Shows at Paradise in The Vault

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Quines

Quines

When joining Gerda Stevenson for a performance of extracts from her poetry book Quines, you might be expecting an afternoon of her simply reading her excellent poetry. In fact, Stevenson weaves together singing, music, history, guest-performance and poetry together into a stellar show... 

To Butterfly

To Butterfly

To Butterfly follows the journey of two character’s lives in the build-up to a fateful meeting of finality. Family, school, mental health and the culmination of thousands of hours of experience... 

Holy Sh*t

Holy Sh*t

Hearing a couple of priests swearing will always be amusing. Hearing a couple of priests swearing whilst digging up the body of a dead parishioner so they can sell the corpse to raise money for the church takes the humour to a whole new level... 

Diagnosed

Diagnosed

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

Not All Men

Not All Men

Not All Men wash their hands after going to the toilet, not all men brush their teeth twice daily. Not All Men is an autobiographical performance challenging the idea of Maleness. When being a man has become synonymous for being strong it can leave many feeling vulnerable when they don't fit the societal mould... 

Bare Knuckle

Bare Knuckle

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

Under the Fig Tree

Under the Fig Tree

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

F*ck Off.

F*ck Off.

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

The Magic Show

The Magic Show

Following last year’s Edinburgh Fringe sell-out and newly written for 2018, journey through the ever-changing story of magic featuring misdirection from eras past to today's mind-reading wonders... 

Shovel

Shovel

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

Scary Story

Scary Story

In an original play by Alex Jones, an awkward Halloween dinner party between friends and a new boyfriend is interrupted by an invader with an unhealthy obsession with horror. As she forces the guests into a storytelling game from hell, they must outwit her in a deadly game of mastermind that will take them to the darkest depths of humanity... 

Whilst We Were There

Whilst We Were There

A once successful acoustic duo, which was at the top of their game, suddenly breaks up for reasons unknown. The circumstance at hand leaves Curtis (singer-songwriter) at a crossroad – either try to continue with the same musical identity or find another... 

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... 

Comedy Nightcap

Comedy Nightcap

Comedy Night Cap, presented by Artistic Diversity Alliance, is the perfect comedy show to end your night on! Each night will feature a headline actor from the comedy genre that will use improv, skit, musical Instruments, beer and a whole lot more! It’s always funny and always a surprise! For full nightly line-up, please visit www... 

Hecate

Hecate

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

Living With a Dark Lord

Living With a Dark Lord

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

Shirley; or the Inexplicable Question of God's Actions

Shirley; or the Inexplicable Question of God's Actions

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

Decibels

Decibels

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

Urban Unrest

Urban Unrest

Urban Theatre Movement (UTM) presents Urban Unrest, a series of original plays ranging from the absurd to the surreal. LBS (Laughing But Serious) by Gisla Stringer: Directed by Brenda Banda, starring Paul Tully and Gisla Stringer... 

The Improvised Panto!

The Improvised Panto!

The panto that you control! Very Serious People use your suggestions to improvise a brand-new musical pantomime every single night. Whether you'd like to see a political panto or a film star fairy tale, this is a raucous night of fun and fantasy you'll never forget... 

Button, Buckle and Bow

Button, Buckle and Bow

Three colourful clowns discover the beauty and joy found in the changing of the seasons. Join Button, Buckle and Bow on their wonderful adventure. 

The Black Dahlia

The Black Dahlia

Los Angeles, January 15th 1947. The body of a young lady lies in the low cut grass of Leimert Park, a grim theatre later referred to as The Black Dahlia murder. Elizabeth Short was discovered sliced in two without a single drop of blood left in her body and a grim smile carved into the flesh of her face... 

Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night

Love, hysteria and deception reign in this Victorian reimagining of Shakespeare’s classic. Cesario is in love with Orsino, who’s in love with Olivia, who’s in love with Cesario, who’s really Viola in disguise... 

Titus Andronicus

Titus Andronicus

Shakespeare's classic that has killings, maiming, rape, live burial and cannibalism presented as a latter-day story about a crime syndicate looking to find a new leader in the money laundering business which some say Britain has become... 

The Midnight Creeper Tour

The Midnight Creeper Tour

When midnight strikes join Broken Bones Matilda in The Vaults. With raspy vocals and melodic harmonies, their innocent yet dark sound is a perfect night time delight. 'If you have ever wondered what it would sound like if Nick Cave wrote songs for Fleetwood Mac, the answer lies somewhere in Broken Bones Matilda' (AnRFactory... 

Led Thespian

Led Thespian

Part play and part mini-concert, Led Thespian is a new dark comedy that explores love, loss, and the power of music. Set in a bar, it tells the story of Josh, a high school band teacher who, after suddenly losing his job, decides to chase his dream of being a rock musician only to find himself entangled in a web of lies, murder, and sexual depravity... 

Paper Dolls

Paper Dolls

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

Painted Skin. Return

Painted Skin. Return

Whose fault? A ghost beautified by human skin or humans possessing the devil's heart? Is it ever possible to avoid mistakes or is it destined to happen anyway? Without camouflage, would mankind's world reveal itself as hell? It is generally believed mistakes can be amended as long as someone feels guilty... 

Me Talking, Mostly

Me Talking, Mostly

Mick dives into the absurdity of being an onstage performer and gives the audience a chance to sit in the director's seat. Be prepared to laugh, cry and experience unbridled joy! 

bad things happen here

bad things happen here

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

hunger

hunger

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

Love Admin

Love Admin

Dissecting the reality of love in the modern world. Join Bella and Alice as they take on all the bureaucracy, social etiquette and red tape of being best friends, cunnilingus and going crazy... 

The Mariner's Song

The Mariner's Song

Calling all adventurers! With the Mariner as your guide, prepare to brave the elements, sail stormy waters and embark upon a grand voyage into the great unknown. Returning for their third Fringe, KinkyFish invite you to join this visceral journey examining the nature of our existence and exploring humanity’s primal connection to rivers and seas... 

Ordinary Days

Ordinary Days

Written by Adam Gwon, Ordinary Days tells the story of four young New Yorkers struggling to connect. They ask themselves ‘When on earth will all of this start to add up?’ It already does... 

Pigs in Blankets

Pigs in Blankets

ADAM, or Autocrats Destiny Altering Machine, is an absurd government that rules over its empire with an iron fist. On the single day of public holiday that they allow their subjects, a few miserable sods hatch a plan to overthrow them during their annual Associates Associate Association Meeting... 

Uke Belong to Me

Uke Belong to Me

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

The B in the Room

The B in the Room

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

Antigone na h'Éireann

Antigone na h'Éireann

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

Little Potatoes

Little Potatoes

Matchmaking mums at the Shanghai marriage market hatch a plan to get their little emperors hitched. Little Potatoes is a powerful, bittersweet comedy drama which explores the impact of the one-child policy on the lives of two women in China... 

Plenty of Linguine at Home

Plenty of Linguine at Home

Albie and Amelia have been told by an unorthodox relationship counsellor to perform a two-man show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe despite a break-up laden with animosity. The audience is taken on a hilarious journey about how to make something creative work when there is trouble in a relationship... 

Beyond Beauty – Our Country Taiwan

Beyond Beauty – Our Country Taiwan

Beyond Beauty – Our Country Taiwan. In the 16th century, gazing from the decks of ships off the coast of Southern China, Portuguese sailors saw a great green mass, thick with mountains and trees, rising from the sea... 

Ben McCarthy: Nevermind

Ben McCarthy: Nevermind

One of Australia's finest and youngest comedians comes to the Edinburgh Fringe for the first time with his one hour show, Ben McCarthy: Nevermind. Nevermind is a one hour stand up show featuring stories of Ben's latest tours of Australia and Europe and life on the road as a travelling comedian... 

Till Death Us Do Part?

Till Death Us Do Part?

A man is murdered at a wedding but whodunnit? Three women have motive and means. They met at the clandestine Secret Divorce Society, which asks the age-old question: should I stay or should he go? Mary has the perfect family, but sometimes wishes they were dead; Sally's wondering how to get hold of her fourth husband’s death-in-service benefit; and once-engaged Bobbi is now a free spirit but is she still bearing a grudge? The audience is asked to choose the murderess in this original musical comedy about marriage, motherhood and murder... 

Pharmacophilia

Pharmacophilia

Fractal Distraction Theatre Company provide Fringe-goers with an escape into dark dystopian future Pharmacophilia, written by Emily Young. Set in 2087, the population of Great Britain is kept compliant through the government’s compulsory prescription of Seratraxine... 

Sad Little Man

Sad Little Man

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

Alex in Shadow

Alex in Shadow

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

Dante's History of the Banished

Dante's History of the Banished

Dante’s History of the Banished is framed around the conceit that Dante Alighieri, legendary poet who penned the Divine Comedy, is writing a new book about the titular ‘banished’, knowing something about the experience himself... 

Prison Psychologist

Prison Psychologist

The performance of London-based Belarussian actress Alexia Mankovskaya has been critically acclaimed in Russia after the production's triumphant premiere at the VI Theatre Festival in Kaluga (September 2016)... 

The Soldier and Death

The Soldier and Death

A soldier's kindness wins him mysterious gifts, but he soon learns that good fortune can lead to great loss. Based on Russian folklore, this twisting, turning tale of heroes and demons is suitable for all ages. 

Two Chairs

Two Chairs

Our piece reflects the external differences in society: how human beings are segregated by race, religion, gender and status, and how prejudice is a daily occurrence in the world we live in today... 

Songs for a New World

Songs for a New World

'It's about one moment. It's about hitting the wall and having to make a choice, or take a stand, or turn around and go back.' A song cycle from Tony Award-winner Jason Robert Brown. 

A Bridge by a Cliff

A Bridge by a Cliff

According to Isaac Newton’s theory, colours don’t exist; they are instead reflections of substances, vulnerable to our own perception. a bridge by a cliff takes us on a journey of reflection, on how the characters perceive their own reality when in a relationship... 

Sugar Baby

Sugar Baby

Sugar Baby satirised the food industry with one eyebrow firmly raised, mocking both the trend of ‘clean eating’ for which vegan titans like ‘Deliciously Ella’ are increasingly coming under scrutiny, and the corporations responsible for marketing and profiting from such trends... 

An Audience With Ted Pendleton

An Audience With Ted Pendleton

It is an interesting idea to stage a comedic play about the backstage conversations that take place between stage hands, in the shadow of the performer that they work for, but this idea has not been developed well here... 

Mutiny! An Improvised Pirate Adventure

Mutiny! An Improvised Pirate Adventure

Ahoy, m’hearties! Welcome aboard the Black Tricorn. Join our crew on the high seas for a fast-paced, short-form, quirky and hilarious improvised adventure. A swashbuckling journey filled with pirates, parrots, and plunder (or whatever yer heart desires!)... 

Vichy Goings-on

Vichy Goings-on

Following the success of Engels! The Karl Marx Story, RFT return to the Fringe with a brand-new post-truth alternative history comedy caper. 1947: a British agent emerges from the icy wastes of Antarctica with a bar of missing Nazi gold and a curious tale to tell; a tale of fugitive Nazis, the world’s edge and the true fate of President Roosevelt... 

26.2

26.2

One girl. One goal. One treadmill. Lucy takes you on a journey from the start line of the London Marathon to the finish line and medal. As she runs 26.2 miles in front of you, she will take you through the highs and lows of training for a marathon... 

Think

Think

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

Avalon

Avalon

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

Ballot Box

Ballot Box

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

Was it good for you?

Was it good for you?

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

[title of show]

[title of show]

The ambiguity and space for misunderstanding in [title of show]’s name and concept are such that it is entirely possible it could put audience members off, but the University of Nottingham’s new production was sold out when I went along... 

Kes

Kes

Barry Hines' iconic novel was turned into one of the greatest British films of all time. Here, adapted for the stage, is the story retold. A talented young cast tell of Billy Casper, a boy with few future prospects, brought up in an uncaring way by family, with few friends and a school which is struggling to cope... 

Col Howarth: End to End

Col Howarth: End to End

In this assured and uplifting debut, Col Howarth plots a single journey from one end of a busy high street to the other, joining the dots of a story that arcs between a cast of strange characters, chance meetings, unexpected tangents and sharp personal realisations... 

Rock and Hunt

Rock and Hunt

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

Femmetamorphosis

Femmetamorphosis

Rum punch, sexy lingerie and an unmistakable Caribbean relish all make up this fun, imaginative comedy drama set in the heart of London. Femmetamorphosis looks at the transformation of several women during a lingerie party, painting a humorous light hearted picture of female friendship dynamics. 

Hard Breakfast: The Cabaret

Hard Breakfast: The Cabaret

She's a sell-out! In a good way. Last year's crowd-pleasing political musical is back and better than ever. Join a fresh-faced political assistant and her new gal pals, Theresa and Nicola, as they roast politicians, skewer the news and slather some cheese on their songs about breakfast, Brexit and the British... 

The Plum Tree

The Plum Tree

Jan Groenewald takes us on a harrowing journey through a childhood experience of sexual violation to victory and riches. He relives his memories in his own theatrical creation. From the distance that age brings, he recreates his world as a young boy who intertwines fantasy with reality... 

Mary and Me

Mary and Me

Award-winning Wild Productions present Mary and Me written and performed by Irene Kelleher, directed by Belinda Wild. A 15-year-old girl dies giving birth at a grotto. But before then there's pending maths exams, an important art project to finish and what to do about Peter? Although inspired by a true story, this is a work of fiction... 

Inside the Matrix

Inside the Matrix

Featuring music, original video and performance, this show combines electronic, classical opera and contemporary music, with lighting effects and surprises. The videos reflect on the current affairs of our world, with surreal and abstract imagery... 

Knowledge Is Power

Knowledge Is Power

Anna and Kathy were best friends. Now they never speak. Em and Kay sit in a dark room, interrogated by an unseen presence. What have they done? Who do they work for? Are the four connected? What exactly is The Event? Do you care? No... 

Domesticated

Domesticated

Domesticated is a show about private thoughts and private parts with rebellious acts of vaudeville. Entangled in Mittens's nine lives is a secret life: her struggle to be intimate. 

Going AWOL

Going AWOL

A two-handed, multi-rolling farcical extravaganza written and produced by Bristol-based AWOL Productions. Set in 1966, Valerie Silverston, Chief Editor at a London newspaper firm, finds herself on a wild and wonderful adventure with simple Nancy Upshaw... 

Fish Food

Fish Food

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

Discretion Guaranteed

Discretion Guaranteed

There’s a lot going on in Discretion Guaranteed at Paradise in the Vault. An infinitely able cast runs us through a myriad of concerns for modern women. While at times too many ideas are only touched on without being explored sufficiently, the effect of the production is undeniable... 

Hyena

Hyena

I’ve finally found it: the Fringiest show at the Fringe! Hyena is a free-wheeling, difficult, often uncomfortable and sometime revelatory experience. Romana Soutus’ one woman show starts with her locked in a dog cage, and things just get more disturbing from there on in... 

Unveiled

Unveiled

Unveiled, a deeply moving one-woman play characterising the lives of five women, all victims of the Magdalene Laundries. Abused by religious orders in these state funded institutions in 20th-century Ireland, Ceara Dorman brings to life these harrowing stories. 

Dirty Laundry

Dirty Laundry

Join youthful South-London songwriter Benji Tranter as he takes on the grim business of living via his original, off-beat songs! Benji, accompanied only by his guitar, performs songs concerning noisy neighbours, launderettes, and emotional turmoil, taking place in settings including a utopian hipster café and a magical mountain of self-betterment... 

You, Me and the Distance Between Us

You, Me and the Distance Between Us

Ellen spent six months volunteering in Europe’s refugee camps. She gave out clothes, blankets, and made many cups of tea. It gave her lots to think about. Like what everyone was fleeing from, why she had really come to help and whether borders were such a good idea after all... 

Illuncheon: A Picnic of Tricks!

Illuncheon: A Picnic of Tricks!

Sorcery and sandwiches! Trickery and tea! Bewitchery and banter! The man with the world's only degree in magic serves up a feast for family fascination. And with perfect manners too! Owen Lean graduated in 2006 with the world's first degree in street magic... 

The Glummer Twins

The Glummer Twins

Stand-up poetry from the beat generation. Thirty years after they first appeared together with the legendary Circus of Poets, David Harmer and Ray Globe are back as the irrepressible Glummer Twins to put the 21st century to rights... 

Canon Warriors

Canon Warriors

Punch, Fleur, Dog and Sid. ‘Punch’ is a lesbian show-woman. ‘Fleur’ is a (previously high-flying) university dropout, working part-time as a teaching assistant. ‘Dog’ is a dog puppet... 

Howie the Rookie

Howie the Rookie

Reminiscent of an Irish Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Howie the Rookie is a two-hander exploring the journeys of Howie (Tom Taplin) and the Rookie (Ed Limb) as they become immersed in the seedy underworld of 1990s Dublin... 

Lady Shakespeare

Lady Shakespeare

This one-woman show by playwright Lois Blanco involves Spanish actress Paula Blanco alternately playing William Shakespeare, a range of Shakespeare’s individual female characters and Queen Elizabeth I, exploring issues surrounding womanhood and femininity in Elizabethan England and within the Bard’s plays... 

Sheltered

Sheltered

New company Bellyfeelhave collaborated with Crisis, a charity for the homeless,to develop a series of monologues that illustrate the tough and varied experiences of those living without a permanent home... 

Contactless

Contactless

Contactless is not your regular drama. It comprises two stories (told one after another) that are somewhat similar, though have no obvious connections. The stories (Chips and Withdrawn) explore the possibility of connection and love in a world of bars, cafes, nightclubs and pop culture... 

Foxtrot

Foxtrot

Playwright Anthony Maskell’s Fringe debut is as student as they come. I say that lightly, but for the first five minutes, the impression you get is of a hastily arranged, lazy first-year drama class’s take on life experience, through rose-tinted glasses and clichéd tropes regarding the human condition... 

Rumpelstiltskin

Rumpelstiltskin

Wrong Tree’s Rumpelstiltskin is a musical retelling of the classic fairy tale of the farmer’s daughter and the mysterious imp. As the daughter is ordered by the King to weave straw into gold, she makes a deal with Rumpelstiltskin to help her, not realising that this gold would one day come at a high price... 

Anonymous

Anonymous

'I have a voice, capable of both a whisper and a scream.' How long can a person remain cloaked in the veil of anonymity? How long before the need for recognition takes over? Take a look into the lives of those who watch the lives of others. 

The Unbearable Pleasure of Being a Woman

The Unbearable Pleasure of Being a Woman

2016 Brighton Fringe Cabaret award-winners! Don't leave Edinburgh without witnessing this 'unbearable' show! Being female can be an unbearably silly business! The Unbearable Pleasure of Being a Woman is the brain child of singer/songwriter (and mentor to Sam Smith) Joanna Eden and West End and National Theatre actress Leigh McDonald... 

Macbeth

Macbeth

With impressive physicality and strong delivery of Shakespeare’s language, three young actors present a vigorous new adaptation of Macbeth set in a modern-day youth offender’s institute - but without much attempt to shift the story into this new context... 

Pussyfooting

Pussyfooting

Pussyfooting is a project that has been evolving over the course of a year, and, presumably, could continue to go on evolving with its bright new company from Oxford University: Knotworks... 

xx

xx

Connections missed and made are set in motion in this playful, algorithmically-generated piece exploring love and chance from young company Poltergeist Theatre. xx, pronounced ‘kiss kiss’ (as I find out at the box office), is comprised of ‘ten duets and five monologues determined by an algorithm every night’... 

Behind the Random Denominator

Behind the Random Denominator

Opening to a darkened stage with crackling lightning and booming thunder, Mart Sander’s solo show Behind the Random Denominator provides a wonderfully chilling hour of late night horror at this year’s festival, despite a few setbacks... 

Touch Therapy

Touch Therapy

Lotta and Erik should be happily married but there's one problem – the sex. Based on the true story of a lesbian's experiences, Touch Therapy asks what goes wrong when you try to make everything just right. 

Black and White Tea Room

Black and White Tea Room

Our play Black and White Tea Room was first performed in 2014. It has been awarded Best Picture Award, Play Award and a Best Actor Award at the Two-Hander Festival. In 2015, the play was awarded Best Picture Award and Best Actor Award by the Seoul Theatrical Grand Award, and was also awarded Best Actor Award and Special Award at Mil-Yang Summer Festival Awards and the Tokyo Tiny-Alice Festival... 

The Low Down Dusty Blues

The Low Down Dusty Blues

The American Dust Bowl of the 1930s was not the only force of nature that ripped families apart. Set in Okemah, Oklahoma, birth place of Woody Guthrie and the Dust Bowl blues, The Low Down Dusty Blues looks at how a typical American family disintegrated from the inside and the fallout afterward. 

Tracing Grace

Tracing Grace

Enter a world where not everything is as it seems. Following a young girl’s true story. Grace, now 18, suffered from encephalitis, a rare inflammation of the brain, at just three weeks old... 

GMO: Genetically Modified Organism

GMO: Genetically Modified Organism

In 2012, geneticist Joseph Fowler illegally used the gene editing technique CRISPR/Cas9 to save the life of his unborn daughter, Amelia. For this, he was sentenced to life in prison whilst Amelia was raised by her uncle... 

Blind Mirth

Blind Mirth

St. Andrews' first, best, and only improv comedy troupe Blind Mirth present Blind Mirth, a dynamic and hilarious improv show for her. And him. And anyone who fancies a laugh really... 

A Fête Worse Than Death

A Fête Worse Than Death

Welcome to the village fête in Llanfairchwaraesboncen, nestled in the South Wales Valleys. Join your host, 76-year-old village busybody Eirys Evans, in a fun-filled romp complete with competitions, slide shows and audience participation... 

The Money Fish

The Money Fish

A young man in search of fortune and adventure lands a job on a commercial fishing boat in the middle of the Bering Sea. As he overcomes dire circumstances in this volatile and cut-throat environment, he becomes obsessed with the fortune he gains... 

The Cupboard

The Cupboard

Turn the Key’s Gothic delight, The Cupboard is outstandingly professional. Rat 333 (Juliet Chant-Tuft) arrives at the Cupboard and meets Sal the Sack (Sydney Burges) and Sweeps (Alex Edge) who seem friendly but there’s more to their strange, dark world than meets the eye... 

Party

Party

Party isn’t that sort of party; well, it sort of is, and maybe it should be, but overall it isn’t – though it might be after it’s finished. Clear? Good. Now prepare for an hour of linguistic lampoonery in this stunningly clever show by Lyons Productions from the students of Exeter University... 

White Poppies

White Poppies

1915: in a Northern mining community, Tom lies about his age and, to the sadness of his sweetheart and mother, enlists as a tunneller in France. Through a twist of fate, he is wrongly blamed for his comrades’ deaths in an explosion at Hill 60, and his loved ones are ostracised... 

war war brand war

war war brand war

Brand New and Pembroke Players’ joint production of Thom May’s war war brand war is wonderfully witty and compelling. The actors make the intimate space of Paradise in the Vault come alive with their depiction of a dystopian not-so-distant future in which war is about buzzwords instead of bullets... 

Desert Bloom

Desert Bloom

Desert Bloom. What was Marilyn Monroe's real legacy? Sex, celluloid, scandal – or something else entirely? Rosarita, a fragile yet hardy Nevada bloom, may have the answer. Sweltering in her trailer in the desert heat, she reflects on the fate of Hollywood's favourite plaything, as well as her own love, life and literature, and wonders if she has been transplanted into the wrong soil... 

Legend of the Fat Pack – The Chunkiest Swing Singers You’ve Never Heard of!

Legend of the Fat Pack – The Chunkiest Swing Singers You’ve Never Heard of!

In 2009, a crack vocal quartet was put on a diet for a crime they didn’t commit. Promptly escaping from a maximum security health farm, they started eating crisps. Still wanted by Diet Club, they survive as soldiers of swing... 

Alternative

Alternative

Alternative stand-up comedy. Funny stories, jokes and quips. Johnny Kingshott is a trained actor (LAMDA) and some of the performance is character based (voices, etc). ‘Johnny's material was a treat and the audience received him with open arms... 

Forget About It

Forget About It

After rehearsing for months, one actor still has a bit of trouble remembering the production, let alone the lines... Going off-script and off-story, how will the cast keep up with a show that just keeps getting weirder?  

Past Glories

Past Glories

Past Glories – two one-act plays celebrating the power of memory. Featuring Pat Dunn from BBC Two’s Hebburn. Wordsworth's Sister by Sue Saunders: 1842, young Dora Wells, on a sketching holiday, encounters Dorothy Wordsworth, 63, now in the throes of dementia, and looked after by Dot, her faithful carer... 

Title of Show

Title of Show

The title of [Title of Show] tells you quite a lot about what you need to know! This musical, within a musical, within a musical writes itself as it plays out. With music and lyrics by Jeff Bowen this cleverly put together show bends the normal expectations of a musical theatre show whilst still maintaining an excellent score... 

Vampires in the Vault

Vampires in the Vault

Marty Ross returns to the Fringe this year with a new theatrical storytelling experience. Using nothing but the power of his voice and a few small rags, Ross narrates the story of Elizabeth Bathory, the infamous 'Countess Dracula' of Hungary... 

Hearts of Folk

Hearts of Folk

Folk music is often known for its depressing lyrics and melancholy tones, so a farcical parody of the genre seems unexpected. Yet it is a pleasant idea that could go down a storm.Hearts of Folk tells the story of a dysfunctional band on a dead-end tour who are carrying a dark secret... 

Madame Wu's Reprieve

Madame Wu's Reprieve

Cancer sick and heart sick, Madame Wu reflects on her life, love, and present circumstances. The church folks want to shut her, her cantina, and her girls down. What is she to do? How is she to be? Heart sick also in the memories of the atrocities she observed and experienced in the lost generation of the Chinese Cultural Revolution, what is next? 

Bear Hug

Bear Hug

Billed as a rom-com, Bear Hug looked to be a pretty safe bet for some laughs – described as a story about how coming out is easy but how getting back in is harder. As a new piece of writing by Rory Mackenzie as part of The Mermaids Arts Fund, from The University of St Andrews, I was hoping for some fresh and hilarious take on a coming out story... 

Sea Wall

Sea Wall

'You know what the cruellest thing I ever did to anybody was? I'll tell you'. Alex had it all. A family she adored; summers in the south of France. But things can fall away fast, and Alex is faced with a summer that forces her to face the godless world she was so at one with before... 

Stagecraft for Singers and Musicians

Stagecraft for Singers and Musicians

Learn about the internal, external and physical blocks that prevent you from delivering your best onstage performance. This interactive workshop draws on philosophical, psychological and body/mind teachings and research, delivering practical solutions for musicians and singers... 

Midnight Cafe

Midnight Cafe

Come and explore the streets of Milton Keynes. Walk with the homeless, shout with the angry, cry with the confused and laugh with the posh people with shit on their shoe. Their dramas converge to seek solace in the only place with the lights on (from 12am-3am)... 

High Torches

High Torches

Six women await their fate in a prison, while their homes, lives and families burn to the ground. The Queen sees her devastated country through one tiny window, and around her, her world falls apart piece by piece... 

Women of the Mourning Fields

Women of the Mourning Fields

This is a play for fans of Greek tragedy and theatre nerds. Luckily, this niche audience can be found in droves at Fringe festivals.It’s a play about a play within a play that considers those discarded from the narratives of history... 

Breaking Voices

Breaking Voices

With a large cast aged between 12 and 13, Breaking Voices is an original piece that explores bullying and peer pressure at that age, especially in a school environment. Some members of the young cast show promise that transcends their years, but all are ultimately let down by a confusing script and lazy direction... 

Patriots

Patriots

Having to read the blurb on the back of the flyer at the end of the show, checking that the point hasn't flown over heads, is never a good sign. Though good intentions are patent and the elusive 'moral' and 'point' is apparently within grasp, Patriots doesn't quite tie up the tangled loose ends it has left dangling... 

Blind Mirth

Blind Mirth

Blind Mirth are a special improv comedy group - wonderfully talented and energetic. The seven-strong troupe from St Andrews warm the audience up and keeping the show at that charged level throughout the hour... 

Daze of My Life

Daze of My Life

A young Filipina-American confronts the mystery of her origin and her experience of molestation in an attempt to crush the damaging shadows of her past and find a love of self. 

This is Mary Brown

This is Mary Brown

Winsome Brown’s one-woman show is an affecting portrait of her mother and the life Brown and her siblings shared with her. Mary Brown is brought to life through various recollections, focusing on her struggles with alcoholism and the incredible closeness of the family throughout... 

Mrs Shakespeare

Mrs Shakespeare

Mrs Shakespeare is a bold and thought provoking show about a woman struggling to find her own identity in a male-dominated world, as told by a gender-bent reincarnation of William Shakespeare, as she revises Hamlet into the story of Ophelia’s social and sexual empowerment, hampered both by the male characters of the original coming back to protest the revisions and her male psychiatrist’s insistence that she is delusional... 

This Being Human

This Being Human

Born sixty years ago into the grief of betrayal and abandonment and raised in the repressive chaos of alcoholism, Sheila internalised a deep-seated sense of loss and emptiness. From this beginning, an unconscious quest was set into motion... 

Into the Panther's Cage

Into the Panther's Cage

When her late ex-husband visits her in a dream, Deborah wonders if she should be worried or not. Raw and funny, she beguiles audiences with moving and heart-warming stories of dreams and reality... 

2 Up, 2 Down, 1 Back

2 Up, 2 Down, 1 Back

Five teenagers wake up in a void, neither knowing each other, or how they got there. The only thing visible is a box with the words: 2 Up, 2 Down, 1 Back, written on it. Forced to play a deadly game, they have to face up to the consequences of their actions, and to fight for a second chance to return to … reality. 

Catalpa

Catalpa

A one-man play about an aspiring screenwriter who, having just bombed his first Hollywood pitch, returns to his ratty apartment, defeated. In a final act of desperation, he reenacts his entire screenplay to his empty room... 

Butoh Medea

Butoh Medea

Using the Japanese dance form butoh and an adapted text, Yokko brings the spirit of Medea alive. This fusion of eastern dance and western drama invites the audience inside Medea’s dark and desperate struggle... 

The Rocking Horse Winner

The Rocking Horse Winner

A stage and film mixed media adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s short story. As a family faces financial ruin a ghostly presence is sensed in their house, leading the youngest child to gambling and a supernaturally lucky streak... 

Dancing with Crazies

Dancing with Crazies

Dancing with Crazies is a wild tale about one woman's search for love and a place to call home. Raised by an unconventional family, often living in a van and being passed around to her relatives she finds the one thing that grounds her… dance... 

A Midsummer Night's Dream: Two Tired

A Midsummer Night's Dream: Two Tired

Shakespeare's classic comedy, as you've never seen it before. If The Bard wrote a romantic episode of Scooby Doo, it would probably look something like this. Ele Overvoorde and Georgie Matthews are graduates of the University of East Anglia, with five Fringe runs under their collective belt... 

Magdalen

Magdalen

The little known stories of the women and girls who were sent to wash away their sins in commercial laundries run by orders of nuns in mid twentieth-century Ireland are revealed in a singular, compelling, multi-character performance... 

Beautiful, Terrifying, Love

Beautiful, Terrifying, Love

Beautiful, Terrifying, Love written and performed by award-winning actress, director and playwright Debra De Liso. A personal, poetic whirlwind of autobiographical moments navigating a twilight zone childhood, Hollywood horror film career, and motherhood with her beautiful and talented bipolar daughter... 

bright ideas

bright ideas

With the help of two opposing lawyers, God is deciding whether or not to send another flood and have humanity start again. Following their five-star production of Endgame by Samuel Beckett, blind elephant return with an absurd moral tragicomedy... 

House of Tragic She

House of Tragic She

An incredibly ambitious production, House of Tragic She combines dance, physical theatre, song, electronic music and projection with the words of literary characters and writers. Using verbatim extracts from such influential figures as Virginia Woolf, Jean Rhys and Charlotte Bronte, the piece explores the stigmatization of mental health... 

Confusions

Confusions

One of the confusions in this production, although not without precedent, is the running order of the five interrelated plays that make up the complete work. Ayckbourn intended Confusions to end on the down note of A Talk in the Park... 

Compulsion

Compulsion

Declan Cooke is a physically big guy with a powerful presence: if you saw him standing at the bar you would imagine him to be full of confidence and completely in control of his life... 

Alive

Alive

Inspired by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, this group of young actors from Portsmouth Grammar School has put together an interpretation of the novel that needs work, but which is nonetheless impressive... 

News Junkie

News Junkie

This piece from Japan seeks to present a slice of life. It states on its flyer that it doesn’t show “taiko, kimono, samurai, sushi, geisha or kabuki”. Instead, it offers a stripped-back solo performance in an intimate venue about a man and the woman he loves... 

Winter of Our Discotheque

Winter of Our Discotheque

Autistic, severely depressed and with inadequate provision for her, Tess Humphrey left school at the age of thirteen. Two years laters she had written Winter of Our Discotheque, an extraordinary play with an equally unusual origin... 

Jenan Younis: A Masterclass in Anger Management

Jenan Younis: A Masterclass in Anger Management

Does modern life anger you? Join one person’s journey to finding inner peace from the latest ethnically confused comic on the block via an unforgettable set of characters including a Russian white van man, shabby chic Kirsty, Samira the South London rudette and more... 

Absolved Passions

Absolved Passions

This new opera, written for the Fringe, follows the story of a young priest's affair with a parishioner. A tale of love, religion in the modern world and youthful ambition. Showcased in Paradise Green's Vault theatre, aptly housed in the basement of Augustine United Church. 

Now You're Just Being Silly

Now You're Just Being Silly

Majk (pronounced Mike, for reasons which are unlikely to become clear again at the moment) presents a witty collection of finely crafted comedy folk songs on topics ranging from science fiction and superheroes to relationships, root vegetables and the joys of cleaning the fridge... 

Jenan Younis: A Masterclass in Anger Management

Jenan Younis: A Masterclass in Anger Management

Jenan Younis is a surgeon with anger management issues. In her first stand up show she talks about doctor/nurse politics and the particular mind-set that makes a surgeon. But the main story is what finally threw her over the edge, forced her to go into anger management and propelled her into the world of ultimate therapy: stand up... 

Actors

Actors

There’s an hour to go before an amateur production of Hamlet – the star of the show still hasn’t turned up, the rest of the cast hate each other and the director’s an egomaniac... 

Wolf Whistle

Wolf Whistle

An uptight medic, a flirty school girl and a worn out bus driver are all worried about the same thing. Wolf Whistle opens as they’re called into the doctor’s office, all three visibly nervous... 

Chrysalis

Chrysalis

Written by Stephen Scheurer–Smith, the imaginatively titled Chrysalis opens with a guitarist strumming a folky melody. This serves throughout as a delicate backing track to three characters’ struggle for independence... 

A Race of Robots

A Race of Robots

Despite a fun-sounding premise, A Race of Robots unfortunately does not live up to its name. Clearly attempting to parody old sci-fi B-Movies, the word ‘parody’ falls by the wayside fairly quickly and all we’re left with is a B-Movie... 

Jarman in Pieces

Jarman in Pieces

Alternative retrospective of gay film-maker, writer and artist Derek Jarman. 2014 sees the 20th anniversary of Jarman’s death. This performance piece encapsulates the essence of Jarman’s life, work and legacy through the social and cultural prism of the 1940s-1990s, from post-war austerity through the liberated sixties and seventies to the eighties era of Aids and Thatcherism... 

Decade

Decade

Decade is an ambitious production, but one that fails to live up to its exciting premise. This showcase of new writing in response to 9/11 is split into two parts, each containing five of its ten pieces... 

Terror

Terror

Terror with Julia Munrow and Julia Rufey. Terror is a black comedy by Joan Greening (creator of TV's Cabbage Patch and Trouble and Strife). Set in 1793 during the French Revolution, two former courtesans, Jeanne Du Barry and Grace Dalrymple Elliot, spend the night together in Sainte-Pélagie Prison awaiting the guillotine the next day and hoping for a last minute reprieve... 

Penetrator

Penetrator

This is no teddy bears picnic. This dark comedy will leave you breathless and amazed. Two friends struggle to cope with the clash of personalities as one friend returns discharged from the army. 

21st Century Poe: Moyamensing

21st Century Poe: Moyamensing

One night in the life of Edgar Allen Poe, renowned American poet and global ancestor of the horror genre as we know it: we follow an original tale of Poe’s brief stay in Moyamensing prison, to “dry out” after Poe drunkenly mistakes a police officer for something much worse... 

The St Andrews Revue Present: Prom

The St Andrews Revue Present: Prom

The St Andrews Revue’s offering to this year’s Fringeis everything student comedy should be. It is acutely observed without being cynical, self-aware without being self-congratulatory, and above all, extremely funny... 

The Noctambulist

The Noctambulist

This is a rock-solid, totally refreshing naturalist drama performed by outstanding actors.The Noctambulist is the first original production from Raving Mask, formed out of Durham University Theatre... 

National Loaf

National Loaf

There’s a sort of delicious irony to queuing for a show about rationing whilst watching one of the cast frantically stuffing their face with crisps. Sadly for National Loaf, this was as amused as I ever got... 

A Male Soprano

A Male Soprano

Running at just forty minutes, this play with songs is a little gem: a bit rough round the edges and lot of polishing may be required, but talent is on show and an endearing central performance by D... 

Newton's Cauldron

Newton's Cauldron

Newton’s Cauldron is an unexpected gem, a brisk little piece which mixes storybook, history book and textbook deftly and amusingly. The story is that of Wendy Wiz, a failed witch whose one piece of successful magic is to prophesy the birth of Isaac Newton, a birth which also signals the death of magic and the dawn of the age of science... 

In Control

In Control

The premise of this devised piece, championed by Director Alex Hargreaves, is to break down the usual comforts of viewing horror in a cinema and instead bring the story to a place where the action is far more palpable: the theatre... 

East

East

A raucous tale of life in the East End of London. Mike, Les, and Sylv deal with the very real possibility that their futures are being played in front of them by their parents. Combating boredom with sex and violence, they each try to find a better way although their varying degrees of success mean that at the end, history begins to repeat... 

Putting it Together

Putting it Together

See the musical theatre stars of the future here, now, first! Each evening three top graduates from The Dance School of Scotland perform powerful and personal cabarets featuring classic and contemporary musical theatre and drama repertoire... 

Rats!

Rats!

Airbourne Theatre Leeds’ original piece is a live-action cartoon, bursting with energy, colour, and child-like enthusiasm. It follows the plight of Dan Onaschük, an aimless twentysomething, who in quick succession loses his job, girlfriend, and confidence... 

A. Loan

A. Loan

University years, the best of your life? But what about the people left behind? Using live music, puppetry and physical theatre A. Loan revolves around a group of sociology students, a bank manager and a pining mother. 

Amongst Millions

Amongst Millions

Moving beyond representation to embody only experience, Amongst Millions is a ritualistic work in which the body is used as a vehicle for protest against the injustice and hypocrisy resulting from the current social and economic crisis... 

Endgame by Samuel Beckett

Endgame by Samuel Beckett

'It's time it ended and yet I hesitate to ... to end'. Outside the world is dead. Inside, blind Hamm rules over his lame servant and legless parents. You may leave the theatre with a deeper understanding of life... 

Hole in a Corner

Hole in a Corner

Hole in a Corner is a poetic performance of life on the margins and secrets hid. It’s sometimes sad, mad and even a laugh. Sometimes insane but never vain. Miss at your peril this one-man show. 

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