy Theory, the two are brought together in a brilliantly unique and devastatingly funny new monologue... 

Starfish

Starfish

I’ve never seen a play in a 20-seat theatre before but, with the gentle storytelling of Starfish, a small venue seems right. Newly written by Luna Rose and performed by a bright-eyed cast of three, it’s the story of a romance and the bumps along the way... 

1902

1902

Saltire Sky\'s hit debut show is back. Follow these fearless young Scots in their quest to see their heroes lift the Scottish cup. Laughter, tears and bevy are guaranteed in this electric piece of new writing... 

The Edge of You

The Edge of You

'I used to think love was about not knowing where I end and you begin... but now I think it’s about waiting at the edge of you when I can’t get any closer.' From the outside, James and Grace seem the perfect couple... 

Dear Lucy...

Dear Lucy...

In 1918, the letters stopped and Lucy had to face life having lost her fiancé and brother in the last few weeks of the war. This true story suggests the effects of this trauma on her life after WWI and how these might have been passed down through the generations... 

Bon the Musical

Bon the Musical

Born in Scotland, Bon Scott emigrated to Australia and joined rock band AC/DC to become a legend. Starring ex-Nazareth vocalist Linton Osborne as Bon, we recall the trials and the triumphs with new, original songs by Willie Logan, along with some Bon classics performed live... 

The Edge of You

The Edge of You

'I used to think love was about not knowing where I end and you begin... but now I think it’s about waiting at the edge of you when I can’t get any closer.' From the outside, James and Grace seem the perfect couple... 

Nutshells

Nutshells

I tried to put myself in a neat, cosy nutshell. But none felt right and they were all pretty suffocating. Come see me crack them open... One woman explores the spectrum of the weird and wonderful, mental health and being human... 

Creating Rumours

Creating Rumours

Creating Rumours recounts the lives of Fleetwood Mac at the time of the recording of their most notorious album, Rumours. This unofficial work focuses on the band’s battle to stay together and finish the album despite all the personal struggles and heartache they were dealing with at the time... 

Face 2 Face

Face 2 Face

Technology is becoming a greater force within our society; everyday we are becoming more dependent on it. Set 20 years in the future, we see the story of Ben and Emma who are different from the norm... 

Elsie Thatchwick

Elsie Thatchwick

'Dearest Elsie, if you're reading this, I'm dead. I hope you're sitting comfortably. Below is the address of your father. He's alive... I know you're probably thinking I'm a right old fanny for naw telling you sooner... 

Armour: A Herstory of the Scottish Bard

Armour: A Herstory of the Scottish Bard

What do the widow and mistress of Scotland's famous bard discuss over tea? After the death of Robert Burns, his wife Jean Armour and mistress Nancy Maclehose, finally meet. Female-led theatre company Fearless Players bring an all-female production dedicated to the women behind Scotland’s history... 

Violet

Violet

Violet is starting to forget. But she's got a long life to remember before she does. There are rights to wrong and ends to tie up; a life well lived is never neat. Generations younger, Bertie is at the beginning with no idea what lies ahead... 

Better

Better

Two Women. One Objective. To work out who has it Better. Rebecca is floundering through her 30s, attempting to balance her feminist ideals with getting a boyfriend. Pauline’s into her 50s, juggling husband, kids and career; to her, floundering through your 30s without any responsibility looks like a lot of fun... 

Puffin Island

Puffin Island

Cara, a college student from America, is having the time of her life traveling overseas in Europe for the summer. She meets Paul, a fellow actor and Scottish native, in Edinburgh. One date quickly turns into days of exploring Scotland... 

Stella

Stella

Greetings from The Giant's Causeway, Spring 1967... it's the annual social club trip for a group of knicker factory workers from industrial Middlesbrough, busy enjoying the sights, sounds and smells of Northern Ireland... 

Old Souls

Old Souls

A heart-warming comedy play following Rosie and Vera who are brought together through a 'befriend the elderly' scheme. Rosie, a 21-year-old amateur baker living a self-imposed life of solitary dullness, and Vera, a 78-year-old who longs for the vivacious days of her youth... 

Kidding

Kidding

When did you last speak to your Mum? Last week? Last year? We've been asking everyone from grandparents to schoolkids. The stories they've told us unfold the parent/child relationship in all its beauty and bathos, silliness and sadness... 

Definition of Man

Definition of Man

A sexier, more violent Waiting for Godot, Definition of Man is a physicalised post-apocalyptic decreation myth that won Best in Dance and Physical Theatre and Ripest Show at the 2017 Hollywood Fringe... 

Swap Shop

Swap Shop

Dan and Jamie. Jamie and Dan. They've been together so long sometimes it's hard to tell where one of them ends and the other begins. But that's a good thing, isn't it? It's nice to be that close to someone... 

Mission: Her

Mission: Her

Have you ever felt that life was more a grocery list than a box of chocolates? Social media feeds are filled with people ticking events off the list, yet you feel you that you’ve not even made it to the shops! Her is twentysomething, she has a five-year plan in place but life events put a spanner in the works... 

An Abundance of Tims

An Abundance of Tims

An Abundance of Tims is, quite clearly, all about Tim. Tim recently became the hero of a small rural town. There was only one problem – it was completely by accident. Tonight, he tells his side of the story... 

Bottled Up

Bottled Up

Meet Jeanie. She hoards plastic bottles. No one’s perfect. Better the bottles are kept in here than let them wander about out there – so please excuse the mess! Her newborn baby, Sophie, is quiet for the first time since they got back from the maternity ward... 

Big Trouble in Little Monkey's Daycare

Big Trouble in Little Monkey's Daycare

Tommy is four-and-a-quarter years old, and a hard-boiled private investigator on the mean streets of Little Monkey’s Daycare. With his mostly silent partner Bobby, he sets out to uncover a plot that seems to go right to the top of the playground, which admittedly is not very high at all... 

Wakey Wakey

Wakey Wakey

Four twenty-something-year-old friends come back to their hometown to celebrate the life of Jessica, their best friend’s late wife. Tom, a vicar in training with an alcohol problem; Alexander, who for some reason is wearing a wedding dress; Alexandra, a nymphomaniac with little tact; and Trent, an immature man-child with as many manners as a teaspoon... 

Bumpkins

Bumpkins

An hour of stand-up from a trio of bumpkins. 'Each a force of nature and a full throttled idiot' (Logan Murray). Eleri, Fiona and Ruth mix social commentary with silliness as they simplify the complex and complicate the simple... 

17 Days *CANCELLED*

17 Days *CANCELLED*

Why is it so easy to stop fighting for something that, at one point, was everything? You meet people once, you love people once, you lose people once. 9:40pm. London. Ingrid is waiting for an answer... 

Gayface

Gayface

Everything in Hal's life is looking up. He was just cast as the lead in a new play with a well-known director, a friendly co-star and a hot gay playwright. Only one problem – they all think he's straight... 

After Today

After Today

In this mixture of drama and black comedy, we meet TV presenter Bill Grundy some three years after his profanity-littered, car-crash interview with the Sex Pistols live on teatime TV in 1976... 

Early Birds

Early Birds

The new play Early Birds, from the writers of Birds of a Feather, Maurice Gran and Laurence Marks, tells the incredible yet true story of the birth of one of the nation’s favourite sit-coms... 

The Darker Side of Musicals

The Darker Side of Musicals

Join Shoogalie Road as you've never seen them before for an evening of musical theatre as we perform excerpts from Jekyll and Hyde, Phantom of the Opera and Sweeney Todd. With a brand-new script by Filipa Fallow, we've managed to link all three shows together, so you can expect a few twists along the way... 

Little Sparks

Little Sparks

A frantic, romantic comedy by Paul Richards which follows the lives of three intelligent but bored office workers, who also happen to be fire wardens. Obsessed with fire, because it's the only thing they can’t control in their mundane daily routine, they can't wait to jump into action and save the day... 

Lucky

Lucky

Lucy is young, fresh-faced and feeling lucky. She also just lost her mother. Propelled by contingency, she is sent to live with her estranged father, Lothario and long-time lad Ricky Pense, infamous for his problematic dating show... 

Testament

Testament

'The realities of life, dream and hallucination are beautifully interwoven offering the spectator an amazing journey' (Marcin Rudy, Song Of The Goat). Winner of The Creativity Award 2018... 

Good Vibes Only

Good Vibes Only

There's no such thing as vanilla, boring or prudish. We don't care if you're a virgin or a full-blown raging nudist! Welcome to Good Vibes Only, Gloucester’s leading sex toy superstore! Join Doris’s staff team and meet the regulars/irregulars who thrust open our doors on a daily basis... 

In Pursuit of Andromeda

In Pursuit of Andromeda

Scilly Isles, shortly after WWI. Edward, a fisherman haunted by the war, rescues a mysterious girl floating on the morning water, singing in a language unknown to him and brings her ashore... 

Harry Poppers and the Deathly Swallows

Harry Poppers and the Deathly Swallows

After a sell-out Edinburgh Fringe run in 2017, we return with the story of Harry Poppers and the Deathly Swallows! You may have heard a similar story before, but we will take you on a very different journey... 

Re: Production

Re: Production

Karen and Tom met and married when they were really young. They're grown-ups now. Their friends are painting the spare room sunset yellow. Flexible working hours, baby yoga, PTA meetings... 

Hug the Bunny

Hug the Bunny

Rage, nymphomania, ecstasy and numbness. When the ghost of hysterias past comes knocking at Nina’s door, how will she reconcile the different parts of her personality? A piece of new writing that explores the madness and restrictions of modern day society... 

Model Behaviour

Model Behaviour

'I've been modelling so long now it's who I am.' Our model is a quick-witted twenty-something who's destined for the top. Or... she was at 15. Aware she's getting on in the eyes of the industry and with fashion week fast approaching, she tries to kick it up a notch... 

Waiting

Waiting

You can't just take a break from your life. No matter how hard it gets, there's no pause button. We're like sharks. Keep moving or die. Victoria Young won't leave her flat. She's not going outside... 

The WWI Wardrobe Project

The WWI Wardrobe Project

Want to experience doing your bit? Meet and hear from characters involved in the WWI war effort such as a field nurse, a coastguard, a canary girl and the mother of a soldier. Audience members are then invited to take part, with a lucky few helped to don the relevant outfit and have their photograph taken for posterity... 

Not Dead Yet!

Not Dead Yet!

After last year’s sell-out D Day Dodgers, the Woolly Sheep Theatre Company’s Not Dead Yet! is a one man play which challenges preconceptions about memory loss through real-life experiences... 

Antigone na h'Éireann

Antigone na h'Éireann

Driven by faith to resurrect the IRA, Annie battles to bring her family the honour they deserve. A new Northern Irish adaptation of the myth by multi award-winning writer James Beagon... 

The Providence of Neighboring Bodies

The Providence of Neighboring Bodies

Their apartments share a view of the parking lot, but Dora and Ronnie haven't met. Until today. A dark comedy about beavers, beer and balconies. 'A surprising and wicked little concoction... 

Dreamland

Dreamland

'Dreamland tackles pressing social and political issues with bracing theatricality' (Jesse Briton, Bear Trap Theatre). London. Canary Wharf. September 2008. Following the collapse of the US sub-prime mortgage market, the world economy is in free fall... 

Stiffs

Stiffs

Dave and Vince wake up in a morgue... dead! Not the most promising start to the day. Who are they? How did they die? And why are they here together? Just a few of the questions the two try to answer as they fumble their way through a living death... 

You Down There and Me Up Here

You Down There and Me Up Here

Being in love is... just about the worst thing that can happen to a person. A fragmented journey into the minds of two young men struggling to hang onto themselves in the face of crisis – one a drug addict who believes himself to be rock star Nick Cave, the other a neurotic romantic facing up to what it means to be in love... 

It's Not a Sprint

It's Not a Sprint

‘Today is the day I make a decision. Today is the day I run. And you. You shut up!' Meet Maddy, a typical millennial, celebrating her 30th birthday running a marathon - tied to a balloon... 

Istanbul: You'll Never Walk Alone

Istanbul: You'll Never Walk Alone

It's 2005 and somehow Liverpool are back in the European Cup Final. From the Mersey to Turkey, the Reds will their team to glory. But can this ragtag Liverpool side topple giants AC Milan? Drawn from accounts all over the world, Istanbul is about Scousers, football, class and gender... 

Cry for the Moon

Cry for the Moon

Abbey Road Studios, 1975. Roger is recording the last track for his much anticipated second album. As his creative juices are running dry and time is running out, the studio is invaded by Syd, a long-lost childhood friend... 

The Spider Glass

The Spider Glass

From chasing girls to catching spiders, James knows what's expected of him as a man. With humour and honesty, in the landscape of #MeToo he's now forced to face his complicity in the inherited story of masculinity... 

UnSpoken

UnSpoken

As funeral bells chime, a mysterious woman whispers a terrible secret to a grieving wife. Years later, now in therapy, the woman is driven to piece together the jigsaw of her life, the damning relationship with her father and the disturbing truth behind that secret whisper... 

Mess

Mess

Rachel’s life is a Mess, and her best friend Adam always seems to have his life together. Following an unexpected turn of events, she turns up at his flat in the early hours of the morning, but is she really the only one who is struggling? Through a cathartic explosion of original music, dancing, laughter and tears, the show delves into the importance of friendship and opening up in a world where people seem more and more disconnected 

Bad Dog

Bad Dog

Grace comes home to find a crime scene in her living room. Her sister, Eve, is at the centre, having killed their neighbour's dog. As they try to clean the room, and ascertain what led them to this moment, questions of faith and morality are brought to the forefront... 

Goons

Goons

Albert thinks something's a bit off when Big Darren sends him to the shops with a list for a bottle of milk, a pack of j-cloths and three balaclavas. He's used to doing odd-jobs for Darren with Henry and Sam: mowing his lawn, washing his car, painting his fence... 

bloominauschwitz

bloominauschwitz

This odyssey for the migrant era takes us through the great storm of 20th-century history in the company of literary hero Leopold Bloom. Escaping from his famous novel in search of a tribe to call his own, Bloom attempts to conjure his true identity... 

As It Happened (Contemporaneous Notes)

As It Happened (Contemporaneous Notes)

Since the 1st January 2018, five writers have worked collaboratively, writing a new scene each week in response to socio-political events. We’re asking questions of our media consumption, of the events that have defined the year and those that didn’t... 

App and Down

App and Down

Popular or unknown, apps are part of our daily lives. Some drive people to madness, others to unexpected popularity… but all apps have a possible downside. Four stories to leave you self-conscious and scared of your mobile... 

The Next Big Thing

The Next Big Thing

John Lennon spent his Scottish boyhood holidays in Durness, Sutherland: not fake news! This thoughtful, comic fable of modern Scotland, adapted from the novel by Scottish Government minister Michael Russell, asks a million-dollar question: as big business closes in, what can the small, local community do to protect the hidden tourist gold mine Lennon left behind? Fringe First nominee Alex Howarth directs the professional cast in a fast-moving production, featuring a virtual performance by Jane McCarry (Still Game) and live samples of top Beatles tunes... 

Entropy

Entropy

A physicist is on the brink of being able to explain the mysteries of the universe but still can’t figure out his volatile relationship with a rising star. In his struggle to grasp answers, he loses his grip on everything... 

The Devil You Know: A Horror Play

The Devil You Know: A Horror Play

Four friends decide to ignore the warnings about their local woods and meddle with seemingly demonic forces in the hope to create a film about a local urban legend. But their dreams of discovering the truth behind what haunts the woods soon take a dark turn when only three return home... 

It's Alright, Everything's Okay

It's Alright, Everything's Okay

Sometimes we feel sad. Sometimes we feel lonely. Sometimes we look at the world and wonder if we're causing its problems. But it'll be alright in the end... right? Featuring questionable life advice, harsh noise, and references to whales, Anorak presents its first show, an intimate and surreal look at happiness, selfishness and whether we can – or should – change the world. 

Animal Management

Animal Management

The Enquiry: Generation Z – not tough enough or the victims of an anxious world that just doesn’t care? The Experiment: one observation room, two psychologists and seven patients... 

amendments: A Play on Words

amendments: A Play on Words

John Chesterton works in a world where political correctness is paramount. Fear of offending an increasingly sensitive populus is widespread, and any language deemed inappropriate or discriminatory is strictly forbidden by the company heads... 

I'm Your Man – Letters of the World's Most Ambitious Job Applicant

I'm Your Man – Letters of the World's Most Ambitious Job Applicant

This unbelievably ambitious, deluded, multiple job-applicant failure attempts to inspire his audiences to become the best they can be... Think Pope, Prime Minister, James Bond... and many more! Complete with tantalising, hilarious visual snippets of his ridiculous letters! 

Dining Al Desko

Dining Al Desko

Dining al Desko is a sharp comedy about the struggles of office life, told through three darkly hilarious monologues. Julie is the overworked and under-valued receptionist destined for demotion... 

Tonight I Sleep in Peace (or How to Cure Involuntary Nocturnal Bruxism)

Tonight I Sleep in Peace (or How to Cure Involuntary Nocturnal Bruxism)

Five women. Five confessions. Five worlds. Caged in an existence that is balancing on the knife's edge between both the victim and the assailant, five confessions of broken relationships between men and women – the pillars of our society – are woven together through song, music and monologue. 

Two-Man, One-Man

Two-Man, One-Man

**** (TimeOut). In this hilarious spoof, fresh off a smash American premiere at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival, a performance artist and a comedian must perform their one-man shows on the same stage at the same time! With another show at the top of the hour and a stage manager on their asses, they must compete for the spotlight or agree to share it... 

The Political History of Smack and Crack

The Political History of Smack and Crack

'The history of England jumps off its axis. 2am, 8th July, 1981, 20 cities across England burn.' The night of the Manchester uprising. That night should change everything. Drawing on his own personal experience, Ed Edwards’ script crackles with anger, humour and authenticity as he chronicles the fallout for communities crushed by the heroin epidemic at the height of Thatcherism... 

The C Bomb

The C Bomb

Philosophy student Chloe discovers she has chlamydia and, in the interest of economising, decides to throw a party to announce the news to all of her ex-lovers. Meanwhile her roommate Kat has a problem, and it isn’t just that she’s missing the new episode of Midsomer Murders... 

Free and Proud

Free and Proud

Perhaps it is because of the multi-show venue, or just the financial realities of bringing any production to the Edinburgh Fringe nowadays, but Peter Darney’s production of Charles Gershman’s Free & Proud is a stripped down affair... 

Showmanship

Showmanship

At first sight it would seem that Boondog Theatre's latest outing at the Edinburgh Fringe is somewhat ironically titled. Transferring from the crate they were packed in at Pleasance last year to the more intimate C Venues space, there is something inappropriate about the title Showmanship when one is being hurried down the corridor of a large hotel to a small box room and seated in front of a basic set up of two chairs, a table and a few candles... 

The Conditioning

The Conditioning

Two confused squaddies, Spyro and Jim, find themselves trapped in an old warehouse with strict exercises to complete in return for food rations. Why are they there? Is there a way out? Is all as it seems? To be conditioned… When we listen to news reports on war – what do we hear? Very often it is what has happened to soldiers away from home and on enemy lines... 

When the Friendship Has Sailed

When the Friendship Has Sailed

A comedy about the impossible task of making friends. It follows the story of one woman who, after becoming fed-up spending night after night talking to her goldfish Christina (Aguilera, because she's a fighter) she makes a pact with herself that she put herself out there and make new friends... 

(sorry)

(sorry)

What does it mean to be a millennial? One stands before you, trying to process her three most pressing concerns: job exploitation, crumbling friendship and the imminent apocalypse. She has an overwhelming need to share... 

The Straw Man

The Straw Man

He is Generation X. Weaned on punk and indie he survived Thatcher's Britain and the Cold War, then high on ecstasy he raved in a field all weekend – and still got up for work on Monday... 

Class

Class

\'Inspired look at society through the prism of a parent-teacher meeting\' ***** (Sunday Times). Brian and Donna’s son is nine years old and he’s struggling. That’s what his teacher says... 

F**k You Pay Me

F**k You Pay Me

An anarchic, unprecedented and hilarious insight into the life of a stripper in London's fast-changing cityscape. It's lunchtime, Bea hasn't slept, and she's dreading going home to face the consequences of last night; when her Catholic mum found out what she really does for a living... 

Geek

Geek

A darkly comic new musical about love, loss and being different. Raised in Bible-thumping Hopeless Junction, USA, Gibby Stone is a gentle-hearted teenager who wants to fit in. Quack medical treatment metamorphoses him into a modern Elephant Man... 

The Marilyn Conspiracy

The Marilyn Conspiracy

August 5, 1962. Marilyn Monroe is found dead! Official verdict: probable suicide. Seven people are present from 22:30 before police are finally called at 04:30. What do they discuss? In the style of 12 Angry Men, all the known facts are brought together, lies exposed, myths debunked... 

The Abode

The Abode

Welcome to the subconscious fantasy realm of oppressed white American men! Davey Anderson\'s new play follows young Samuel into the alt-right. Samuel feels like an outsider, unvalued in his own country... 

Drunk Lion

Drunk Lion

Drunk Lion follows an alcoholic lion who spends his days drinking into oblivion in a cantina, until he meets Chris, a young foreigner learning how to speak Spanish. The unlikely pair forge an intoxicated bond over life, love and alcohol... 

The Laird's Big Breaxit

The Laird's Big Breaxit

Scotland’s landowners were in retreat. Between EU Directives and the Holyrood Parliament, life was barely worth living. But now the worm has turned... blue. A new political force has been launched in Scotland – but it’s not Ruth Davidson, and storytelling is at its heart... 

Mengele

Mengele

Mengele by Philip Wharam and Tim Marriott. 1979, a beach in Brazil, a drowning man meets a mysterious woman who cajoles, questions and flatters him into defending the indefensible. A warning from the past for what happens when the world buys into hatred and bigotry... 

Heaven Burns

Heaven Burns

Morayshire, 1662. Runaway Isobel works for charismatic witch-pricker John Dixon. She worships him, but when he's accused of falsifying his identity, will she accept that he's not the man he claims to be... 

Flattered

Flattered

Flattered addresses, honestly and frankly, the issue of public harassment towards women. Using people’s real experiences as stimuli for the creation of the work, the show strives to tell unrecounted stories that occur on a daily basis... 

Blackwell's Writers at the Fringe

Blackwell's Writers at the Fringe

Now in its eleventh year, Blackwell's Writers at the Fringe brings you, once again, the best in Scottish writing. Every Thursday new and unpublished works of literary art stand alongside established novelists, with any and all genres free to be expressed – from Scots poetry to cutting-edge drama, from folk music to contemporary fiction, and all that is found in between... 

Once in a Generation...

Once in a Generation...

It's the day of the referendum and Mary is on a high. Campaigning all day for independence, she returns home confident that a new era is dawning. Her husband Dave is just back from the rigs and despite being exhausted by both the journey and the 'relentless ref', he is home just in time to cast his vote... 

Waves

Waves

Waves is the tale of Elizabeth Moncello and how, growing up on Gabo Island (Australia) in the 1930s, by emulating fish, penguins and dolphins to learn how to swim, she came to be the unofficial inventor of the butterfly stroke... 

A Substitute for Life

A Substitute for Life

'Books are good enough in their own way, but they are a mighty bloodless substitute for real life'. Robert Louis Stevenson's words resonate for Francis Kenworthy, played by Tim Hardy in Simon Brett's new one-man play, directed by Alison Skilbeck... 

Good Women

Good Women

Three wayward women on a hunt for international liturgical dance stardom. But the road to redemption is long, much like the sleeves of their costumes and the lists of their sins. Will they make it to the pearly gates or will their checkered pasts get the better of them? 

Prom Kween

Prom Kween

Following a sell-out 2017 Fringe, nine five-star reviews and two awards, the Kweens are back – and they're bringing glitter! From the producer of Margaret Thatcher Queen of Soho and How to Win Against History, Prom Kween is a coming-of-age satire for those who hit that age years ago... 

Dysney Disfunction

Dysney Disfunction

In Brexit Britain happily ever after (and UK residency) is just a marriage visa away. But Australian Alice's visa expires today and she's only got Primark flats for glass slippers, an Oyster card for a pumpkin coach and a prince who won't twerk... 

Eat Me

Eat Me

This gripping new play is a dramatic exploration of three characters’ struggle with anorexia, as we watch Libby, Kate and Jonathan fight to regain control of their lives from the fourth character, Anorexic Voice... 

Fallout

Fallout

'The end of the world needn’t be the end of the world!' Join the last survivors of the global nuclear catastrophe in Lotta Quizeen’s boutique bunker. She’s got recipe tips for tinned goods and dating strategies to repopulate the planet... 

Nick and Nina

Nick and Nina

In a tiny living room in Edinburgh, a fraught long-term friendship reaches its breaking point. Nick and Nina have been best friends since they were children, but now in their mid-twenties, life has gotten in the way – with the world constantly changing around them, how were they supposed to keep up? Neither knows that the other is struggling, and choose to cling to an image of their friend which is long outdated, until Nick\\\'s impending arrest forces them to confront each other... 

Queens of Sheba

Queens of Sheba

Queens of Sheba tells the stories of four black women who have been turned away from a night club for 'being too black' (based on the Dstrkt night spot incident of 2015). The drama focuses on the rise of Misogynoir (misogyny directed towards black women where race and gender both play roles in bias)... 

Coriolanus Vanishes

Coriolanus Vanishes

A tense, suspenseful, edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller. Chris experienced three deaths, one after another. She's in prison awaiting trial. But she doesn’t exactly know why... 

Risk

Risk

'Free copy of Risk magazine with chocolate biscuits' shout Gabby and Matt at South Kensington Tube station. They also, of course, like chocolate biscuits (who doesn't?!) and intend to keep some for themselves... 

The Shallow Entertainment Tour

The Shallow Entertainment Tour

Sören Bergen was just an ordinary guy. Nobody in Faukhan had a clue who he really was. But then Mona disappeared... and everything changed. The Shallow Entertainment Tour is an experimental storytelling solo show about identity, rumours and what happens if everything you think is real turns out to be fake... 

Ruki

Ruki

For a long time the system in the city was different. For Jews, blacks, homosexuals and Gypsies life became unbearable. The play is based on the real-life story of Gypsy boxer Rukeli Trollmann, and told by his fictional best friend Hans... 

Tom and Ollie in: One and a Half Men

Tom and Ollie in: One and a Half Men

Tom and Ollie are ‘creative, witty, sketchsmiths’ with ‘a sackful of promise’ (Chortle.co.uk). Following Tom winning the 2016 Chortle Student Award, our 2017 Fringe debut Wasps was a soul-bearing meditation upon what happens when one member of a double-act finds success, and Ollie doesn’t... 

Camp Be Yourself

Camp Be Yourself

A surreal and anarchic two-woman comedy packed with glitter, bug juice and desperation. Close your eyes. We're not in Scotland anymore. We're in a small remote town on the east coast of America... 

Meet the Little Prince!

Meet the Little Prince!

When famous author/pilot Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, who lived many different lives, meets The Little Prince, two adventurous explorers discover the world and what is important in life... 

Next Stop Please!

Next Stop Please!

Life’s a journey, chauffeur driven by someone else. Some of us are driven. Others, passengers. This new performance is devised by prisoners from HMP Low Moss with original transcripts facilitated in prison... 

Bride of the Gulf

Bride of the Gulf

Amid the violence that followed the British withdrawal from Basra in 2007, a sharp-witted Iraqi woman searches for her missing husband at the behest of her mother-in-law. A world premiere new work dedicated to the resilience of life in Basra, Iraq, and based upon a collaboration of New York ensemble Thinkery and Verse with transnational artists from Iraq’s largest port city... 

Kin

Kin

A dying father. Two estranged sisters reunite after 20 years. One night to bury the hatchet. In an airless room over a single night, they talk it out. When the only thing they have left in common disappears, is their relationship worth saving? Written by Max Dickins (The Man on the Moor and The Trunk), this gripping story of sibling rivalry examines the meaning of family... 

Vivian’s Music, 1969

Vivian’s Music, 1969

Inspired by real events: in 1969, in a segregated city in the American Midwest bursting with racial tension, a 14-year-old black girl, Vivian, was shot by a white cop, igniting one of the worst race riots in American history... 

Vessel

Vessel

'Now, I am just a mother to you. A body carrying a life.' There is a woman. Woman is pregnant. Abortion is still illegal in her country. She will bring a court case against the government to demand a legal abortion... 

The Greatest Play in the History of the World...

The Greatest Play in the History of the World...

A love story, set on Preston Road, and also in space and in time. A man wakes in the middle of the night to discover that the world has stopped. Through the crack in his bedroom curtains, he can see no signs of life at all... 

The St Andrews Revue Presents: Bears!

The St Andrews Revue Presents: Bears!

The St Andrews Revue are back for their eighth Edinburgh Fringe! This year they're on the run from the law, and their 'extremely funny' (BroadwayBaby.com) sketch comedy show has been seized as evidence... 

The Burning Gadulka

The Burning Gadulka

Following a series of failures at music festivals, a Bulgarian musician faces a midlife crisis. Is his lifelong love affair with his instrument, the gadulka, about to be challenged by the arrival of a mysterious girl? Where do pandas come into the dilemma? Miro Kokenov takes us on a comic journey of doubt, sarcasm and the wonders of nature... 

Flushed

Flushed

Two women, one diagnosis and approximately seven different bathrooms: Flushed follows a changing time in the lives of inseparable sisters, Jen and Marnie. When Marnie is diagnosed with premature ovarian insufficiency, her life is altered and the relationship between the two girls is tested... 

Come Die With Us

Come Die With Us

What if you didn’t know you were dead? A dark new comedy. Laurel is a funeral home sales agent with a perfect life who kills herself and is in denial she’s dead. She thinks she’s meeting with a therapist, but in reality, it’s her guardian angel sent to help her realise what happened... 

Gulliver Returns

Gulliver Returns

Lil's husband is lost in Gulliver's Travels and now she has a mission of mercy to perform. No matter what the cost, she must find a way to drag this broken man out of his fantasy. She must find a way to bring him home... 

Hoard by Bim Adewunmi

Hoard by Bim Adewunmi

'If I hadn't come here this evening, when would I have met him?' Rafi and Ami are meeting their sister's boyfriend for the first time. Then, their mother shows up out of the blue. Wura always shows up out of the blue, but now there's a problem: she doesn't know Brian exists... 

Heimatmann

Heimatmann

11:87 returns to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with a new show by John Casey. One man came within minutes of killing Adolf Hitler and saving 60 million souls destined to perish in WWII... 

Lost in Thought

Lost in Thought

Felicity's on a fantastic date... except she's stuck in the restaurant toilet, trapped by nothing but her own alarming thoughts. If living in her brain is this difficult, how is she ever going to live a normal adult life? A new play from Lucy Danser – **** (WhatsOnStage... 

Kokoda

Kokoda

With the Japanese army rampaging through the South Pacific in 1942, the battle to save Australia is being fought along New Guinea's infamous Kokoda track by a motley militia of poorly trained young Australians plucked off the streets of Melbourne and Sydney... 

Tremor

Tremor

Sherman Theatre: Regional Theatre of the Year – The Stage Awards 2018. Once our lives are touched by tragedy, can we ever truly move on? Sophie and Tom’s relationship fell apart in the aftermath of a catastrophe... 

KillyMuck

KillyMuck

Inspired by real events, Killymuck is a housing estate built on a paupers graveyard in 1970s Ireland. Niamh navigates life through the parameters of growing up, with the trials and tribulations of being a kid from the benefit class system... 

A Work in Progress

A Work in Progress

A Work in Progress is just that, a work in progress. Jaded and disappointed with their lack of success within acting, friends John and Jane decide that the only way they can become rich and famous is to physically barricade themselves in their flat and write an award-winning script... 

The Extinction Event

The Extinction Event

At the end of 60 minutes, mankind will vanish. 'A magician is an actor playing the part of a god', or so said Hugo Cedar. So, what happens when science makes gods of us all? Hypnotist magicians David Aula and Simon Evans present another mind-hopping, time-space continuum-busting, misdirection-bending examination of what really happens when science starts thinking for itself... 

Splashback

Splashback

A new musical about a day in the life of a plumber’s kingdom – a men’s toilet. What goes on in this mysterious place? Who goes there? Where did it come from? Where does it go? Why do we need a toilet guy? Powerful questions; this show will answer… maybe... 

Sophie, Ben and Other Problems

Sophie, Ben and Other Problems

The After School Club join Irish playwright Conor Burke to present their debut production. Sophie and Ben love each other very much despite their differences... but sometimes they make it a bit too difficult for themselves... 

Narcissist in the Mirror

Narcissist in the Mirror

A dark comedy about life, ambition and millennial expectation: Narcissus is a love addict, a starving artist and a lost soul searching for self-worth. Laced with acerbic wit, punchy dialogue and intricate spoken word, Narcissist in the Mirror is an honest account of self-exploration as rip-roaring as it is poignant and heartfelt. 

Trojan Horse

Trojan Horse

'Why should I continue to be tolerant, when the world has been so intolerant of me?’ Trojan Horse was a local story that hit the national press, accusing ‘hardline’ Muslim teachers and governors of plotting extremism in Birmingham schools... 

The Pieman Cometh: A Cautionary Football Tale

The Pieman Cometh: A Cautionary Football Tale

Alan Ledger didn't want the limelight and he didn't want the praise. Unfortunately, he often got one, but hardly ever got the other. Join Alan on his journey through the murky, monetary mayhem lurking behind the scenes of Scottish football, as he asks: 'Who is football for? Why do fans insist on pies? What kind of oddbod would put money into a football club?' All these questions and more are mostly ignored in this hilarious comedy written by Bryan Jackson and David Belcher, and directed by Frank Miller. 

Another One

Another One

If you break my heart, I’ll break yours too... This thrilling and inventive new work from one of Belgium’s most exciting young companies explores the world of both tolerating and being tolerated... 

Rob Oldham: Worm's Lament

Rob Oldham: Worm's Lament

Rob Oldham, Amused Moose Breakthrough Comic 2017 and tour support for John Kearns and Abandoman, considers politics, youth and death. He does jokes to ensure this is funny. Worm's Lament is an hour of stand-up, poetry, reflective nostalgia and ambient anxiety drawing on Rob's 'quirky, offbeat sensibilities that distil into smart jokes that rarely sound like anyone else's' (Chortle... 

Courtroom Play: A Courtroom Play

Courtroom Play: A Courtroom Play

Alex Stone is a hotshot lawyer about to make partner, when an urgent call from an old friend drags her back to the town she thought she’d left behind. A big-hearted Hollywood blockbuster set in a small English village, Courtoom Play is a comedy drama written by Jon Gracey (The Beta Males, Werewolf: Live), featuring an all-star cast of Fringe comedians (including Richard Soames, Mandy Dassa, Emily Lloyd-Saini)... 

Diamond by Beryl Richards

Diamond by Beryl Richards

'I just had to see you. I... just y'know... just once. Once. I needed to.' When reunited with the mother who gave him away at birth, successful surgeon Jordan Sullivan rejects her. When she passes away, he realises that he may never know the truth about where he came from... 

UCL Graters: Panopticon

UCL Graters: Panopticon

The nation's favourite appliance-themed comedy troupe returns for the heavenliest of seventh years at the Fringe. Join The Graters' mirthful voyage through the bounds of decency, reason and order and be prepared to blow your fuses with giggles... 

Impact

Impact

A terrible crime has been committed. The guilty want to talk. They stand before you, offering their side of the story. Will you listen? The victims have written letters sharing their experience and you have access to them... 

Stupid Cupid

Stupid Cupid

Ever feel confused about love? Where to find it and keep it? Do you think you touch yourself too often? Meet Cupid in training as she tests the waters with her flashy love skills: side effects may include feelings of lust, unwelcome singing and inaccurate nostalgia... 

The Big Time

The Big Time

Jerry and Jacks want to be Big Time, but at what cost? They take on a job that they hope will shoot them up the ladder in the organisation. Take a girl to a fishing cabin in the woods, sound simple enough? Well with these two criminal buffoons you couldn’t be more wrong! Watch as a kidnapping gone wrong spirals into a night of pure comic disaster. 

VELVET

VELVET

'I think you're really talented... I got hard as I watched you.' Ben has always dreamt of being a successful actor, and now after years of disappointment he is finally presented with his golden opportunity... 

Flesh and Bone

Flesh and Bone

Winner: The Pleasance's Charlie Hartill Award. Winner: Fringe First 2017. Winner: Holden Street Theatre's Award. Feast your eyes upon the depravity, triumphs and utter hilarity of the underprivileged in a vivid and fast-paced ride through a working class estate which fuses Shakespeare-inspired lyricism with cockney accents... 

Big Aftermath of a Small Disclosure

Big Aftermath of a Small Disclosure

By Magne van den Berg, UK premiere. 'ATC inspires me to reconsider what theatre can do' (Simon Stephens). Louise and Jon. Happy together. Except. Jon's got something to say. A small disclosure with big consequences... 

The Sisters of CastleKnock House

The Sisters of CastleKnock House

Fran, Jo and Ger live in isolation. Their days are spent neurotically preparing for an attack that may never occur. Their best form of defence? Fake beards. Watch as their sisterly bond splinters as their world falls apart after the sudden death of their cherished father... 

Dominoes

Dominoes

Layla McKinnon is days away from saying 'I do' to Andy McKinnon. Already having the same surname as her fiancé used to be a funny coincidence but now threatens to drive them apart... 

Author, Composer, Soldier-of-a-Sort

Author, Composer, Soldier-of-a-Sort

Celebrating the friendship between composer and war poet, Ivor Gurney, and musician and first woman music critic, Marion Scott; written and performed by Jan Carey. It was to Scott, that Gurney sent his music and poetry from the trenches... 

WEIRD

WEIRD

Critically acclaimed company return to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Yasmin feels different, she feels weird. She longs to be normal like everyone else but that’s proving difficult... 

Drip Feed

Drip Feed

Cork. 1998. Brenda and her best pal are part of the city's furniture. Dancing on tables and 3am breakfast rolls. But what if you wake up hungover and broken on the wrong person's doorstep, realise you've got it wrong, all wrong, and it might just be too late? From award-winning producers Soho Theatre comes a fast, infectious, dark comedy about the messiness of being youngish, female and queer in Ireland... 

Songlines

Songlines

Stevie is 17. She’s peak cool, or so she thinks. In the middle of the wide-eyed stagger from girlhood to womanhood, Stevie is sent to live in the middle of nowhere with her Grandma... 

Eglantyne

Eglantyne

Vibrant, inspiring play about Eglantyne Jebb, the visionary, courageous, passionate, human rights pioneer and founder of Save the Children. ‘Written with wit and buoyancy, delivered in fine style’ (Theatreview... 

Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show

Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show

Good morning, Edinburgh! Three funny, thought-provoking "menus" of ten-minute plays. Free coffee and tea, croissants, strawberries! Great UK and international writers. The perfect way to start your day... 

South Bend

South Bend

Multi award-winning Grid Iron, in association with Platform, bring you a hilarious road movie for the stage. In 2006 Martin McCormick flies across the Atlantic to be reunited with a woman he has fallen passionately in love with, a Californian girl... 

Timmy

Timmy

Tim is acting strangely. Judith wants answers. Together, they're struggling to reach a conclusion. A punchy, honest comedy about avoiding decisions at all costs. Written and performed by Roxy Dunn (creator of five-star sell-out hit In Tents and Purposes, Soho Theatre), as seen in Channel 4's Babylon, BBC Three's Top Coppers and Wannabe... 

Outside

Outside

As the UK emerges from a state-mandated curfew, three young friends see their newfound freedom arrive but with shackles of its own. What does it mean to come of age in an age quickly running out of options? A brand-new dramedy produced in association with the Pleasance Trust... 

Ad Libido

Ad Libido

Fran wants to want sex. But no matter how many wonder cures she tries, she doesn't feel like her fire's been lit. Sometimes it hurts. Join Fran on a 'relentlessly hilarious' (Stage) quest, with songs, as she pursues a "normal" sex life... 

Build a Rocket

Build a Rocket

'Scarborough is turning into Tenerife. This is global warming gone wrong. This isn't the story of Icarus and Daedalus. It's Yasmin and Jack. And we won't fly too close to the sun. We'll fly through the f*cker... 

Avocado: Definitely Maybe Not

Avocado: Definitely Maybe Not

After last year’s millennial-bashing debut, Avocado! are back and invite you to take a leap into the twisted little world of two twenty-something nothings for a second helping of hotly anticipated sketches exploring the WTFs and surely nots of life... 

Sugar Baby by Alan Harris

Sugar Baby by Alan Harris

Being a small-time drug dealer in Cardiff is tough. Marc avoids his mum, disguises his cannabis plants with fake tomatoes at the allotment, and now has to bail his old man out of £6,000 owed to local loan shark Oggy... 

The Junkies

The Junkies

One man's junk is another man's treasure. Edinburgh's hardest working second-hand dealers, Archie and Donny, discover a huge stash of cash in a New Town house clearance. But when their pal Choo Choo turns up, they all soon learn... 

Sparks

Sparks

'Fall in love in my early 20s, get married in my late 20s, have at least one child by the time I'm 30. F*ck!' Life is hard to navigate when you've got so many questions. Can I put this jumper in the washing machine? Do you have my birth certificate? Where did you find love? How did you do it? How do you survive? A story of a kamikaze love affair with unexpected consequences... 

Can’t Stop Can’t Stop

Can’t Stop Can’t Stop

A solo theatrical performance by Sam Ross, which aims to convey how it feels to live with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. A much-misunderstood yet debilitating condition, affecting 1... 

Aye, Elvis by Morna Young

Aye, Elvis by Morna Young

'Yer a wifie. Dressed as Elvis. In Aberdeen!' Joyce Falconer (River City) stars in this A Play, A Pie and A Pint smash hit, directed by Ken Alexander. Joan is an Elvis impersonator with big dreams... 

Extinguished Things

Extinguished Things

'My neighbours leave their flat one morning but don't return. Al and Evie, married 40 years, no kids. I have their spare keys. I cannot resist.' Award-winning writer/performer Molly Taylor pieces together the story of two lives intertwined... 

The Fall

The Fall

In a month where white supremacists have marched through the streets over Charlottesville in protest against the removal of a Confederate statue, there could not be a more relevant time to tell the story of #Rhodesmustfall... 

When the Sky Falls In

When the Sky Falls In

When The Sky Falls In is written and presented by Janet Gershlick. She is quite clear about not being an actress, although as a broadcaster she has many years experience working in radio with the BBC and independent stations such as Capital Gold and Talk Radio UK... 

Hell Has No Fury

Hell Has No Fury

In this show, you will empathise with a child killer. A bold promise from TwentySomething theatre company when they stage Hell Has No Fury with only a monologue and three outward facing mirrors (lit with spooky candles for good measure) for support... 

Wondr

Wondr

Simone James stars in Wondr, Poppy Burton-Morgan’s debut as a playwright with Metta Theatre. Social media phenomenon Faith Allgood explodes into the digital world inspiring her masses of online followers as a ‘digilante’, hooked on her phone and her need to self-gratify through making a difference... 

Wife

Wife

There’s a great variety of women in Wife – taking as a cue Carol Anne Duffy’s The World’s Wife – from ‘Mrs Quasimodo’ to Michelle Obama, whose farewell speech is predated by Duffy’s original poem, but nonetheless makes an appearance here... 

Beautiful Little Fool

Beautiful Little Fool

As one of the most famous American authors of all time, many people will know of F. Scott Fitzgerald and yet the woman behind the man, his wife Zelda, has been overlooked for the most part... 

All's Well That Ends As You Like It: A Lamentable Comedie and Hysterickal Tragedie, by William Shakefpeare

All's Well That Ends As You Like It: A Lamentable Comedie and Hysterickal Tragedie, by William Shakefpeare

Farce has a proud place in British theatre history. From 14th century mystery plays, to Oscar Wilde, through to Alan Ayckbourn and Tom Stoppard, it has tickled and shocked audiences by playing with the boundaries of absurdity, driven by a speed and a vigour one seldom sees in any other genre... 

Scorch

Scorch

Welcomed back to Edinburgh after its rave performances last year, Scorch is new writing for one performer. It is a refreshing and important take on the negotiation of gender performance in the 21st century... 

Fragile Man

Fragile Man

On a cliff edge somewhere, a man is about to jump to his death when he is stopped by a psychology professor. To a soundtrack of shrill digital sounds and heavy breathing, what follows is a conversation scouring the deepest and darkest caverns of masculinity, trauma, faith and loneliness... 

PreScribed (A Life Written for Me)

PreScribed (A Life Written for Me)

Prescribed (A Life Written For Me) by performance artist Viv Gordon opens a window for us to peer into the claustrophobically grim life of a GP working at an NHS practice today. The stage is cluttered with poles balancing plates of jelly, a metaphor for the current state of the NHS, and representing the patients... 

Fleabag

Fleabag

Maddie Rice has been put into a difficult position with performing this script. Fleabag is inextricably associated with Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who wrote and performed the previous Fringe show later taken up by the BBC... 

The B*easts

The B*easts

Setting the modern obsession with putting your own child first against our responsibility as a society towards children as a whole, this dark tale, written by and starring BAFTA award-winning actress Monica Dolan (W1A, Appropriate Adult, The Witness For The Prosecution), explores how far one mum will go to give her child what she wants... 

The Ballad of Paragon Station

The Ballad of Paragon Station

Theatre is always at its most powerful when you feel truly transported into someone else’s reality. This is exactly what The Ballad of Paragon Station achieves through its profound story and captivating performance... 

Borders by Henry Naylor

Borders by Henry Naylor

Henry Naylor’s new play Borders reminds us not to close ourselves off from the plight of Syrian refugees, though it has fizzled out of our daily news. Jumping in and out of two stories, the life of a British photographer and a Syrian graffiti artist, we are tangled in the timeline of events in their lives and witness how their paths meet tragically at the end of the play... 

Eleanor Colville: Bigamous

Eleanor Colville: Bigamous

Of all the things one expects to see when attending the Edinburgh Fringe, a public tying of the knot is likely to be towards the end of the list. Well, prepare for that to change; the solo debut from the highly talented Eleanor Colville offers just that, and much, much more... 

The B*easts

The B*easts

Setting the modern obsession with putting your own child first against our responsibility as a society towards children as a whole, this dark tale, written by and starring BAFTA award-winning actress Monica Dolan (W1A, Appropriate Adult, The Witness For The Prosecution), explores how far one mum will go to give her child what she wants... 

Towers of Eden

Towers of Eden

Exploring the relationship between a brother and a sister growing up in a climate change fuelled apocalypse, Towers of Eden explores many classic dystopian themes as well some more relatable ones around family relationships and connections... 

Joan

Joan

There are moments of brilliance in this one-person-variety-show, but Joan's intriguing idea is let down by lack of critical editing. Joan reimagines the story of Joan d’Arc, famous 15th century peasant girl who claimed to have visions of Saint Catherine, and who defied gender norms by leading the French army... 

Cosmic Scallies

Cosmic Scallies

Graeae Theatre Company champions the working-class misfits of Skelmersdale, Lancashire – or ‘Skem’ as Dent and Shaun call it – in their new show Cosmic Scallies. Dent (Rachel Denning) is suffering from chronic pain, and her mother has recently passed away... 

The Staff Room

The Staff Room

It is really reassuring to see an honest piece about the hard work of being a teacher, whilst also avoiding a bland generic sanctifying of all teachers. The Staff Room, takes us behind closed doors where the kids can’t hear us, and shows a slither of the day to day life of teaching... 

Cathy

Cathy

50 years ago, Ken Loach’s TV drama, Cathy Come Home, won plaudits for its gritty and honest treatment of homelessness. Cardboard Citizens’ latest production takes inspiration from the film, exploring contemporary homelessness in the context of a failing British housing system... 

Girls

Girls

Deeply political, magnificently performed and filled with tense action and witty dialogue, Girls manages to grip and amaze the audience with its characters and powerful message from start to finish... 

Eve

Eve

The perfect image of youth and boyhood is projected onto the mirror-like panels which hang from the ceiling as Jo Clifford gazes thoughtfully the photo of herself. Clifford speaks with deliberate resonance, commanding the stage with the presence of her lone-voice... 

Sylvia Plath, Your Words Are Just Dust

Sylvia Plath, Your Words Are Just Dust

The Bathtub Heroine presents an incredibly biting piece of new writing telling the life story of tormented poet, Sylvia Plath. The audience is led on a journey through five chapters of Plath’s writing as known through her poetry and her semi-autobiographical novel The Bell Jar... 

Seanmhair

Seanmhair

The initial experience one is met with when the lights dim for Seanmhair (pronounced shen-a-var) is breathtaking. Flashes of light, dazzling expressive actors, intense dialogue delivered at breakneck speed as moments of levity are sprinkled amongst the drama effortlessly and sometimes so quickly the audience don’t catch them all... 

Sad Little Man

Sad Little Man

'Stop me if you've heard this one before.' Written by Josh Overton, winner of The Times Playwriting Award 2015 and created by the Pub Corner Poets, Total Theatre's Emerging company 2015 award nominees... 

Half Breed

Half Breed

Natasha Marshall’s Half Breed is a vibrant and moving monologue about what it is like to grow up mixed race in a parochial white community. The one-woman show follows the story of Jazmin, a mixed race girl who lives with her grandmother in a in rural West Country village, where everyone around her is white... 

All We Ever Wanted Was Everything
BOBBY WINNER

All We Ever Wanted Was Everything

As the friend with whom I went to see the show so emphatically said, All We Ever Wanted Was Everything is ‘everything’. Heart-wrenching and heart-warming all at once, the production was half-live-music-gig, half-theatrical performance: almost all of the actors swapped in and out of playing the drum kit and electric guitars that took up the best part of Roundabout’s lower seats... 

We Need to Talk About Bobby (Off EastEnders)

We Need to Talk About Bobby (Off EastEnders)

EastEnders fans will remember experiencing shock and upheaval at the revelation that the culprit of a long-running murder whodunnit was 10 year old Bobby Beale. Prepare to relive those feelings again in Paperback Theatre’s We Need To Talk About Bobby (Off EastEnders), written by George Attwell Gerhards and directed by Lucy Bird... 

Columns

Columns

Walking into theSpace on the Mile this morning, I had very little knowledge about what Columns had in store for me. I knew it to be advertised as a ‘storytelling spectacle’, but I had no idea it would be one of the most charming and engaging masterclasses in conversational theatre I’ve witnessed... 

Alex in Shadow

Alex in Shadow

Alex In Shadow from UCLU Runaground proves that puppetry is not just for children. Even adults can enjoy the strange adventure of pretentious and self-serving Alex (played by one male and three female actors), who wakes up in a mysterious woodland full of talking animals... 

Spring Awakening: A Reimagining

Spring Awakening: A Reimagining

Not the 2006 Broadway musical, but the 1981 play on which that was based, Spring Awakening is notable for its controversies upon original publication. Censored for many years, it dealt with sex, abortion, suicide and homosexuality... 

To Hell in a Handbag

To Hell in a Handbag

To Hell in a Handbag shares a most important quality with its inspiration: the infectious nature of the prose. One can hardly resist, upon a leaving a performance of The Importance of Being Earnest, trading verbose quips in the manner of Mr... 

Edison

Edison

Static Assembly attempt to give us an insight into the lives and rivalry of Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla but really just leaves the audience confused. While they claim they are presenting an ‘experimental’ and ‘divine’ insight to this true story, the term ‘unique’ to mean an attempt to be bizarre in every sense... 

UCL Graters: Smashing

UCL Graters: Smashing

In UCL Graters’ return to Edinburgh, even the refreshments are violent. The show begins as one cast-member hurls – or at least attempts to hurl – a pineapple at the front row... 

The Emotional Immune System

The Emotional Immune System

This monologue series is a blunt, brutal, but ultimately celebratory foray into how we handle human interactions. We all want to matter; we’re all searching for fulfilment. We ricochet through life, smacking into one another with each emotional encounter, hoping to get hurt a little less each time... 

About the Unsaid

About the Unsaid

This touching new musical explores the interior monologues of three interconnected characters through acoustic songs, focusing on their lack of communication and the difference between what they think and say... 

Don't Ever Change

Don't Ever Change

A group of school friends reunite for fond reminiscences, only to rekindle old rivalries, leaving them wondering how much they've really changed. A new musical from the finest musical theatre talent at Cambridge University about memories, heartbreak and, above all, friendship. 

Tea and Nuisance

Tea and Nuisance

In 1950s Britain there is a rose garden. Among the wildflowers there sits a peculiar looking glass and many curious tea sets. Here we find Al, a girl made for living, however, she suffers from a terrible cough and a troubling reflection... 

The Believers Are But Brothers

The Believers Are But Brothers

The stage is awash with cold, blue LED light. On a screen we see a screensaver suggestive of rivers of blood. On a smaller screen a young man plays shoot-‘em-up video games. In the back of our minds we already have an idea of what The Believers Are But Brothers will be like: violent, brutal and graphic... 

Gazing at a Distant Star

Gazing at a Distant Star

Gazing at a Distant Star follows three lives individually dealing with their own losses. First we are introduced to the boisterous but relatable everyman, Arun, working in a call centre to raise enough money for university... 

Action at a Distance

Action at a Distance

Confronting head-on complex ethical dilemmas that co-exist with modern Western imperialism, this new play written by Rory Horne is urgent, engaging and also deeply entertaining. Based around the experiences and motivations of out-of-work plumber Chris in Nevada, desperate to support her ill and emotionally cold mother, the narrative develops from a life-changing meeting over the internet with vigilante data analyst Josh... 

Give Me Your Love

Give Me Your Love

A dirty, disused room, empty except for a box with lots of holes in it. What we don’t know is that Zach, an army veteran played by David Woods, is hiding inside the box and refuses to come out of it... 

Education, Education, Education

Education, Education, Education

The Wardrobe Ensemble returns to the Fringe festival with a fast-paced and incredibly entertaining look at the education system in BritainThe play focuses on the last day of school at a local comprehensive a day before study leave and after New Labour's landslide electoral victory, and examines the trials and tribulations of staff and students as they hope the new government will bring salvation to them both professionally and personally... 

Trashed

Trashed

This dark one-man play is full of energy and intensity as David William Bryan perfectly encapsulates the abject isolation of binman Keith Goodman, known to all as Goody.Goading the audience in attendance, whilst at the same time confessing his darkest secrets to them, Goody is a forceful personality... 

Mixed Brain

Mixed Brain

As a white Irish person, reviewing a person of colour’s experience of their treatment in the UK feels disingenuous. However, Nathan Byron in Mixed Brain makes this piece about him, a boy who calls Shepherd’s Bush his home and through questioning his own identity helps to explain the concept of identity and belonging as a whole to his audience... 

Velvet Evening Séance

Velvet Evening Séance

As we enter the shadowy theatre of Assembly Hall we see an imposing set of gallows upon which a young man sits shackled as a lone pianist plays quiet discordant music. It's a suitably atmospheric and haunting set up for a show that revels in the aesthetic of late Victorian mysticism and magic, and the start of a fabulously creepy and slick new play... 

James Tait Black Prize for Drama 2017: The Award Ceremony

James Tait Black Prize for Drama 2017: The Award Ceremony

Join some of today’s most innovative playwrights for an afternoon of insightful interviews and performed readings. The James Tait Black Prize for Drama celebrates ground breaking drama produced worldwide in the last year... 

Sad Girls

Sad Girls

Sad Girls is a play about three girls: Miley, Lottie and Flo. They have been best friends for as long as they can remember, and now they're sharing a shitty London flat, trying to find their way and their place in the world... 

Every Brilliant Thing

Every Brilliant Thing

The worldwide smash-hit is back in Edinburgh for one week only. You’re seven years old. Mum’s in hospital. Dad says she’s ‘done something stupid’. She finds it hard to be happy... 

Nocturnes

Nocturnes

Internationally acclaimed imitating the dog premiere their latest work. Nocturnes is a multimedia twist on a 50s spy thriller, a mixture of le Carré and Kafka, digitally remixed for the post truth generation... 

Professional

Professional

Half past five on a Friday evening, and a school’s electronic door-locking system shuts down for the weekend… with four teachers still in the staff room. Claustrophobia sets in... 

Broken

Broken

Can you hear the silent scream in the song of the cabaret? This gripping new drama exposes the twists and turns of a family ripped apart by secrecy and prejudice. A father's love challenged by the ultimate betrayal, as father and son face the truth kept hidden for so long... 

The Bothy

The Bothy

Scotland. Post Great War. Three men of different societal class coincidentally bunker down in a bothy for a night telling stories of war and philosophising about life thereafter. A weave of tales and theories are told only for them to discover that their own paths are interwoven resulting in this intersection... 

Joan

Joan

The multi award-winning show about Joan of Arc returns! Performed by drag king champion Lucy Jane Parkinson, history's greatest gender warrior takes the stage dragging up as the men she defies in this smash hit show... 

Talkabout

Talkabout

A couple of couples meet for a drink and talk again and again and again and again and... How long have they been here? Are they alone? Can they get out? Talkabout, an absurdist one act play, asks you to answer these questions and more. 

Dark Satanic

Dark Satanic

England, 1823: the Industrial Revolution and a changing world. Helen works their farm alone while her husband toils in the factories of a newly industrialised Manchester. As the harsh winter bites, Helen realises it isn't only the world that's changing, it's her... 

Strangers: A Magic Play II

Strangers: A Magic Play II

A homeless person, a gambling addict, a political preacher, a television presenter. Four seemingly separate stories interwoven with magic and illusion to create an audience experience like no other... 

Hopes, Dreams and the Bits In-Between

Hopes, Dreams and the Bits In-Between

This show is for anyone who's ever looked at a stranger in the street and wondered who they are. A collection of short, original scenes that explore the themes of identity, relationships and who we are. 

The Growing Pains of the Mantle Family Living Room

The Growing Pains of the Mantle Family Living Room

The Mantles have issues that probably need to be addressed, only problem being none of them talk to each other, not properly anyway. However, the family’s arguments are brought to a halt and strained relationships attempted to be covered up when their well-to-do neighbour unexpectedly visits... 

Love vs Fear and My Mother's Prayers

Love vs Fear and My Mother's Prayers

This playful, innovative and interactive play follows a young engineer trying to follow her heart and fall in love for the first time, against the ever-present pressure from her strict Nigerian mother. 

Hear All About It

Hear All About It

Reactivists bring you a new show each week, based on the news of the week before. Hear All About It responds to and engages with current affairs to create a space for conversation. With a different company performing each week, come along and see which headlines have grabbed the attention of our performers, and join the discussion! 

My Name Is...

My Name Is...

An anti-terrorist government official is forced to reconsider all of his preconceptions regarding illegal immigrants when he comes face to face with the experiences of a desperate stranger, with whom he finds he has more in common than he expected... 

Hidden

Hidden

The type of anger that you can’t normally show, but also the power we have to overcome things. Gary Thomas's debut play transfers from Theatre N16. 

From Today, Everything Changes.

From Today, Everything Changes.

Before Chris’s wife died, after over 30 years of marriage, she made him promise to be himself. But accepting he’s gay is only the start. Online dating is a whole new world; can this younger man really be interested in him? And how does he come out to his daughter? Written by first time Fringe author Ian Tucker-Bell and brought to Edinburgh by the Oast Theatre, this new play takes a refreshingly honest and tender look at a 60-year-old man coming out and finding love. 

Behind Our Skin

Behind Our Skin

When Camille transfers to London, she finds herself blissfully following a well-travelled road. She left her country to discover and grow, yet her reality slowly narrows. But when complications with her baby arise, she needs to truthfully engage with the society that has welcomed her... 

Seven Devils

Seven Devils

Executed by student acting troupe The Hurtwood Corner from performing arts college Hurtwood House, Seven Devils is a play exploring the trials of down-on-their-luck Manhattan residents in the 1920s, centred around their local speakeasy... 

Mine

Mine

They say a mother’s love is unconditional, but can you truly still love your child after they commit the most heinous of crimes? Put The Book Down’s Mine brings to light the experience of one mother dealing with shame, neglect, and ruin after the horror of her son committing a crime on a night out so unforgivable he has been sent to prison... 

War of the Sperms

War of the Sperms

For a play about personified jizz, War of the Sperms is surprisingly unsexy. The romantic subplot is mostly expressed through hand holding, and the most prevalent mode of comedy is the pun... 

Woke

Woke

Woke is a searingly powerful and important one-woman performance about racism in the United States. The show brings together the stories of two different black activists, separated by half a century: Assata Shakur, a legendary member of the Black Panthers who fled the U... 

Edgar and Me

Edgar and Me

Charlotte has a pen pal, but he sends her his letters from death row. Her mum thought she'd be murdered. Her friends thought it was bizarre. But Charlotte and Edgar have been writing to each other for the last six years... 

Banged Up!

Banged Up!

Three unconnected prisoners are thrown into the same cell on the day that the Earth’s population of bees go missing. Telling their stories backwards, they begin to piece together the events of the last day... 

Coming of Age With The Professors of Logic

Coming of Age With The Professors of Logic

Coming of Age showcases songs on a theme of embracing age. Anna comments on life with a wry humour and wit. The songs are written and sung by Anna Durkacz Ryan, backed by The Professors of Logic, a five-piece band including fiddle, accordion, guitar, bass and saxophone... 

Under My Thumb

Under My Thumb

CultureClash Theatre consume the audience in Cassiah Joski-Jethi’s gripping political play Under My Thumb. Directed meticulously by James Haddrell, we are locked in a dark, dank and oppressive basement, ‘The Snug’ – Assembly Roxy’s new theatre space – along with six women who have been imprisoned for their crimes against society... 

Pixel Dust

Pixel Dust

Pixel Dust is a rare thing: a piece of theatre about the internet that isn’t utterly technophobic. That shouldn’t feel like something radical but, sadly, it is and it’s hugely refreshing to see a piece of theatre that isn’t hell bent on decrying the evils and dangers of social media that we’ve all heard before... 

Church Blitz

Church Blitz

There are lights in the sky. Strange storms rattle the windows of a church in which six strangers huddle for safety. The door knocks. Aliens?This apocalyptic set-up is the groundwork for a delightfully bizarre character comedy from Naughty Corner Productions... 

The Black That I Am

The Black That I Am

Taking a leaf from Eve Ensler’s Vagina Monologues, The Black that I Am is a compilation of stories that delve into the minds of various women and their experiences of being black in the modern day... 

Sugar Baby by Alan Harris

Sugar Baby by Alan Harris

Dirty Protest’s Sugar Baby was an entertaining hour of theatre at Paines Plough’s Roundabout, Summerhall. The hero – or rather, anti-hero – was the drug dealing Marc (with a c, that point was made very clear)... 

Over the Garden Fence

Over the Garden Fence

The debut play from Haylo Theatre, comprising Hayley Riley and Louise Evans, Over the Garden Fence, follows Annabelle and her Gran, Dolly who is suffering from dementia. Through flashback and a huge roster of silly neighbours, we see the impact of her illness on their lives as the actors explore forgetting, recalling and reliving memories... 

Adam

Adam

Adam tells the story of Adam Kashmiry, a trans man born in Alexandria, Egypt. It follows Adam’s journey figuring out where he belongs, first in Egypt and then in Glasgow where he seeks asylum... 

Morale Is High (Since We Gave Up Hope)

Morale Is High (Since We Gave Up Hope)

Manchester dark comedy duo Powder Keg (Ross McCaffery and Jake Walton) scream out their political statements in Morale Is High (Since We Gave Up Hope) but none which make an impact... 

Heroes

Heroes

Exploding Whale Theatre’s coming of age romp Heroes is set against the backdrop of Bowie’s rise to superstardom in 1972. A time when Bowie was inspiring misfits and outsiders to release their inner selves, and while the bright lights of the city seemed so much more adventurous and exciting than small town mundanity... 

Fémage à Trois

Fémage à Trois

Fémage a Trois is Loquiter Theatre’s production of three twenty-minute monologues, performed by three women in three different circles of life. The first, Safe to Shoot by Polly Churchill and performed by Sarah Swingler, was the strongest... 

Poll Function

Poll Function

A play that will make you laugh, cringe and cry in equal measure, Poll Function is a masterstroke. From theatre company HailToThePeople, their debut Fringe show delves into the world of the outcast and disenfranchised: the young men who screwed the system and got screwed back... 

Giants: For an Hour

Giants: For an Hour

After a sell-out debut show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe last year, Giants return with their sophomore hour. And boy, will it be great? Boy: no. Join Barney and Will for their unique brand of musically-infused sketch comedy, as they chart the past, present and future of their lifelong friendship with their 'distinctive twist on the genre's dynamics' (Chortle... 

Cashmere

Cashmere

Narrative direction is hard to achieve but is essential to a good musical. Most of the problems with this show can be attributed to a lack of it. Cashmere attempts to create a feeling of corporate coldness, but doesn’t have either the visual design or the musical chops to back it up and spends more time engaged in sentimentality than it does in any message about society’s focus on aesthetics... 

The Loneliest Girl in the World

The Loneliest Girl in the World

Smashing Mirrors Theatre are shining a spotlight on those usually left in the shadows through their heart-breaking play The Loneliest Girl in the World, written and directed by Elizabeth Godber... 

Your Point of View

Your Point of View

The internet has altered many aspects of the world we live in. The Lala Land Production’s performance of Your Point of View reflects how the world of internet porn in particular has altered our view of reality in so far as how we approach relationships... 

Pre-View

Pre-View

Traverse Theatre is currently hosting rehearsed readings of pieces from graduates at the University of Edinburgh’s Playwriting Masters course. The work of the emerging writers is performed and directed by professional directors and actors bringing the scripts to life – excellently... 

The Obscurist

The Obscurist

Jokes can be heard anywhere, but for comedy fans who want more bang for their buck, The Obscurist is the show to see this summer. Bringing off-the-wall and surrealist humour in the guise of a troubled artist's plans for world dominance, this new comedy tour-de-force wrings every last ounce of laughter from the audience... 

The Way It Is

The Way It Is

The 11:87 Theatre Company’s debut at the Fringe is a new musical following the lives of Sophie and George as they are guided by both angels and demons. This piece is accompanied by a small band compiled of Don Holdernesse on guitar and mandolin, and Ellen Casey on cello... 

Box Clever

Box Clever

Writer Monsay Whitney’s Box Clever is one of the most important shows up at the Edinburgh Fringe this year. Young Londoner Marnie is lippy, brazen, and - she admits – a little on the nuts side... 

Replay

Replay

Replay is a tense and atmospheric play which deftly explores loss, trauma and determination. Written and performed by Nicola Wren, this one-woman show is thoughtful and well-executed... 

Obfuscation

Obfuscation

Typically performed from the back of a truck in New York, this surreal take on a seminar exhorting the effective use of language achieves the desired level of oddness, but seems too short to really develop into anything meaningful... 

The Last Queen of Scotland

The Last Queen of Scotland

The Last Queen of Scotland is a bold and original new piece of writing by Jaimini Jethwa, commissioned by the National Theatre of Scotland and Dundee Rep, and produced by Stellar Quines... 

Breakfast Plays: B!rth

Breakfast Plays: B!rth

The Traverse Theatre sadly need to offer more than a bacon roll to make Breakfast Plays: B!rth worth getting up for. Whilst the addition of breakfast and a hot drink is a nice touch, they aren't enough to compensate for a dull performance... 

Bare Skin on Briny Waters

Bare Skin on Briny Waters

Bare Skin On Briny Waters is part of the Hull Takeover of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and is one of five plays presenting from the 2017 UK City of Culture. It is Bellow Theatre’s salt-water-smelling story about storytelling, survival and female selfhood... 

10 Rillington Place

10 Rillington Place

10 Rillington Place is successful in creating a chillingly uncanny aura; a domestic scene is twisted from the familiar into the unthinkable. Telling as true and horrifying a story as the serial murders by John Christie at 10 Rillington Place is no easy job to do well... 

Radio

Radio

The concept behind Sunscreen Productions’ Radio is pretty familiar: a group of flatmates at the end of their university careers grapple with past tensions and future anxieties while trying to get their deposit back... 

Jelly Beans

Jelly Beans

Jelly Beans is a really, really horrible play. A new work by Dan Pick, the piece describes one day in the life of an unnamed man in Port Glasgow. Wasting time, money and relationships, the man is suffering from severe alienation... 

How to Act

How to Act

How to Act is set up as a masterclass in acting with a fantastic twist that brings questions of race and gender into a topical debate. Robert Goodale plays Anthony Nicholl, the teacher who welcomes the audience as though they are about to watch a masterclass, which we certainly are... 

Pike St.

Pike St.

I’ll make no bones about it: Pike St. is brilliant. Nilaja Sun, the show’s writer and solo performer, left Summerhall’s Roundabout Theatre to whooping, cheering and rapturous standing ovation in what is a true testament to the power of this 75 minute tour-de-force... 

Suicide the Musical

Suicide the Musical

Suicide: The Musical is a one-man show that discusses male depression and disconnection due to social media.The main protagonist, John, uses Siri as a sort of therapist throughout the performance... 

The Edelweiss Pirates

The Edelweiss Pirates

A touching piece of theatre, the young performers of Parker & Snell Youth Company have created an effective retelling of The Edelweiss Pirates and their struggle during the Second World War in Hitler’s Germany... 

Lands

Lands

Antler Theatre are no strangers to the Edinburgh Fringe, making their debut with This Way Up and Maria, 1968 in 2012. I was lucky enough to see both of these shows back then and really enjoyed this up and coming company’s unique and engaging style of theatre, so I was interested to see their latest project Lands... 

Changelings

Changelings

Pucqui Collaborative’s Changelings is a thoughtful story about two very different existences colliding and attempting to translate one another. Totally immersed in the midst of a deep jungle and surrounded by birdsong and running water, we encounter the meeting of Mowgli (Nicole Palomba) and A Midsummer Night’s Dream’s Puck (Robin Ian HallSmith), a character displaced from his usual forest haunt to a less familiar but no less magical setting... 

The Burning Gadulka

The Burning Gadulka

This hour-long dramatic and comedic monologue is a persistent exploration of why the existence of the gadulka – a traditional Bulgarian folk instrument – is the worst thing that ever happened to a gadulka player... 

Glasgow Central

Glasgow Central

Glasgow Central is a play based on true events, written and directed by Lauren Dowie. This gritty, hard-hitting piece of theatre promotes Scotland’s talent and conveys urban stories about Scotland which are rarely told... 

Died Blondes

Died Blondes

Marilyn Monroe, movie star. Ruth Ellis, murderer. Infamous women. Famous last words re-imagined by award-winning writer Joan Ellis as she transports you from Hollywood to Holloway. What secrets did JFK’s mistress, Marilyn Monroe whisper down the phone to ex-husband Joe DiMaggio the night she died? How could Ruth Ellis, the last woman to be hanged in Britain, justify to lover, David Blakely her reason for shooting him? Piecing together the latest theories, Joan Ellis enables two so-called dumb blondes to find their voice... 

Size Matters

Size Matters

Meet Jim Arrandale, once a household name (he won an Oscar, you know!). Now though, he’s gone from being a four-time BAFTA host to being stuck with local radio adverts. The famous and talented just don’t want to work with him anymore... 

A Field of Our Own

A Field of Our Own

In 1875, a group of first and second generation immigrants, from the greatest refugee crisis of the age, fed up with their lack of opportunity, founded a football team called Hibernian... 

Scientology: The Musical

Scientology: The Musical

‘Catchy riffs and rapid-fire word play’ ***** (Kryztoff.com). ‘The songs were quite amazing’ (Advertiser). Would you become a Scientologist? You think you know better, right? Join George Glass as they blow the pseudo-science pseudo-religion wide open... 

The Shape of the Pain

The Shape of the Pain

China Plate’s The Shape of the Pain is an innovative artistic and scientific collaboration combining words, sound and projection to start a conversation about Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CPRS)... 

Glitter Punch

Glitter Punch

Some Riot theatre's new play is a rollercoaster of love, loss and the passion and pain of being young that hooks you from the first word, makes you fall in love with it then breaks your heart in the process... 

Heather

Heather

Fifty years ago, Roland Barthes told us to forget what we know about an author when reading a text. Today, writers tweet every hour, grace the broadsheets every weekend and even host their own media channels... 

The Other Half Lives

The Other Half Lives

Grieving is a universal human experience, and The Other Half Lives is a play which analyses grief in the years after someone’s passing. Though this will have been five years since Josh’s death, his sister still needs therapy, his mum stays up all night peeling oranges, and his best friend drunkenly stumbles in to crash on their sofa at six in the morning... 

Stand By

Stand By

There’s a real sense of excitement in the run-up to Stand By, not least thanks to the slightly-unusual venue—inside an Army Reserve Centre in the north of the New Town. Serving soldiers act as ushers, issuing us with the same single-earpiece headphones worn by police officers on duty... 

Eggsistentialism

Eggsistentialism

Joanne Ryan’s ode to motherhood, Eggsistentialism, is emotionally poignant and amusingly informative. Alongside Joanne’s musings about whether or not she is ready to have a child, this show seamlessly integrates the history of Irish contraception laws... 

Forgive Us, Oh Father!

Forgive Us, Oh Father!

I think this show is emblematic of a lot of the problems that new musicals at the Fringe tend to have. It’s entertaining, and has a fun concept that, at its core, leads to an hour that has some funny, interesting moments... 

One-Man Apocalypse Now

One-Man Apocalypse Now

Apocalypse Now, with its 153 minute running time, multi-million dollar production costs and jungle location, might not seem like the most obvious contender for adaptation into a one-man show... 

Fix

Fix

Worklight Theatre return to Edinburgh with their brand new show Fix; a fusion of song, science and soliloquy investigating addiction in the UK today. After two years of research and interviews exploring the cause and effect of a range of addictions, writers Joe Sellman-Leava and Michael Woodman provide a mouthpiece for these people’s stories through their creation of three unique and engaging characters... 

Sweetmeat

Sweetmeat

Sweetmeat is about the consented cannibalism between two men who are also lovers. It discusses the boundaries of love and pain. How far can the two be taken? Where is the line?The acting style is very minimalistic and at first it seemed too small, but as the dialogue got more and more intense it became utterly appropriate for the piece... 

Hero

Hero

Let me preface by saying that Hero suffered from technical issues when I saw it, which was announced at the play’s beginning and therefore meant that some of the lights for the production were compromised... 

What Do Bears Eat?

What Do Bears Eat?

A woman, a bear, some cub-support money and questionable morals: What Do Bears Eat? is an irreverent, bizarre and satirical take on the relationship between man and nature. When a woman decides to relocate to the forest, she doesn't quite know what she's in for... 

A Joke

A Joke

A new comedy by Dan Freeman starring Sylvester McCoy, Richard Oliver and Robert Picardo. An Englishman, an Irishman and a Scotsman walk into a joke... 

Vaccine

Vaccine

Vaccine is a searing new drama created by the newly formed Warwick University company, Juvenilia. It is an intense psychological drama, exploring the tensions and power shifts between the patients and staff of a psychiatric institution... 

Macbeth Kills the Duchess

Macbeth Kills the Duchess

Deep below an English manor house, in which a beloved member of the British royal family sleeps, a young woman is dressed as Shakespeare’s tragic hero Macbeth. Together with a group of friends, enemies and disgruntled employees, she has hatched a plot to murder the Duchess of Chelsea... 

The Teeth of Haros

The Teeth of Haros

The Teeth of Haros follows the recently deceased Malcolm on a dream-like journey through purgatory and memories of his last day alive as he searches for his daughter Anna. The play deals with the aftermath of a great tragedy which leaves two fathers lost in themselves, and the journeys that these two men must go on that they may make peace with their pasts and move on... 

Pistorius: A Shakespearean Tragedy

Pistorius: A Shakespearean Tragedy

Macbeth. Othello. Hamlet. Pistorius. In 2013, three cackling news anchors predict the fall of the first Olympian double amputee. Amidst the madness at his fame and father, our so-called tragic hero kills his lover, Reeva, and shockingly pleads his innocence... 

Dirty Bitches

Dirty Bitches

This play tells the story of Sophia, a street prostitute, and Serephina, a high class escort. These two women, both in their mid sixties, are coerced by Royston into meeting each other for the first time, or so they think... 

The Second Coming

The Second Coming

In a world full of hatred and ignorance, Simply Surreal, fresh from our sell-out show last year, welcomes you to our exciting play. The Second Coming is a farcical retelling of the Nativity story focusing on the Virgin Amy and her surprise when a stranger leaves an unexpected gift in a public toilet... 

The Story of Snow and Other True Tales According to Reet Petite

The Story of Snow and Other True Tales According to Reet Petite

Snow is the newest prisoner at HMP Young Offenders Institution, Hull. Through the medium of fairy tales, cellmates Reet and Snow explore their respective families, the reasons for their imprisonment and, ultimately, how they can change their ending... 

An Evening with the Voices in Annie's Head

An Evening with the Voices in Annie's Head

Annie is just a normal girl with normal problems. Does she prefer skim or semi-skim milk? Will that boy from the pub call back? Will the TV presenters in her head shut up so that she can talk to him? And how the f*** is she going to clean all this glitter out of her subconscious? ‘Wraps you round its little finger and DOES NOT LET GO’ - Eli Carvajal, New Manhattan ‘Steals the limelight of the MIFTAS… hard-hitting and emotive’ - The Mancunion, Best Newcomer & Best Costume, MIFTAS 2016. 

Play Something

Play Something

Two men meet in a club. It’s supposed to just be casual sex. But their paths keep crossing, keeping it casual for years, until feelings deepen. But how does a non-emotional man become emotional? To tell you their story they ask the DJ to play something... 

Empty Shoes

Empty Shoes

Imagine a lifetime of feeling invisible. A man held together by ritual and routine is drawn to the edge of a precipice, seeking escape. Trapped in a life he did not choose, oppressed by duty to others, past and present converge as he contemplates his existence... 

Domestic

Domestic

Can the state go into your home, uncover your secrets and trap you with what it finds? Domestic is a love story between Mia – an activist, and Cal – the policeman sent to spy on her... 

Mimi's Suitcase

Mimi's Suitcase

Mimi's Suitcase explores identity and the consequences of displacement as it follows Iranian teen Mimi’s involuntary return to her war-torn homeland after a happy childhood in Barcelona... 

Freshers

Freshers

New town. New people. Freshers is a play focusing on the transition from home to university life. A mix of hilarious character comedy and poignant human relationships are set alongside events that can take place in a young person's first week... 

Loud in Babel

Loud in Babel

It is 2057 and the world’s population has reached 10 billion. To prevent unsanctioned births, British law states that no male and female can be allowed to be alone together in a private place... 

Angels in Erotica

Angels in Erotica

Jesus here! Belief in Dad is at an all-time low, but pre-marital sex is at an all-time high. So, He’s trying to rebrand by starring in His very first sex comedy. He’s got poor Cupid traipsing around after some dirty-minded northern girl in this “new universe” he’s created... 

Deleted

Deleted

A veteran teacher, Edna Stubbs, stumbles across a device that allows her to alter her classroom based on a student's performance or life decisions. Feeling powerful, she keeps a notebook of her problem students and begins to justify each deletion... 

Harry Poppers and the Deathly Swallows

Harry Poppers and the Deathly Swallows

Welcome to the story of Harry Poppers and the Deathly Swallows! You may have heard a similar story before, but we will take you on a very different journey. Expect danger, dark magic, a few camp musical numbers, double entendres and a drag queen or two... 

Tom & Ollie in Wasps

Tom & Ollie in Wasps

What do Andy Murray, Google and Bordeaux's number one philosophizer François Fromage have in common? Yes, that's right – wasps. Join Tom and Ollie as they delve deep into the depths of the deepest depths, hunting out the perfect sketch with nothing but a tennis racket, a magnifying glass and a Frenchman... 

Hear All About It

Hear All About It

Reactivists bring you a new show each week, based on the news of the week before. Hear All About It responds to and engages with current affairs to create a space for conversation. With a different company performing each week, come along and see which headlines have grabbed the attention of our performers, and join the discussion! 

Exile

Exile

Six women meet in exile. They are nowhen, nowhere. Stuck in this place of placelessness, enclosed and without borders, they search in the sand for memories of home as their identity slips through their fingers... 

An Actor's Tribute

An Actor's Tribute

An Actor's Tribute combines new writing with devised content and improv to create a piece of theatre that explores the highs and lows of life from an actor’s point of view. It’s become a tradition for students at Oxbridge to perform variations on the theme of an actor’s tribute, and because the content is guided by the students, each year’s production is unique... 

A Feyre Tale

A Feyre Tale

New writer Priscilla Berringer collaborates with Joanna Faith Habershon (2016’s Soft, the Moon Rose), taking a fresh look at old time classic Jane Eyre through the eyes of a failing theatre company... 

Girls Will Be Girls

Girls Will Be Girls

'A new label on an old tin of beans won’t change the flavour.' 'I’m sorry, am I an old tin of beans in this scenario?' Seven envelopes addressed from Oxford University are making their way across the country... 

Two Dunnit

Two Dunnit

Life is ordinarily quite reasonable for POIROT – the Penrith Organisation for Investigating the Reasonably Ordinary T (it’s a silent T). Then Lucia Keight and Robin Eyers stumble upon something decidedly unreasonable and definitely not ordinary... 

Chips and Cheese

Chips and Cheese

Young Scottish YouTube star Bex has convinced her English boyfriend Philip to move to Glasgow with her. She throws a dinner party to introduce him to her old-school, loony grandparents, and Philip's best friend Harry turns up to surprise them, bringing a secret of betrayal with him... 

Firewater

Firewater

'I didn't even know your name.' Cara and Jon are study buddies and, sometimes, partygoers. Ruby and Adam cling to a fractured relationship. One night, the four meet and, as time unfolds, unspoken secrets between them are revealed... 

Waiting for Spring

Waiting for Spring

Jack and Annie had the perfect relationship, right up until the day they didn't anymore. Now she's dead, he's lost and nothing makes sense any more, but at least the zombie apocalypse is – probably – not nigh... 

Teen Master Brain

Teen Master Brain

A brand new dark comedy exploring the hilarious dynamics between the brightest young minds of our generation, and the expectations and demands of their parents. Resulting in murderous intent! 

Think

Think

Think is a powerful piece of new writing from Evangeline Osbon, recent graduate from the Academy of Live and Recorded Arts, in collaboration with MindOut Theatre. Impressively, Osbon also doubles as the play’s director, and even triples as a performer in its multi-roling ensemble... 

A Great Fear of Shallow Living

A Great Fear of Shallow Living

A good storytelling piece is lovely. We evolved by telling stories. It is the oldest form of theatre. A Great Fear of Shallow Living is set up in a classic storytelling way. The performance is ideally located in a small and intimate venue and accompanied live music... 

(More) Moira Monologues

(More) Moira Monologues

Time has not withered Moira Bell, Alan Bissett’s 2009 tribute to the hard-working, hard-playing, straight-talking working class women of Scotland, and Falkirk in particular. In 2017, she’s still arguing with her neighbours (mostly about their noisy sex lives), giving people who disrespect her a piece of her mind, and knocking down any middle class pretentiousness with a single blow... 

The Recovery Version

The Recovery Version

A hidden gem of the fringe, this authentically Scottish play has fantastically realist, understated acting throughout, and it offers an emotional portrayal of the familial tensions that lie just under the surface... 

Giants: For an Hour

Giants: For an Hour

With so many comedy double acts at the Fringe – many of whom are also middle-class white boys from London – Will Hislop and Barney Fishwick have their work cut out to stand out from the crowds... 

Cockamamy

Cockamamy

Cockamamy is an adjective meaning ludicrous or nonsensical. For Alice, a woman suffering from dementia, it is more than a high scoring word on an episode of Countdown. Living with her granddaughter, Rosie, this word acts as a means of describing what is happening to her... 

Avalon

Avalon

This is an insight into a piece of work in its infancy, and it does have a long way to go before it stands on its own two feet. This staged read though of Avalon is littered with clumsy tropes, a lack of consistency in its world building, and an ambiguity in what it is trying to achieve... 

The Chess Player

The Chess Player

This mesmerising adaptation of Stefan Zweig’s novella gives you no choice but to be completely immersed into a tiny room with a Nazi prisoner, as he attempts to cling to sanity using the game of chess... 

Jess and Joe Forever

Jess and Joe Forever

Jess and Joe want to tell us their story. They are friends but they weren’t at the beginning, but they’ll get to that point. Jess and Joe Forever is a touching story, about a boy and a girl and how difficult it can be to fit in... 

Fag/Stag

Fag/Stag

Fag/Stag written and performed by Aussie duo Jeffrey Jay Fowler and Chris Isaacs, explores what it means to have your best mate by your side when you’re stuck being your worst self... 

Bella Freak: Unwritten

Bella Freak: Unwritten

Unwritten, according to the flyer, is ‘a secret history of Scotland’; specifically, though, it uses the individual experiences of three disabled people to talk about Inclusive Education... 

The Shaken and the Stirred

The Shaken and the Stirred

Nestled away in the Scottish Arts Club is a collection of Canadian poets performing a variety of their work with different styles and a few excerpts from their novels, both published and to be published in the next year... 

Sleepwalkers

Sleepwalkers

Opening with an audio recording of various real-life political statements – given by both normal citizens and political leaders – Sleepwalkers quickly registers its interest in populism... 

Birthday Cake

Birthday Cake

Based on the true story of the senseless, unsolved stabbing of a teenager, Dan Bishop’s dark comedy explores the impact random acts of violence have on young people, and their understanding of the world... 

Like Dolphins Can Swim

Like Dolphins Can Swim

Home from university for the holidays, Sam and Alice have met to fulfil the promise they made, aged 10, to spend one whole, glorious day as their superhero alter egos. But while Captain Hero-Man and The Mighty Hedgehog have changed little, Sam and Alice’s friendship appears to have lost its childhood innocence... 

Beauty

Beauty

'What is an artist without his muse?' Beauty constantly asks this question as it delves into what it really means to create a legacy as an artist, and investigates how morals are explored and brought into question in the world of art... 

Stop

Stop

There is a lot to like about this package. Stop is effortlessly charming, with a score that couldn’t stop making me smile throughout the show. Its characters are unique and fun, and its story is a compelling look at the universality of mental illness and hurt in society... 

Just Like the Movies

Just Like the Movies

Just Like the Movies is a cheery musical exploring the world of show business as the characters battle to make a statement in a world where success is often decided by major reality TV Shows... 

Atlantic: America and the Great War

Atlantic: America and the Great War

There is beautiful music at the heart of Atlantic: America & The Great War. The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland have done an excellent job putting together a show that sounds epic, intimate and touching throughout... 

Black Mountain

Black Mountain

Though common in film and literature, it is rare to see a play which fits the bill of psychological thriller. This is done with incredible skill by Brad Birch, Fringe first winner and recipient of the Harold Pinter Commission... 

Nassim

Nassim

Nassim. No rehearsals. No preparation. A different actor every performance. A script in a sealed envelope. What could go wrong?This is a show that touches the heart. It’s theatre that uses many tools to tell us a story... 

Make me

Make me

What do an Indian banker, a Chinese nurse and a Polish housekeeper have in common? Three young women search for love and find themselves in a unique love triangle. The women tell stories about their secret desires, longing for fulfillment, and unavoidably go back to how they first met the same man – Dean... 

A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad)

A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad)

A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad) is about a woman’s struggle with depression, told through a simple, storytelling format and soundtracked by original music from Frisky and Mannish’s usually excellent Matthew Floyd Jones... 

Walls

Walls

It begins with a simple yet beautifully plucked tune followed by eerie voices echoing out until they fill the room. And then comes a voice, a man reading out his letter to David Cameron, appealing to the old prime minister to let him cross the English Channel and finally find a home in the UK... 

Brothers

Brothers

Performing to a deservedly sold out crowd, this piece aims to start a conversation with its audience about a topic that is too often neglected. Brothers explores issues of mental health and masculinity in a contemporary, engaging style... 

The Whip Hand

The Whip Hand

The Traverse Theatre is onto a winner with its programming this year. Douglas Maxwell’s The Whip Hand a family comedy drama, about power, privilege and escaping the past, is a firecracker of a piece... 

Carpe Diem Sings

Carpe Diem Sings

Celebrating the music of Peter D Robinson (MTM nominee, Best Composer on the Fringe, 2007) this concert features music from a range of productions. From plague-ridden Edinburgh (Street of Sorrows), through to Burke and Hare (Blood on the Stones), the Highland Clearances (Sailing to Tomorrow), Mary Queen of Scots (Bothwell’s Bride) and witchcraft (The Fire and the Thistle)... 

Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons

Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons

This cleverly written piece by Sam Steiner may be back for a third year at the Fringe, but Walrus Theatre has still managed to create something fresh in this wonderful, captivating and original play about how and why we use language... 

The B*easts

The B*easts

Even those of us who strive to find nothing inherently embarrassing about mammary glands feel a bit awkward at the box office, and this is part of The B*easts message. “I’d like ticket to see… the Beasts? The Breasts? Er, the one with the asterisk... 

Out Of Love

Out Of Love

Written by award winning playwright Elinor Cook, Out of Love is a stunning piece of new writing which conveys the absolute power of female friendship, something which is often overlooked in favour of romantic storylines... 

Whore: A Kid's Play

Whore: A Kid's Play

In our youth-obsessed society, women become sexualised at a very young age. Often before they can themselves understand the concept of sex, they are being seen as sexual beings. This strips power away from young girls who do not get the chance to grow up before they sexualised... 

Morgan Stern

Morgan Stern

Company of Rogues invites us into an intriguing, yet convoluted, tale of a time-travelling gent sent to redeem himself by saving a schizophrenic in 1980s Australia. Graeme Rhodes’ solo delivery is packed full of elaborate, multi-faceted characters who are each introduced with a fresh level of vigour as he enthralls with his authentic narration... 

Ballot Box

Ballot Box

Ballot Box from Tea and Tonic productions may be categorised under ‘New Writing,’ but it fails to provide an original scope on Brexit. This comedy satire follows the impact of the EU referendum on two out-of- work actresses, Molly and Lydia (played by Keri Bastiman and Emily Parker-Barratt, who also wrote the play)... 

You, Me and Everything Else

You, Me and Everything Else

Those of a certain age will remember the heart bruising joy of creating a mix tape for a loved one. They may have agonised over getting the sounds just right, keen to represent the very best of themselves... 

Rupture

Rupture

Take the premise of George Orwell’s 1984 and lighten it up with a few jokes and some pop culture references and you’ll already be halfway towards the dystopian future seen in Rupture... 

Atlas

Atlas

Natural philosophers Edmund Halley and Robert Hooke are engaged in a scientific wager that will crown the man who can prove why the planets move elliptically the victor. Halley, enlisting the help of academic outcast Isaac Newton, unwittingly begins a grudge-fuelled chain of events that sees the course of history – and of friendships – change forever... 

Testosterone

Testosterone

Testosterone is a touching, funny and incredibly brave piece of theatre from Rhum and Clay Company and Kit Redstone. It chronicles his experience of physically transitioning from female to male and the social minefield of modern masculinity that he’s had to navigate... 

The Man on the Moor

The Man on the Moor

The tricky thing with a show like The Man On The Moor is balancing the personal, fictional story being told with the larger, true-life event it is connected to. The play traces one man’s search for answers after his long-missing father turns up dead... 

The Magical Trip of a Bead – Stories from China

The Magical Trip of a Bead – Stories from China

A musical marvel – a magical journey undertaken by three little children, each with their own striking personality, who unite their efforts and complete a series of challenging trials helped by the glass slipper, the witch mirror, the matches, Nüwa and the Foolish Old Man (mythical Chinese characters)... 

The Alien Chicken Remembers Galatea

The Alien Chicken Remembers Galatea

The Alien Chicken Remembers Galatea is inspired by John Lyly's pastoral comedy, Galatea. Lyly's Galatea follows two maidens, disguised as boys and sent away to escape Neptune's monster, to Diana's Woods... 

The OS Map Fan Club

The OS Map Fan Club

Helen Wood delivers a bizarre, amiable love letter to the ordnance survey in The OS Map Fan Club. She is a companionable host, leading us through a virtual romp through the English countryside using her beloved map... 

Mental

Mental

Kane Power makes many admissions at the start of Mental. He admits he is uncertain of how to portray bipolar disorder on stage, or even if he should. He is also not sure whether it’s right to use his mum’s illness as the basis of his performance... 

SiX

SiX

Cambridge University Musical society hits Edinburgh to redefine the stories of Henry VIII’s six wives through a contemporary pop girl-band SiX. This original new musical, co-written by Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow, delivers a brazen, glamorous and truly unforgettable history lesson... 

The Local

The Local

Sometimes, all a show needs to be good is to be simple and earnestly performed. This is not one of those times. The Local needs a lot of work to be anything more than an attempt to put a modern trend of local alehouses closing into song... 

Was it good for you?

Was it good for you?

Navigating the intricacies of a one-night stand can be a tricky social and biological journey. This is the inspiration behind Rosie Harris’s and Luke Smith’s Was It Good For You?, a new play that aims to explore what we think about when we have sex... 

Monster

Monster

Boy meets girl. Boy is an actor, working on a show based around anger and Shakespeare’s text from various plays. Joe Sellman-Leava (writer and performer in this one man show) takes this idea and uses it for the basis of telling his tale, weaving in and out of different personas and voices... 

Alan, We Think You Should Get a Dog

Alan, We Think You Should Get a Dog

A problem that a lot of shows face is an inability to commit to tone, or to perform in agreement with the tone that the show sets forth. Case in point – Alan, We Think You Should Get a Dog... 

(FEAR)

(FEAR)

(FEAR) grabs your attention as soon as you enter the venue. Every single detail of the design has been utterly thought out. Large red blocks, spelling FEAR, in capital letters look stunning against a black background... 

Screaming Body – Découpage Collective

Screaming Body – Découpage Collective

The Medea of Euripides is a story of love, of life, of murder and of how all three interlink. This classic Greek tale has been revived and modernised by Découpage Collective in their retelling of the tragedy... 

Brutal Cessation

Brutal Cessation

Described by its creator as a two-actor play of “a relationship rotting” and a manifestation of domestic “purgatory”, it quite quickly becomes apparent through this tense and engrossing performance that this is an understatement... 

Caravaggio: Between the Darkness

Caravaggio: Between the Darkness

“I need more light,” our protagonist Caravaggio says at one point, and it’s fair to say that the 16th century Italian’s use of light and darkness is one of his paintings’ signature features... 

Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story

Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story

Kings Hall has been taken over by Summer Hall and transformed into the Canada Hub over the festival, showcasing a series of Canadian acts exploring the issues surrounding Canada’s 150th anniversary celebration... 

Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show

Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show

The cast and crew of The Big Bite-Size Breakfast Plays coax their audience into starting their day bright and early with coffee, croissants and strawberries. In 50 minutes, they perform five original, international plays, ranging from comedy to mini-drama... 

Deadly Dialogues

Deadly Dialogues

Quilliam transported us into their world with this innovative, captivating, controversial performance which examined Islamic radicalisation in a series of complex twists and turns. Amongst the swirling narrative of magic carpets, ancient warrior queens and a Muslim Banksy, was a spotlight shone upon the dark underbelly of Western interpretations of jihadism as four young Muslims journeyed through radicalisation... 

What Goes on in Front of Closed Doors

What Goes on in Front of Closed Doors

What Goes on in Front of Closed Doors is an examination of homelessness and the situations which lead to it which matches the pace of how those problems develop. The show goes from real, but fun, to extremely harrowing within a fraction of a second, to such a degree that you’re almost given whiplash... 

Dust

Dust

Dust is not for the faint-hearted. With a powerful combination of spine-chilling performance and unflinching writing, Milly Thomas traps audiences in the disturbed mind of Alice, who has returned from the dead to witness the aftershock of her suicide... 

Nina – A Story About Me and Nina Simone

Nina – A Story About Me and Nina Simone

1960s America. A hot day; 38 degrees in the shade. We certainly feel the heat in this piercing, soulful production at the Traverse theatre.Josette Bushell-Mingo writes and performs in this one-woman show, using Nina Simone’s music and political acts to make parallels with today’s society and question how far we have really come... 

Goody

Goody

Nestled in what seems, somewhat appropriately, to be a shipping container in the Pleasance Courtyard, two creatures on a journey with no origin point or destination try to figure each other out... 

We Are All Going to Die

We Are All Going to Die

We are all Going to Die is a devised piece by Dead Person Productions. The story follows eight people that are stranded in an Arctic research base. They seem to be looking forward to either starving to death or catching hypothermia... 

Marking Time

Marking Time

Stuck in a lift, Ruth waits to escape in order to visit her husband who has recently been diagnosed with cancer. As she awaits rescue, she looks back on the diagnosis, her life and her father’s demise... 

Letters to Morrissey

Letters to Morrissey

Confession time: I’ve never been a fan of The Smiths or Morrissey. Oh, I recognise their importance in British popular culture, the innovative high quality of their work—but that doesn’t mean I have to like it... 

Performers

Performers

One figure doesn’t appear in Performers, Irvine Welsh and Dean Cavanagh’s new play inspired by some of the behind-the-scenes stories surrounding the making of 1970 cult film Performance—in which a London gangster (James Fox) hides out within the mansion of a former rock star (Mick Jagger), with all the cultural clashes you’d expect when different social worlds and ideas of masculinity run into each other towards the close of the “Swinging Sixties”... 

The Interview

The Interview

An intense thriller challenging the villains of the business world, the bullies who take pleasure in their success over others, no matter what it takes.The play follows Ian’s job application from lying on his CV, to the painful telephone interview before eventually making it to the final interview in person... 

The F Word

The F Word

It’s a rainy day in Edinburgh and I’m not in the mood for a My Sister’s Keeper type of cancer play. But as soon as the house opens I am assured that this is not the case. The actors are onstage playing on videogame consoles while the audience slowly filters in... 

The Bearpit

The Bearpit

Glimpses of a toxic relationship. Snapshots of a dying planet. Dark vignettes of love as the end draws near. The Bearpit, from new theatre company Kopfkino, combines these ingredients into a relentless interrogation of generational cynicism and the human connection in a physical, deeply atmospheric piece of theatre... 

Descent

Descent

Good theatre should make you feel something and by that definition alone, this was great theatre. Descent is production which is not only beautifully and skilfully made, but endlessly moving to watch... 

Celtic Sanctus

Celtic Sanctus

Although the world becomes ever smaller, big questions about our existence and purpose remain. In a global society increasingly dominated by technology, a spiritual hunger endures. In this new work, Peter D Robinson – MTM:UK nominee for best composer on the Fringe, 2007 for Sailing to Tomorrow – combines ancient liturgical text in Latin and English with ancient and modern Gaelic, mixing the Christian and Pagan in a compelling and distinctly Scottish message of one music, one God... 

Golf Course War Machine

Golf Course War Machine

NATO Summit, 2014, Newport, Wales: Pippa is dazed, hungover and staging her own personal protest on the Coldra roundabout. This is her opportunity to trample down the fence, as she fights to put Wales on the centre of the global map, proving that even the smallest of voices can be heard amongst the political noise... 

Naming Culture

Naming Culture

This short, sweet and interactive one-woman show is an autobiographical journey through a life labelled as "disabled". Zara’s open and honest stories quite literally draw you into her world as she playfully calls stereotypes into question and leaves you with a few things to think about!  

Flesh and Bone

Flesh and Bone

Imagine William Shakespeare wrote Attack the Block and you get Flesh and Bone, a tale of an East London tower block and it’s residents. We learn their stories as they finally get a voice... 

Lipstick and Scones

Lipstick and Scones

Venture Wolf’s production of Lipstick and Scones is a combination of familial drama and comedy that raises questions about love, identity and relationships.This 45 minute discourse at theSpace on the Mile’s stage follows the conflicts and encounters of three sisters who are reunited for the eldest’s fourth engagement that year... 

Cow

Cow

One Devonshire lass and her cow in search for a tractor may not sound the most captivating plot premise you’ve ever heard, but Cow delivers brilliantly on it. Directed by Lucy Wray, this one-woman show focuses around Bethan, a quirky and off-beat farmers daughter played by Jessica Barker-Wren (who also wrote the play)... 

Part of the Picture

Part of the Picture

Bletherbox provide an alternative insight into the lives of the men who worked and died on the Piper Alpha oil rig. Tom Cooper’s writing is remarkably realistic and will feel eerily familiar to those in the audience who know people who work offshore... 

Frankie Vah by Luke Wright

Frankie Vah by Luke Wright

Luke Wright has been performing spoken word on the Fringe circuit for years, winning a dedicated following for his catalogue of smart, catchy polemics. But with Frankie Vah, he's managed to craft a gorgeously-worded powerhouse of a play, in one of the only verse dramas that could claim to get a crowd cheering and stamping their feet throughout... 

A Gym Thing

A Gym Thing

A Gym Thing is narrated by Will, a person obsessed with his body, for whom staying in shape becomes a kind of unpaid profession. But this obsession might cost him exactly what brought him to the gym in the first place: attention in general, and Bec, specifically... 

From Dust

From Dust

The latest production from Lion House Theatre is a visually pleasing experience, executed with dexterity and grace by a cast of three. As we are informed by our narrator and writer Casey Jay Andrews, "this story starts, and ends, with a girl, a boy and a wolf”... 

Ballistic

Ballistic

In a darkened room surrounded by blinking lights a young angry man tells us his life story, from childhood through teen years to the miseries of universities we see what the struggles of trying to be to be a man in the 21st century are, and the horrible consequences the weight of that pressure can cause... 

Snowflake by Mark Thomson

Snowflake by Mark Thomson

Snowflake, a new play written and directed by the former Artistic Director of Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum Theatre, Mark Thomson, feels a necessity to explain its title right from the start; essentially, that the “millennials” who became adults during the 2010s have—thanks to their upbringing—an inflated sense of their own uniqueness and, as a result are less resilient than previous generations... 

Fall of Duty

Fall of Duty

How long will your adult child be staying? Should you make an ultimatum? Can you steer them away from war games and into the archives? What's the point of it all? Will the story of an actor who falls from the sky in 1916 be a wake up call for Jack a hundred years on? The true story of Basil Hallam and Elsie Janis... 

Boy in a Bottle

Boy in a Bottle

A boy washed up on the tide. Still Alive. Inside a bottle. The locals argue what to do, and as they do their souls show through. But when he sinks into the sand and the sea rises, can they save him – or themselves? A satirical look at how society views strangers... 

You Forgot the Mince

You Forgot the Mince

‘And in the end, we were all just humans, drunk on the idea that love, only love, could heal our brokenness’. Rosa lives with her grandma Lily. She’s just finished college and can’t wait to leave Yorkshire… until she meets Niko... 

The Tale of the Tail

The Tale of the Tail

A child is born... with something special... A tail. The Tale of the Tail is a story of one child's life throughout history and history's reaction to the tail – from being worshipped as a religious symbol, to eroticised as a mysterious outsider and popularised as a contemporary trend/fashion accessory... 

Meat

Meat

1533: Henry VIII's London, the height of negotiations for Britain's separation from Europe – and Jean and Georges are having their portrait painted. Now: Charlie is the media personality everyone loves to hate... 

Scenes from Punk Rock

Scenes from Punk Rock

In the library of a grammar school in Stockport, a group of school pupils gather who appear to lead typical teenage lives. But, with A-level exams fast approaching and individual agendas emerging, relationships soon come under strain and friendships begin to unravel... 

My Second Best Bed

My Second Best Bed

Shakespeare's life, in Shakespeare's words... Conceived for the RSC’s 2016 Dream Playmaking Festival and using language from the 38 extant plays penned by the Bard, as well as incorporating several of his sonnets and fragments of his extended poetry, the lives of William and Anne Shakespeare are re-imagined and reborn... 

MANWATCHING

MANWATCHING

Manwatching is a monologue written by an anonymous woman to be performed by a famous comedian. The comedian has to be a man, is different every night and is handed the script in a sealed envelope, having never seen it before... 

Threadbare

Threadbare

Threadbare is a creation of the Minotaur Theatre Company which is run by students from the University of East Anglia.It is always refreshing to encounter young people who are not afraid to voice their opinions... 

The Principle of Uncertainty

The Principle of Uncertainty

Making a show about science interesting to a general audience is an extremely difficult feat. You risk losing anyone without a scientific background in the details, and condescending to those who know what you’re talking about... 

Sink

Sink

Sink is a poignant and fascinating drama about one of China’s greatest playwrights, Lao She; a man who wrote for his country and was once honoured as an ‘Artist of the people’ but was later renounced as a reactionary capitalist sympathiser during China’s Cultural Revolution in 1966... 

Ouija the Musical

Ouija the Musical

Once you open the door there’s no going back… A late night band rehearsal in Aberlladd goes badly wrong with deadly consequences in this spine-tingling horror musical. From the company that brought you the sell-out Naked Dictators and the composer of The Jolly Folly of Polly the Scottish Trolley Dolly *****(Guardian). 

The Shakespeares: Scenes from a Marriage

The Shakespeares: Scenes from a Marriage

Was Shakespeare ever really in love? On 27 November 1582, he registered to marry Anne Whateley. But, the next day, he bought a licence to marry Anne Hathaway. So begins the story of Shakespeare’s tangled affections... 

Noose Women

Noose Women

Just how low can reality TV go? When sinister American cult leader Chuck pitches a gruesome dating show with death as the ultimate prize, a couple of desperate television producers start salivating... 

The Gin Chronicles at Sea

The Gin Chronicles at Sea

Interrupt the Routine returns as 1940s radio group The Misfits of London for another highly enjoyable adventure of The Gin Chronicles.This year’s instalment is The Gin Chronicles at Sea, where protagonists John Jobling and Doris Golightly set off on an Atlantic cruise to take a break from their amateur detective escapades... 

The Darling Monologues

The Darling Monologues

Created, written, directed and performed by author Angela Jackson, The Darling Monologues is a series of three darkly comic monologues which interweave the lives of three women: Lily, Sadie, and Ruby... 

Communism: The Musical!

Communism: The Musical!

If you are hoping to find your comrades in arms and chant the internationale alongside like-minded people I regret to inform you that you will be disappointed. If, however, you are looking to be entertained with borderline dad jokes and vague references to historical events, you, my friend, are in for a treat... 

The Greenhouse

The Greenhouse

Gordon and Paul are classic slackers and up until now their lives have consisted of dodgy deals, shady characters, and daytime television. But the theft of a bag of high purity heroin from their psychotic neighbour – drug supplier and all-round nutjob Benjy – throws the boys’ lives into turmoil... 

Fish Finger Fridays: Fun Time Friends

Fish Finger Fridays: Fun Time Friends

Hot, new(ish) comedy trio are back in Edinburgh with a playful new sketch show. Bored of white guys? They’ve got an Asian man! Bored of men? They’ve got a lady! (Note: There’s also a white man... 

Rock and Hunt

Rock and Hunt

'You live your whole life and then it's just you.’ Cate’s never been to a party. Luke’s a prick. Josie can’t eat the cake alone. James needs a job. Laura wants to scream. And Fred can’t work Grindr... 

Sugar & Salt

Sugar & Salt

Moni’s got guts and a promiscuous disposition. Minu has heart and a very big mouth. Together they bumble and blunder through student life, hook-ups and hangovers, declaring their greatest hopes and fears amidst the perpetual mess of their kitchen... 

Father of Lies

Father of Lies

Making a Murderer meets Rosemary's Baby... Father of Lies is the new show from critically-acclaimed theatre company Bête Noire Productions. It tells the chilling true story behind a macabre and mysterious murder in West Germany, 1973... 

These Walls

These Walls

These Walls is about young women facing walls in their lives. Eden is trapped by expectation; she cannot escape from the image nor stray from the path others draw for her. Chrissy is trapped by a lack of expectation, defined only by her beauty... 

Macbeth / Redux

Macbeth / Redux

The first half is a cut-down, 30-minute version of Shakespeare's play. In the second half, we perform an entirely separate piece, contrasting in content, though thematically similar to Macbeth... 

Mine

Mine

Take three different couples and get them all pregnant. Add in an unhealthy dose of Tinder, engagement rings, Nutella and turkey basters. It's a recipe for disaster. Babies change everything... 

Autopsy. The Soul of Richard Nixon

Autopsy. The Soul of Richard Nixon

The soul of Richard Nixon attempts to justify his actions while the audience act as the jury. A dark comedy that poses the question: is it correct to do the wrong thing for the right reasons?  

The Tale of the Cockatrice

The Tale of the Cockatrice

Deep in the vaults of an ancient priory a deadly creature awakens… Bold knights flee in terror! Can a humble nun defeat the beast? Two muddle-headed storytellers use puppetry, live music and general tomfoolery to bring to life this dark, winding fable for monster lovers young and old! ‘A new and exciting company, it’s hard to find shows that work so well for children and adults alike’ (Niki McCretton, Artistic Director, Stuff and Nonsense)... 

Class Mates

Class Mates

Take one community centre, three evening classes, six skill-seekers and then stand back! Night class-aholic Karen and newly separated daughter Izzy tackle Zumba. Underprepared dad-to-be Zack meets overprepared Marla in antenatal class... 

The Poltergeist of Cock Lane

The Poltergeist of Cock Lane

Putney Light Operatic Society are bringing a famous English haunting back from the dead with their new musical The Poltergeist of Cock Lane, composed by Steven Geraghty and written by Tim Connery... 

Bleach

Bleach

There are downsides to most jobs and many come with dangers, hidden or otherwise, but there are usually compensatory factors as well. Working as a rent boy is no exception. Through the character of Tyler Everett, Bleach lays bare one gay boy’s daily ups and downs on the game and exposes a shattering, dark ‘event’... 

Penthouse

Penthouse

Ewan is one of the country's most intelligent young bankers. However he's just lost close to £1.4 billion of investors' money in an illegal trade he should not have made. His plan? Hire the penthouse of a hotel and indulge in a blowout before ending it all... 

Forty Weeks

Forty Weeks

Jane extravagantly showers her son with love and affection on his birthday, giving him cake and presents galore. But all is not as it seems. Midnight Theatre and the University of Warwick present an abstract exploration into a mother’s psyche, exposing the light and dark elements of the maternal mindset in an everyday, contemporary setting... 

Donors

Donors

Older egg seeking hot, young sperm. Desperate times call for desperate measures, when your biological clock is ticking. After all, our sole purpose is to reproduce... right? Roy and Linda meet in a fertility clinic... 

The Last Emperor of Mexico

The Last Emperor of Mexico

A historical comedy exploring the life of Maximilian I, the last emperor of Mexico. Maximilian I has recently been declared the emperor of Mexico by Napoleon III. But, his administration soon comes under attack by the revolutionary Benito Juarez... 

Maria Ornata

Maria Ornata

A crisis has taken hold of the Heavens. Gods, saints and spirits have ruled the world for centuries, but in the modern world, their influence has plummeted. In this mind-boggling piece of new writing, all eyes are on the Virgin Mary, Queen of the Heavens, as she desperately attempts to keep the fabric of reality from ripping apart... 

Last of Their Generation

Last of Their Generation

'The more I try to remember her, the more I've forgotten her.' Bhumi Collective returns to Edinburgh with the world premiere of Last of Their Generation – a solo-show by Singapore-UK theatre-maker Mohamad Shaifulbahri about the encounters we have with the people, places and things in our lives... 

Wishing on a Stopgap

Wishing on a Stopgap

Stopgap: a temporary way of fixing a problem or satisfying a need. There are no romantic clichés here. While travelling the country and giving away books, a retired teacher begins to reflect on their life, sexuality, and feelings about love... 

The Waiting Game

The Waiting Game

Sam is in a coma. Paolo’s doing everything he can. When Geoff reveals a secret, reality and fantasy blur. This UK debut from critically acclaimed Snowy Owl explores relationships in the digital age, asking what it takes for us to heal and move forward. 

Sign of the Times

Sign of the Times

Danny has an interview for his dream job as a football reporter at The Times – he just hasn’t told them he’s deaf. Now he has a week to prove himself. A story about the power of language and the struggle to be heard. 

Mirror, Mirror, Off the Wall

Mirror, Mirror, Off the Wall

‘Mirror, mirror, on the wall – does this selfie make my nose look big?’ Your favourite fairy tales in disguise, this once upon a time is happening now. Pretty can be ugly; can evil be good? Don’t count on Prince Charming to whisk you away on his gallant steed; these princesses aren’t all white as snow and rosy-lipped, and they don’t always care about being the fairest... 

Jimmyville

Jimmyville

A naturalistic drama with a cast of eight and duration of 60 minutes with strong elements of Brechtian theatre. Full of a sweaty Vegas vibe the story of cult culture lead by Jimmy (based on Jim Jones) in 1950s Nevada, USA... 

Echoes

Echoes

In a Black Mirror-esque near future, two men face each other across a table. A bomb has been dropped on purpose on the motherland's civilian population. Why? Everyone has reasons, even the cruellest of plans can be defended... 

Leere Zeit – Idle Time

Leere Zeit – Idle Time

The key to a happy life is avoiding all forms of useless and unproductive time – Leere Zeit – as propagated by the Institute of Positive Lifestyles. How good is your efficiency rating? Join us for a personalised orientation session and learn how to optimise your existence... 

Occam's Chainsaw

Occam's Chainsaw

Five of them carried out the robbery. Only four made it back. Someone knows something, one of them has betrayed the rest. No one is safe from accusation, as they await the dreaded arrival of The Boss. 

Schiz

Schiz

Benjamin Teel, a paranoid schizophrenic, believes he is responsible for the murder of millions. Millions who now want him to pay for his sins. Within his mental chaos he finds a lifeline in daily sessions with psychoanalyst Carolyn Wakefield... 

Gathering Dust

Gathering Dust

Charlie, a foreign correspondent out to do her job, is kidnapped and put in an underground cell. She doesn’t know by who. In the cell Charlie meets fellow people fighting for a cause and they are forced to suffer the reality together, as the walls slowly closes in... 

POV

POV

A part devised, part verbatim piece of theatre that delves deep into the effects that pornography, with its growing popularity and influence, has on individuals in the 21st century... 

The Drive

The Drive

Two women. A fractured friendship. A car full of boxes and a message from a dead friend. An unexpected Nordic road trip sees two estranged friends thrown together on a tense journey from London to Oslo... 

Mimi's Suitcase

Mimi's Suitcase

Mimi's Suitcase explores identity and the consequences of displacement as it follows Iranian teen Mimi’s involuntary return to her war-torn homeland after a happy childhood in Barcelona... 

100 Ways to Tie a Shoelace

100 Ways to Tie a Shoelace

Following the accident, Kat’s struggling with the basics of everyday life. Could some unusual visitors help? A comedic and imaginative take on the realigning of one person’s mind... 

Phools

Phools

The invigorating and inventive Babolin are winners of the 2015 Fringe Review Outstanding Theatre Award. ‘The talent of this incredible ensemble is quite stunning' (FringeReview.co... 

Strangers: A Magic Play II

Strangers: A Magic Play II

A homeless person, a gambling addict, a political preacher, a television presenter. Four seemingly separate stories interwoven with magic and illusion to create an audience experience like no other... 

Fish Food

Fish Food

Dad’s floating in the harbour, Nana’s back before a judge, and there’s a guy in his bedroom with a knife, but at least Joe Bacon has a job. In the basement of a once-grand Boston hotel, Joe and his rather unhinged colleagues fend off the advances of celebrity dealmaker Avery Grand... 

Elegy for an Echo

Elegy for an Echo

'Tell me Connor, what happens when you run out? What happens when you take that last pill?' With the clinical drug trial of Exspiravitacillin coming to an end, Connor faces losing his late fiance, Jen, without a final goodbye... 

Sink

Sink

'I love this country, but who loves me?’ The play is based on the true story of Lao She, a Chinese writer of great esteem, who, at one stage, was given the title of People’s Artist... 

Marni – The Secret Voice of Hollywood

Marni – The Secret Voice of Hollywood

Film stars in the 50s and 60s needed to sing. The public needed to believe they could. If they couldn’t, that’s when the ghosts came out… Marni Nixon was the premier dubbing artist for the biggest Hollywood stars... 

Wombmates

Wombmates

The age-old story of boy meets girl. Well boy meets boy – they’re brothers in a womb. So more like sperm meets egg, becomes a foetus and then a baby… or babies in this case, and one mother is in for a big surprise... 

Cannonball

Cannonball

The Florence Theatre Company presents Cannonball, an irreverent new drama making its Edinburgh Fringe debut following the company’s sell-out production of America at the Chelsea Theatre... 

The Alien Chicken Remembers Galatea

The Alien Chicken Remembers Galatea

The Alien Chicken Remembers Galatea is inspired by John Lyly's pastoral comedy, Galatea. Lyly's Galatea follows two maidens, disguised as boys and sent away to escape Neptune's monster, to Diana's Woods... 

Hi. (Entering Burned Area)

Hi. (Entering Burned Area)

One clown. One world. Mysterious mysteries. Join Rodeo Debbie as she renders a tragicomic love letter to human struggle with footnotes on marshmallows, volcanoes and philosophical fire... 

On Ice – Suzanne Grotenhuis/De Nwe Tijd

On Ice – Suzanne Grotenhuis/De Nwe Tijd

The young performer Suzanne Grotenhuis won a prize for her previous theatre show at a Belgian theatre festival. The money was meant to produce a new show. But she decided to spend the entire prize money on buying an actual ice skating rink... 

Service!

Service!

Live sitcom from writer of Edinburgh Fringe hit Adrift. A power vacuum of biblical magnitude has opened up in the restaurant of a four star hotel. Each member of the service staff will hatch despicable schemes against the others in an epic battle to become restaurant manager... 

Open Heart Surgery

Open Heart Surgery

Business is bad for conservative relationship counsellor Sandra. With the bills mounting, she is forced to take on the only troubled partnership at her door: Will and Leo, her first same-sex couple... 

Harry

Harry

'Who is that?', 'Harry', 'He's my favourite', 'I think he's everyone's favourite.' Caitlin and Sophie meet at university and quickly become best friends. United by their love of crisp sandwiches and the latest X Factor sensation One Direction, they plaster the walls of their room with pictures of the band's charismatic heartthrob, Harry Styles... 

Catherine and Anita

Catherine and Anita

All hell breaks loose when a tortured young misfit named Catherine strikes up a friendship with the mysterious Anita. As their unlikely relationship develops, their world escalates into a violent cycle of destruction and revenge... 

Laugh, Why Don’t You? A Sketch Show by Fish Pie!

Laugh, Why Don’t You? A Sketch Show by Fish Pie!

Offbeat sketchlings Fish Pie! permit you to disregard political satire, a cappella groups and men noticing things then pausing for laughter in favour of compulsory mirth. Fresh from sell-out success in Cambridge, Fish Pie! bring their uniquely good-natured and up-to-the-minute absurdity to Edinburgh... 

The Expiration Date of Jonas Müller (Age 70)

The Expiration Date of Jonas Müller (Age 70)

Hi! I’m Jonas Müller (Age 27). Over the last few years I created storytelling shows with my best friend Tim. People wrote nice things like 'A fascinating curiosity of the Fringe and intriguing piece of experimental theatre' (BritishTheatreGuide... 

Atlantic: A Scottish Story

Atlantic: A Scottish Story

Is it a curse to stay? What if we couldn't travel, could never leave home and see the world? Can we still be happy? A girl looks across the ocean and longs to discover. But if she is left behind, she must still find a way to live... 

Not: Lady Chatterley’s Lover

Not: Lady Chatterley’s Lover

A darkly comic, Mel Brooks-style parody following the storyline of the DH Lawrence novel… with a few twists. Lord Clifford Chatterley comes home to his wife, Constance (Lady Chatterley), from a war that has left the world in tatters... 

The Inconvenience of Wings

The Inconvenience of Wings

For anyone who has suffered mental illness themselves, or has lived with someone who is afflicted, this piece will cut close to the bone. Triple Fringe First winner Andrew Buckland stars in Lara Foot's powerful and poignant drama about friendship, dysfunction, addiction and angels... 

Burnt Toast

Burnt Toast

Two days, 15 years later. Burnt toast. Boring sex. Viennetta. Knife roulette. Quick Pol and Average Alfred have the life they dreamt of: calm and simple. But then she arrived. Burnt Toast looks to explore complexities of relationships – be it simple interactions within a neighbourhood, unrequited familial love, the vanilla-sex-kind of relationship love or the sort that results in Burnt Toast... 

Your Ever Loving

Your Ever Loving

1974. Irish bombs. Crowded English pubs. Many dead. The terrifying true story of Paul Hill and the Guildford Four. 'Convictions had to be got' (Home Secretary). Forget Making a Murderer... 

Aideen McQueen – No Satisfaction

Aideen McQueen – No Satisfaction

I can resist everything except the temptation... to paraphrase Oscar Wilde! Funny tales of excess, failure and sugar daddies with just a smidgen of success. From teacher to trophy wife to rehab and out the other side! 

Bone Wars

Bone Wars

America, 1863. Two great scientists discover the dinosaurs, go mad and destroy each other. 150 years later, they’re back for a final reckoning. Witness history’s greatest feud (excluding that time Emily Davison tried to punch a horse)... 

Scribble

Scribble

Bran flakes, anxiety and gravity. The smallest moments in history. The largest events in the universe. Blink and you'll miss it. This scribble from your chest. New writing about mental health and supernovas from Andy Edwards, directed by Amy Gilmartin... 

Not: Lady Chatterley’s Lover

Not: Lady Chatterley’s Lover

A darkly comic, Mel Brooks-style parody following the storyline of the DH Lawrence novel… with a few twists. Lord Clifford Chatterley comes home to his wife, Constance (Lady Chatterley), from a war that has left the world in tatters... 

The St Andrews Revue presents: The Big Time

The St Andrews Revue presents: The Big Time

They say fame is a fickle friend, and the St Andrews Revue have been lonely for years. But now, with a freshly replenished wardrobe and six Edinburgh shows under the elastic rim of their long johns, the gang have finally done it... 

Wandering Bones

Wandering Bones

‘You will be taken hence to the prison you were last confined... where you will be hanged by the neck...’ It’s 1835, and newly-wed John Adam moves to the Highlands. It’s supposedly a fresh start, but a series of shocking events lead John to make some ill-judged decisions... 

My Name is Irrelevant

My Name is Irrelevant

In a world created by your imagination it can be difficult to work out what is fictional and what is reality. A man gives a lecture about all of the people he has met in his life, but as he delves deeper into his mind things start to unravel... 

Marie

Marie

'There’s two rules: first, the person you choose must be dead. And second, you have to be dressed up to get in.’ It’s Thursday night in the Prince Arthur and their latest theme night is in full swing... 

The Great Ridolphi

The Great Ridolphi

How do you hold on to the world's greatest escape artist? 10 years after the death of his father, illusionist extraordinaire The Great Ridolphi, Victor O'Meara is visited by detectives inquiring on the whereabouts of a missing Francesco Goya masterpiece... 

Boys & Girls

Boys & Girls

'Men are from Earth. Women are from Earth. Deal with it' (George Carlin). Original sketch comedy about the different relationships between boys and girls... 'Genuinely ingenious and very funny' (AYoungerTheatre... 

Typhoid Mary

Typhoid Mary

New York, 1906. This darkly comic vaudeville extravaganza tells the intriguing true story of domestic cook and unwitting assassin, Mary Mallon. Why is sanitary engineer Dr George Soper so interested in examining her stool sample? How many police officers will it take to overcome one roasting-fork wielding cook? Could her chilled peaches and cream dessert really have made her the most dangerous woman in America? From the writer of The Odyssey: An Epic Musical Epic... 

An Unexpected Electric Nativity

An Unexpected Electric Nativity

A short play for two humans and two robots. Late at night in a laboratory, the night before testing day. Two humanoid robots accidentally come to life. As they explore their new-found faculties, discovering their limbs and their surroundings, they learn more and more how to be human... 

Victim

Victim

A one-woman show, Victim follows the power struggle between a prison guard and criminal as they come face-to-face with a notorious inmate. Hot on the heels of Villain – The 2016 Edinburgh sell-out, five-star, Offie-nominated hit – Bruised Sky return with Martin Murphy's darkly comic new play Victim... 

The Giant Killers

The Giant Killers

Football wasn't always a game for the masses. The first players to compete for the FA Cup were lords, knights and peers, the wealthy and the privileged. That was until a group of mill workers from Darwen in Lancashire joined with two talented Glaswegians to change the game forever... 

Jocky Wilson Said

Jocky Wilson Said

It's 1979 and Scottish darts star Jocky Wilson is in America to play an exhibition match. He misses his ride and sets out to hitchhike across the Nevada desert. With only a cactus for company, he reflects on his life and career... 

Toll

Toll

'I thought they wanted soldiers.' Four long years later, his naivety had turned to regret. Experience the remarkable true account of WW1 solider Oliver Clement Soanes, or Toll to his friends... 

All My Life Long

All My Life Long

Gloria and Padraic are best friends whose relationship changes forever. They meet once a year, every year, and have one fleeting night together. This is a story of a love that lasted a lifetime... 

Carried Away

Carried Away

Crib, check. Nappies, check. Weird, breast-pump thing, check. Losing mind, check. Mum on speed-dial, quickest route to hospital mapped. Phoebe discovers she’s pregnant again after a miscarriage and wants to talk... 

Start Swimming

Start Swimming

A Young Vic Taking Part Production. It’s small versus big. It’s pressures of the future. It’s everything being stacked against you and all options feeling equally terrible. James Fritz (Ross and Rachel) teams up with Genesis Future Directors Award winner Ola Ince (Dutchman) to bring you a show about occupation, revolution and the future of our youth... 

Finding Nana

Finding Nana

'Room 17. Four walls full of lipstick, laughter, hairspray and Horlicks. Nana is nut brown and wrinkled and she has chicken fillets for arms. And she treats me like I’m way more amazing than I actually am... 

Big Bite-Size Lunch Hour: Izzy's Manifestos

Big Bite-Size Lunch Hour: Izzy's Manifestos

It's time to think outside the box, go crazy, go skydiving or just go to a different pub this Friday. Running at something is better than just running away, right? Or maybe it's both? Especially when you start referring to yourself in the third person... 

What If the Plane Falls Out of the Sky?

What If the Plane Falls Out of the Sky?

What if how I feel about myself and the world at 4am is the truth? What if people really do think I’ve got a disappointing face? What if I take off all my clothes and my lover just politely turns away? Join residents of Fear Camp as they tackle their sense of impending doom with gleeful enthusiasm and complimentary in-flight drinks... 

Pierre Novellie

Pierre Novellie

Pierre Novellie is a South African from the Isle of Man who lives in London. Pierre does observational comedy for people who think they hate observational comedy, mixed with anecdotes and reasonable whimsy...