spoken word

The Guilty Feminist

The Guilty Feminist

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. The show is about noble 21st-century feminist goals and the hypocrisies and insecurities which undermine them... 

Amnesty International UK and the Guilty Feminist Presents The Secret Policeman's Podcast

Amnesty International UK and the Guilty Feminist Presents The Secret Policeman's Podcast

The Guilty Feminist joins forces with Amnesty International UK to bring The Secret Policeman back to life for 2018!  Following the magnificent Secret Policeman’s tradition of presenting comedy greats for a night of misbehaviour, a hugely talented and diverse bill of performers will create some hysterical comedy and magical music... 

The Poets' Republic – Unleashed

The Poets' Republic – Unleashed

The Poets' Republic – Unleashed. Verbal fireworks and lyrical shenanigans with Scotland's sharpest poetry magazine. A big line-up of readers/performers in English, Scots and Gaelic plus open mic... 

Barry Ferns: Barry Loves You

Barry Ferns: Barry Loves You

Barry promised he would "share [his] soul with you" at the start of the show, and golly, he really does. In an hour that takes us from South African robots to family revelations, via flapping meat bags and biscuit addiction, Ferns presents an always engaging, sometimes profound stand-up show... 

Bercerus the Blind Dog and Other Heroes

Bercerus the Blind Dog and Other Heroes

Bercerus the Blind Dog introduces Cerberus' blind twin, and includes Greek legends galore. Written for blind adults, this adventurous tale proves that every minus can be a plus. Each show includes other heroes from Mary's Stories to End Wars series... 

Love Letters to Rappers

Love Letters to Rappers

Re-written rap lyrics that clap back. A haunting choir. A maniacal teacher. A poodle. A radical response to pop culture's misogyny and an underlying call to divest from the patriarchy's pyramid scheme... 

Closed Doors

Closed Doors

When the cast of Closed Doors were taking their bow, they mentioned that this show existed as a book and as an album, and I immediately wished I had listened to the album. Not because I was floored by the show’s brilliance, but because Closed Doors felt like an album and a poem retrofitted for the stage... 

Helen Lederer Asks Why The Fuss?

Helen Lederer Asks Why The Fuss?

Following a sell-out residency at London’s St James’ Theatre, Helen brings her chat format to the Fringe for the first time. Helen’s previous guests include Joe Lycett, Jeremy Hardy, Kimberley Walsh and Michael Crick... 

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... 

In Conversation With... Judy Murray

In Conversation With... Judy Murray

Former Scottish tennis international with 64 national title successes, Judy was appointed Scottish National coach in 1995, becoming the first woman to pass the LTA's Performance Coach Award... 

Happy Lucky Golden Tofu Panda Dragon Good Time Fun Fun Show

Happy Lucky Golden Tofu Panda Dragon Good Time Fun Fun Show

East meets West in this wild mash-up of comedy, electric violin, characters, spoken word and songs from legendary AmerAsian duo Slanty Eyed Mama. It’s all about race and represent-Asian: identity politics, bowl cuts, nail salons, Hello Kitty hats, gay Pokémon, math nerds, those gold cats with waving arms... 

Bitter

Bitter

Rose and Leila are two unlikely friends who've been thrust together in the most uncertain time of their lives. From awkward toilet meetings to eating fried chicken in their pyjamas, these girls feel tiny in this big universe... 

How to Keep Time: A Drum Solo for Dementia

How to Keep Time: A Drum Solo for Dementia

There’s a line in How to Keep Time that sat very deeply in my heart: “All my memories have been rewritten for who you are now.” That a person who handed a child a gooseberry and told him stories of the war in Poland and made him smile so much would be remembered not as the good man he was, but the stuttering mess he is... 

The Secret Diary of Scott Mitchell, Aged 43 and 3/4

The Secret Diary of Scott Mitchell, Aged 43 and 3/4

Scott Mitchell lives in Singapore. He has been keeping a diary for over 20 years. Join him for the tales of his previous 12 months in Asia plus highlights of his overseas adventures spanning his life as an expat... 

A Comedy Show on Top of Arthur's Seat

A Comedy Show on Top of Arthur's Seat

This is a show on top of Arthur's Seat. Sounds like too much effort? It is only a 45-minute walk from the Pleasance Courtyard, and is a totally unique (and funny) event at the most spectacular venue in Edinburgh... 

Queer Words

Queer Words

Three performers on stage present an intriguing blend of poetry and dance. The piece is split up into clear scenes, addressing different issue with relationships and gender through a queer lens... 

WHITE

WHITE

If you’ve ever felt stuck between two groups, both suspicious of you and neither accepting of the other, you may have the slightest indication of what Koko Brown is trying to communicate in WHITE, her solo show about being mixed race in modern Britain... 

Graham Fellows Completely Out of Character

Graham Fellows Completely Out of Character

Graham Fellows has performed as the comic character John Shuttleworth for over 25 years on stage, TV and radio, delighting audiences throughout the UK with his songs and quirky take on everyday life... 

Tony Slattery: Slattery Will Get You Nowhere

Tony Slattery: Slattery Will Get You Nowhere

Comedy legend Tony Slattery reveals all in conversation with comedy-historian Robert Ross. After playing to packed houses last year, with a return to his greatest triumph Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Tony Slattery is back with a no-holds-barred reflection on his life and work... 

Harmon Leon's American Horror Story

Harmon Leon's American Horror Story

NY comedian and Vice contributor Harmon has made a career infiltrating extremist groups. A multimedia journey into such Trump America entities as Hell House, a Christian haunted house where they scare the Jesus into you... 

Robin Ince: Chaos of Delight

Robin Ince: Chaos of Delight

An artist's manifesto of delight and curiosity from bohemians to black holes, Dali to DNA. A frenetic hour of art, science and stupid voices. Robin Ince, winner of Rose d'Or, Sony Gold and, most importantly, Pointless Celebrities... 

Letters for Peace

Letters for Peace

'Stephen’s daring writing and willingness to complement conventional lyricism with sonic experiment makes for a powerful experience' (Scotsman). Award-winning composer and guitarist Graeme Stephen's new work with Mr McFalls Chamber String Trio... 

The Fishermen

The Fishermen

Two brothers meet by the banks of a river in Nigeria, the same river which saw them turn from children into fishermen many years before. Separated by eight years and a world of experience, it is an uneasy reunion... 

Do It Now: Manual Override

Do It Now: Manual Override

Danger! Systems are being corrupted and broken. We must take back control. It’s time for Manual Override. Taking control from the US are John Sheldon on his red Stratocaster, Tony Vacca on all things percussion, and Paul Richmond with his droll yet beguiling spoken word delivery... 

Shadow Hour

Shadow Hour

In the creepy traditions of the classic American television shows The Twilight Zone and Night Gallery, this collection of medieval tales comes to bone-chilling life in a journey into the unknown... 

Talking Heads – Bed Among the Lentils

Talking Heads – Bed Among the Lentils

Alan Bennett is an institution in Britain – he can encapsulate a world of voices within a single monologue. Bennett sealed his reputation as the master of observation with Talking Heads, his series of 12 such monologues... 

Laughing for Palestine with Frankie Boyle

Laughing for Palestine with Frankie Boyle

Frankie Boyle and top comedians (TBC), hosted by Daphna Baram, join in with the Israeli Committee Against House Demolition in the UK (ICAHD UK) for a fundraiser show to fund the construction of a community centre in the Jordan Valley, serving 13 villages in one of the most deprived areas of the West Bank... 

Pilgrim Comedy and Spoken Word

Pilgrim Comedy and Spoken Word

Fantastic free comedy and spoken word at this established pub in the heart of the Old Town. 

Electrolyte

Electrolyte

I was transfixed. Before this theatre, music and spoken word mashup had even started the actors were milling around, testing the monitors, sound checking, chatting with people they recognised in the audience... 

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... 

Ruth Cockburn – Love Letters from Blackpool

Ruth Cockburn – Love Letters from Blackpool

"Welcome to Blackpool!" Cockburn beams as her audience files into Summerhall’s Anatomy Lecture Theatre. It’s a good choice of venue. The dark wood of the desks, the sickly pale turquoise of the walls and the blacked-out pyramid skylight of the ceiling all contribute to a performance space reminiscent of seaside music halls... 

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... 

In Conversation With... Alex McLeish

In Conversation With... Alex McLeish

Manager of Scotland, having previously managed Motherwell, Hibs, Rangers, Birmingham City and Aston Villa among others. Previously the Scotland boss in 2007 where he achieved one of the highest win ratios of any manager of the national side... 

Well, It's Woody – Free

Well, It's Woody – Free

In association with PBH's Free Fringe, veteran chanteuse Woodstock Taylor and her band of aging gits, Dai Lowe, Bev Wright and Max Scratchmann, bring their mixed bag of songs, poems and tales to the centre of things... 

Charm Offensive

Charm Offensive

Top Australian headline act Mick Neven returns to the Fringe with a brand-new show about love, life, loss and the pitfalls of buying second hand sex robots. Best Comedy nominee – Fringe World, Perth 2018... 

Mandy Knight: The Dark Knight

Mandy Knight: The Dark Knight

Mandy Knight has never had a birthday party. The only one she remembers was somebody else’s. It’s where she learnt the power of inappropriate outbursts. You’ll always win pass the parcel if you shout 'I haven't got a dad!' at the top of your voice... 

The Trevor Lock Experience

The Trevor Lock Experience

New and improved for 2018! If you think you've seen it before, look again. Is it stand-up, improv, performance art or a situationist prank? It certainly is joyful and hilarious. 'A masterclass in comedy performance... 

Stand-Up and Slam

Stand-Up and Slam

The battle is on! Six outstanding Fringe acts, one epic fight night. Who wins? You decide. The critically acclaimed showdown between poets and comedians is back for its third Edinburgh Fringe... 

Once Seen on Blue Peter

Once Seen on Blue Peter

Makes, Bakes and Outtakes. On October 16th, 1958, Blue Peter sailed onto our TV screens. 60 years and over 5,000 episodes later, an elite group of ex-presenters gather to receive an award celebrating this extraordinary anniversary... 

Harmon Leon's American Horror Story

Harmon Leon's American Horror Story

NY comedian and Vice contributor Harmon has made a career infiltrating extremist groups. A multimedia journey into such Trump America entities as Hell House, a Christian haunted house where they scare the Jesus into you... 

Captain 'The Butcher' Reality

Captain 'The Butcher' Reality

Former superstar Captain 'The Butcher’ Reality returns after a 15-year absence. Has it been all nearly naked parties and B-movies or has he discovered new hobbies to deal with his rage? Wrestling meets poetry meets pain in the new play from twice Great Yorkshire Show-Off winner and multiple poetry slam winner... 

Passionate Machine

Passionate Machine

Remember P.E. kit. Cancel Free Trial. Call mum. Everyone writes instructions to their future selves. But what happens if the future starts writing back? Featuring a diverse cast of real-life characters including David Bowie, Vladimir Mayakovsky and Rocky Balboa, and set against the questionable theoretical framework of your favourite time travel movies, fact and fiction blend to create an exhilarating story about letting go, having the courage to take the untrodden path, and finding yourself – literally... 

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

Fresh from selling out the National Theatre in Oslo. Award-winning poet Fredrik Høyer from Det Andre Teatret tells his critically acclaimed story about life, marathon, ultra-runners and the rom-com The Holiday... 

Made in Spain

Made in Spain

Sonia Aste is a Spaniard living in the UK who insists it’s not all fiesta and siesta! We get miserable too! But nobody’s listening. Using fans, football, folklore and family, this is an uplifting, hilarious show about British/Spanish connections... 

A Modern Guide to Heroism and Sidekickery

A Modern Guide to Heroism and Sidekickery

A superhero story that refuses to be a comic book. Michelle Zahner joyfully mixes storytelling, comedy and poetry to work out how being a superhero in the real world really works. How do you rescue people from depression or broken friendships? How do you fight cyclones, rabid llamas or the patriarchy? What do you call a boy damsel? And shouldn't there be a villain somewhere? A new hero finds herself dealing with media hype, impossible expectations and protest groups... 

Old Movies Saved My Life

Old Movies Saved My Life

Sometimes the best education comes from the most unexpected places. Growing up in the 70s and 80s, Mel Byron learnt everything she knows from films of the 30s and 40s. Everything about life, frocks, and especially, love... 

Karoshi

Karoshi

Apparently, 60% of us hate our jobs. No wonder, with pointless jargon to contend with (key performance indicators?) and even more pointless employee perks. As for bosses, where do we start? Karoshi is Japanese for death by overwork – literally... 

Angel Comedy Showcase

Angel Comedy Showcase

Award-winning Angel Comedy (Best Club in UK 2015, 2017, 2018 – Chortle Awards) brings a showcase to Edinburgh for the first time. Award-winning comedians and the best new acts, for free! Time Out recommended, a comedy institution and top comedy club in London on TripAdvisor! 

Stand Up, Weather Girl!

Stand Up, Weather Girl!

Sam Fraser has been a stand-by BBC local weather presenter since 2012. It's been a steep learning curve. Flattered by online comments about her bottom, she wonders can you be a full-time feminist and a part-time weather girl? This is Sam's first visit to the Edinburgh Fringe... 

Sofie Hagen Tries Something

Sofie Hagen Tries Something

Hi. Each day I will be doing something different. A work-in-progress stand-up show, a live recording of my podcast Made of Human, a dance show, who knows? Go to sofiehagen.com to see a schedule. 

That's My Story Podcast

That's My Story Podcast

Comedians Bronston Jones (USA) and Martin Mor (IRE) are joined each day by a different guest. They tell stories on a theme. Anecdotes, accounts, legends, myths, sagas, fables, tall tales, and true stories. 

Toby Adams – Tongue in My Head

Toby Adams – Tongue in My Head

A new hour of stand-up. 'A special experience' (Stewart Lee). 'Treat yourself... charming... quiet charisma' (Chortle.co.uk). Is knowledge wisdom? Can the great minds of the past inform our present? How well do you know your neighbours? It's comedy... 

Will Penswick: Dank Verse

Will Penswick: Dank Verse

He’s the world’s worst poet. Shame he doesn't know it. Sex, death, Christianity, Tim Henman, pigeons, divorce, Nazism, casseroles; no topic is too out there for Will Penswick. From one of the most enigmatic figures in modern literature, Dank Verse is a mixture of shocking (in both senses of the word; it’s awful) spoken word poetry, audience interaction and Penswick's views on life, love and more often than not, himself... 

Angry Boater

Angry Boater

No skills, no patience, hypertension and a boat. What really happens when you abandon the land to follow your dreams? Now in its fourth year, the glorious, comedic voyage from suburbia to chaos finally comes to Edinburgh. 

Angry Boater

Angry Boater

No skills, no patience, hypertension and a boat. What really happens when you abandon the land to follow your dreams? Now in its fourth year, the glorious, comedic voyage from suburbia to chaos finally comes to Edinburgh. 

Twenty Minutes to Nine / Free Fringe

Twenty Minutes to Nine / Free Fringe

Nominated Best Performance, Melbourne Fringe. Life's a party. At some point we all have to leave; some of us just choose when. Through storytelling, live musical soundscapes and spoken word, this is an autobiographical account dealing with loss... 

Love Songs

Love Songs

Mixing get-on-the-dance-floor music, rap and spoken word, Love Songs explores the personal and political puzzles of our love lives through the autobiographical poems of a hopeless romantic... 

Harry and Chris Save the World

Harry and Chris Save the World

Last year we prevented an apocalypse and almost got a panda pregnant, and then Jonathan Ross called us 'fabulously entertaining', so now we're drunk with comedy-rap-jazz power. World Poetry Slam champion Harry Baker and jazz virtuoso Chris Read return to the Fringe after sold-out shows in 2016 and 2017 with their third show that they've somehow managed to resist calling The Harry And Chris Show Three... 

Rob Auton: The Talk Show

Rob Auton: The Talk Show

This is a comedy/theatre/spoken word show about talking. Following on from previous shows about hair, sleep, water, faces, the sky and yellow, Rob now turns his attention to talking because he is ready to talk... 

Rory Jones: Return of the Wizword

Rory Jones: Return of the Wizword

From the questionable mind of Rory Jones comes a show of galactic proportions. Combining spoken word, comedy, music and a positively brazen disregard for convention, Return of the Wizword is poetry Jim, but not as we know it... 

Kit Finnie: Mabel and Mickey

Kit Finnie: Mabel and Mickey

What happens when you try to tell someone else's story, but they're not done talking? Kit has written a show about Mabel Normand, a notorious 1910s movie star, and the murder case that swallowed her legacy... 

Matt Rees: Happy Hour

Matt Rees: Happy Hour

Matt Rees returns to Edinburgh with his highly anticipated debut Happy Hour. The multi award-winning Welshman and sober drunk brings 60 minutes of 'very funny lines with a compelling, unforced lugubriousness' (Chortle... 

More Moira Monologues

More Moira Monologues

Fringe First winner 2017. 'The most charismatic character to appear on a Scottish stage in a decade' ***** (Scotsman) is back! After three sold-out Edinburgh runs, straight-talking Moira Bell returns in a sequel to the much-loved original Monologues... 

The Moira Monologues

The Moira Monologues

Moira Bell – single mum, cleaner, hardest woman in Falkirk, and alter ego of writer/performer Alan Bissett – is back at the Fringe after a storming tour of Scotland. Time for Moira to light up a fag and tell her BFF Babs the score... 

Maz and Bricks by Eva O'Connor

Maz and Bricks by Eva O'Connor

Triple Fringe First and Olivier Award-winning Fishamble present Maz and Bricks. It tells the story of two young people who meet over the course of a day in Dublin. Maz is an angry young woman planning to attend a political demonstration, while Bricks is planning to take his young daughter to the zoo... 

Twenty Minutes to Nine / Free Fringe

Twenty Minutes to Nine / Free Fringe

Nominated Best Performance, Melbourne Fringe. Life's a party. At some point we all have to leave; some of us just choose when. Through storytelling, live musical soundscapes and spoken word, this is an autobiographical account dealing with loss... 

Be More, Do Better but Don't Change

Be More, Do Better but Don't Change

A unique blend of achingly honest poetry, side-splitting stand-up and personal story telling about romantic love and why we prioritise it above all else. Roisin is bored of pretending that falling in love is fun... 

Andrew Lawrence: Clean

Andrew Lawrence: Clean

UK stand-up's foremost contrarian takes a break from all the controversy in this new show. No politics, no religion, no smut, no swearing, just great jokes and good, clean fun. 'Superbly intelligent, highly articulate and deeply sour' (Spectator)... 

Offside

Offside

It is seldom that we discuss the inherent inequalities in our nation’s most beloved sport. Perhaps because of the very fact football is so loved safeguards it from scrutiny. It is only recently that conversation has been sparked about racism in football, and there is yet to be a significant discussion of its misogyny... 

Yvette

Yvette

Every once in awhile a piece of theatre comes along so powerful that it wobbles you, requiring time long after the curtain call to be processed in its entirety. Yvette, a one-woman play written and performed outstandingly by Urielle Klein-Mekongo, is one of these pieces... 

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... 

Arlene! The Glitz. The Glamour. The Gossip.

Arlene! The Glitz. The Glamour. The Gossip.

Introduced by Jacquie Storey – who once successfully auditioned for the group that later became Hot Gossip (and turned them down) – we first see a short video from The Kenny Everett Video Show which first introduced the world to Arlene Phillips’ Hot Gossip dancers... 

A Matter of Race

A Matter of Race

Two young women, living similar lives, doing similar things: applying for jobs at cafes, buying alcohol, going to parties. Yet one is black, and one is white, and this means their similar actions yield widely different results... 

If Only: An Audience With Rudyard Kipling

If Only: An Audience With Rudyard Kipling

An exciting new play about Jungle Book author Rudyard Kipling, exploring his extraordinary life and the devastating personal consequences of WWI. Discover fresh insights into the man who was the youngest winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature and once Britain's most popular writer... 

Bottles

Bottles

‘Bottles’ is a stirring piece of theatre exploring the ups and downs of a night on the town through the eyes of a group of young women. It’s inspired by experiences of everyone who has ventured out and returned home with tales to make your skin crawl, stories that have your friends in hysterics or experiences you just can't talk about... 

An Evening With an Immigrant

An Evening With an Immigrant

Award-winning poet and playwright Inua Ellams, born to a Muslim father and a Christian mother in what is now considered to be Boko Haram territory, left Nigeria for England in 1996 aged 12... 

The Secret Life of Your Mobile Phone

The Secret Life of Your Mobile Phone

A unique journey into the private life of a gadget you thought was on your side. The Secret Life of Your Mobile Phone is a one-hour interactive stage performance using cutting edge interception technology to reveal the people, places and companies your phone is talking to behind your back – and what it's telling them... 

This Arthur's Seat Belongs to Lionel Richie

This Arthur's Seat Belongs to Lionel Richie

Returning for its 10th anniversary. Barry Ferns hosts comedy from a-top Arthurs seat – previous performers include Josie Long, Arthur Smith, Simon Munnery, Tony Law. ***** (Scotsman)... 

Daniel Piper's Day Off

Daniel Piper's Day Off

Daniel Piper’s Day Off is a one man comedy show that goes through the different anxieties one feels when calling in sick to work. The show opens with Daniel out in a nightclub. He uses the entire venue as his stage popping up in different places between audience members armed with a bottle of Blue WKD... 

The Etiquette Show: Much Ado About Everything!

The Etiquette Show: Much Ado About Everything!

You've heard them on the radio and seen them on the television, now join William Hanson and Diana Mather, leading etiquette experts, live on stage in this tongue-in-teacup foray into civilised human behaviour... 

The Light Comes Back

The Light Comes Back

Scottish poet and playwright Liz Lochhead collaborates with Dundee indie-pop band The Hazey Janes centering on the poem The Optimistic Sound that Lochhead composed in memory of her great friend, the Scottish songwriter Michael Marra... 

Under Milk Wood

Under Milk Wood

One show only! Dylan Thomas' enchanting masterpiece is brought vividly to life in an extraordinary solo performance by Edinburgh legend and Olivier Award winner, Guy Masterson. Made famous by his uncle – Richard Burton in 1954 – Masterson makes the words his own, playing all 69 of Llaregub's ebullient inhabitants... 

Quarter Life Crisis

Quarter Life Crisis

If you are looking for an unpretentious, heart-warming comedy show at the festival, Quarter Life Crisis is where you will find it. Performed by the loveable and relatable Yolanda Mercy this piece of spoken word comedy tackles an issue many people in their twenties face; the impending doom of adulthood... 

Janey Godley's Podcast Live at the Fringe

Janey Godley's Podcast Live at the Fringe

The Scottish Godmother and multi award-winning comedian Janey Godley (acclaimed comic famous for her Trump is a c*nt protest) and her award-winning comedian daughter Ashley Storrie (20 million hits with her Tanya Potter online sketch) have a weekly podcast... 

MakeyUppers' Bedtime Stories

MakeyUppers' Bedtime Stories

Once upon a time, two fair maidens dragged fairy tales kicking and screaming into the 21st century in this sharp and original review of all things “happily ever after”. Follow the trail of breadcrumbs to see your favourite bedtime stories poked with a big stick before being tossed into a cauldron with physical comedy and biting wit... 

One Hundred Miles

One Hundred Miles

One Hundred Miles is a physical theatre performance structured around the experiences of a woman traveling through India in a bid to discover a different culture and way of life. Taking influence from their rich and vibrant lifestyle, we capture this complex world and bring it to life... 

The Concrete Jungle Book

The Concrete Jungle Book

It is often difficult to adapt such well-known, childhood tales into innovative experiences for an audience. You run the risk of predictability and repackaged morals in the form of youth slang and modern clothes... 

Rob Auton: The Hair Show

Rob Auton: The Hair Show

It’s incredibly hard to place Rob Auton’s new show at the Edinburgh Fringe but then again, it’s hard to place Rob Auton. He’s the perfect example of when the lines are blurred between comedy and spoken word – two genres that can be hard to tell apart... 

The Unmarried

The Unmarried

The Unmarried is an original piece of writing making its Fringe debut. It is a spoken word play about a cocky, brash London woman named Luna who is navigating her way from nights out and one night stands to adulthood and long-term relationships... 

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!  

Hopeless

Hopeless

Hopeless goes back to Leyla Josephine's roots as one of the most interesting young spoken word artists in Scotland.Leyla is the previous U.K. Hammer & Tongue Slam Champion as well as becoming a viral sensation with her video I Think She Was a She... 

Dead People Don't Have Secrets

Dead People Don't Have Secrets

Everyone has secrets. Even the dead. So when a group of strangers suddenly end their lives, grief turns to anger and shame as secrets of loved ones come to light. Inspired by unexplained suicide clusters that have hit the headlines in recent years, this piece asks what would drive a group of strangers to such extremes... 

Did I Choose These Shoes?

Did I Choose These Shoes?

Thought-provoking but with a humorous tone, this spoken word and physical theatre piece explores what it means to be a girl growing up today and the choices offered to young women. Delving into topics such as body dysmorphia, dodgy periods and the incessant need for self validation... 

The Carl Donnelly and Chris Martin Podcast Live!

The Carl Donnelly and Chris Martin Podcast Live!

Join Carl Donnelly and Chris Martin for a nightly live podcast with guests, chat, stand-up, and all round fun and games. Listed in the Guardian's Top Ten Comedy Podcasts. Previous guests include Milton Jones, Bo Burnham, Roisin Conaty, Bill Burr, Sean Hughes, Kerry Godliman, Richard Herring, Seann Walsh, James Acaster and many more! 

Barry Loves You (Work in Progress)

Barry Loves You (Work in Progress)

Barry Loves You: an ambitious claim to make, even if he already knew you. Still, he’s won awards for comedy – The Malcom Hardee Award, the Mervyn Stutter Spirit of the Fringe Award, Chortle Award for Best Venue (he is a venue) – and been nominated as Best MC in the entire country, so at least you’ll be pleasantly relaxed and get a laugh at his misguided attempts to try... 

Dommy B Presents...

Dommy B Presents...

Award-winning, high-energy storyteller Dommy B returns for his fourth consecutive Fringe with magical tales of monsters and mayhem! ‘Really very inspiring. I love the seriousness and the humour (Benjamin Zephaniah)... 

The Guilty Feminist

The Guilty Feminist

Deborah Frances-White (from BBC Radio 4 and Global Pillage) and special guests record an episode of her hit comedy podcast, with over 16 million downloads in a year and half. The show is about noble 21st century feminist goals and the hypocrisies and insecurities which undermine them... 

Karoshi

Karoshi

Karoshi (Japanese for death by overwork). Is work killing you? Does your boss hate you? You are not alone. In Karoshi, comedian (and tired worker) Mel Byron shows the many different ways in which work is killing us... 

standingOUTstanding

standingOUTstanding

‘A dancer of tremendous joy’ **** (Fest). Award-winning show has new works and old favourites! These challenging times are calling upon us to dig deep within and bring forth the best in us... 

The Audio Tour of the Fringe

The Audio Tour of the Fringe

An immersive audio tour of the Festival Fringe – featuring interviews about its history with many Fringe comedy legends as you walk through the chaos and fun of the 2017 Fringe. Find out where Simon Munnery got arrested, where Arthur Smith Freed Nelson Mandela, where Tony Law almost got busted and many, many more interesting and location based curios. 

Broke as a Joke

Broke as a Joke

Comedian Danny Lobell (This American Life, WTF, Modern Day Philosophers) has always been broke. But he's never given up hope. He's bred designer hairless cats for money and worked alongside a geriatric hawking Jackie Mason's merchandise at his Broadway show... 

Slooshy Wordshow

Slooshy Wordshow

Appearing as performance poet Greg Byron. His poems reflect life's confusions and cruelties, from social comment to quantum physics, with a grimace, a twinkle and a wry pointy finger! Poetry and prose... 

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... 

Juliet Meyers: This Flipping Rescue Dog Has Ruined My Life

Juliet Meyers: This Flipping Rescue Dog Has Ruined My Life

Juliet (writer on The Sarah Millican Television Programme and 8 out of 10 Cats) and her dog have issues. This is a show about unconditional love, anxiety, peeing on things and being a wolf... 

Gary Little: Club Classics

Gary Little: Club Classics

After headlining at some of the top comedy clubs around the UK and abroad, Gary returns to the Edinburgh Fringe with the sets, the stories and the jokes that have earned him the reputation as one of Scotland’s top comedians... 

It’s Better to Lie Than to Tell the Truth and End Up Alone in a Ditch Crying

It’s Better to Lie Than to Tell the Truth and End Up Alone in a Ditch Crying

We lie to our friends, family, lovers and bosses because it’s easier than telling the truth – we have no idea what we’re doing, and we might have genital warts. In her new show, former rock star and acclaimed performer Ellen Waddell (Jean-Luc Picard and Me) tackles the necessity of lying in life, love, friendship and when applying for administrative jobs at truck logistics companies... 

The Harry and Chris Show 2

The Harry and Chris Show 2

After last year’s sell-out run of their debut show, Harry Baker – 'Blistering wordplay' ***** (ThreeWeeks) – and Chris Read – 'Brilliant' (Evening Standard) – bring back their unique mix of comedy, melody, poetry and best-matery... 

Nai Bowen is Brave!

Nai Bowen is Brave!

Is Nai brave, or is she a big scaredy-pants? One half of Fringe favourites Titty Bar Ha Ha, Nai is going it alone for the first time. If she's finished the show, which she might not have done because she's a big scaredy-pants... 

Bronston Jones: God Bless 'Merica (3) – Free

Bronston Jones: God Bless 'Merica (3) – Free

For the third year, American atheist Bronston Jones sees the state of his nation and mutters 'God Bless 'Merica... because it'll take a miracle to fix it.' Show changes with the news. 

Glossolalia: Ranney is Speaking in Tongues

Glossolalia: Ranney is Speaking in Tongues

International headliner Ranney is Speaking in Tongues. Everybody’s a comedian. Ranney is a brilliant one. He is much more than that, but you can only know the experience by seeing him live... 

Slooshy Wordshow

Slooshy Wordshow

A chair, a poetry book, a man, and a bottle of water to wet his whistle – other than these there is no set and the stage is bare.In his Slooshy Wordshow Greg Byron departs from physical theatre for the evening to give a performance of spoken word poetry, ranging in theme from science and quantum physics, to Brexit, to memory, to what it might be like to be a woman, and even on this particular evening, just 24 hours after the terrorist attack at London Bridge, to the Manchester bombing... 

Huggers

Huggers

An hour of friendly, casual entertainment and standup comedy for kids, with a few ‘jokes’ that only adults would get. Huggers is produced by Nik Coppin, who is also the main presenter of this variety show... 

Apples and Snakes and NWS Workshop

Apples and Snakes and NWS Workshop

Apples and Snakes and New Writing South present a 2 hour workshop aimed at spoken word artists and those interested in writing for performance. The workshop will be practically based with excercises and discussion and led by a professional artist... 

House of Verse

House of Verse

One entertaining community. Join our variety culture. We are an eclectic performance troupe who share regular variety events across Leicester. Home to spokenword, rap, beatbox, comedy, DJing, live music, live art and beyond... 

Big Wows for Small Wonders: Apples and Snakes and NWS present...

Big Wows for Small Wonders: Apples and Snakes and NWS present...

Children's poet and spoken word theatre maker Justin Coe ('Big Wow', 'Small Wonder', 'The Dictionary of Dads', 'The Jumble Book') leads a workshop for adult writers/performers interested in exploring how to write/perform their own children's poetry or poetry-theatre shows... 

The Dictionary of Dads/Young Herbert

The Dictionary of Dads/Young Herbert

Apples and Snakes and New Writing South present a spoken word poetry show for ages 6 years and up. 'The Dictionary of Dads' is a fun-packed exploration of dads of all kinds written and performed by Justin Coe... 

Poets v MCs Brighton v Bristol

Poets v MCs Brighton v Bristol

For 14 years the poets and rappers of Brighton have been locked in an epic struggle. And the first half of this show continues this battle, supported by the poets and rappers of our lively sister city Bristol... 

Obama & Me

Obama & Me

“I am a cog in the wheel of free movement. I am my ancestors’, my contemporaries’, and my descendants’ wildest dreams.” While Barack Obama is fulfilling his American Dream as the first black president of the United States, Sylvia Arthur, a black Brit, is in Brussels in pursuit of the European version... 

A Jealous Lassie's Karma

A Jealous Lassie's Karma

'A Jealous Lassie's Karma' is a collection of mad cap poems, songs, skits and socio-political observations, all performed with linguistic relish, by the 'terrifically energetic' Derek McLuckie... 

Ready Steady Colour

Ready Steady Colour

Join us in our make-believe restaurant! Grab a table, order your black and white 'plate of food' and get colouring! Ready Steady Colour is an interactive theatre experience for all the family... 

Escape: A Magic Show

Escape: A Magic Show

Escape the mundane and the everyday and see the world through the eyes of a magician. Luke Robson takes you on a journey back in time, featuring escapes throughout history. Including curious characters such as Mackenzie, the man who played cards with the Devil himself; Jack Sheppard, the 18th century jail-breaker, and the legendary Houdini, who escaped from more than just his straitjacket... 

Mark Lester Steps In

Mark Lester Steps In

The world's going to hell in a handcart, with climate change, extremism and cliches like 'going to hell in a handcart'. Enter South West London's favourite songwriter (possibly), to sort things out (possibly) with catchy tunes and tortuous rhymes... 

Valerio, Dervish, and Friends

Valerio, Dervish, and Friends

Valerio brings surreal stand-up with a pinch of spice, whilst Dervish brings hilarious musical and spoken word idiot genius. Add their friends too and you've got a riotously enchanting show... 

When Love Grows Old

When Love Grows Old

Old people, eh? A bunch of forgetful wasters who always have a hatchet to unbury or a cup of tea going cold. At least that’s what you might think if you came to see Giles Cole’s double-bill When Love Grows Old... 

Mrs. Oscar Wilde

Mrs. Oscar Wilde

Constance Lloyd is rarely remembered in literary history. A feminist, a writer and a mother, she is mostly remembered as the wife of one of the most infamous Victorians, Oscar Wilde... 

Dave Benson Phillips: Christ, I Thought He Was Dead!

Dave Benson Phillips: Christ, I Thought He Was Dead!

Do you remember Dave Benson Phillips? If you were a child in Britain from the 80s to the early 00s, there’s a fair chance you watched him on TV... 'Playdays', 'Playhouse Disney', 'Fun Song Factory', 'Get Your Own Back!' to name but a few! He was all over children’s TV... 

Tongue Fu (and Tongue Fu 4 Kids!)

Tongue Fu (and Tongue Fu 4 Kids!)

"amazing!" Guardian. Incredible spoken word artists re-work material live with jaw-dropping improvised music from the Fu Band. Poetry, storytelling, hip hop and high energy comedy all meet for a unique event that is part show, part experiment... 

Storyland Author Readings

Storyland Author Readings

Brighton's Storyland Press is a place where the story comes first, regardless of genre or where it sits on the commercial/literary spectrum. A great opportunity to hear Storyland's three founding authors read from their novels and short stories - some set in our favourite city-by-the-sea! There will be a Q&A and some great competitions too... 

Wisebowm: The Struggle Is Real

Wisebowm: The Struggle Is Real

A comedy rap musical about urban poet Wisebowm, a working class guy who falls in love with a middle class girl, so goes gluten free and gets into yoga and pilates to win her heart. It's not easy being well deep, intelligent and well humble all at the same time, but someone has to do it... 

St. Johns: A Lyrical, Physical, Mystical Venture

St. Johns: A Lyrical, Physical, Mystical Venture

Learners at St Johns College will be writing and participating in a performance of spoken word, movement and music inspired by things important to them. With Kate Tempest being the guest director of the Brighton Festival this year we decided to take this into consideration and thought it would be a good time to try something a little bit different that will also incorporate more learners - those who like to write as well as perform... 

All Talk: Apples and Snakes and NWS presents...

All Talk: Apples and Snakes and NWS presents...

Apples and Snakes and New Writing South team up to present a programme of poetry, spoken word and live literature. Spoken word shows, stand-up poetry showcases and scratch events will all feature close-up and personal in this bijou venue... 

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

Alan Felton and Tim Roycroft will be celebrating Dylan's 76th Birthday and his Nobel Prize Award for Literature. We shall look at his early years of lyrics and music. The programme will include his visits to England and Europe, his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement and Anti Vietnam protest marches and his graduating from Folk to Rock'n'Roll... 

One Man and his Dog

One Man and his Dog

A dog is man’s best friend, and is for life. You can’t teach an old dog new tricks, or can you? What happens when the old dog does indeed change his spots and starts a new and different life? Does it matter how old the old dog is? After all, does age hamper one’s ability to make a change? Are the consequences different when one makes a life change in later years? Follow the dark and humorous story of one man and his dog exploring a new life and love... 

Louder: Apples and Snakes and NWS presents...

Louder: Apples and Snakes and NWS presents...

Apples and Snakes and New Writing South team up to present a programme of poetry, spoken word and live literature. Spoken word shows, stand-up poetry showcases and scratch events will all feature, close-up and personal in this bijou venue... 

Poet of the Impossible

Poet of the Impossible

Not just a magician but a 'poet of the impossible', Scots-Italian conjurer and writer, Lorenzo 'Renz' Novani, weaves verbal wizardry and magic into 50 thought provoking and wonder-filled minutes that offer a glimpse of the magicians secretive mind, take you on a journey into magic’s mysterious past, and most importantly, present impossibilities that defy explanation and gravity... 

Hurricane Michael

Hurricane Michael

In 1987, celebrated BBC weather forecaster Michael Fish stood up on national television and shrugged off reports of an oncoming hurricane. That evening, a brutal storm hit the south coast of the country, eventually killing 18 people... 

Poets v MCs Battle Games

Poets v MCs Battle Games

For 14 years the poets and rappers of Brighton have been locked in an epic struggle. And now they are addicted to battle and will fight over anything. Over four shows they will split and fight over four great battlegrounds: Tories v Lefties, North v South, Spirit v Skeptic and Random v Whatever... 

Belongings

Belongings

Anthony Ayton, mid-forties, middle-class ex-criminal lawyer, raised in the East End of London before attending a public boarding school, a comprehensive, and finally a grammar school, asks himself the question; "Where and with whom do I belong?" 

Naked Girls Reading featuring Burlexe

Naked Girls Reading featuring Burlexe

Join burlesque artist and naked stand-up, Miss Glory Pearl, for an intimate, innovative show combining powerful stories, beautiful women and beautiful words. 'Naked Girls Reading' is a global performance art phenomenon that asks the audience to exalt rather than scandalize the female body... 

Drawn To The Page

Drawn To The Page

An afternoon of creative writing, poetry and stories. View some inspiring paintings, try some fun writing exercise as you look at the art, and listen to our emerging writers sharing the writing they've produced in workshops... 

Life in the City 2017: An Inclusive City

Life in the City 2017: An Inclusive City

Poetry reading, exhibition, workshop and photography. Reading of selected poems, by the poets on May 20 at 2 pm. Preceded by a workshop at 11 am at a cost of £3 per person (limited places)... 

I'm The Hero of This Story

I'm The Hero of This Story

CTRL ALT DEL: Restart, Repeat, Restart, Repeat... Really? Again? Why isn’t it working? This is about not knowing where you belong. After taking a massive leap of faith and deciding to move home, Roxanne believed she had sussed it out ... 

The Yanks Are Coming

The Yanks Are Coming

This is the fourth show in the series 'Lions Led By Asses' using poetry, song and facts. We shall look at the aftermath of the Somme and Verdun, and facts leading to the US entry in to the war... 

Stand By Your Nan

Stand By Your Nan

The original Educating Rita met Buddha of Suburbia and pretended to be an ordinary working class housewife whilst she went on strange spiritual quests, educated herself, and got an art degree at 88... 

Ivy Davies: Play Ground

Ivy Davies: Play Ground

"Keep your eyes on the stars and your feet on the ground" said Roosevelt. Ivy Davies has realised she has been living upside down and it's time to turn things around! Join performance poet Ivy as she sets off on her magical journey through time and space, weaving spoken word and song together in this one-woman show... 

Underworlds

Underworlds

In this tapestry of storytelling, poetry and monologues from the afterlife, Arachne the weaver spins tales of darkness, death and feminine mystique. As she leads us through many kinds of underworld, characters including Eurydice, Cathy Earnshaw (Wuthering Heights), Cleopatra and a black widow get a chance to set the record straight... 

A Fantastically Weird Reading From Madeleine Swann

A Fantastically Weird Reading From Madeleine Swann

Aisha's front room doubles as a depression-era cinema, her bedroom a Parisian salon and her study a library from the psychedelic Sixties. Lately though, something dark and menacing has been changing the landscapes and the people in them, leading Aisha to question whether she may be the cause... 

Harp, Guitar and Poetry

Harp, Guitar and Poetry

Welcome to the most fascinating compilation of 2017. Magdalena Reising is an international artist, singer and composer. She plays harp and is currently working on the Queen Elizabeth on her second cruise around the world... 

Knackered Lunch

Knackered Lunch

Daniel Searle takes you through a poetic journey through several of the terrible lunches he's made in his office kitchen - covering bad sandwiches, overgrown pasta parcels, attempts at eating a roast dinner with a plastic spoon, using too much pickle, and his utter contempt of salad vegetables... 

Undercover Refugee

Undercover Refugee

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 Lesvos and followed seven Syrian refugees from the beach and through Europe... 

The Angel and The Fiend

The Angel and The Fiend

"I looked like an angel, but was a fiend inside." Lee Miller (1907-1977, New York). A muse, model, photographer and one of the first female war correspondents during WWII. Post war she married Surrealist artist Roland Penrose and settled at Farley Farm, Muddles Green, E... 

The Dove in Spring: American Chamber Music in Recital

The Dove in Spring: American Chamber Music in Recital

Soaring soprano and passionate cello lines intermingle with sumptuous piano writing in a recital programme featuring Esther Ward-Caddle (cello)and Nicole Panizza (piano) performing Ned Rorem's song cycle 'Last Poems of Wallace Stevens', Samuel Barber's Sonata for Cello and Piano Op... 

The Girl Who Fell in Love With The Moon

The Girl Who Fell in Love With The Moon

“It wasn’t a particularly spectacular night, as she sat stargazing in her room ... ” Join this tattered troupe as Luna’s tragic tale unravels for the first time. But why tonight? A Tim Burton-esque patchwork of puppetry, poetry, movement and live music stitched together with The Human Zoo’s explosive visual imagination... 

Chicken Soup Crusader

Chicken Soup Crusader

In this unsafe space, with Brexit looming and Trump trumpeting, Daphna Baram attempts to clear us all a path. The Middle Eastern Mary Poppins, armed with a semi-automatic umbrella, a tub of Jewish penicillin and a spoonful of hummus, will lead you safely to shore - if you don't drown laughing... 

Broken Biscuits

Broken Biscuits

Idle Eye (spoken word/comedy) and Jenny Vegas (comedy) welcome you to 'Broken Biscuits', a four-act variety event comprising the very best of spoken word, music, character comedy, short animations and a guest compere... 

Thomas Wolfe Presents: The Brighton Fringe Poets

Thomas Wolfe Presents: The Brighton Fringe Poets

Local author and poet Thomas Wolfe presents a night of spoken word, poetry and storytelling from some of Brighton's best poets. Having searched the open-mic scene to find the best authors the city has to offer, Thomas Wolfe is proud to bring these acts to the stage for an unforgettable literary event... 

Super Hamlet 64: Parody DLC

Super Hamlet 64: Parody DLC

Armed with an ocarina, a ukulele and a thirst for revenge, Lecoq-trained Edward Day battles four decades of videogame nostalgia in an explosion of Shakespeare, live music and 16-bit ridiculousness, but can Ophelia defeat the zombie hordes and save Hamlet once and for all? ‘Super Hamlet 64: Parody DLC’ is a one-person, physical theatre, spoken word mix of Shakespearean tragedies and videogaming with clowning, mime, live music, retro animation and video projection, exploring mental health and our addiction to technology. 

So You Say

So You Say

The multi-talented writer and director Sam Chittenden has done it again. Two actors stand on the stage and deliver a script that is outstanding in its simplicity and honesty. The truthful and oh-so-real story of these two people’s past relationship is laid bare before us... 

Miranda Kane: Crossbones (WIP)

Miranda Kane: Crossbones (WIP)

Welcome to Crossbones Graveyard: last resting place of The Winchester Geese. Miranda Kane tells the story of the women who were prostituted by the church and buried in unhallowed ground, as well as many others like them throughout history... 

Charmian Hughes-Soixante Mirth

Charmian Hughes-Soixante Mirth

What if you met your younger self? Answer - a comedy trip where stand-up meets time travel. "Joyous fun!" **** (Funny Women), "Genuinely enjoyable" (Kate Copstick), ‘"lovely" (Bruce Dessau)... 

C'est La Vegan

C'est La Vegan

Award-winning comic Dave Chawner premieres his new show about turning vegan. Looking at the origin of food, ideas and views he explores how much choice there is with so few options... 

Individual Medley

Individual Medley

What happens when you move a 12-year-old girl from Basingstoke to a remote corner of Southern Africa? Join Katrina on an energetic, poetic journey as she discovers boys, boobs, crossing borders and boarding school in Zambia... 

Immigrant Diaries for Refugees - Sajeela Kershi & Guests

Immigrant Diaries for Refugees - Sajeela Kershi & Guests

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. How many are there? Why are they coming here? What do they want? And who exactly are these 'bloody foreigners’ anyway? Immigrant Diaries is a chance to come and hear some of those who chose to live and work on this marvelously multi-cultural island... 

Transgender Shakespeare

Transgender Shakespeare

Introduced in last year’s Brighton Fringe, Rory and Simon are back, still struggling with the age-old problem of family communications. Communication? Between a father and a child? How difficult can that be? Communication? Between a father and a transgender child? How much of a nightmare can that be? Can the wordsmith Shakespeare help? After a start in last year's Brighton Fringe, Rory, Simon and the father, are back again continuing to explore each other’s worlds with the help, and hindrance, of the Bard... 

Network Diagnostics

Network Diagnostics

New work from an exciting Irish theatre company. Kate and Tadgh have not left their rooms for a very long time. To make a living, they look for work on a dubious website called “Hablo Hot and Heavy... 

Renegade Brass Band

Renegade Brass Band

8 horns, 2 drummers, scratch-DJ and MC. Renegade are a 12-pce Jazz, Funk & Hip-Hop band from Sheffield. RBB have headlined festivals around Europe, including Secret Garden Party, Black Sea Jazz, Soundwave Croatia and Glasto... 

Stella Graham: Rage Against the Unclean

Stella Graham: Rage Against the Unclean

Coventry born Stella Graham returns to Brighton to declare what it's like to be a bully. If you were raised by a bully and became one yourself, but can never admit you're at fault. We've seen Trump, a mega bully elected in the USA, how does she feel about him, from one bully to another? Stella fights to contain a gobby, aggressive inner self, watch the battle commence with hilarious consequences, with all the charm of a rusty mousetrap... 

Confidence Tricks

Confidence Tricks

Poetry show about what makes us feel confident – or not. This lyrical lecture looks at the psychology and sociology of what makes us tick and what gets us through – from kindness and creativity through to swearing and Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors... 

Child’s Play

Child’s Play

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 frustratingly futile protest movements are nowadays... 

Alex Hodgson's Summertime Special

Alex Hodgson's Summertime Special

Alex returns from his recent tour of New Zealand with another extravaganza showcasing old, new and traditional songs and stories. As always his show is woven and entwined with laughter and fun for the whole family to enjoy... 

Do You Mind?

Do You Mind?

HarmonyChoir (and special guests) will bring you an evening of inspirational and empowering music! HarmonyChoir is a group of singers, some of whom have experience with mental health symptoms... 

Blow Off

Blow Off

Blow Off is part concert, part theatre and deals with one woman’s journey to committing an act of terrorism. It’s certainly exciting, but Julia Taudevin’s story doesn’t delve deep enough into the psychology of extremism nor does it explore the circumstances that foster extremist views nearly enough, resulting in a show with plenty of anger but very little coherence... 

All the Things I Lied About

All the Things I Lied About

Lying seems to be getting more and more fashionable. Over the past few months, political commentators have begun to talk of the dawn of a ‘post-truth’ society — a society where honesty is rewarded less and less... 

Special Delivery

Special Delivery

Charting a journey of frustration, emotion, negotiation, memory, love, loss and the passage of time, culminating in the arrival of a very important package. Special Delivery features an angry middle-aged woman, a sympathetic courier and an incontinent dog. 

The Heroine Question

The Heroine Question

From Elizabeth Bennett to Hermione Granger, literature inspires readers with spectacular female leads. But what makes a heroine and why are some more iconic than others? With more fully-fledged, radical heroines appearing across all cultural mediums, we look to the future of the heroine whilst paying homage to past and present ones. 

A Pickering’s Gin Jolly

A Pickering’s Gin Jolly

Gin is on the up. In the face of hundreds of new micro-breweries making the most of relaxed alcohol laws over the past couple of years, I'm assured that Pickering's Gin three year-old brand is now considered an old name by modern standards... 

Yokes Night

Yokes Night

A loophole in Irish law allows for the legal of consumption of Class-A drugs for 24 hours, and the youth of Dublin are not going to let Yokes Night slip by without taking full advantage... 

Wasted

Wasted

It's quite a bold group that brings a show about life-failing drug users in post Thatcher Britain to Edinburgh, the home of Trainspotting. When it comes to drugs, black-humoured wit and misanthropic politics hardly anyone does it better than Edinburgh... 

Spirit of the Fringe – Whisky Tasting

Spirit of the Fringe – Whisky Tasting

Exclusive Scotch whisky tasting presented by member of the Keepers of the Quaich society, Ronnie Berri and whisky ambassador, Alister McDermott. Savour and enjoy five unusual drams, at least four of which are specially selected from limited edition, distillery exclusive or cask strength bottlings... 

Old Herbaceous

Old Herbaceous

‘Downton Abbey with gardening tips’ (Guardian). Pottering amongst the seeds and cuttings in his ramshackle greenhouse in the garden of a manor house, Herbert Pinnegar is full of memories and tales of a bygone era... 

Exactly Like You

Exactly Like You

Nina Simone is one of the greatest music icons of the last century, producing songs as soulful as her voice. Her music has resonated with and inspired many people in both their art and their everyday lives... 

Hurricane Michael

Hurricane Michael

Hurricane Michael is the kind of production I come to Fringe to see: a very specific, niche show, seemingly outside of my interests, that is found to be a surprisingly charming hour of entertainment... 

Lines

Lines

Lines is a touching spoken word show surrounding the diverse lives of people travelling along the London underground. The characters repeat “It’s not somewhere you go to / It’s something you go through” and we’re bombarded with a flurry of movement and a cacophony of voices that cover people from every class, background and race... 

Vivaldi's Four Seasons

Vivaldi's Four Seasons

Philomusica of Edinburgh give a performance of Vivaldi's popular Four Seasons. A rare opportunity to hear Vivaldi's original sonnets read by Robin Cairns. Lawrence Dunn (solo violin), Ursula Schlapp (cello continuo) and Gilmour Macleod (keyboard continuo). 

I Don't Believe it! An Evening With Victor Meldrew

I Don't Believe it! An Evening With Victor Meldrew

TV sitcom history was made when Richard Wilson, star of One Foot in the Grave, was the only person to appear in an episode called The Trial. No supporting actors, no extras, just side-splitting, pure, priceless grump... 

Oh Flower of Scotland: Then and Now

Oh Flower of Scotland: Then and Now

Does the wistful attitude of Robbie Burns longing for the Highlands have the same resonance today as in 19th century Scotland? Alongside today’s hot topics of independence and national identity, we debate the relevance of Scotland’s poetic legacy... 

Alexis Dubus – A R#ddy Brief History of Swearing

Alexis Dubus – A R#ddy Brief History of Swearing

The hit international show returns for one night only. Facts, fables, funnies and other F words. Alexis uncovers the science of swearing, the ancestry of all our favourite four-letter friends and why the f*ck we do it in the first place... 

I Was Mick Jones's Bank Clerk

I Was Mick Jones's Bank Clerk

After a mere 23 years on the worldwide comedy circuit and at the tender age of 55, JoJo Smith presents her debut solo show. Hers is a life well lived, and she'll be sharing random stories from it with anyone who cares to invest an hour of their life in hearing about hers. 

Burns for Beginners

Burns for Beginners

The show about Burns that really is for everyone – absolute beginners, lifelong fans and everyone in between. Burns’ key poems and songs are performed to a cracking live musical accompaniment, along with discussion, context, and English subtitles... 

Dandy Darkly's Myth Mouth!

Dandy Darkly's Myth Mouth!

Louis CK is undoubtedly backstage in the Edinburgh Playhouse, prepping for his show while his audience stretches around the block. They’re not keen to move in fear of losing their place, so I have to fight my way through to the iconic gay bar, CC Bloom’s, which nestles under the historic theatre... 

Snakes and Giants

Snakes and Giants

Sometimes a good performance doesn't fulfill the purpose of normal theatre. It doesn't raise pertinent political questions. It doesn't strive for laughter or for tears. Instead, it explores seas of uncharted human experience, feelings there aren't yet names for, existences that cannot be described... 

Fat Girls Don't Dance

Fat Girls Don't Dance

Moving and funny, Maria Ferguson’s one-woman show, Fat Girls Don’t Dance, deals with issues relevant to today’s young women. A fluid and charismatic performer, Ferguson captivates the audience with her language and movement, but perhaps loses sight of the story in places... 

50% Liability

50% Liability

How can one person have so much bad luck in one lifetime? Drowning. Electrocution. Hypothermia. Frostbite. Malaria. Broken neck. Take a catalogue of near-death experiences, add the not-so-glamorous side of working as a stripper, unique everyday predicaments, a couple of stalkers – and it's a wonder John is alive to tell the tale... 

O is for Hoolet

O is for Hoolet

Language is personal. Nothing gets closer to our hearts. Who owns it? Who governs it? And why? In this one-woman show about the Scots language, Ishbel McFarlane presents collected stories, memories, characters and attitudes to challenge our expectations and prejudices about language... 

Hold the Front Page with Hardeep Singh Kohli

Hold the Front Page with Hardeep Singh Kohli

The comedian and regular on BBC One’s Question Time, This Week and Sunday Morning Live, and Channel 5’s The Wright Stuff, gives his unique take on Brexit, Independence, and all things political in this brand new show featuring a mix of comedy and lively discussion with guests from the worlds of stand-up, politics and current affairs... 

Wilde Without the Boy

Wilde Without the Boy

It’s indefatigably Wilde. You don’t even need the show’s title to know it’s Wilde. Gerard Logan simply is Wilde, from the non-stop quips and allusions to the tender look at his own condemned urges... 

Made Up

Made Up

Using poetry, physical theatre, music and a limited amount of props, The Fast Food Collective’s new show is a thrilling romp through a night on the town. Made Up will have you laughing, crying and occasionally tapping your feet along with the music... 

Miss Havisham's Expectations

Miss Havisham's Expectations

A jilted bride sits festering in her cold, dismal house high up on the hill. Will the arrival of young Pip steer her out of madness, or will her ward Estella steal his heart from her? 

Melodies of Scotland: From Folk Song to Art Song

Melodies of Scotland: From Folk Song to Art Song

A programme of spoken word and song deeply rooted in the Scottish folk tradition. Scotland has captured the imagination of the world for centuries. Our poets and mythology have crossed borders and traveled afar... 

Rapture

Rapture

You see a hijab – I see a rapper. Rapture is a dynamic youth theatre performance which uses rap music and spoken word to tell the story of a young Muslim woman, AJ, who wears her hijab as an actual and metaphorical veil to her true identity... 

Jo Coffey: Not 25

Jo Coffey: Not 25

More stand-up and off the wall characters from the circuit's fourth shortest comic. Including Amy Winehund, the nation's only singing Amy Winehouse dog tribute act. 'Utterly barking' (List). 

Luke Benson's Big Night Out (In the Afternoon)

Luke Benson's Big Night Out (In the Afternoon)

Celebrate good times! Come on! The Geordie Giant brings an upbeat hour of observational and joke-filled stand-up about our drinking culture and nights out. ‘He’s got the talent’ (Sunday Times[/i). 

Garibaldi

Garibaldi

Gary's hair is history – now his name is under threat. The fightback possibly begins here. Join this lanky northerner and his bereft bonce for an anarchic hour treading the fine lines between miserable and uplifting, poetry and karaoke... 

Out On the World

Out On the World

A journey in poems and stories across Burma, Egypt and Nicaragua through the eyes of a human rights worker. Drive over mountains with Nicaraguan revolutionaries, taste democracy brewing in Burmese teashops and walk the streets of Cairo during Egypt’s uprising... 

Phil Kay: Laugh & Death

Phil Kay: Laugh & Death

Come on a real bus with Phil, we'll fit new tyres and go bloody double-decker off-roading, ram raid a few museums. Remember: the follow through begins on the way to the clubhouse, guys... 

Secrets of the Fringe Walking Tour

Secrets of the Fringe Walking Tour

Life behind the scenes at the world’s largest trade show for the arts. This light-hearted unsanctioned Free Festival tour led by Brooke Allen will show you how to get free tickets to top shows, meet the most amazing people and leave with the best souvenirs that will cost you nothing... 

Poet of the Impossible

Poet of the Impossible

Renz Novani: Poet of the Impossible. Card magic, illusion and sleight of mind bound by carefully weaved words. This is an intimate, eloquent performance of impossible magic that will leave you spellbound and speechless... 

Ship of Fool

Ship of Fool

Ship of Fool is the story of one man's obsession with rowing across the Atlantic. In 2003, Rob set off on this perilous journey totally unprepared and survived the short time he was on the boat on ignorance and chocolate... 

Nick Elleray: More Memories Than Future

Nick Elleray: More Memories Than Future

If you like your comedy dry and your comedians sly and your jokes wry, then this is for you. Presenting his first full-length show, Australian Nick Elleray explores ageing, emotional repression and the cruel burden of having to pay the rent... 

Rodney Bewes: Whatever Happened to the Likely Lad, Part Two

Rodney Bewes: Whatever Happened to the Likely Lad, Part Two

An audience with Rodney Bewes... Who? The Likely Lad returns to the Fringe with more stories of his career on and off the stage. Charming, chaotic and immensely entertaining. A vintage Bewes performance... 

The Late Stage Cabaret

The Late Stage Cabaret

A catharsis of cultural creativity from our capital city! Each evening, host and hero of the Edinburgh music scene, Paul Montague, will bring you an eclectic mix of performances and styles... 

Freedom of Speech

Freedom of Speech

Nothing will remain sacred when the ‘bombastically liberal’ Rick Molland (ThreeWeeks) meets the ‘shamelessly shocking’ Sully O'Sullivan (Australian Times) in this stand-up comedy face-off on Freedom of Speech, where low blows aren't just legal, they're encouraged... 

Daniel Piper is in Four Gangs

Daniel Piper is in Four Gangs

Daniel Piper is in four gangs, and he's going to tell you about them. Daniel Piper is in Four Gangs is the uproarious debut comedy/theatre/spoken word show from Daniel Piper, who is in four gangs... 

Stand Up & Slam!

Stand Up & Slam!

Stand-up comedy: poetry’s idiot relation, right? Performance poetry: comedy’s boring cousin, yes? Let's find out. Six phenomenal acts go head-to-head for your approval as poetry and comedy collide with hilarious results! Our resident team captains are joined by the most exciting comedians and poets from around the UK... 

Erik Satie's - Faction

Erik Satie's - Faction

The French composer of the beautiful Gymnopedies described himself as 'a pretentious cretin whose music makes people laugh and shrug their shoulders.' See if you agree as BAFTA-winning impressionist and Olivier award-nominated actor Alistair McGowan plays several of Satie's well known, ground-breaking piano pieces and delivers his own take on Esoterik, Satie's never-before performed and often surreal articles and poems... 

50% Liability

50% Liability

How can one person have so much bad luck in one lifetime? Drowning. Electrocution. Hypothermia. Frostbite. Malaria. Broken neck. Take a catalogue of near-death experiences, add the not-so-glamorous side of working as a stripper, unique everyday predicaments, a couple of stalkers – and it's a wonder John is alive to tell the tale... 

Dublin Oldschool

Dublin Oldschool

Join wannabe DJ Jason on a chemically enhanced trip through the streets of Dublin, stumbling from one misguided misadventure to another. Somewhere between the DJs, drug busts and hilltop raves, he stumbles across a familiar face from the past: his brother Daniel... 

BODIED

BODIED

Forget everything you think you know about battle rap. A peek into the lives and stories of the members of a diverse, thriving sub culture. Featuring live rap battles and starring different emcees each night, BODIED is a new play drawn from interviews with the UK’s top battlers. 

Hammer and Tongue Festival Slam Special

Hammer and Tongue Festival Slam Special

Brighton's biggest monthly performance poetry and open slam event presents a clash of the titans of spoken word: Three-times World Slam Champion Buddy Wakefield v European Slam Champion Miko Berry v Anti-Slam Champion Paula Varjack... 

A Graceful Dying

A Graceful Dying

How do the dying do their dying? What is this end-of-life thing all about? This show asks questions about dying, has no answers about living. Stories and glimpses of end-of-life moments from an artist and soul midwife, the show contains words, humour, paintings, film and maybe tears. 

64

64

Gerry is a time traveller from 1952. That means he's 64 this year. What do all these numbers mean? Where has he come from? What was the world like in 1952? What's it like to be 64? Gerry uses clowning and comedy, song and madness to explore what it's all about... 

Freeness: The Rum Party | DJ 4D

Freeness: The Rum Party | DJ 4D

Expect a feel good, Caribbean-themed night to celebrate Guyana’s 50th anniversary of independence. DJ 4D brings his dynamic mix of reggae, R&B, Hip-Hop and dancehall floor-fillers, plus a very special guest PA... 

Pop Up Cinema: Music & Rap ft Mrisi (18+)

Pop Up Cinema: Music & Rap ft Mrisi (18+)

Pianist, rapper and producer Mrisi has performed his unique mix of hip hop, jazz, African, reggae and other genres as part of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and all over the UK, supporting the likes of Omar, Prince Fatty and Rizzle Kicks... 

Just a Few Words

Just a Few Words

A man with a severe stammer teams up with a massive pile of cards that detail his thoughts, to tell his love how he feels. This is gonna go well. A darkly comic grapple with the awkward task of expression, inviting you into the mind of a person who stammers. 

Always Be Rolling: How Board Games Can Change Your Life And Save The World

Always Be Rolling: How Board Games Can Change Your Life And Save The World

Award-winning comedian James Cook has read the back of the box and is ready to play. Won't you join him? "Wonderfully genuine, highly accessible and interesting" (Gigglebeats), "an hour better spent than playing Monopoly" (Chortle), "Brilliant, charming, very funny" (Richard Osman) 

Pop Up Cinema: Music & Rap ft Mrisi

Pop Up Cinema: Music & Rap ft Mrisi

Pianist, rapper and producer Mrisi has performed at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and all over the UK, supporting the likes of Omar, Prince Fatty and Rizzle Kicks. He will be performing his unique mix of hip hop, jazz, African, reggae and other genres, followed by the Caribbean family feature film 'Sally's Way'. 

John Hastings: Work in Progress

John Hastings: Work in Progress

John Hastings, your great friend, is back to work on new jokes about his moral compass and probably masturbation. I guess. Not sure. ***** (The Mirror), ***** (Broadway Baby) ***** (Cream of the Fringe), **** (Melbourne Herald Sun), **** (Brighton Public Review), **** (Fest Magazine) **** (Now Magazine) 

Piers & Queers

Piers & Queers

Why is Brighton the LGBTQ capital of the United Kingdom? That’s the question tour guide Ric Morris poses at the start of Piers & Queers, a queer-historical walking tour that spans the seafront between the West Pier and the Palace Pier... 

Did I Choose These Shoes?

Did I Choose These Shoes?

A thought-provoking, one-woman show exploring the themes of feminism, love, media, society and nature vs nurture. This spoken-word poetry performance focuses on the issues of growing up in the 21st century, incorporating elements of physical theatre, images, film and music. 

Hercules

Hercules

Twelve Labours, Sixty Minutes – One Man. Somewhere between stand-up and traditional storytelling, Bard & Troubadour’s Joshua Crisp retells this epic tale with wit and irreverence, bringing bulging biceps, hideous hydra, a giant voiced by Tom Hardy, and a body count worthy of a Transformers movie! 

Erect But Unstable

Erect But Unstable

Canadian monologist John Arthur Sweet undertakes a comedic odyssey to medicine, psychotherapy and religion in search of answers about queer love, sexual awakening, and obsession. Nominated as best new work at Prague Fringe 2014 - and it’s even better now! “Definitely worth a ticket” (Prague Post) 

Call Mr Robeson

Call Mr Robeson

As soon as Taylo Aluko, in the guise of Paul Robeson, takes to the stage we know we’re in for a treat. He is a commanding figure and his stage presence is impressive. I had heard of Paul Robeson before I went to the show but didn’t know much more than that he was a singer, had sung Ol’ Man River and starred in the musical Show Boat... 

Know My Neighbour Pop Up Cafe

Know My Neighbour Pop Up Cafe

Join the Know My Neighbour campaign for a week of free activities and performances to encourage neighbourliness in our city! Come and be entertained, connect with others and all whilst drinking the best coffee in Brighton and eating amazing food provided by the Real Junk Food Project. 

Brighton v Edinburgh Poets v MCs

Brighton v Edinburgh Poets v MCs

Two battles in one: first the poets from the two great festival cities join to take on a united team of rappers. Then each city is represented by their poets and rapper comrades standing side by side... 

Outside the Box: A Live Show about Death

Outside the Box: A Live Show about Death

“We are in uncharted territory when we sit with death,” Liz Rothschild says in her one-woman show, Outside the Box: A Live Show About Death.This statement is only partly true, in recent years conversations about mortality, euthanasia, green funerals and the possibility of choosing a ‘Good Death’ have entered the national consciousness... 

Animal Magic

Animal Magic

The author Mick Jackson talks taxidermy and explores our ambivalent relationship with the animal kingdom, from Walter Potter to Johnny Morris via John Berger. Includes slides! (and drink) 

And The Rope Still Tugging Her Feet

And The Rope Still Tugging Her Feet

Inspired by the arrest and tribunal of 24-year-old Joanne Hayes, 'And The Rope Still Tugging Her Feet', written/performed by Caroline Burns Cooke, explores the 1984 Kerry Babies Scandal... 

Wanna Dance with Somebody! Or a Guide to Managing Social Anxiety Using Theoretical Physics

Wanna Dance with Somebody! Or a Guide to Managing Social Anxiety Using Theoretical Physics

Josh is good at dancing, but not at people. On the other hand, he did once read ‘A Brief History of Time’ by Stephen Hawking, so he reckons he’ll probably be alright. A new show about social anxiety, coping mechanisms, big ideas and tiny moments... 

A Dirty Get-Away! by David Weedall

A Dirty Get-Away! by David Weedall

Stranded by severe snowstorms, three identically dressed strangers disturb the rural calm of a young woman in a remote Sussex cottage. Who are these weird visitors? What exactly do they want? In this absurd comedy, five odd characters seek to untangle a web of confusion, whilst creating even more! 

Zahra Barri: Talk Like An Egyptian

Zahra Barri: Talk Like An Egyptian

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. A fun look into Eastern and Kanye Western Culture. As heard on BBC Radio 4 Extra and BBC Radio 2... 

Stand Up & Slam!

Stand Up & Slam!

Stand-up comedy - poetry’s idiot relation, right? Performance poetry - comedy’s boring cousin, yes? Let's find out! Six phenomenal acts go head to head for your approval in this five star hit show as poetry and comedy collide with unexpected and hilarious results! The winners? You decide! 

What I Learned from Johnny Bevan

What I Learned from Johnny Bevan

Luke Wright delivers a multi-award-winning hurricane of a performance. With humour and humanity, he takes British politics head on, challenging the rise of New Labour, David Cameron and the abandonment of those left behind... 

Loud Poets

Loud Poets

This is slam-style, make some noise, fist-thumping, pint-drinking, side-tickling, heart-wrenching poetry. This is poetry for the masses. Loud Poets return to Brighton with their brand new show... 

Winnie-the-Pooh and You

Winnie-the-Pooh and You

If you have known Christopher Robin, Winnie the Pooh, Piglet and all their forest friends, David Benedictus, who wrote the only officially sanctioned sequel to A.A.Milne's original, will be there to introduce you to the new character in the forest and to read you new stories... 

Transgendered Shakespeare

Transgendered Shakespeare

Communication? Between a father and a child? How difficult can that be? Communication? Between a father and a transgender child? How much of a nightmare can that be? After 400 years, can Shakespeare help? A father and child explore each other’s worlds with the help, and hindrance, of the Bard. 

This Is Always The Result

This Is Always The Result

Gus Watcham hurries onto the stage as Kathy, looking frazzled, determined and slightly deranged. It takes a while for the words to start flowing but when they do, we find out Kathy has a lot to say, and it’s all directed at her art tutor, who she has an enormous crush on... 

Stories of the Sword: The Second Stab

Stories of the Sword: The Second Stab

So much history, so little time... 'Stories of the Sword' is returning for a second stab, with the real-life tales of some more of history’s famous duellists. Using real swordplay, film, narration and live action, their stories will be explored and the inspiration for the 'Three Musketeers' revealed. 

The Star Factory

The Star Factory

Enthused? Inspired? Vibing? If you love Brighton Fringe why not become part of it? Loquacious Luvvie or Lounge Lizard, it could be you on stage making mediocre scripts something great... 

9

9

Rebelles is a folk, jazz and classical singing group of 9; Julia, Natalie, Michelle, Marina, Andrea, Meredith, Sibyl, Sally and Cat. 9 voices. 9 busy lives. 9 women with nothing in common but a shared joy in singing... 

A Digital Legacy

A Digital Legacy

Colin Chadwick is a bit of an oddball and has no idea how to communicate with people on a basic level. Well, that’s what he wants you to think, in this weird and wonderful show in which he discusses how he wants his dead body to be “disposed of”... 

Burt Lancaster Pierced My Hymen (When I Was 11)

Burt Lancaster Pierced My Hymen (When I Was 11)

A fascinating, disturbing and hilarious childhood growing up in Hollywood with the children of the stars. There were drugs, kidnappings, wild parties. But the rollercoaster film star lifestyle comes at a heavy price... 

Andrea Hubert: Some work. Some progress

Andrea Hubert: Some work. Some progress

When you see the joy on a small child's face as he's about to press the button to call the lift, you realise that your adult life will never offer you that same level of joy ever again - unless you press it for him - muses Andrea Hubert (BAFTA Rocliffe Comedy Writing winner 2013) 

In Conversation with an Acid Bath Murderer

In Conversation with an Acid Bath Murderer

There can’t be a more perfect setting for In Conversation With An Acid Bath Murderer than the bowels of Brighton’s Town Hall, where 368 Theatre Company takes full advantage of the Old Police Cells Museum to stage this riveting production... 

Stuart Mitchell : Dealt a Bad Hand

Stuart Mitchell : Dealt a Bad Hand

“Scotland’s brightest comedy talent” **** (The Sun) presents his hilarious and hugely anticipated debut. Fresh from touring Australia and the US, this is a 'must see' for 2016... 

Stella Graham: StellaGram

Stella Graham: StellaGram

Join Stella for an hour of laughs about the right time to pull a knife and how to terrify a stripper (no audience will be harmed). Stella tries to ignore the devilish voice inside, but when the rage seeps out, it happens to hilarious effect... 

The Museum of the Recently Named

The Museum of the Recently Named

You. Yes, you! You're lucky! Enclosed: a rare invitation to our rarely-opened Museum. Revel in a guided tour of our finest exhibits. Don't miss liquid transmission! Price includes souvenir to take back to (insert registered homeland here)... 

Naked Girls Reading

Naked Girls Reading

Join burlesque performer and naked stand-up, Miss Glory Pearl, for an intimate show where beautiful women read naked. Making their Brighton debut, Glory and friends read a selection of texts on a common theme for your listening pleasure... 

Jimmy

Jimmy

Funny, poignant, sublime and ridiculous; an hour of singing and telling stories about Jimmy, a grandfather whose contrary and difficult life was instrumental in a grandson's embrace of pacifism... 

Real Prawns have Curves

Real Prawns have Curves

London comedian Heather Jordan brings her debut show to Brighton Fringe. Join her and find out how an unfortunate incident with a couple of prawns landed her in hospital, and how this later led to her contemplating leading beauty companies' campaigns and women's classifications. 

Immigrant Diaries: Sajeela Kershi & Guests

Immigrant Diaries: Sajeela Kershi & Guests

Refugees! Immigrants! Statistics don't tell the story, people do. Who are these 'bloody foreigners' anyway? Fourth year for this award-winning hit show. Light hearted antidote to anti-media rhetoric... 

The Paul Laight Show

The Paul Laight Show

London-based comedian Paul Laight and guests deliver a free hour of jokes, puns, observations and a song or two about the horrors of everyday life. 

New Writing South presents...

New Writing South presents...

A selection of spoken word, poetry and short fiction, shining a light on brilliant new writing. Friday nights throughout Brighton Fringe. Open mic slots available for the bold and beautiful... 

Scott Bennett: About a Roy (Stories About Me Dad)

Scott Bennett: About a Roy (Stories About Me Dad)

Scott Bennett’s patter feels designed for a larger audience. He opens with a set of ‘Anyone from X?’ questions that, understandably, don’t work well with a small crowd who are not from X, nor Y, nor Z... 

The Letter: To be or to MBE

The Letter: To be or to MBE

There’s an enlightening moment in Jonzi D’s dance-based piece where a disembodied voice interrogates him as he ponders whether or not to accept a New Year’s honour. The voice wants to know, whether or not he takes the gong, will he tell people about it? Jonzi freezes... 

Mark Billingham and My Darling Clementine: The Other Half

Mark Billingham and My Darling Clementine: The Other Half

Crime writer Mark Billingham and country band My Darling Clementine come together for The Other Half, a blend of storytelling and music about love, loneliness and broken promises. From behind a lectern, Billingham tells the story of Marcia, a waitress in a rundown bar in Memphis... 

Edinburgh Should Ban Students

Edinburgh Should Ban Students

What have students ever done for us? Surely Edinburgh would be a better city without them? Swathes of the city would be habitable again for families, noise complaints would slump, and traffic cones could rest easy... 

Mill Girls On Tour

Mill Girls On Tour

Comic and tragic. Defiant and loving! A unique production of theatre, poetry and music, join the Mill Girls, Rosie, Sadie, Betty and Agnes as they celebrate the lives of thousands of women who worked in Scotland's great thread mills over two centuries... 

The Great British Brain Off

The Great British Brain Off

Do you feel like your brain is half-baked? Or that your mental faculties are going off the boil? Join 'head' chef Dr Alan Gow in the Great British Brain Off to consider the recipe for the perfect brain, and what you can do if you feel your own grey matter needs some extra spice... 

The Diary of Thomas Pooler

The Diary of Thomas Pooler

Lewis Dunn tells us at the end of his performance that he set out to create this show after reading a harsh review of a stand-up comedian at last year’s Fringe, so he’s probably not going to like this review much either... 

This Language

This Language

Once there was Pangaea, now we have a broken world. But this is the language of unity. Theatre meets spoken word... Over the past 60 years, there has been a ground-breaking increase in cultural diversity throughout Britain, resulting in the urge to achieve equality through cultural preservation... 

The Red Chair

The Red Chair

Award-winning Clod Ensemble returns to Edinburgh with the fabulous tale of a man who eats himself into the chair he is sitting upon, the woman doomed to cook his meals, and their one ‘inveesible child’... 

Poet of the Impossible

Poet of the Impossible

In a tiny, hot, almost claustrophobic room on Hanover Street, a poet is performing miracles. Renz Novani weaves words as well as he manipulates a pack of cards and, although we risk passing out from the heat, not one of us will look away for fear that we might miss the next trick... 

Roughs (for Radio)

Roughs (for Radio)

Beckett’s dramatic works are disorientating at the best of times. His characters are subjected to all manner of stresses, disfigurements, and distortions, which are then experienced vicariously by the spectator... 

Quiet Violence

Quiet Violence

The room smells of Deep Heat. The reason, Sophie Rose explains to us, is because the big physical show upstairs warm up in her studio space. Quiet Violence, she assures us, is not a big physical show... 

Carol Grimes with Dorian Ford: The Singer's Tale

Carol Grimes with Dorian Ford: The Singer's Tale

Carol Grimes, the Piaf singer/songwriter of British music. This raw, in your face sublime performer takes you with her on a musical journey through her extraordinary life. The Singers Tale weaves its stories, sometimes shady, mad and bad, but with music and song at their heart... 

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Family

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Family

“He is my father… somehow,” says Ben Norris, cutting to the heart of a feeling many people have at some point in their lives. How can I be who I am when my parents are so different? In this heart-warming one-man show, Norris takes a physical journey through his father’s past in order to discover more about his father – and therefore, himself... 

Mike Vass: In the Wake of Neil Gunn

Mike Vass: In the Wake of Neil Gunn

Inspired by a sea voyage around Scotland's west coast, retracting a route sailed by author Neil Gunn in 1937, award-winning musician/composer Mike Vass's captivating new work integrates traditional, classical and electronic elements with film, photography and spoken word excerpts, vividly evoking the moods of the sea, weather and landscape together with the power of Gunn's writing... 

Daphna Baram: Something to Declare

Daphna Baram: Something to Declare

Daphna Baram plays the outsider in England, reflecting on what makes people British from her own standpoint as an Israeli woman. The problem here is that we’ve been told what we’re like so many times before and unfortunately Baram has little new to add... 

Super-Fragile-Nihilistic-Sexy-and-Atrocious (and Other Poems)

Super-Fragile-Nihilistic-Sexy-and-Atrocious (and Other Poems)

Poems and jokes about why women and wordplay are tremendous whilst god and the patriarchy and DJ Steve Wright are much less so. Is David Cameron a joke thief? Was the crucifixion really a botched attempt at auto-erotic asphyxiation? Is it possible to moonwalk in the name of feminism? Decide for yourself... 

Wilde Without the Boy

Wilde Without the Boy

This is a haunting and powerful solo show that lingers with you long after leaving the theatre, sticking closely to Oscar Wilde’s signature style: simultaneously intellectual and accessible... 

Blake Remixed

Blake Remixed

"In hip hop, we create our own mythology".In an innovative blend of 18th century poetry, hip hop, and biography, the World-Record holding beatboxer and rapper Testament (AKA Andy Brooks) offers his theatrical debut... 

Angry

Angry

Seven of those angry youths that you've been hearing about on the news have stopped drinking and whining long enough to build something they can actually be proud of. Are you angry? Come and watch a bunch of twenty-somethings in their pants, as they punch drums and each other to prove some sort of point they haven’t yet figured out... 

Man Up, Jonny Fluffypunk

Man Up, Jonny Fluffypunk

Coffee house layabout, armchair revolutionary and poet Jonny Fluffypunk has become a dad. Who is he to shape a young life? An off the wall and poignant lo-fi stand-up spoken word theatre show about big dreams and little victories, about fatherhood and finding the hero within, however unpromising the exterior... 

Elvis McGonagall: Countrybile

Elvis McGonagall: Countrybile

Countrybile – armed with a blunderbuss, a bottle of Scotch and his rabid wit, stand-up poet Elvis McGonagall emerges from his godforsaken rural idyll at the Graceland Caravan Park to take aim at this septic isle... 

Fable

Fable

A charming storytelling piece that fuses spoken word and music, Fable from the Flanagan Collective charts the story of ‘J’. In her late 20s, J dreams of becoming an astronaut when she grows up, but her careworn dreams seem further and further from becoming a reality... 

Lennon: Through a Glass Onion

Lennon: Through a Glass Onion

John R. Waters takes on the challenging task of being John Lennon in a series of monologues and songs for Lennon: Through a Glass Onion, accompanied by Stewart D’Arietta on the piano... 

Cross the Shifting Sands

Cross the Shifting Sands

L. Frank Baum is the creator of one the most well-known fantasy worlds in literature, though his name is perhaps less famous. Maybe because his Oz books are best known via the musical adaptation, or maybe because he is much older than Tolkien, Rowling or Lewis... 

Nitekirk – Free

Nitekirk – Free

A place of peace, a sacred space. Welcoming people of any background, age or belief. Drop-in between 8pm and 11pm for candlelit contemplation, music, art, stillness, and a sense of space in the midst of your Fringe... 

Theatre Censorship Now

Theatre Censorship Now

What is the price of free expression in theatre today? Are concerns about causing offence, security risks, or funding cuts leading to increased self-censorship? And what can the international theatre industry do to support theatre practitioners working under harsh political censorship? Join director Lisa Goldman, Robert Sharp (PEN), and playwright Peter Arnott for a discussion chaired by Dr Laura Bradley from the University of Edinburgh. 

Lost Voices

Lost Voices

A moving multilingual anthology of the First World War, recreated by contemporary poet and playwright, Andy Cargill. First performed in November 2014 to commemorate Armistice Day. Poetry, prose, movement and music deliver an added poignancy 100 years on. 

Portrait

Portrait

In her one-woman play, Portrait, Racheal Ofori fuses poetry, music and monologues as she gives her take on the perception of role models and cultural stereotypes with black women in today’s society... 

The Dragon Who Hates Poetry

The Dragon Who Hates Poetry

As seen on BBC Rhyme Rocket! There is no dragon scarier in any earthly place. His face looks like his bottom and his bottom like his face... A fun, solo show packed full of lyrics, laughter and lots of joining in! Written and performed by slam-winning poet Dommy B (winner of New York's famous Nuyorican Poetry Cafe Slam and UK's Superheroes of Slam)... 

Can't Care, Won't Care

Can't Care, Won't Care

A care worker. A confession. A crime? Is it that she can't or won't care? You decide. BBC Slam Champion and former care worker Sophia Walker presents this inside look at the industry through the trial of a care worker... 

Mambalsa – One Man's Quest to Launch a New Partner Dance

Mambalsa – One Man's Quest to Launch a New Partner Dance

For 20 years Alastair has taught salsa dance. Now he’s created a new partner dance – Mambalsa. It’s stylish, fun, easy to learn and works to any music. But will anyone dance it? This is not a dance class, but an inspirational, comedic tour of the how and why we dance – or don’t! Share his highs and lows of introducing Mambalsa into the 21st century. 

My First Laugh

My First Laugh

A comedy show about comedy. Ever wondered how comedians started? Ever wondered what their first joke was. This show answers it all. Famous and established acts talk about their genesis and revisit their first ever comedy set. 

Chopping Chillies

Chopping Chillies

Like The Karate Kid but with food not fighting. A gloriously funny tale about unlikely friendships. Katie's crossed continents and thinks she's seen it all. Ajna really has. Journeying from a kitchen in south India to a cobbler's shop in Camden Town, it's a heart-warming reflection on love, loss and second chances told by a line-up of exotic misfits. 

Val Mcdermid: My Life In Five Games

Val Mcdermid: My Life In Five Games

One of the biggest names in crime writing, McDermid’s novels have been translated into 30 languages and sold over 10 million copies worldwide. Uniquely, she has both a mortuary (at Dundee University) and a football stand bearing her name... 

All Killa No Filla Live

All Killa No Filla Live

Join comedians Rachel Fairburn (NATYS finalist 2015) and Kiri Pritchard-McLean (Leicester Mercury finalist 2015) as they explore a shared passion, serial killers. The pair will talk all things murder and macabre while having a right laugh doing it... 

Festival Radio Scotland – Workshop for Children (8-13)

Festival Radio Scotland – Workshop for Children (8-13)

Fun workshop delivered by experienced media professionals. Children discover how radio programmes are made. They combine music, sound effects and speech to create their own features, news, sports reports and dramas... 

Chopping Chillies

Chopping Chillies

Like The Karate Kid but with food not fighting. A gloriously funny tale about unlikely friendships. Katie's crossed continents and thinks she's seen it all. Ravi really has. Journeying from a kitchen in south India to a cobbler's shop in Camden Town, it's a heart-warming reflection on love, loss and second chances told by a line-up of exotic misfits. 

Shit Girlfriend

Shit Girlfriend

Think dating a musician is all glamour? Think again – gloom-pop solo artist She Makes War takes you through 10 reasons it's a terrible idea. ‘It's like someone playing with their phone in bed and ignoring you but, like, all the time... 

Martin Mor: Away Gallivanting

Martin Mor: Away Gallivanting

'Gallivanting.' Dictionary definition: go around from one place to another in the pursuit of pleasure or entertainment. That is exactly what Martin Mor has been doing. In 2015, Martin hit the road... 

All Killa No Filla Live

All Killa No Filla Live

Join comedians Rachel Fairburn (NATYS finalist 2015) and Kiri Pritchard-McLean (Leicester Mercury finalist 2015) as they explore a shared passion, serial killers. The pair will talk all things murder and macabre while having a right laugh doing it... 

How to Be Fat

How to Be Fat

A solo comedy show for anybody, ideally a fat one. Not how to get fat (no one knows how to do that), how to be fat. How to have a fat body. I have a fat body. And being fat is difficult... 

Herstory

Herstory

History may be ancient... but her's is still going on. A solo performance combining dance, spoken word and verbatim theatre to give a voice to an important story, a story that is at once true and untrue, personal and universal... 

Stand Up & Slam! – Free

Stand Up & Slam! – Free

Stand-up comedy: poetry’s idiot relation, right? Performance poetry: comedy’s boring cousin, yes? Let's find out. Six phenomenal acts go head to head for your approval as poetry and comedy collide with unexpected and hilarious results! Each night our resident team captains are joined by the most exciting acts the festival has to offer... 

Stand Up & Slam! – Free

Stand Up & Slam! – Free

Stand-up comedy: poetry’s idiot relation, right? Performance poetry: comedy’s boring cousin, yes? Let's find out. Six phenomenal acts go head to head for your approval as poetry and comedy collide with unexpected and hilarious results! Each night our resident team captains are joined by the most exciting acts the festival has to offer... 

Daphna Baram: Something to Declare

Daphna Baram: Something to Declare

Daphna Baram, an Israeli human rights lawyer turned journalist, a bleeding heart and an inadvertent anthropologist of British life gets herself leave to remain in the UK, builds a New Jerusalem in East London and plans to become Nigel Farage's worst nightmare... 

Two Thirds of a Trio

Two Thirds of a Trio

Two Thirds of a Trio is a comedy show like... well, many others. Any given performance will bring together two of the trio of Scotland's best up-and-coming comedic talents that have combined to provide the Edinburgh Fringe-going masses hilariousness on a mammoth scale... 

Rodney Bewes: Whatever Happened to the Likely Lad?

Rodney Bewes: Whatever Happened to the Likely Lad?

An audience with Rodney Bewes... who? Star of BBC's The Likely Lads tells how, after an unlikely start, he was drawn into hilarious life adventures on the screen and stage. The story of a working-class boy from the North who washed-up by night to fund studying at RADA... 

Jem Brookes: Punisment

Jem Brookes: Punisment

If you are into words, then this is the show for you. Puns, one-liners, spoken words and sketchy bits all feature. I'd tell you more, but I'm quickly running out of words. ‘Good old-fashioned comedy’ (ThreeWeeks)... 

Testify

Testify

Gregory Akerman, a hilarious esoteric mind, is curious and wants to know when the world will end, why the Smithsonian museum didn't want people to know about giants, why his father decided to become a druid, and what any of this has to do with Rumpelstiltskin... 

The Rape of Lucrece

The Rape of Lucrece

Olivier Award nominee Gerard Logan returns with his acclaimed performance of Shakespeare's breathtaking narrative poem. Logan won the Stage Award for Acting Excellence – Best Solo Performer, at the Fringe in 2011 for his turn in director Gareth Armstrong's astonishing production... 

Next Year's Show (50% Abridged Version)

Next Year's Show (50% Abridged Version)

After four years of consistently filling the smallest room in Edinburgh, Adam Belbin is set to return with possibly the final instalment in this quadrilogy of shows. Come this year... 

Joe Wenborne: Fight Back at 50

Joe Wenborne: Fight Back at 50

Fight Back at 50 is the ultimate antidote to the mid-life crisis. This show is for anyone who is stuck in a rut and wants to climb straight out. If you crave excitement and believe your best is yet to come, then come and spend an hour with successful in-demand motivational speaker and entrepreneur Joe Wenborne who will entertain and inspire you... 

Daphna Baram: Something to Declare

Daphna Baram: Something to Declare

Daphna Baram, an Israeli human rights lawyer turned journalist, a bleeding heart and an inadvertent anthropologist of British life gets herself leave to remain in the UK, builds a New Jerusalem in East London and plans to become Nigel Farage's worst nightmare... 

An Afternoon with John and Camila Cleese hosted by Fred MacAulay

An Afternoon with John and Camila Cleese hosted by Fred MacAulay

Join us for a very special Edinburgh Festival Fringe event – an afternoon with John Cleese and his daughter Camilla, hosted by comedian Fred MacAulay. The event will be a hilarious Q&A with the Godfather of British comedy and his daughter answering questions from the audience... 

Stand Up: Edinburgh

Stand Up: Edinburgh

Did you know that Edinburgh has a thriving comedy scene all year? Well now you do! Join Matt Duwell, as he presents the best of Edinburgh's comedy heroes and the pick of the scene's up-and-comers... 

Broadway Baby has been covering performing arts across the UK and beyond since 2004.

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