A humble shed; four young idealists form a political party to save the world from itself.
Join the creator of The Room Next Door in this final run at the Edinburgh Fringe after a successful sell-out tour as he talks about making comedy under the radar and the dangers of…
Writer, actor and theatre-maker, Alice Mary Cooper, presents new show The Bush, following the success of her previous solo work Waves, described by the Observer as ‘a miniaturist g…
If all the best people are in all the best jobs, why is Britain such a f*cking bin fire? Orwell prize-winning author, BAFTA nominated broadcaster and celebrated hip-hop artist Darr…
The outrageous confessions of a retiring NHS whistleblower.
Does for politics, religion and philosophy what Simon Evans Goes to Market (BBC Radio 4) did for economics – makes it fresh, compelling and funny.
Following an eight-year sold-out residency in London’s West End, Matt Forde (Spitting Image, The Last Leg) returns to Edinburgh for two live podcasts, with one special guest each n…
When Jimmy Vanderberg leaves the Ford factory in Detroit and volunteers to serve in Vietnam, he wants to prove himself a man.
Award-winning LBC radio presenter and For the Many podcast host brings his acclaimed, incisive insight on current affairs back to the Fringe with these in-depth interviews featurin…
Join LBC legend Iain Dale and his partner in crime, former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith for one of five unique live versions of their smash-hit political podcast For The Many.
Award-winning LBC radio presenter and For the Many podcast host brings his acclaimed, incisive insight on current affairs back to the Fringe with these in-depth interviews featurin…
Join LBC legend Iain Dale and his partner in crime, former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith for one of five unique live versions of their smash-hit political podcast For The Many.
Private Eye’s MD and best-selling author of Dr Hammond’s Covid Casebook dissects the pandemic.
Join LBC legend Iain Dale and his partner in crime, former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith for one of five unique live versions of their smash-hit political podcast For The Many.
Award-winning LBC radio presenter brings his acclaimed, incisive insight on current affairs back to the Fringe with these in-depth interviews.
Join LBC legend Iain Dale and his partner in crime, former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith for one of five unique live versions of their smash-hit political podcast For The Many.
Join LBC legend Iain Dale and his partner in crime, former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith for one of five unique live versions of their smash-hit political podcast For The Many.
Award-winning LBC radio presenter and For the Many podcast host brings his acclaimed, incisive insight on current affairs back to the Fringe with these in-depth interviews featurin…
Award-winning LBC radio presenter and For the Many podcast host brings his acclaimed, incisive insight on current affairs back to the Fringe with these in-depth interviews featurin…
‘It is terribly easy to laugh at passion’.
Award-winning LBC radio presenter and For the Many podcast host brings his acclaimed, incisive insight on current affairs back to the Fringe with these in-depth interviews featurin…
Award-winning LBC radio presenter and For the Many podcast host brings his acclaimed, incisive insight on current affairs back to the Fringe with these in-depth interviews featurin…
Matt Forde (Have I Got News For You, Spitting Image, The Last Leg) is joined by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Award-winning LBC radio presenter and For the Many podcast host brings his acclaimed, incisive insight on current affairs back to the Fringe with these in-depth interviews featurin…
Award-winning LBC radio presenter and For the Many podcast host brings his acclaimed, incisive insight on current affairs back to the Fringe with these in-depth interviews featurin…
Award-winning LBC radio presenter and For the Many podcast host brings his acclaimed, incisive insight on current affairs back to the Fringe with these in-depth interviews featurin…
A series of poems on gender, sex and revolution by David Lee Morgan.
Harun Musho’d is an Arabic name.
Sylus 2024, Jeff Ahern’s acclaimed solo comedy show directed by Abby Schachner, is now at the Edinburgh Fringe.
In Cherub Spring: A Political Satire, turmoil unfolds at a nursery school when the children get tired of Claire choosing all the games they play on the playground and a rebellion b…
An epic dystopian drama about the threat of religious extremism and right-wing populism.
When Jimmy Vanderberg leaves the Ford factory in Detroit and volunteers to serve in Vietnam, he wants to prove himself a man.
For the fraction of the cost of a fixed penalty notice, pose your question to our fearless leader at this chat-show-cum-Question-Time-cum-work-event (wine/cheese/cake/wallpaper ava…
After moving to London to live within a more diverse community, Livia learns that the self-hate feelings she experienced all her life are internalised racism and survival technique…
Fresh from BBC Radio 4 (Tom Mayhew is Benefit Scum), critically acclaimed comedian Tom was planning to write a show that’s less frustrated, less political… the cost of living cri…
Hi-de-hi darlings – welcome back.
The Genocidal Liberal is back with his fifth show On the Outside Pissing in, looking at everything from discrimination to mental health to politics.
Dion Owen is a professional comedian and an avid cyclist originally from a small town in British Columbia, Canada.
The five-star multi award-winning international hit production returns to the Fringe for 11 shows after a sold-out run in 2017! Franz Kafka at 36, a failed writer and timid Jewish …
Irish gig theatre call to arms.
Their choice? To die on stage – or off it.
Nightlands is a play about how authoritarianism weaponises nostalgia, about Russia today.
Intelligence transports us into the basement of the US State Department, where two young Foreign Officers are forced to rethink their secret views on American diplomacy, working on…
Tim Walker’s acclaimed Bloody Difficult Women played to packed houses at Riverside Studios in London earlier this year and its run was extended because of popular demand.
You can be ashamed of many things.
There are wallies everywhere and half of them are running the country.
Winner of the 2022 Assembly ART Award and the Alpine Fellowship Theatre Prize.
The ‘rising star of the British stand-up scene’ (List) explores Silicon Valley tech monopolies, advertising and addiction through his ‘perfectly expressed gags’ (Chortle.
‘Rising star of the British stand-up scene’ (List).
‘Rising star of the British stand-up scene’ (List).
‘Rising star of the British stand-up scene’ (List).
When a local hospital announces its closure, panic ensues.
We’re going through big changes in our understanding of sex and sexuality – and of what it means to be human.
Perfect for fans of disco, politics, and drag (this Venn diagram overlaps more than you'd think), Margaret Thatcher becomes transformed into a cabaret Soho star in this hilario…
Paddy the Cope, written and directed by Raymond Ross, makes its world premiere at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in the delightful Netherbow Theatre at the Scottish Storytelling Cen…
‘Rising star of the British stand-up scene’ (List).
Stand-up show about comedy triggering the wrath of woke mobs.
Based on the award-winning young adult novel by Sonia Manzano and including original music and songs by Sartje Pickett, this new play by Tlaloc Rivas tells the story of Evelyn, a y…
Remember when your religion teacher taught you about ridin’? And the school nurse told you to shave your pits? Or here, discovering your clit the first time? Wait, you haven’t yet?…
When writer/performer Jonathan Tipton Meyers lost his girlfriend, his business and his identity, he got in his car and drove.
A wild political landscape opens up – election-winning Boris is not as mighty as he seems; Brexit not done, a new Labour leader, SNP storms: epic dramas for a brand new show.
It’s 2086.
Failure Studies is a new short play by Marco Biasioli.
Norcott’s unique brand of provocative stand-up is returning to Edinburgh.
Living in Kent - Maxwell tells us – he is surrounded by the sort of puce-faced, fake WWII heroes who seem to think that having once watched a film with John Mills in it automatic…
It’s an old feminist adage that the personal is political – and it doesn’t get much more personal than this.
Co-leader of the Scottish Green Party and MSP for the Glasgow area since 2003.
Jena Friedman is scared shitless and wants to feel less alone.
Curated by satirical parody-pop pun merchants The Iain Duncan Smiths, the Eurosceptic Song Contest is a Eurovision for Brexit that features intimate live performances from Borrisse…
Football and feminism are both huge parts of our culture and everyday lives, but rarely have they been brought together and forced to get along.
“Is it a stand-up show, is it a rally?” Nish Kumar certainly blurs the boundaries between the two.
What would you do if you had the chance for revenge? 15 years after being kidnapped and tortured in General Pinochet’s Chile, Paulina Salas tries to forget the past and build a q…
What would you think of if I told you this was a play about radicalisation? Who would you picture? What did they look like? Where were they from – here, or there?
It was a day like any other day.
1983, a boarding school in the German Democratic Republic.
Beauty is Pain is a political performance art piece surrounding Donald Trump’s support of the Miss USA pageants and treatment of women in the mainstream media.
An Afrofuturist history of the universe from the Big Bang to dreamshout death.
Medea Speaks is a rallying cry to take the conversation begun by #MeToo further.
The 1980s.
Intense and irreverent, this production strips Julius Caesar to its bare bones to explore the selfish workings of professional politics.
Hidden Track returns to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with Standard:Elite, an award-winning choose-your-own-adventure show with a twist that continues to delight audiences of all a…
Atmospheric drama about Second Opium War, populated by rarefied creatures of Chinese and British royal courts.
We all have a nationality.
MSP for Glasgow Pollok, Cabinet Secretary for Justice.
Global smash-hit podcast returns with its unique live cocktail of up-to-the-second satire, powerhosed hogwash and on-demand puns.
Alex Kealy’s latest Fringe performance is a politically charged, self-deprecating show based on sound political analysis and funny life anecdotes.
The economy has crumbled, politics has turned our society on its head.
Kezia Dugdale has been an MSP since 2011 and was leader of the Scottish Labour Party from 2015 until 2017.
Remarkably, if you wander into The Traverse at 9am, you will find an audience willing to watch a rehearsed reading of a brand-new play and not a spare seat in the house.
Scotland’s First Minister chats to Graham Spiers about Scotland, politics, gender balance, favourite books and (maybe) eighties pop music.
Following a five-year sell-out residency in London, Matt Forde (as seen on Have I Got News For You, Mock the Week, The Royal Variety Performance and Question Time) returns to Edinb…
For an incomplete play, Georg Büchner’s Woyzeck has nevertheless managed to secure enduring interest.
Fringe First winner returns for six shows only.
Zaltzman, host of the global smash-hit podcast The Bugle, brings his uniquely interactive stand-up show Satirist For Hire.
Tortoise believes the world deserves slower, wiser news.
Speaking Out: A Conversation with John Bercow.
Just what does it take to make a monster? Is inhumanity truly born simply from reanimation, or is it a product of the already inhumane environment? Re-investigating Mary Shelley’…
If we started the world again, would we do a better job? The world they’re in has fallen apart.
Britain’s most influential trade union leader talks about the industrial and political challenges of leading over 1.
Held captive in the windowless laboratory where she was first conceived, the AI Alice has only ever seen the world through the skewed words of her captors, moulded by the sinister …
Phosphorus Theatre works with refugees and asylum-seekers to create original collaborative autobiographical storytelling.
Join Brendan Dassey’s lawyers Laura Nirider and Steven Drizin discussing coerced and false confessions, interrogation tactics, and Brendan’s wrongful conviction whose case has ca…
After the success of his debut hour, political comedian Don Biswas returns to the festival with a brand-new WIP show: Left-Wing Conspiracy Theorist with Dyspraxia 2.
The premise of Bismillah! An Isis Tragicomedy, in the Fringe guide, "a story of radicalisation, disenfranchisment and the rock band Queen" was compelling enough to want t…
In order for theatre to be political, it certainly does not have to make any truly profound statement on the state of the world.
After a decade of sharing stages and crafting collaborations in the studio, real-life rap BFFs Sage Francis and B Dolan have finally caved to years of fan pressure to form an offic…
Trashfuture, the political comedy podcast about how the future is trash, is doing its first ever show at the Edinburgh Fringe, for one night only on 10th August.
True story of the role played by theatre in the birth of modern Ireland, set backstage during performances of groundbreaking Irish plays, Cathleen ni Hoolihan (1902), The Playboy o…
Everyone is at the Gilded Balloon to catch a glimpse of Alistair Campbell’s daughter, and Grace by name - but not by nature - gives us everything we want and so much more.
Actor/writer Christopher Tajah of Resistance Theatre Company gives an impassioned performance in Dream Of A King at theSpace Triplex, as he reimagines the hours leading up to the a…
There is no place like Home – but what is it? What does home mean if you don’t have one? Or if it is a place you are scared to be in or to leave? Can you really feel at home if i…
The 2018 Scotsman Fringe First Award-winning show returns for just two performances.
Matt Forde’s reputation as one of our finest political satirists moves into even more assured territory with this caustic and superbly angry hour of impressions and observations.
A delight, witty but profound exploration of the power relationship between choreographer and dancers, From the Top, choreographed by Hong Kong-based Victor Fung, is a send-up of a…
Whatever else the history books will make of UK politics in 2019, it can at least acknowledge some impressive feminist credentials, with women leading parties right, left and centr…
Cherie Blair has been somewhat of an enigma.
Shadow Chancellor since 2015 and MP for Hayes and Harlington since 1997, McDonnell has campaigned against the Iraq war and argued for curbs in bankers bonuses, decent pensions, fre…
Confused about money? Concerned about the economy? Join editor-in-chief of MoneyWeek and FT columnist Merryn Somerset Webb and/or financial writer and comedian Dominic Frisby as th…
A play for naval-gazing theatre goers everywhere, Mouthpiece delivers an impactful message about exploitation and appropriation.
This monologue, written and performed by Katie Guicciardi, addresses the underreported issue of post-partum depression through a thoughtful combination of analogy, props and heartf…
Conspiracy theories can sometimes be reduced to light hearted niche interests only fully embraced by weirdos on the fringes of society.
On the Brink Theatre Company return to Edinburgh, their name having a deeper relevance than ever, with their alternative take on our critically fragile environment; influences happ…
Titania McGrath may just be a young Kensington girl with a modest Trust Fund and a thirst for social justice, but she’s in Edinburgh to make a difference, and inspire us common peo…
What do you do when after 15 years of making people laugh and campaigning for human rights, you’re still best known as ‘that feminazi bitch off the telly’? The Have I Got News For …
After the apocalypse, hope.
No Frills Theatre are proud to present the Scottish premiere of American Justice by Richard Vergette.
The news is too horrible to joke about, so Joe’s looking for a new shtick.
This show is fun in the morning, in a worrying world, with solutions and breakfast (from the cafe) on offer.
Winner, Morecambe Fringe: Best Spoken Word Show.
It’s 1968, the height of the worldwide student revolt.
Sarah Southern had her political awakening very early: at three she was dressing up as Maggie! She worked at the heart of the political machine and her story of elections, campaign…
The second instalment of Andy Paterson’s dark and funny Westminster drama finds anti-hero Archie Cornwall installed as a Prime Minister who must derail a Scottish Independence refe…
The Guilty Feminist podcast has become a comedy phenomenon with over 60 million downloads since it launched in early 2016.
Brexit, eh? Depending on your point of view and when you are reading this, Brexit is a triumph/success/step forward/minor improvement/non-event/problem/mess/shambles/disaster.
Phil Hammond was sacked by the BBC for pledging to stand against his MP, Jacob Rees-Mogg, in 2022 (or next week).
A night exploring the grimy underbelly of a girls’ night out.
What does it feel like to have been raised online? Are there any benefits to this constant connection? This gender neutral script, a debut piece from a new writer, will be performe…
The new live show from bestselling author and critically acclaimed hip-hop artist Darren McGarvey AKA Loki the Scottish rapper.
One of the most important voices in Britain, Akala is a BAFTA and MOBO award-winning hip-hop artist, writer and social entrepreneur.
Westminster Hour: fatal consequences in this fast-paced and darkly comedic drama with unexpected twists.
A coming-of-age character piece, Confessionals tells the story of one shift for young barmaid in a Glasgow boozer.
This is a bizarre, unbelievable, but true story – and a darkly hilarious play.
Twice Over examines Thatcher and May’s leadership through the lives of two Northern women.
Law impacts on people’s daily lives in numerous ways, but we can often feel remote from it.
Chris Tavner presents his new stand-up show about his life of being a socialist activist.
Joe Bates (BBC Radio 4 Extra, 6 Music) and Luke Chilton (BBC Radio 4, Radio 4 Extra) have both been on a journey: one into the recesses of a broken mind in a foreign land, the othe…
Sophisticated wit and wordplay as The Two Moronnies lampoon the lampoonable in their unique, energetic musical style.
Croydon’s sixth leading conspiracy theorist attempts to debunk the big myths: JFK, Twin Towers, why British Bake Off went to Channel 4.
Are we good people or just arseholes who are good at lying to ourselves? Ashley Haden once again looks to tackle our own privilege in an hour of, at times, uncomfortable and, at ti…
Once the most radical, now the only radical.
As more and more subjects aren’t being talked about, the Immoral Maze deals with them in the most honest way morally possible: by getting comedians to rip them apart.
Best Show Nominee, Edinburgh Comedy Awards 2016.
After shows on gangs, golliwogs, racism and politics, James Nokise returns with last year’s hit show on… sports! Yep.
The global gap between rich and poor grows.
Pulitzer Prize finalist Dael Orlandersmith (Yellowman) performs the UK premiere of her poetic and revelatory play.
Arrested and kicked out of France, this is a show about the misadventures of a comedian in the Calais Jungle.
Join the digger, British-Arab archaeologist Ella (BBC presenter and National Geographic explorer), and gold-hating economist, Susie (NATYS finalist 2019, Funny Women regional final…
The Patient Gloria wowed audiences at the Abbey Theatre during its sold-out world premiere at the Dublin Theatre Festival.
From the mind who performed on / wrote for BBC Three, Comedy Central UK, Boom Chicago and had his debut Comedy Album hit number three on iTunes.
If the title of this show doesn’t let you know that Alistair Williams (as seen on Comedy Central) is a real stand up comedian, I don’t know what will.
Award-winning LBC radio presenter, CNN political commentator and For the Many podcast host brings his acclaimed, incisive insight on current affairs to the Fringe for the first tim…
Last year’s ‘chaotically enjoyable’ (Spectator) sell-out hit Shakespeare adaptation returns.
‘To be free is very sweet.
Comedic musings from an American artist who moved from Ohio to Brooklyn to Iceland.
We live in a divided world and we want to cross that divide.
Twice-nominated Scottish Comedy Awards Best Newcomer, Christopher KC, brings his riotous debut show to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Rahul Kohli was unperturbed by the small audience on the evening this reviewer attended, likening it to ‘a Theresa May cabinet meeting’.
At the centre of its big, warm heart, The Sea Is Big Enough to Take It is a story about a non-activist boy and his activist mother, and by extension a story about all of us and our…
Deborah Frances-White (from BBC Radio 4 and Global Pillage) and special guests record an episode of her hit comedy podcast, with over 30 million downloads since 2016.
Working Class Hero’s biggest flaw is that it isn’t about anything.
Chris Thorpe's solo show for this year is about grappling with national identity as a white british man.
‘If I had a name for every woman with a story, I’d run out of space and I’d be writing forever’.
Sing us a song, you’re the piano man.
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.
In the wake of #MeToo and #TimesUp Sameena Zehra and Seymour Mace set out to examine UK comedy.
Hillary Clinton and other influential women from history sit at her kitchen table in the days following the 2016 presidential election result, drowning their sorrows in chardonnay …
The true and ongoing struggle of a family ripped apart, after Nazanin and her baby daughter were taken in Tehran in 2016.
Emily Thornberry, MP for Islington South and Finsbury, is the Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs and Shadow First Secretary of State.
Please Stop! Please Stop! Please Stop! No this is not a command but a comedy documentary which explores the view that all cities in the UK lack identity.
Man Down emerges from three years of research and hours of interviews and discussions with people in Baltimore, USA.
A proud socialist and trade unionist, elected Scottish Labour Party leader in 2017 on a radical programme of change.
Award-winning Jolyon Rubinstein’s hit satirical podcast is leaving the comfort of the Spotify studio and traveling to Edinburgh for three exclusive recordings.
Following her sell-out show Bonnie Fechters at last year’s Fringe, performer/writer/director Morna Burdon returns with more inspiring stories about women of courage.
It’s very rare that you go to ‘the theatre’ and feel as though you are witnessing a moment in history; with Riot Days, Pussy Riot successfully creates this feeling.
Confused about money? Concerned about the economy? Join editor-in-chief of Moneyweek and FT columnist Merryn Somerset Webb as she interviews, talks over and argues with a well-know…
The feelings and concerns of women are very much in our thoughts at the moment and their songs have always been at the centre of our tradition.
The whole thing’s a mess and only one person can sort it out.
There are books which are called seminal largely because so many people have read them.
Zaltzman, host of long-running global hit podcast, The Bugle, returns to Edinburgh to (a) ask, (b) confront, (c) evade and (d) incorrectly respond to, the biggest questions facing …
Two live editions of the globally popular topical podcast.
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.
There is something very reminiscent of Bill Murray in Matt Duwell: the optimistic sarcasm is the overlying note in his voice; he produces easy crowd-pleasing material, imbued with …
Baz, Muyemba and Poppy are isolated and feel alone – in a city of half a million people.
Set the night before Project Upgrade is rolled out across the globe, the AI Alice confronts the consequences of her existence and threatens to dismantle the very system she was bor…
Roll-up.
Two unlikely friends find a camaraderie against a backdrop of bitter conflict, questionable politics and moral debate waged overseas.
She’s Merkel to his Trump.
In a different show every day the audience has the chance to seize back control of Rock’n’Roll Politics as broadcaster and author Steve Richards conducts a tour of the latest seism…
Getting power is easy.
Signing on the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, driving an Austin Maxi to Morocco, asylum seekers*, the Treason of the Blue Books, women’s football, Nationalism*, Buck O’Neil, Je…
Pyg is a twist on George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion. Cross-dressed cast explore Shaw’s explosive use of language and the impact of dress on gender.
“You always thought it would be you”.
Like stereotypes, labels generally become meaningless upon scrutiny.
Mark Thomas regales us with a peppy portrayal of his health-check on the NHS, in commemoration of 70 years since its inception.
Inspired by Monica Lewinsky’s reappearance in the media, Blancmontage Theatre Group sets out to find the real story behind the White House intern and her famous relationship with…
Trump, Putin and Kim Jong-un live on tour! King of the modern protest song Beldon Haigh and Mother Of All Bands bring a weird and wonderful live band performance.
One of the so-called Birmingham Six, wrongfully convicted of the Birmingham pub bombings in 1974, at that time the worst terrorist atrocity in mainland Britain.
Six feisty older women shine a light on family violence.
A DJ.
Following five years of sell-out London shows, Matt Forde’s Political Party returns to Edinburgh for two live shows! Previous guests include: Tony Blair, Nigel Farage, Michael Port…
Lost in blissful foreign travel, Imogen joyfully succumbs to the spoils of Western privilege.
Bloody funny period comedy about breaking taboos and ending period poverty with ad-busting, craftivism and a bleeding ridiculous conga line.
The multi award-winning political agitators are back at the Traverse with a morning of outstanding new writing and fiery debate.
It starts like this.
Originally from Liverpool, coming to study at Glasgow University in 1986.
Returning with a brand-new kick-ass sequel, Queen’s bass guitar dances across sexual politics.
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…
Chris O’Neill and four comics will talk about the news and be amusing while being awake! They will be joined by insomniacs in search of laughter.
Following a string of sell-out live dates and festival appearances, Ed Miliband and Geoff Lloyd bring their hit podcast to the Fringe.
Kate Smurthwaite finally tells us what she really thinks.
Alistair Barrie headlines comedy clubs all over the world and is a BBC Scotland Breaking the News regular.
When Jess Green joined the Labour Party at university she doubled the number of members who met weekly in the Liverpool Philharmonic pub.
ADAM, or Autocrats Destiny Altering Machine, is an absurd government that rules over its empire with an iron fist.
It’s Scotland.
‘These days most people don’t believe in God.
Matchmaking mums at the Shanghai marriage market hatch a plan to get their little emperors hitched.
Upon retirement, Corporal Liam Drury returns to be confronted with sudden and debilitating flashbacks to his time in combat.
EU exit day is just seven months after the Fringe.
A tender look at the humble homo sapien and how 200,000 years of steady progress have led us to.
Since the 1st January 2018, five writers have worked collaboratively, writing a new scene each week in response to socio-political events.
‘Social barriers will dissipate as Rick Molland and Sully O’Sullivan go head-to-head in an epic stand-up comedy battle’ (TheCultureTrip.
Two intertwined monologues about womanhood and immigration merge, coalesce and diverge.
‘There’s something about the UK, you don’t welcome people.
Fatal consequences in this fast-paced and darkly comedic drama with unexpected twists.
Rage, nymphomania, ecstasy and numbness.
Hosted by Gráinne Maguire (as seen on Dave’s UnSpun with Matt Forde), every day three different comics bring along the story from the news they think is the most important and arg…
A Middle Eastern Mary Poppins gets type 2 diabetes from her spoonful of sugar, and gets told to lose weight or lose her toes.
***** (Scotsman, 2017).
Set in a near-future Britain where healthcare is privatised, a young couple’s relationship is quietly pulled apart by an aggressive lack of sleep.
Four years ago Samantha lost everything, including her marbles.
Dana Alexander offers her unique and irreverent perspective in an industry that is dominated by the privileged and homogeneous – a purple sheep in a group of black sheep.
The first show in Edinburgh was banned.
Something’s up with Lewis Schaffer.
The fight for feminism.
Ommmm.
Willie MacRae – anti-nuclear campaigner, SNP politician and successful lawyer.
For the 4th year, American atheist Bronston Jones reacts to the chaos of his country with a prayer: God Bless ‘Merica, because it’ll take a miracle to fix it.
Political comedian/ball of anxiety Alex Kealy honks on about love (passionate) and politics (jaded) for show number three.
Is this offbeat Romanian guy supposed to be the future of stand-up comedy? With his introspective and sometimes dark approach to comedy, keep an eye on this young whippersnapper ba…
Ashley Haden is back with the eagerly awaited final chapter of the C*nting Trilogy.
A fearless adventure into the dark heart of a paradigm shift.
Not Yet Suffragette is a potent mix of feminist theatre and stand-up comedy surrounding how – not far – women’s rights have come since winning the vote.
President Trump returns for a third season at his ‘summer White House’ after two sell-out years (and a most relaxing golfing holiday at Adelaide Fringe).
A new Tory PM must unite his party’s warring factions with his masterful plan for a final Brexit deal.
Amir Kapoor is happily married and about to land the biggest career promotion of his life – but his success has come at a price.
Armed with exhaustive statistics, a wild imagination and a uniquely hilarious take on current events and systemic conspiracies, Don Biswas delivers a frantic hour of lighting-fast …
In view of the recent violence in Charlottesville, KKK sympathisers in the White House and, even on our end of the pond, much of the sentiment behind Brexit, a discussion of the in…
George Orwell’s magnum opus novel 1984 is eerily relevant today despite being published in 1949 and shows us a world of constant war, omnipresent surveillance and propaganda cond…
The journey from backbench MP to ‘PM-in-waiting’ has been long and eventful.
The audience were completely absorbed by Proto-Type Theater’s exposition of global mass-surveillance in A Machine They’re Secretly Building, the title aptly born from whistlebl…
Kieran Butler (Che Guevara on the Fringe, ****(Scotsman)) joins his favourite antipodean comedian, Sofie Prints, (Jesus was a Rape Baby) for the sequel to his sold-out cult hit, Au…
Polly Toynbee and David Walker join Professor Chris Carter to discuss their dream government, constructing an imaginary cabinet from politicians of the past half century.
Kieran Butler (Che Guevara on the Fringe, ****(Scotsman)) joins his favourite antipodean comedian, Sofie Prints, (Jesus was a Rape Baby) for the sequel to his sold-out cult hit, Au…
Joseph K is a modern day adaptation of Kafka’s The Trial brought to us by students from KGS Theatre Company.
Anathema is a promising first piece of work from Bearded Dog Theatre, starting strong with difficult topics not often discussed on stage – specifically the issue of male rape.
Following last year’s Fringe success and UK tour, Bertrand & Nasi’s darkly comic look at the EU’s founding ideals returns to Summerhall for just four performances.
Jim Naughtie is one of Britain’s most distinguished radio broadcasters and journalists.
Delve into an hour of real Locker Room Talk, a term made infamous by Donald Trump, and allow yourself to be immersed into the murky and dark world of everyday sexism that society d…
Kieran Butler (Che Guevara on the Fringe, ****(Scotsman)) joins his favourite antipodean comedian, Sofie Prints, (Jesus was a Rape Baby) for the sequel to his sold-out cult hit, Au…
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.
Nestled in the artsy comfort of the Fringe bubble, it is all too easy to forget about the murmurings – or in some cases, bellowings – of war that have been thrown back and fort…
Nigerian Tunji Sowande quietly breaks through multiple barriers to become Britain’s first black judge in 1978.
Loosely based on The Handmaid’s Tale, this play takes place in a modern day fertility unit.
A tale of two countries.
Will Hutton is one of Britain’s best-known public intellectuals.
Reactivists bring you a new show each week, based on the news of the week before.
Kieran Butler (Che Guevara on the Fringe, ****(Scotsman)) joins his favourite antipodean comedian, Sofie Prints, (Jesus was a Rape Baby) for the sequel to his sold-out cult hit, Au…
Kieran Butler (Che Guevara on the Fringe, ****(Scotsman)) joins his favourite antipodean comedian, Sofie Prints, (Jesus was a Rape Baby) for the sequel to his sold-out cult hit, Au…
Perhaps at the time it was first written this play would have been seen as fantastic, dealing with themes that were deeply entrenched in many of the Soviet plays of the early 1930s…
It’s two years after the referendum, and Bob Cunningham has stuff on his mind: whether or not to take early retirement, politics and what to do about the no vote, Brexit, Corbyn,…
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…
‘In the 1970s there was a wee bit of a stooshie here in Scotland.
Robert S J Lucas’ new show, X The Musical is set in a vaguely sketched-out dystopian future where politics are the most important thing in the world and everyone is required to v…
Legendary American stand-up, political satirist, activist and child sexual abuse survivor talks frankly about his life’s emotional and intellectual journey that has had audiences…
The Völvas is an international feminist performance ensemble.
A modern adaptation of the Ancient Greek comedy Lysistrata.
The Traverse Theatre sadly need to offer more than a bacon roll to make Breakfast Plays: B!rth worth getting up for.
Following four years of sell-out London shows, Matt Forde’s political interview returns to Edinburgh for one show only with special guest, Alistair Darling.
John Prescott, returns to the Edinburgh Fringe after his sell-out performance last year.
Amnesty International Award winning Blurred Justice is a thrilling and humorous play where the fate of one man lies in the hands of the audience.
This is a show about belonging.
The Stand’s resident satire team of Mark Nelson, Stuart Murphy, Keir McAllister and Vladimir McTavish return with their unique take on the news in a world gone crazy.
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 p…
Politics, power and how we lost the plot.
Macbeth.
Reactivists bring you a new show each week, based on the news of the week before.
Kieran Butler (Che Guevara on the Fringe, ****(Scotsman)) joins his favourite antipodean comedian, Sofie Prints, (Jesus was a Rape Baby) for the sequel to his sold-out cult hit, Au…
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 o…
“Black lives matter!” Hold it there and let that well-known refrain ring in your head, along with the image it conjures up in your mind.
A panoply of productions about Brexit, Trump and alt-right politics are gracing this year’s Edinburgh Fringe – Trumpus Interruptus is Mea Culpa Theater’s contribution to the …
Something akin to Grand Master of the bits of the Fringe that aren’t ‘a capitalist mess’, as he styles it, a visit to Bob Slayer’s double-decker bus is a source of rejuvena…
A festival of fun, friends and freedom.
In an upmarket hotel room, two men – one a disgraced politician, the other an ex-rent boy – meet to rekindle old loves and re-open old wounds in this darkly comedic character s…
There’s one point during Geoff Norcott’s latest show when it really flies, when you sense he really has most of the audience on his side — even though at least one or two of …
Thom Tuck’s stand-up show, An August Institution, opens with an extended maths joke, which sets the tone for an hour of fairly niche humour.
Shadow Chancellor since 2015 and MP for Hayes and Harlington since 1997, McDonnell has campaigned against the Iraq war, and argued for curbs in bankers’ bonuses, decent pensions,…
Chris Mullin returns to the Business School to reflect on the great political disasters he’s known, in conversation with Professor Chris Carter.
I’ll start off by saying that the lack of an audience on this particular viewing did not afford much opportunity to the performers.
We all saw the coverage of the Egyptian revolution in 2011, but who can say they’ve been in the same room as someone personally involved? Ramy wasn’t just a participant in the …
1960s America.
If you have a passion for current affairs, a thirst for knowledge, or are simply looking for an interesting topic to discuss at the dinner table, these free events are for you! Our…
Hardeep Singh Kohli is a Fringe favourite and you can tell immediately by his stage presence that he is relaxed with the audience.
Early in his Fringe show Mark Thomas reveals the impressively religious character of his upbringing.
Alcohol, drugs, zero-hour contracts and love triangles befall this bunch of misfits, who desperately search for a way out.
Kieran Butler (Che Guevara on the Fringe, ****(Scotsman)) joins his favourite antipodean comedian, Sofie Prints, (Jesus was a Rape Baby) for the sequel to his sold-out cult hit, Au…
Geoffrey Brown guides us through the sticky path that is Britain’s exit from the EU armed with a gaudy slide show, an intro song, It’s the End of the World as We Know it and I …
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 peo…
Unleash your inner queen! Via Shakespeare, Chekhov to RuPaul, a kickass theatre-cum-cabaret tour de force exploring sexual politics and identity, revealing how an exotic dancer bec…
Brexit Brexit Brexit Brexit Brexit Brexit Brexit Brexit Brexit Brexit Brexit Brexit Brexit Brexit Brexit Brexit graphical comedy Brexit Brexit Brexit Brexit Brexit Brexit Brexit Br…
Kieran Butler (Che Guevara on the Fringe, ****(Scotsman)) joins his favourite antipodean comedian, Sofie Prints, (Jesus was a Rape Baby) for the sequel to his sold-out cult hit, Au…
Received opinion says that we become more right-wing as we get older.
‘Very friendly but fiercely political’ (Time Out) comedian, Tiernan Douieb, considers if ignorance is indeed bliss, and if so, surely he shouldn’t know that.
Comedian and activist Coltrane returns with another hour of uplifting, Tory-smashing comedy.
‘Very friendly but fiercely political’ (Time Out) comedian, Tiernan Douieb, considers if ignorance is indeed bliss, and if so, surely he shouldn’t know that.
Comedian and activist Coltrane returns with another hour of uplifting, Tory-smashing comedy.
New show.
Based on The Tempest, Wrecked is an absurd political satire chronicling two days in the lives of six pirates and one dead parrot, shipwrecked on a tropical island.
A naturalistic drama with a cast of eight and duration of 60 minutes with strong elements of Brechtian theatre.
The real-life actions of Murphy and Pena were the inspiration for the hugely successful Netflix crime series Narcos, which tells the story of Colombia’s infamous drug cartels and…
What do you call a burning police car in Sweden? Monday.
Jackie Walker tells the story the media wouldn’t let her tell you.
What if the extreme Christian right in the USA got everything they wanted? Emmy winner Joe Janes’s play, featuring 10 Chicago actors performing 40 characters, shows us the absurdit…
‘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 Ar…
‘Social barriers will dissipate as Rick Molland and Sully O’Sullivan go head-to-head in an epic stand-up comedy battle’ (CultureTrip.
A black comedy dealing with complicated lives, loves and buried secrets.
Every day, Gráinne is joined by three top comics who try to persuade the audience why their favourite news story is the most import of the week’s news.
A bittersweet tale of political awakening.
This show is about why we should legalise all the drugs.
Follow in the footsteps of power on this walking tour of capitalism from British Empire to banking crisis, with jokes.
The most talked about comedian from last year’s Fringe is back.
While the world grips onto its safe space with progressively whitened knuckles, We Are Still All C*nts will be a haven where the left, the right, the old, the young, the rise of fa…
Loud, outspoken and very accessible political comedy from a Northern working-class prospective.
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Skyfall and Love Actually: three films President Trump will encourage the Prime Minister to stream during his state visit to the UK (probab…
Is Putin’s Russia in fact a closer-than-it-looks, post-fact global future? Can it be avoided? And are we really that different? Fringe’s first Russian alternative comedian, Oleg, c…
In an age of global socio-political turmoil, Shah presents a show about freedom, fascism, complacency, complicity, resistance, and milk.
A Young Vic Taking Part Production.
‘Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I am going to show you how to change the world…’ The world’s most notorious terrorist tells his remarkable, provocative and multi award-winnin…
A new comedy musical from the Cambridge Footlights.
Two cultures have thrived, one on each side of an impenetrable wall.
Geordie Rahul Kohli’s back with his much anticipated second hour following from his critically appraised debut.
We are slowly falling apart, we are stagnating.
Nigerian Tunji Sowande quietly breaks through multiple barriers to become Britain’s first Black judge in 1978.
Satirical, witty and topical.
“I am a cog in the wheel of free movement.
Set in the near future, Hang imagines a world where the death penalty has returned and, with a sinister game-show-like feel to it, the victim determines the fate of the offender.
In a time of pre-war political tension, gone are the days of frothy fashion journalism for Pamela More, a feisty and glamorous Times journalist who stubbornly prioritises haute-c…
“The UK has voted out.
This critically-acclaimed, award-winning Norwegian (but performed in English) play philosophises: Do we humans really have a deep need for an identity, or is this need utter nonsen…
Kids these days! No one knows what they’re up to.
Skyfall, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Ghost, The Godfather, Citizen Kane, Beauty and the Beast, Notting Hill, 50 Shades Darker and Beetleju…
This Brighton-based forum theatre company produce thought-provoking performances about social and political matters, using storytelling, discussion, and re-enactment.
Left-wing, highbrow, feminist, atheist comedian Kate Smurthwaite finally takes on the issue right at the very heart of women’s rights: men.
“The average person will speak 123,205,750 words in a lifetime”.
Funny. Political. Ends with a hanging.
From his first eponymous album in 1962 to his latest, Fallen Angels, via his never-ending tour, Bob Dylan has always divided opinion: Upsetting the Establishment as a Folk/protest …
A bitter-sweet tale of political awakening.
Harun Musho’d’s stand-up comedy explores his own identity, weaving politics and history into the story of his family and their antics.
Six women.
Zahra’s a bit like the country of Turkey, in that she’s a mix of Eastern and Western culture, and also she is a bird.
Brighton comics creators and graphic novelists Joe Decie, Hannah Eaton and Daniel Locke are spending a week producing hundreds of original drawings, prints and comics that explore …
In her mind Diana is a glamorous singer-raconteuse at a Petrograd nightclub, and Leon her accompanist.
CTRL ALT DEL: Restart, Repeat, Restart, Repeat.
A new work-in-progress show from this multi award-winning comedian.
Hijinx Theatre in association with Blind Summit.
Do you remember a time when we all SpokeEasy? A time before every movement, word and thought was watched? Before cameras in trees? Come! Follow the signs for The Yellow Canary,…
We are presented with two bodies: a loud Jamaican dance hall music and disco lights.
Fusing stand-up, cabaret and live documentary, we go on a journey through that most deceptively fascinating of subjects - debt! With comedy vignettes (laughs), appearances from …
‘Professional behaviour’: a series of actions deemed acceptable in the workplace.
“Ilyas has a slickness more reminiscent of US comics, and the gags to back it up, though his most prized asset could yet be his bold, subversive streak” (The Guardian).
Are you, have you been or do you know a pessimist? Are you, have you been, or do you want to be happy? This is the stand-up comedy show for you! Matt Duwell is happy and he is ill-…
This legendary Punk band continues to represent the true spirit of Punk Rock.
What happens when a 25-year-old Norwegian girl travels alone through Europe together with refugees? Karen Houge, a Norwegian documentarist and Gaulier-trained actor, went to Les…
In this unsafe space, with Brexit looming and Trump trumpeting, Daphna Baram attempts to clear us all a path.
Post-drag, post-gender, impossible to beat, performance avalanche and avant-garde legend David Hoyle returns for an unmissable evening of high comedy, sound, vision, paint and song…
Intelligent, funny and thought provoking theatre at The Warren.
Boogaloo Stu’s dark comedy ‘Last Orders At The Dog & Dumplings’ is an uproarious and merciless exposé of the cold-blooded takeover striking our communities in the name of regene…
Plunge into tales of the legendary Welsh bard Taliesin.
Juliet Meyers (Writer on ‘Sarah Millican TV Programme’, ‘8/10 Cats’ and ‘News Quiz’) returns with her show about her clingy rescue dog, unconditional love and being a wolf.
Adele can’t work out how the Tories are in power – everyone she knows voted Labour, and don’t get her started on Brexit.
Geordie Rahul Kohli is back with his much anticipated second hour following on from his critically acclaimed debut hour: ‘Newcastle Brown Male’.
Dick Coughlan thought he was a good guy.
Comedian and vertebrate Alex Kealy presents his second comedy show.
Apparently we all get more right-wing as we grow older.
Immigration, migrants, the refugee crisis; hot divisive topics of debate that have been blamed for Brexit, Trump, rise of hate crimes in the past year.
Athena Kugblenu has watched, listened and looked for a long time, and now she’s grown tired of the conventions of the left wing press.
A pitch-black comedy from award-winning playwright, Matt Morrison.
Soviet Russia, 1937.
One soldier’s story of coping with PTSD.
Co-commissioned by Live Theatre/The Marlowe Theatre.
There’s a lot going on in Discretion Guaranteed at Paradise in the Vault.
Timelines blur as Queen Mary Tudor stands reading the Financial Times in this capable performance that draws parallels between the purging reign of Bloody Mary and the policies of …
Harold Pinter’s short play, One for the Road, concerns torture, and you can assume it’s talking about state-sanctioned torture, given Rising Phoenix Repertory’s decision to t…
Child’s Play begins with the tidying away of props and banners at the end of an organised demonstration; in the meantime, characters exchange strident opinions on how frustrating…
Professor Chris Carter welcomes distinguished economist and highly respected parliamentarian, Rt Hon Sir Vince Cable.
Lord John Prescott discusses his career in the public eye.
The programme for Collateral Damage states that, while the play was written in 1999 in response to contemporary issues, it “has many resonances for us today”.
Tory victory at the General Election, the crushing of Labour in Scotland, chaos on the Opposition front benches.
Eleventh Hour Theatre’s fresh and admittedly interesting take on Sophocles’ Classic tragedy presents a new spin on the classic tale that, whilst successful enough, fails to rea…
Professor Chris Carter welcomes one of the leading journalists of our time, Sky News political editor Adam Boulton, to share his take on the leaders and major events that have prov…
Ellen spent six months volunteering in Europe’s refugee camps.
Big thinking in a small country – sparky talk, flyting, debate discussion and soapbox slots.
Big thinking in a small country – sparky talk, flyting, debate discussion and soapbox slots.
Lifted is a play about Scotland, identity, immigration, police violence, racism and mermaids.
In the near future, the line between war and terror is blurred in a military hospital behind the front lines, ahead of the final push.
Theatre and physical theatre about the contemporary condition of women and farmed animals, created following Carol Adams’ lecture The sexual Politics of Meat.
Hang, the latest show from Yellow Jacket Productions, set in the near future where the death penalty has returned with an added feature, the victim is able to choose the method of …
Billed as “not simply a docu-drama”, Ears on a Beatle promises perspective on the post-Summer-of-Love, post-Fab-Four decade in which the two protagonist agents find themselves.
Counting Sheep is a theatrical triumph that throws the audience into the centre of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution.
On the Conditions and Possibilities of Hillary Clinton Taking Me as Her Young Lover definitely wins the title of most intriguing show title at the Fringe, and it’s definitely wor…
Chelsea (formerly Bradley) Manning remains in a high security US Military Prison on a 35-year sentence for passing nearly a quarter of a million classified files to Wikileaks in 20…
What you see is what you get with Ashley Haden’s notoriously dark humour in this aptly-named free show.
Following three years of sell-out London shows Matt Forde’s Political Party returns to Edinburgh for a one-off special! Previous guests include: Tony Blair, Nigel Farage, Michael P…
Many appreciate conscientious objectors because they seem on the right side of history.
Call Mr Robeson is Tayo Aluko’s tribute to one of the twentieth century’s most recognisable singers in terms of looks and voice.
Loyalty.
Ayesha Hazarika spent eight years as political adviser to Harriet Harman and Ed Miliband.
A new play imagining a secret meeting between US President Barack Obama and Chelsea Manning, the transgender US soldier currently imprisoned for leaking classified information to W…
In the aftershock of the Brexit referendum, what do the world’s funniest folk in comedy have to say about it and other world matters? Join us for one night only of International …
Ayesha Hazarika spent eight years as political adviser to Harriet Harman and Ed Miliband.
Current affairs can be baffling, and we have all been overcome with the need to turn off the news and pretend that horrific acts of terrorism around the world aren’t happening.
On the surface Jenna Watt’s new show Faslane sounds like it should be a simple comparison of the reasons for and against renewing the Trident nuclear base; it turns out to be jus…
Exploring the impact of creeping corporatism and excessive accountability.
Mark Thomas’ new one-man-play blends spoken word and storytelling to create a compelling, intimate and rousing performance that lifts the spirit in this pitch perfect personal an…
Although this show might have been more useful to see before the EU referendum, Knowing EU’s straightforwardness pushes to one side all the unclear statistics and hot headed deba…
Theatre audiences are, for the most part, quite comfortable with their self-assigned role of secret voyeurs of the people on stage who go about their lives with no apparent knowled…
Acting Alone is a thoughtful, introspective piece of solo storytelling in which actor Ava Hunt reflects on the suffering of the Palestinian people and the frustration she feels at …
BBC New Comedy Award 2015 finalist Athena Kugblenu has an opinion on everything.
Absolutely implausible and performed implausibly too: there are moments where Sins Borne’s premise works but they are too sparse.
Neil LaBute sets out to upset and disturb audiences and he made a spectacular start with his first play Bash: Latterday Plays.
With the parliamentary Labour party at apparent loggerheads with a huge chunk of its ordinary party members, and a Prime Minister arguably governing without a strong mandate, the g…
Lord David Steel joins Professor Chris Carter to reflect on an illustrious career in public life.
Little remains of Gogol’s original short story, Diary of a Madman, with Al Smith taking much artistic licence in updating it to post-Brexit Britain and turning it into a story of…
Nigerian Tunji Sowande quietly breaks through multiple barriers to become Britain’s first black judge in 1978.
How can hell be liberal and forgiveness be punishment? Contradictions like these are part of the challenge of this provocative piece of writing and performance.
Paul Robeson is a world-famous American actor, singer and civil rights campaigner.
A group of performers, writers, politicians and you plan to stage a reading of the Chilcot Report.
“Every woman is a riot,” is roughly painted on the wall behind the stage area of this hidden-away New Town bar’s seldom used attic space.
To Edinburghians “welcome to The Hive” could mean a questionable night out in a seedy, sticky floored club.
The self-empowerment of interesting American women from history is a dramatic premise that instantly arrests your attention.
A Boy Named Sue written by Bertie Darrell provides an interesting insight into the experiences of members of the LGBT+ community, played with great energy by the cast of three.
A group of performers, writers, politicians and you plan to stage a reading of the Chilcot Report.
We Will Rock You meets Yes Prime Minister in this hilarious story of electioneering by 2015 MP candidate Will Goodhand (Channel 4’s Beauty and the Geek, 99 Club stand-up), featur…
London-based Clean Break fit two plays into one show: House, a tight family drama set in a British-Nigerian household, and Amongst the Reeds, a nondescript tale of homelessness, fr…
Was it animal cruelty to bring 6 chickens to a rowdy nightclub, and is that the wrong question? The Chicken Trial is a “documentary fantasy” recounting the trial of Makode Lind…
Joe Wells believes that you should treat all people with love and respect, but does that include UKIP voters? Follow up to the critically acclaimed **** (Chortle.
Raided at dawn, arrested for terrorism and a possible 13 years in prison: I’ve had better mornings! MI5, surveillance, democracy, class and them.
A new hour of super-fun political comedy from your second-favourite activist comedian, Chris Coltrane.
The award-winning comedian, campaigner and writer for Have I Got News for You and The Revolution Will Be Televised sizes up the patriarchy and 21st century male culture.
James Christopher looks back in anger at a government driven by greed, for the benefit of the privileged few.
Striding onto the stage accompanied by thunderous fanfare, taking his place on a podium and decrying the evil of tyrants and the chains of authority, Dominic Allen’s blistering a…
In the award-winning performance of Your Majesties, Navaridas and Deutinger reenact Barack Obama’s Nobel lecture, held at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo in 2009.
Democracy is a hot topic in Scotland.
Who has time to care about all the day’s news? Not when most of us have so many good box sets on the go.
The Rooster is a Palestinian/Lebanese production influenced by thrilling Palestinian dabke folk dance, conveying the sociopolitical experience of the region through the character o…
Lifted is a play about Scotland, identity, immigration, police violence, racism and mermaids.
The world’s largest landfill, an island of floating plastic the size of Texas and Greta Garbo! This theatrical vortex of recycled plays, Garbo’s Divine Woman and words from env…
Tribute to all the artists who have been murdered, tortured and exiled.
Nothing will remain sacred when the ‘bombastically liberal’ Rick Molland (ThreeWeeks) meets the ‘shamelessly shocking’ Sully O’Sullivan (Australian Times) in this stand-up …
‘Ireland’s hottest comedian’ (OneWorldChronicle.
Sit back and relax as we honour today’s real comedic geniuses – our very own tax-shirking, pig-pumping Westminster massive! Come join in a celebration of the absurdist joy that…
Dick Coughlan thought he was a good guy.
Nigerian Tunji Sowande quietly breaks through multiple barriers to become Britain’s first black judge in 1978.
Ever looked at the world around you? Ever thought about your future in that world and decided the only prudent and logical move is to down tequila and dance on rooftops? This is th…
Bronston Jones: God Bless ‘Merica (Again).
Useless former gang member James Nokise takes a light-hearted look at the way we see each other, examining how people end up in gangs and what happens when you’re kicked out.
‘A picker pucker panoramic poetry parade’ (John Hegley).
A stand-up comedy show in which John promises to rip up the room for the full hour, or you can leave throughout.
With referendum fever sweeping the country, Haggis’s face was on every TV.
In the near future, the government approves a bill to cancel the NHS.
The year is 2061 and Tom Skelton is dead.
It’s 1950 Vienna and two British spies are sent to kill a traitor.
By Heathcote Williams (Archangel award-winner).
Edinburgh Fringe’s Funniest Newcomers 2015 (The Guardian).
Samantha’s a radical feminist, political activist and very funny (maybe not always for the ‘right’ reasons)! Join her for an hour of topless comedy in support of the Free the N…
Bubbling with energy and wit, Athena Kugblenu shares with us her opinions and musings on just about every topic you might need to navigate life as a British millennial.
Aidan Killian’s World Tour - ‘Around the World in 80 Jokes’ is here.
Ahmed, a poor orphan, escapes his war torn homeland and joins the circus.
London, 2014.
This is a true story.
Nothing like a wild, dark comedy cabaret and a dash of activism to kick off your afternoon! The girls will cross-dress, undress, and try to redress gender imbalance in just 30 min…
One Geordie specialising in current affairs.
‘Torn Apart (Dissolution)’ is about talking to your lover, drinking beer, ultimate rejection, the white picket fence fantasy, sexuality, the rules of being on a visa, The Berlin Wa…
A tender and ridiculous show that clambers up your drainpipe with a rose between its teeth.
Sell-out comedian Sam Quinn will do whatever his sponsors want: tell jokes, do accents, dance, sing.
I should have known from the start.
Chris Parkinson, famous poet and professional troublemaker, returns with a high octane poetic voyage through subjects including party politics, dangerous grammar and anthropomorphi…
“Exhilarating and thought-provoking, angering and very funny” (Kate Copstick, Scotsman), “If you are looking for some first-class, experienced satire, this is your show” (Broadway …
Everyone wants their dad to be a hero.
Back by popular demand! Pinned on the arse-end of a night out, ‘Eggs Collective Get A Round’ is a show with lipstick on its teeth and Wotsits on its face.
A thought-provoking, one-woman show exploring the themes of feminism, love, media, society and nature vs nurture.
So, is it good to be in or out? A humorous look at the EU: the good, the bad and the ugly – you’ll learn, laugh and cry – you may even think again about that vote!
As soon as Taylo Aluko, in the guise of Paul Robeson, takes to the stage we know we’re in for a treat.
Gaël Le Cornec (Argus Angel award-winner with Frida Kahlo) returns to Brighton with a new play on immigration based on refugees’ stories.
A country at conflict with itself, torn between it’s culture and the growing need for democracy, turns to its often-absent King to save them, but does he even care? Now those clos…
Joe Wells believes that you should treat everyone with kindness, but that’s not easy when some of them vote UKIP.
A one-woman show questioning how socio-political conditions shape us as individuals, while attempting to give a perspective on how our realities differ greatly depending on where w…
In this lecture, Danny Dorling considers how the UK, one of the 25 richest countries in the world, has become one of the most unequal and is on course to win the ‘global race’ to b…
Zahra’s a bit like the country of Turkey, in that she’s a mix of Eastern and Western culture, and also she is a bird.
Population growth, climate change and food inequality mean we need to take a fresh look at what’s on our plate.
Will the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership bring growth, jobs and prosperity, or will it kill democracy? A debate with Jacqueline Minor (European Commission), John Hil…
Think Tank is a live comedy and debate show where professional comedians propose policy ideas to a panel of politicians and experts.
Left-wing, highbrow, feminist, atheist comedy from ‘Have I Got News For You?’ writer Kate Smurthwaite.
Time is of the essence in this absolutely faultless performance from EntreprenHER Productions.
One year on from “the closest election in modern times” ‘I Demand a Recount!’ tackles the questions that can’t wait until GE2020.
An expert juggler, an acrobat and dancer, a musician and inventor, and a brave warrioress present an archive of 23 thoughts about conflict, collected over a single year.
Tanglehead Productions & Spiral Arts present ‘Cut’.
Groomed is an incredibly difficult show to watch but such a necessary one.
‘Necessity’ is a compelling new play by writer and director Paul Macauley, about our need to hold onto ideals and what we create in the world when our needs go unmet.
A madcap frenzy of physical comedy with a political bite.
Based on the true story of Crookshank’s time in the R.
Affable funnyman and “intelligent youngster” (Time Out), Rory O’Keeffe brings his first stand-up show to Brighton.
Inspired by the new democratic movements at home and abroad, this is a day of creative engagement aiming to develop a vision on how democracy can be extended, enriched and made fit…
Refugees! Immigrants! Statistics don’t tell the story, people do.
His teacher believes Jamie is being bullied because he’s gay.
A darkly comic new play about a family living with autism.
‘Not Fast Enough’ is a provocative and dynamic sprint through contemporary gender politics and imaginative theatre structures.
Theatre Uncut commissions playwrights to respond to current events, then make the resulting plays available online so that anyone can perform them.
Roaring Boys makes a welcome and very successful return to the Festival Fringe this year adding a further chapter to its interesting history.
On Sunday afternoon, myself and around fifteen other people – most of them women – perch ourselves on armchairs in a cosy room in Appletree Writers at The Whole Works, on a qu…
Islands is a bit madcap.
Party isn’t that sort of party; well, it sort of is, and maybe it should be, but overall it isn’t – though it might be after it’s finished.
Will Hutton examines how Britain could create an economy, society and democracy in which the mass of citizens flourish – reinventing and repurposing core institutions like the co…
Polly Toynbee and David Walker are two of Britain’s leading social democratic commentators and policy analysts.
For Queen and Country.
At a certain point in Confirmation’s 85 minutes of perspective-smudging, you just want to get up and scream – so inescapably does Chris Thorpe’s script put you face-to-face w…
In Owen Jones: The Politics of Hope, Jones proves himself to be an engaging and eloquent speaker without any airs of pretension.
A sage said ‘nothing can be certain but death and taxes’.
Sandy Nelson’s comic play examines the intriguing events of the 2010 Reykjavik Municipal elections, in which comedian and actor, Jon Gnarr, became the Mayor of Iceland’s capital, d…
Trying to keep up with the ever changing and intense plot of Dario Fo’s fast paced and absurd play can often be a challenge that leaves many productions lagging behind the playwr…
It’s amazing at times how little Chris Coltrane has to do to make his audience laugh.
At the start of his show Geoff Norcott claims he’s a moron.
As part of the Edinburgh Book Fringe, for an hour on Sunday afternoon theatre director and performer Morna Burdon takes the audience through a series of real-life stories and songs…
Why did a 23-year-old woman leave her comfortable American life to stand between a bulldozer and a Palestinian home? From the words she left behind, My Name is Rachel Corrie tells …
One Geordie specialising in current affairs.
Professor Chris Carter talks to the Rt Hon Alan Johnson about his career in the trade unions, Labour party politics, and his time as a government minister and author.
A Requiem for Edward Snowden is a new audio-visual piece on the very current themes of privacy, security and loss in the 21st century.
Rose’s earliest memory is a ruined birthday party at the age of eighteen.
Go ahead and sip the gunpowder green tea poured into dainty cups by Tom Barnes and Matt Wilks, the handsome, engaging young performers of The Litvinenko Project.
We May Have To Choose is a one-person show performed by Emma Hall.
Kieran Butler **** (Scotsman) returns with an updated version of his political comedy/satire.
Kieran Butler **** (Scotsman) returns with an updated version of his political comedy/satire.
Aidan Killian is not the kind of performer to shy away from big questions.
Rahul Kohli is not just a skilled comic; he has brains, heart, and guts enough to make Newcastle Brown Male something truly special.
Valiant is an hour of verbatim stories from women who have experienced war, adapted from the book Valiant War and Exile by Sally Hayton-Keeva who collected interviews from women ac…
Did Scotland vote the wrong way on independence? Predicting the future is hard, but if we carry on the path we’re on what becomes of our grandchildren? There is no way that every…
Post-rock performance troupe Needless Alley present Where.
#comicreliefwesternphilanthropiccolonialismandpoliticalantipathyinrésistanceanupdatedanalysisofthecomediesofidentityinpopularculture.
It’s 2015.
Matt Forde’s Political Party comes to Edinburgh for one night only, following a complete sell-out London run with guests including; Alastair Campbell, Nigel Farage, Michael Porti…
Kieran Butler **** (Scotsman) returns with an updated version of his political comedy/satire.
It’s hard these days to find comics, amongst the slick and edgy big leagues, with a genuine sense of mischief.
I remember hearing Tony Benn speak many years ago, when I was still in school.
Margaret Thatcher was – still is, two years after her death – a divisive figure, loved and hated in equal measure.
It has been said that we all tell stories simply to stave off Death.
Six passengers travel on the tube from Stratford to Ealing Broadway.
Watching Kate Smurthwaite doing stand up is like watching a recording of a Tory Peer’s night terrors: not only is she funny, but when it comes to tearing apart injustice, she’s…
If you can find it, there is some brilliant (and also free – bonus!) storytelling nestled beneath a dark, dingy pub at this year’s Fringe.
Lost in Transition looks at Romania’s decretei: children born as a result of Ceausescu’s 770 Decree that forbade contraception and abortions.
The English have been typecast as imperial snobs, rule-bound, repressed, class-ridden, prejudiced – their racism cuts and scars.
The Rt Hon John Bercow is one of the best known modern British parliamentarians, gaining great praise for his role as the Speaker of the House of Commons.
Churchill, Attlee, Thatcher, Blair.
Franz Kafka’s short story A Report to an Academy takes the form of an informative lecture given by an ape called Red Peter.
Who hasn’t thought about culling parts of the human race? I have and I’m practically an angel! Surely even the greatest pacifist can’t resist, with the forces of UKIP at larg…
Taking place in the greatest of British institutions — a chip shop — on election night, Open is a devised work by the student-run Nottingham New Theatre.
Walking the Tightrope was created as a response to the cancellation of three high profile cultural events last summer.
Learning difficulties, the truth in conspiracy theories and politics are the topics of a brave stand up.
“Some people would kill to have what we have,” says Sophie, describing her job as a toilet attendant in a nightclub.
Journalist, film-maker and author, John Pilger is one of only two to win British journalism’s highest award twice.
Politics or religion as a source of conflict? From the Israeli Palestinian conflict, via Iran and ISIL, much of what we hear about the Middle East is couched in the language of anc…
With the accompanying subtitle, this show becomes God Bless ‘Merica, Because It’ll Take A Miracle To Fix It; whilst that’s quite a mouthful, it certainly encompasses the sent…
This devised two-hander attempts to confront the social stigma faced by those with mental illnesses.
Imagine we are creating an encyclopaedia for extraterrestrials.
A political satire and a dark comedy revealing an uncompromised view of our political world from behind the scenes.
Britain’s top live political panel show.
Democracy is a hot topic in Scotland.
‘Remarkable’ (Press).
This comedy show started with a question: why is it that conspiracy theorists will chew your ear off explaining that 9/11 was an inside job, global warming is a hoax, and chemtrail…
Gabriel Ebulue is an anarchist, a self-proclaimed revolutionary.
This comedy show started with a question: why is it that conspiracy theorists will chew your ear off explaining that 9/11 was an inside job, global warming is a hoax, and chemtrail…
Gabriel Ebulue is an anarchist, a self-proclaimed revolutionary.
American comic Erich McElroy presents a brand new hour of stand-up.
Exactly 100 years apart, two women’s lives are defined by conflict.
An adventure through a moral maze.
The Gospel Inquiry by Sandy Nelson.
Like Britain? Too bad, asshole.
A light broadcasts from Mars. At first it falters, is interfered with, then it becomes clear. It is The Boy with Green Hair, anti-war. A short film.