Shows at Pleasance Dome

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HAWK

HAWK

When a shipment containing a highly protected Sypher Corp suit goes missing in space, it’s up to John Hawk and a team of space marines to collect the asset, transport it across the… 

Crybabies: Bagbeard

Crybabies: Bagbeard

Rubbish never dies. 

Fast Fringe

Fast Fringe

So many comedians, so little time! Twelve top comedy and variety acts perform ridiculously short sets in one furiously fast-paced showcase. 

Fin Taylor: So My Wife...

Fin Taylor: So My Wife...

They say comedy’s about speaking truth to power. 

Any Suggestions, Doctor? The Improvised Doctor Who Parody

Any Suggestions, Doctor? The Improvised Doctor Who Parody

The Improvised Doctor Who Parody is back!! Travel anywhere in space and time with a live radiophonic workshop, incredible props and set, and a collection of hilarious improv comedy… 

Alasdair Beckett-King: Nevermore

Alasdair Beckett-King: Nevermore

Out of the swirling maelstrom he steps; his sword of jokes, his shield of whimsy and his armour made of a third amusing thing. 

Stephen K Amos: Before and Laughter

Stephen K Amos: Before and Laughter

In 2010, the world was in a sorry state. 

Wireless Operator

Wireless Operator

Sell-out 2019! Audiences were gripped by this immersive story of a frightening night-time Lancaster Bomber raid in WW2, told through the eyes and ears of the wireless operator. 

Marcus Brigstocke: Thread

Marcus Brigstocke: Thread

‘Dazzling, inspired, perfectly observed. 

Sophie Duker: Venus

Sophie Duker: Venus

Sophie Duker is your Venus, she’s your fire, your desire. 

Amusical Club Night

Amusical Club Night

Dance the night away to your favourite songs from the musicals – featuring live music from Amusical house band Dave and The Quavers, plus guest DJ sets from the best comedians in the UK… 

Catherine Cohen: The Twist...? She's Gorgeous

Catherine Cohen: The Twist...? She's Gorgeous

A show about living, laughing, loving and losing your debit card five times in one year. 

MARA

MARA

Taking on the voices of a group of monumental and important women throughout history, MARA embodies them physically and vocally with stunningly committed and skillful character wor… 

Phoenix

Phoenix

Ash Phoenix dreams of being a rock star. 

Alasdair Beckett-King: The Interdimensional ABK

Alasdair Beckett-King: The Interdimensional ABK

Have you ever been to a comedy show by someone who can travel through dimensions, from one world to another? No, me neither. 

A Womb of One's Own

A Womb of One's Own

Part party, part PSHE lesson and part coming-of-age rom-com, A Womb of One’s Own is a heartfelt love letter to women’s bodies everywhere. 

#HonestAmy

#HonestAmy

Five years ago actor Amy Booth-Steel was diagnosed with cancer. 

Inside the Comedian

Inside the Comedian

In this spoof chat show, David Reed (The Penny Dreadfuls, Comedy Store Players) interviews comedians about the career they never had. Rather than fall back on old anecdotes and half-remembered routines, his guests must rely solely on their ability to talk a load of old nonsense, making up their alternate life story as they go along… 

21 Futures by Olly Hawes

21 Futures by Olly Hawes

At the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, there is a work by the artist Robert Montgomery, a large piece of signage that declares ‘THERE WILL BE NO MIRACLES HERE’. 

Ivo Graham: The Game of Life

Ivo Graham: The Game of Life

The time for faff is over: has Big Daddy Graham got the skillz (anecdotes/banter/topical asides) to pay da billz (gas/water/electric)? More hilariously anxious blather from one of … 

Simon Brodkin: 100% Simon Brodkin

Simon Brodkin: 100% Simon Brodkin

After three hugely successful BBC series as Lee Nelson, multiple sell-out tours and various court appearances following world-famous stunts on Theresa May, Sepp Blatter, Donald Tru… 

Bicycle Boy

Bicycle Boy

Bicycle Boy: an interactive, bike-powered eco-musical for children aged five to ten and their families. Bicycle Boy will be riding into the Edinburgh Fringe with free performances, but we need you to pedal power the show… 

Sofie Hagen: The Bumswing

Sofie Hagen: The Bumswing

Sofie Hagen enters the stage, seemingly nervous despite her extensive experience on the comedy circuit. 

Tricky Second Album

Tricky Second Album

In Bed With My Brother spend the largest portion of this, notably their third Edinburgh show, conducting a kind of aural warfare on their audience. 

Heroin(e) for Breakfast

Heroin(e) for Breakfast

A high energy, jovial start introduces us to a young couple getting down to some sexy time. 

Max & Ivan: Commitment

Max & Ivan: Commitment

There ain’t no party like a Max & Ivan party, ‘cause a Max & Ivan party uses equations to guarantee participant enjoyment!The comedy duo are back at the Fringe and read… 

Goodbear: Dougal

Goodbear: Dougal

Goodbear put on a pretty spectacular routine considering they never actually show up. 

Accessibility Gala

Accessibility Gala

Disability access at the Fringe is a joke. Almost half of festival venues do not provide wheelchair access. Audiences are missing out on great shows, and shows are missing out on great audiences… 

Such Filthy F*cks

Such Filthy F*cks

We enter stage to a flash of porn images, a seductive voiceover beckoning ‘come all over my face’, and ‘dominate me’. 

Madame Ovary

Madame Ovary

We are introduced to Rosa as she jogs on the spot, planning her new years resolutions which include working hard, calling her grandma more and taking better care of her body. 

In Loyal Company

In Loyal Company

Bombs are falling on Liverpool. 

Bec Hill: I'll Be Bec

Bec Hill: I'll Be Bec

If you’ve not experienced Bec Hill live yet, then I have some bad news for you, my friend – your life has yet to reach its maximum for potential happiness. 

Any Suggestions, Doctor? The Improvised Doctor Who Parody

Any Suggestions, Doctor? The Improvised Doctor Who Parody

Since the last time I saw this show, we’ve gotten a new Doctor in the strangely controversial form of Jodie Whittaker and Any Suggestions, Doctor? has moved from Sweet Venues to … 

00

00

It’s 1999, soon to be 2000, and two sisters are wandering the woods of the Bournemouth area after fleeing a party. 

Francis Boulle and Friends

Francis Boulle and Friends

Star of Made In Chelsea, business tycoon, man of the people. Francis Boulle brings you a late-night comedy extravaganza featuring the best comics that Edinburgh has to offer (who happen to be free at 11pm)… 

The Paddock

The Paddock

A combination of live performance and short film, with a focus on new material and experimentation, The Paddock is a showcase of exciting and innovative work from the most ground-breaking and creative comedy performers and filmmakers around. 

E8

E8

It’s a late Friday afternoon and Polly is packing her things before she starts her PhD. 

The Red

The Red

Debuting as a writer and director, TV’s Marcus Brigstocke – known for his comedy and occasional film roles – brings us The Red, a play informed by his own experience battling… 

My Love Lies Frozen in the Ice

My Love Lies Frozen in the Ice

A tale of love, loss and exploration, this is an intrepid exploration of physical theatre and storytelling. 

Confirmation

Confirmation

Part-biographical, part-political, part-musical, part-magical. 

Ginger Johnson's Happy Place

Ginger Johnson's Happy Place

Ginger Johnsons’ Happy Place playing at Pleasance Dome is undefinable in an utterly enjoyable way: It is a mash-up of Mr. 

Rave & Behave

Rave & Behave

For musical sisters Bella and Blue, competition means serious business. So when The New Victorians announce they are running a songwriting competition to find their new support act, they have to enter and they have to win… 

Matt Parker: Humble Pi

Matt Parker: Humble Pi

Humble Pi explores the greatest mathematical near-misses and mishaps involving planes, trains and autocorrect. Matt Parker is no stranger to maths mistakes and so he sets out to fix them all… 

The Cambridge Footlights International Tour Show 2019: Look Alive!

The Cambridge Footlights International Tour Show 2019: Look Alive!

Join ‘the most renowned sketch troupe of them all’ (Independent) as they embark on another exceptional world tour, performing to over 20,000 people across two continents. Last year’s tour travelled to London, Edinburgh, California, Chicago, New York, Cambridge, and many more… 

Tom Brace: Brace of Spades

Tom Brace: Brace of Spades

Following a sold-out run at last years Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Tom Brace returns with a brand-new magic show for the whole family! Featuring Tom’s unique blend of comedy and magic, the show promises to have a little something for everybody… 

Mr Thing

Mr Thing

The critically acclaimed cult comedy chat show thing is back! Welcome to the multimedia mayhem of Mr. Thing. Join Tom and Owen, puppet Steve, the house band and a selection of special guests as they dive once again into a chaotic universe of live music, comedy sketches, interviews, videos, games and jingles… 

Late Lunch with Biggins

Late Lunch with Biggins

National treasure Christopher Biggins requests the pleasure of you company at his late lunch chat show. Join him as he chats with friends old and new along with a few discreet (and perhaps a few indiscreet!) tales from his life and career in what promises to be an hour full of laughs, bonhomie and gossip! Why not come and celebrate a late lunch with the much loved and larger-than-life actor, television personality and the crowned I’m a Celebrity ‘King of the Jungle’ at Edinburgh this year… 

Beat

Beat

Alfie lives with his little brother, Hugo, Mum and Bernard. Alfie is not like the other kids, but that’s only a problem for other people: his irritated parents, the bullying classmates and the exasperated teachers… 

The Letter

The Letter

A sparkling comedy classic: Paolo Nani, alone on stage with props that can be held in a suitcase, performs 15 acts, all of them based on the same theme but played in 15 highly humorous versions, without a single word being said… 

Tom Houghton: That's What I Go to School for

Tom Houghton: That's What I Go to School for

Tom was sent to all-boys boarding school at age six. A world where ‘day kids’ are shunned and girls? None existent. But when, in his second last year the school decided to go co-ed, everything was to change… 

The Comedy Reserve

The Comedy Reserve

The Pleasance Comedy Reserve is back for its 15th year at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with another four brilliant new acts, hand-picked by The Pleasance and supported by the Charlie Hartill Special Reserve Fund… 

Happy Hour

Happy Hour

A new world where cheerful totalitarianism is the fashion; where cities promote hilarious mass deportations and funny exterminations; where its leopard-pattern clad locals will do anything to defend their enthusiasm… 

Nearly Human

Nearly Human

How unlikely is your fleeting existence? This nine-piece, multi award-winning progressive brass band embark on a curious audio-theatrical journey. Replete with intricate rhythms, enormous choral harmonies, dynamic choreography and ruminations about stars and happenstance… 

Nick Helm: Phoenix from the Flames

Nick Helm: Phoenix from the Flames

Holy f*ck! After six years away from Edinburgh and ahead of his national tour, Helm is back at the f*cking Fringe with a full Edinburgh run of his new show to remind the world what they’ve been missing out on… 

Questing Time

Questing Time

London’s best comedy Dungeons & Dragons show is rolling into Edinburgh to ask the funniest people on the Fringe if they have what it takes to be heroes. Then, regardless of their answer, we make them play Dungeons & Dragons… 

Loyiso Gola: Pop Culture

Loyiso Gola: Pop Culture

Loyiso Gola dives into years of pop culture and the way they have shaped our lives. 

GEORGE

GEORGE

George receives a life-changing opportunity to meet the mysterious J. He leaves his old life behind and sets on a course to find himself. This pitch-black physical theatre is an insight into the madness of modern living… 

Seann Walsh: After This One I\'m Going Home

Seann Walsh: After This One I\'m Going Home

Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee and self-dubbed 'Lie-in King', Seann Walsh returns to Edinburgh. As recently seen on BBC News, Sky News, ITV News, Fox News, Conan and ITV's Bad Move… 

Fast Fringe

Fast Fringe

So many comedians, so little time! 12 top comedy and variety acts perform ridiculously short sets in one furiously fast-paced showcase. There’s a different line-up every day, selected by leading comedy website Chortle, so check Chortle… 

Give Me One Moment In Time by Doug Crossley

Give Me One Moment In Time by Doug Crossley

Doug Crossley’s solo show brings together songs, comedy and the heartache of trying to understand a friend’s suicide. It’s happy, sad and sometimes silly. It’s a life-affirming love letter to shared moments in a theatre. 

A Brief History of the Fragile Male Ego

A Brief History of the Fragile Male Ego

The multi award-winning Jordan & Skinner present a riotous new solo show that cuts to the bone of gender politics. Andrea has been giving her lecture but it’s not been going well – previous events were marred by protests and she’s hoping the open-minded audience at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe will hear her out… 

Witch Hunt

Witch Hunt

Following their award-winning show Enter The Dragons, A&E Comedy return with a surreal and darkly hilarious brouhaha directed by Cal McCrystal. These coven-ready weird sisters will be brewing a cautionary tale for our time as they ask who really holds the power in a world where the witches are hunting and predators have become the prey… 

Ken

Ken

Terry Johnson’s deeply personal Ken enjoyed a geographically personal run in as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, where much of the play takes place. The play is a deeply affectionate reminiscence of the playwright-performer’s friendship with the infamous theatre legend Ken Campbell... 

John-Luke Roberts: Terrible Wonderful Adaptations

John-Luke Roberts: Terrible Wonderful Adaptations

As a reviewer I'm fortunate enough to get free tickets to many shows. As it was the last Friday night of the Fringe I thought I'd invite some friends along to see John-Luke Roberts: Terrible Wonderful Adaptations... 

BEASTS: Best of BEASTS

BEASTS: Best of BEASTS

Best of BEASTS is a wild and brilliant explosion of a show packed with slightly smaller explosions throughout – and I’m not talking about pyrotechnics. Owen Roberts, James McNicholas and Ciarán Dowd are just as high-octane and fired up as ever – so if you were worrying about them running out of fuel, don’t... 

Fin Taylor: When Harassy Met Sally

Fin Taylor: When Harassy Met Sally

'The most relevant comedian in Edinburgh' (EdFestMag.com) is back! His finger's still on the pulse, except now he doesn't know whether that's flirting or harassment. This is the third year in a row Fin has picked a stupid title after five-star sell-outs Whitey McWhiteface and Lefty Tighty Righty Loosey... 

Flo & Joan: Alive on Stage

Flo & Joan: Alive on Stage

Following a sell-out run of their critically acclaimed 2017 show The Kindness of Stranglers, musical comedy duo and sisters Flo & Joan return to Edinburgh with a new hour of their dark and witty songs... 

Rose Matafeo: Horndog

Rose Matafeo: Horndog

Rose Matafeo has kissed nearly 10 men in her life, AKA she's a total horndog. But what is horniness? Is it that intangible essence of excitement and opportunity? A fire that flickers in the beating heart of every human being? Or is it simply wanting to bone everyone, all the time? Join Rose for a brand-new hour of critically acclaimed stand-up, sketch and mid-20s angst... 

Rachel Parris' Musical Comedy Club

Rachel Parris' Musical Comedy Club

For three nights only, award-winning musical comedian and star of BBC Two's The Mash Report, Rachel Parris, presents a late-night jamboree of tunes intended to tickle, including some of her own comic anthems plus a selection of incredible guests from across the comedy and cabaret circuit. 

Adele Is Younger Than Us

Adele Is Younger Than Us

We've all been there, the shattering realisation that you're not Adele. Stiff and Kitsch (Winner: Musical Comedy Awards 2018, VAULT Comedy Award 2017) take you on a journey through the trials and tribulations of love, with all the heartbreak but none of the Grammys... 

Stardust

Stardust

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

Sheeps: Live and Loud Selfie Sex Harry Potter

Sheeps: Live and Loud Selfie Sex Harry Potter

Sheeps are officially back, following previous acclaim and an underground status as one of the Fringe's finest sketch groups and then a three year sebatical. Perhaps temporarily... 

Robert White and His Particularly Silly Organ

Robert White and His Particularly Silly Organ

Fresh from Britain's Got Talent 2018, Robert White brings you his unique form of musical stand-up in a laugh-packed hour. Just him, some jokes, some songs, a keyboard and maybe a tank top or two... 

Lights Over Tesco Car Park

Lights Over Tesco Car Park

Robert says he saw strange lights over Tesco car park. He believes he’s been contacted by aliens. We are assured beyond doubt “ALL OF THIS IS TRUE”. We never get to meet Robert, but that’s no matter; Poltergeist Theatre are at hand to investigate and reconstruct these sightings, playfully inviting us to ask what we choose to believe... 

There Will Be Cake

There Will Be Cake

There Will Be Cake is an improvised short-form sketch show based on the input of audience members. Because of this, comedic stimuli varies from audience to audience and no two performances are the same... 

Nina's Got News by Frank Skinner

Nina's Got News by Frank Skinner

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

Elsa

Elsa

Half-hearted waitress and aspiring actress Elsa works in a cafe, eavesdropping on overly earnest coffee chats, regretful memories of the night before, and exhausting tales of the rat race, as she struggles to make sense of a world dominated by social pressures and personal brands... 

Flanders and Swann

Flanders and Swann

Direct from sell-out performances in London’s glittering West End, the Edinburgh phenomenon and absolute staple is back for an eleventh elephantine year! Tim and Jordan present the songs and wit of those masters of mayhem, mirth and Madeira – timeless comedy legends, Michael Flanders and Donald Swann... 

Woyzeck

Woyzeck

George Buchner’s great working class tragedy Woyzeck has long cast a shadow over European theatre. The author’s death before having actually finished the play, along with it’s surrealist and oftentime acid trip-like imagery, have led to many debates over the correct interpretation of it’s dark and disturbing subject material... 

Rachel Parris' Musical Comedy Club

Rachel Parris' Musical Comedy Club

For three nights only, award-winning musical comedian and star of BBC Two's The Mash Report, Rachel Parris, presents a late-night jamboree of tunes intended to tickle, including some of her own comic anthems plus a selection of incredible guests from across the comedy and cabaret circuit. 

Arthur Smith: Syd

Arthur Smith: Syd

Arthur Smith presents this heartwarming tribute to his dead father, Syd. Rather than narrate from his own perspective, Smith takes on the persona of his father, reading from the memoirs he’d written prior to his death... 

Accessibility Gala

Accessibility Gala

Disability access at the Fringe is a joke. Almost half of festival venues do not provide wheelchair access. Audiences are missing out on great shows, and shows are missing out on great audiences... 

We've Got Each Other

We've Got Each Other

Jukebox musicals are undeniably hit and miss. For every We Will Rock You, there’s a Rock of Ages – and you can feel free to decide which of those is the good one. Though they are a staple of London’s West End programming, do they have a place at the Fringe? Surely lack of space, or performance costs would preclude such a show from realisation... 

Henry

Henry

'You go into a hospital with a father and you come out with a bin bag, and no father'. Haunted by the recent death of his father, the celebrated actor Henry Chessel, master puppeteer Mark Down considers the difference between acting and puppetry... 

The Lampoons: House on Haunted Hill

The Lampoons: House on Haunted Hill

A late night slot at the Pleasance Dome perfectly suits the latest offering from The Lampoons, a raucous, defiantly silly parody of the creaky well-loved William Castle classic, delivered with just the right level of absolutely no respect whatsoever... 

Ovid's Metamorphoses

Ovid's Metamorphoses

If you have a ticket to Pants On Fire’s Ovid’s Metamorphoses, you have in your possession a way of securing the ferryman’s passage to one of the most mischievous and charming adaptations of an ancient work at Edinburgh Festival Fringe... 

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... 

Feed

Feed

Feed is a thought-provoking and memorable piece by Theatre Témoin that explores the insidious relationship between the Internet and capitalism. Focusing on the notion of the attention economy – the profitable importance of standing out amidst the endless stream of stimuli and the profit it reaps – the play makes a timely response to clickbait culture and the recent Cambridge Analytica data scandal; which serves to remind us only how contemporary and truthful its terrifying themes are... 

Elf Lyons: ChiffChaff

Elf Lyons: ChiffChaff

Elf Lyons should be feeling pretty good right now. Although she does have to top a nomination for Best Show at last year's Fringe Festival, she is still in one of the major venues at the Fringe during peak time whilst performing to fair-sized audiences... 

Criminal

Criminal

Welcome to Criminal, an anarchic improv night in which four comedians have an hour to solve a grisly murder. With a different line-up every night, one detective and three suspects will investigate a mysterious case armed only with the power of improvisation... 

Tape Facebook Live!

Tape Facebook Live!

Tape Face presents an evening with the best acts at the Edinburgh Fringe with a social media twist. Join the studio audience as we twist the reality of 300,000 people around the world online... 

Adam Riches Is Coach Coach 2: Coach Harder

Adam Riches Is Coach Coach 2: Coach Harder

The Edinburgh Comedy Award winner returns with this hotly anticipated sequel to his 2015 smash hit. This time he's battling age, personal demons and the inevitable Hollywood reboot of his past life... 

It's Not a Sprint

It's Not a Sprint

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

Aaaand Now For Something Completely Improvised

Aaaand Now For Something Completely Improvised

Fringe sensations Racing Minds are back after five sell-out years! A doddery grandfather can't quite remember his ripping yarn, but with your help a mystery stuffed with hilarious characters, whip-smart wit and breathtaking twists will take hasty shape before your very eyes... 

The Comedy Reserve

The Comedy Reserve

The Pleasance Comedy Reserve is back for its 14th year at the Edinburgh Fringe with another four brilliant new acts, hand-picked by the Pleasance and supported by the Charlie Hartill Special Reserve Fund... 

Enter the Dragons

Enter the Dragons

Enter the Dragons is a riotous, surreal odyssey exploring the pressures facing women as they age. Described as the WI run by The Mighty Boosh. Expect fantastical characters, ridiculous puppetry and extreme wigs... 

Yianni Agisilaou: I, Human

Yianni Agisilaou: I, Human

Are you stuck to your smartphone? Fearful that Facebook is listening to your every word? Technology is a useful servant but a dangerous master. An hour of analogue, human-written jokes on how humans and technology are changing each other... 

Mawaan Rizwan: Juice

Mawaan Rizwan: Juice

Mawaan brings you a deeply personal and skilfully physical show about love, freedom and Missy Elliot. Fresh from supporting Simon Amstell on his 40-date UK tour, over 18 million views on YouTube, star of Carnage, BAFTA-winning Murdered By My Father, ITV's Next of Kin and BBC's How Gay is Pakistan? 'A mischievous performer, with a no-holds-barred physicality and high wattage charm' (Guardian)... 

Flesh and Bone

Flesh and Bone

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

John Kearns: Don't Worry They're Here

John Kearns: Don't Worry They're Here

The only winner of the Best Show and Best Newcomer Edinburgh Comedy Awards returns for an encore of his 2017 critically acclaimed hit. Don't Worry They're Here has enjoyed sell-out seasons in London, Melbourne and a nationwide tour... 

Fast Fringe

Fast Fringe

So many comedians, so little time! Twelve top comedy and variety acts perform ridiculously short sets in one furiously fast-paced showcase. There's a different line-up every day, selected by leading comedy website Chortle, so check chortle... 

A Sockful of Custard

A Sockful of Custard

Jeremy Stockwell and Chris Larner celebrate British comedy legend Spike Milligan with 90 minutes of laughs, songs, philosophy and utter, utter silliness. Milligan – a man of great sensitivity, insight and comedic invention – redefined the landscape of British comedy on stage, TV and radio... 

Comedians Against Humanity

Comedians Against Humanity

Join the audience wielding Cards Against Humanity to challenge the Fringe's best comedians to create material on the spot. Interactive, inappropriate, improvised fun! Satisfying your desire to laugh hard in spite of yourself since 2015... 

The Cambridge Footlights International Tour Show 2018: Pillow Talk

The Cambridge Footlights International Tour Show 2018: Pillow Talk

Join ‘the most renowned sketch troupe of them all’ (Independent) as they embark on another world tour. This year\'s tour travels to London, Edinburgh, California, Las Vegas, Chicago, New York and many more, performing to over 20,000 people across two continents... 

The Journey

The Journey

You've just been dumped, but you're stuck on a spaceship, alone with that person. A play about self-obsession and toxic relationships. A funny, relatable and surprising romantic comedy that rewards repeat viewings... 

Offstage

Offstage

What appears to be light and entertaining, can be dark and lonely behind the curtains. On stage a mask, offstage the truth. In a universe, where theatre is life and life is a dream we find Harley and Pedro... 

Ismo Leikola: Words Apart

Ismo Leikola: Words Apart

Ismo will challenge your perception of words – and the world. His analytical eye finds things previously overlooked and makes them totally obvious. Neither words nor the world will remain the same... 

The Rockford File

The Rockford File

There's more than meets the mince pies in this appealing homage to 1970s TV Private Eye Jim Rockford, filtered through the lens of classic Ealing comedies and brilliant live roots music... 

The Search for a Black-Browed Albatross

The Search for a Black-Browed Albatross

Coat? Check. Tent? Check. A father’s lifelong ambition to complete? Check. Charlie is about to embark on the journey that her late father never did. To find the one bird that had eluded him, to rekindle their lost relationship... 

Revenants

Revenants

25 years after the murder of the Romanovs and 25 years before the murder of Martin Luther King, a group meet in an English birch wood. Actor Ernest Thesiger, Queen Mary and her chauffeur Walcott commemorate the death of the Russian royal family... 

Tom Houghton: The Honourable

Tom Houghton: The Honourable

Tom's just been made 'The Honourable'. Not by his own merit (he's been sacked from Weatherspoons twice) but the traditional aristocratic way, by default. Basically, his dad, ex-Chief of Defence Staff and current Constable of the Tower of London, was inducted into the House of Lords, making Tom "honourable", apparently... 

Alabama God Damn

Alabama God Damn

Frank returns to his small hometown and has a riot with the casual criminals, enlightened rednecks and tattoo ministers. A Southern Gothic road trip of beauty and disgust, bringing everyone down to earth, even the angels... 

Adam Riches Is The Lone Dueller

Adam Riches Is The Lone Dueller

The Edinburgh Comedy Award winner returns with a brand-new show unlike anything else. He's a shamed cavalryman turned blade-for-hire who sets out to free the townsfolk from tyranny and oppression... 

Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show

Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show

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

Ben Hanlin: 50

Ben Hanlin: 50

TV magician Ben Hanlin returns to Edinburgh with his brand-new show. Ben has searched the globe and the history books to find the 50 best magic tricks ever performed. He's added his own cheeky spin and presents them in this fast-paced magic show! Ben's warm and fun personality have made him a regular TV face, appearing in his own ITV2 show, Tricked, Celebrity Juice, Live at the Palladium and many more... 

Clicking Comedians

Clicking Comedians

For over 25 years, Steve Best had been delighting audiences around the world with his particularly silly brand of stand-up comedy. Then, one day, backstage at a gig, he took a blurry photo of Ross Noble and there began the start of a whole other career... 

AnimAlphabet: The Musical

AnimAlphabet: The Musical

High-energy actors, colourful puppets, amazing characters and fantastic songs combine to create AnimAlphabet: The Musical. Join Colin the Country Cockatoo, Hip-Hop Donkey and Geoff the Geordie Jazz Giraffe on a fantastic family musical adventure... 

Beetlemania: Kafka for Kids!

Beetlemania: Kafka for Kids!

Kafka for kids? Karter thinks it's a brilliant idea. Kat just wants to have fun! And Karl wants a kebab... but someone very strange and very, very important has arrived to shut everything down... 

Courtroom Play: A Courtroom Play

Courtroom Play: A Courtroom Play

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

I Spy With My Little Eye Something Beginning With Why Have You Been Sleeping With My Wife: A Play by Christopher Bliss

I Spy With My Little Eye Something Beginning With Why Have You Been Sleeping With My Wife: A Play by Christopher Bliss

Award-winning comedian Rob Carter's cult-hit creation, Christopher Bliss, is back. The worst novelist in Shropshire has written, directed, and cast himself in his first ever play, alongside both of his friends... 

The Raymond and Mr Timpkins Revue: Ham

The Raymond and Mr Timpkins Revue: Ham

The legendary terpsichorean twosome make their Edinburgh Fringe debut. If it is true that every story needs plot and narrative, it is fortunate indeed that this has both, which means if you're looking for a tale, one that includes the story telling devices of plottery and narrativery, then this one could be just for you... 

A Clown Show About Rain

A Clown Show About Rain

Following the ‘audacious’ (**** (Scotsman)) and critically acclaimed Follow Suit, Silent Faces return to the Fringe with more physical political fooling in the heart-warming A Clown Show About Rain... 

We Are Ian

We Are Ian

There’s something both hilarious and poignant about the dynamic between younger and older generations, the way in which the older relate the tales of their own youth to younger naive ears, the way we are nostalgic for eras we never lived in and the way in which history often repeats itself... 

The Paper Cinema's Macbeth

The Paper Cinema's Macbeth

The Paper Cinema’s Macbeth is a dazzling feat of storytelling. Using foley sound effects, live music, cinematic projection and handmade paper puppets, the team create a film – with no dialogue – live in the Pleasance Dome’s hangar-like King Dome theatre... 

Sophie Willan: Branded

Sophie Willan: Branded

Sophie Willan has had a lifetime of being branded by others. In this highly anticipated follow-up to her 2016 smash-hit debut, this brutally honest breakout star returns to tell us why... 

Dane Baptiste: G.O.D. (Gold. Oil. Drugs.)

Dane Baptiste: G.O.D. (Gold. Oil. Drugs.)

Original, provocative and exceptionally prolific, Dane returns to the Fringe with a show about our worldwide pursuit of wealth, power and pleasure. Baptiste made comedy history in 2014 as the first Black British act to be nominated for an Edinburgh Comedy Award... 

Tom Allen: Absolutely

Tom Allen: Absolutely

As seen on 8 Out of 10 Cats Does Countdown, Live at the Apollo, The Great British Bake Off's Extra Slice, The John Bishop Show, Virtually Famous, Channel 4's Comedy Gala at the O2 and heard on Radio 4's Just a Minute... 

Cathy

Cathy

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

Sleeping Trees at the Movies

Sleeping Trees at the Movies

The Sleeping Trees feel like the love child of Police Cops and Max and Ivan: high-paced, energetic character comedy with inventive visual effects and impressive teamwork. If you enjoyed those, you'll love this proficient and silly trilogy... 

Rachel Parris: Keynote

Rachel Parris: Keynote

Rachel Parris has been invited back to her old school to speak at prize giving, but what is she going to say? Is she even a role model at all? Rather than prepare for this speech at all, she’s written an Edinburgh show... 

Education, Education, Education

Education, Education, Education

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

Folie à Deux

Folie à Deux

Folie à Deux returns! Two of the stars of Fringe smash-hit Austentatious, Andrew Hunter Murray (No Such Thing As A Fish, No Such Thing As The News) and Charlotte Gittins (Grand Theft Impro) present an hour of smart, stupid, hilarious, high-wire improvised comedy based on a single word... 

Adele Is Younger Than Us

Adele Is Younger Than Us

Adele is Younger Than Us is a hilarious, down to earth comedy about the everyday struggles that ‘normal’ girls face. Sally O’Leary (Stiff) and Rhiannon Neads (Kitsch) present their charming stories through original anecdotal songs and stand-up routines... 

Butt Kapinski

Butt Kapinski

When a show’s success or failure supposedly rests almost entirely on the skills and willingness of its audience, the trust and confidence placed between performer and viewer is terrifying from both directions... 

Giants: For an Hour

Giants: For an Hour

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

Dave Johns: I, Fillum Star

Dave Johns: I, Fillum Star

It is a real privilege to get to spend time with Dave Johns for an hour as he recounts the rollercoaster that he has experienced since being cast as the lead part in Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake... 

Max & Ivan: The Reunion

Max & Ivan: The Reunion

This is character comedy at its finest. Every year Max & Ivan become one of the most highly recommended comedy shows, and with good reason. In The Reunion they're an absolute delight to watch: visceral energy between the two performers and an effortless enjoyment from both oozes out and invites us to join in with their antics... 

Rhapsodes

Rhapsodes

Back for another year, Adam Meggido and Sean McCann of Showstoppers! fame return to wow us with what is possibly the most impressive improvisational feat at the Fringe.In each show, the two men compete and cooperate in their daily endeavour to create a Shakespearean masterpiece from scratch... 

Hot Rocs

Hot Rocs

A unique cabaret experience brought to you from a stoner's living room. Blending high-grade comedy and smooth rock'n'roll, the Hot Rocs present an unmissable, alternative late-night sesh... 

Marcel Lucont's Whine List

Marcel Lucont's Whine List

The Fringe's favourite flâneur returns, as always 'excellently dry' (Times) and 'fresh, accessible and hilarious' (Guardian), with another serving of his international hit show. A kind of group therapy where everyone potentially leaves more depressed... 

Not About Heroes

Not About Heroes

Too often, we see the First World War as a stretch of years where only war happened, followed by years where the art about the war exploded in its disruptive manner. However, this is not the case, and Not About Heroes seeks to challenge that by telling us the story of some of the war’s two most famous poets: Wilfred Owen and Siefried Sassoon... 

Gutted

Gutted

Gutted is a one-woman, solo show about IBD. It was honest, articulate, candid and had a fantastic sense of humour. The performer, Liz Richardson, was relaying her experiences with the condition and, through the production, opening a dialogue about a condition considered extremely embarrassing and ‘unsexy’ – especially for women... 

Odyssey

Odyssey

The idea is a brilliant one: reducing an epic to the size of a man. However, it faces a set of challenges: can an epic be so reduced without losing everything that made it epic in the first place? In Nir Paldi and George Mann’s Odyssey, the answer is no, and the result is a solo show of Homer’s great classic that is truly spell-binding... 

Berk's Nest Mid-Fest Comedy Special

Berk's Nest Mid-Fest Comedy Special

A spectacular night of comedy to celebrate the middle of the festival from award-winning production company Berk's Nest, featuring festival favourites, the best new acts and special guests... 

Tim Key: Work in Progress

Tim Key: Work in Progress

Late at night. Minding his own business. A new blend of poeticals, talking, standing, lights, mics, cables etc. ‘He is a genius plain and simple’ ***** (Time Out). ‘This is sublime, busy and evocative work from a man who keeps getting better and better’ ***** (List)... 

Accessibility Gala

Accessibility Gala

Disability access at the Fringe is a joke. Almost half of festival venues do not provide wheelchair access. Audiences are missing out on great shows, and shows are missing out on great audiences... 

Derailed

Derailed

Merce used to protest in the streets but now she just gets angry on Facebook. Patricia has turned forty and is worried her son will hate her for not making more of a difference. Dan thinks it’s all connected to bees and Thomas… well, Thomas is the only real musician in the show, and guess what 80% of it is? Music... 

The Inane Chicanery of a Certain Adam GC Riches

The Inane Chicanery of a Certain Adam GC Riches

Don't worry, I also had to Google most of the words in the title. I'll save you a bit of time:Chicanery - ʃɪˈkeɪnəri/ - nounthe use of deception or subterfuge to achieve one's purpose... 

AnimAlphabet the Musical

AnimAlphabet the Musical

Colin the Country Cockatoo is on a mission to reunite all the notes of the stave and save his friends from the dastardly plans of Calando the duck who wants to bring eternal silence to Treble Clef Island... 

Jenny Bede: Eggtime

Jenny Bede: Eggtime

Jenny Bede wants a baby. Or at least, her mum wants her to have a baby. That’s not a spoiler: with funky tunes, audience polls and some not-so-serious soul searching, we are taken on an entertaining journey exploring what it means to be stuck in a body whose wants and needs don’t always match up with your own... 

Catriona Knox: Adorable Deplorable

Catriona Knox: Adorable Deplorable

Behind every great man stands a great woman. And behind some not-so-great men, lurk some absolutely terrible – but curiously admirable - women. This is essentially the hook for Knox’ hour of character comedy, as she introduces us to the not-quite-as-famous partners of politicians and world leaders... 

All Quiet on the Western Front

All Quiet on the Western Front

Incognito Theatre’s adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front is a solid, if predictable, production which ticks all of the necessary First World War boxes.Being an adaptation of Erich Remarque’s 1928 novel, it’s not hard to see why this might be the case... 

Big Bite-Size Lunch Hour: Best Bites

Big Bite-Size Lunch Hour: Best Bites

With the overwhelming amount of options at the Fringe, Bite-Size allows one to see several short and sweet plays in the space of an hour. Big Bite-Size Lunch Hour hosts six of the best bites, with five actors playing all the parts... 

Police Cops in Space

Police Cops in Space

When a Fringe show sells out on opening night, you know it's doing something right. Police Cops In Space is the much-anticipated sequel to last year's (equally sold-out) show from comedy trio The Pretend Men... 

A Gala for Mental Health

A Gala for Mental Health

The Mental Health Foundation's annual gala show returns for a third year. Carl Donnelly, Hannah Gadsby, Seymour Mace, Angela Barnes and Robert White team up for a night of comedy that tackles mental health with honesty and hilarity... 

The Star Seekers

The Star Seekers

Have you ever dreamt of flying to the moon? Meeting an alien? Becoming an astronaut? Join star seekers Alph, Betty and Gammo on a journey through space where you take the steering wheel... 

Questing Time

Questing Time

London's Critical Hit comedy Dungeons & Dragons show is rolling into Edinburgh for one night only, five times! Join your host, Paul Foxcroft (Cariad & Paul, Marcus Brigstocke's Unavailable For Comment), as he guides a party of Edinburgh's funniest comedians through an actual game of Dungeons & Dragons... 

Lloyd Griffith in:Undated

Lloyd Griffith in:Undated

For a show about a break-up, Lloyd Griffith in:Undated has all the comfortable generosity, grossness and joy of a long-term relationship. Owning the ‘small, chubby bloke’ vibe like – well, like quite a lot of small chubby blokes have actually – Griffith nevertheless stands out from the Edinburgh pack with his hour long narrative of a love lost, carried along by his giggly, affable persona... 

Siren

Siren

To be surprised by a show at the Fringe is a rare and wonderful thing. Siren takes us in one direction then knocks us off our feet, making sure we are never sure of where the story is headed next... 

Live at the Pleasance

Live at the Pleasance

Join the Fringe's best acts during a free live broadcast where anything could happen! Hand-picked by the Pleasance, every day features a different line-up of brilliant guests from across the venue's 2017 programme... 

Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show

Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show

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

Todd & God

Todd & God

Uplifting, fast-paced and heart-warming, Todd & God tells the tale of how God selected an atheist as her chosen one. Richard Marsh, writer of this piece of comic storytelling, also plays the role of Todd within the play... 

Goodbear

Goodbear

As their hotel receptionist alter-egos, Henry Perryment and Joe Barnes help us check into The Hotel Après Vie for an hour of horror movie-themed entertainment.There’s a lot to like about the duo from the off as they battle through a raging storm in the guise of two non-British travellers, finding themselves at the door of some mysterious residence... 

Flesh and Bone

Flesh and Bone

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

Form

Form

Form is a wordless physical tragicomedy about escaping the pressures and boredoms of contemporary life, if only momentarily. Three co-workers looping through an endlessly repeating sequence of tasks seem content with their lot until one begins to drift away... 

Part of the Picture

Part of the Picture

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

The Midnight Beast: All Killer

The Midnight Beast: All Killer

Perhaps you’ve heard of The Midnight Beast? Their blend of comic indie-pop-rap began on a humble Youtube channel and moved to Channel Four just a few years later. This month their latest venture at Pleasance Dome, horror-musical The Midnight Beast: All Killer, will certainly please fans, although I’m not so sure about anyone else... 

The Cambridge Footlights International Tour Show 2017: Dream Sequence

The Cambridge Footlights International Tour Show 2017: Dream Sequence

When an Edinburgh Fringe virgin asks a seasoned Fringe-lover (that’s me, by the way) for show recommendations there are a number of shows I always highlight before reviews have even started rolling in – the Cambridge Footlights tour is always one of them... 

Once Were Pirates

Once Were Pirates

The set of this play included a fish tank with a small toy fish that swam around in it. At one point this fish became stuck on a piece of plastic seaweed and struggled to continue on its journey... 

Audible Presents

Audible Presents

Audible presents four weekends of completely free live comedy shows, showcasing the finest acts the festival has to offer, all being recorded for a new Audible stand-up series. 2016's shows featured Rory Bremner, Dom Joly, Beardyman, Chris Gethard, Sam Simmons, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Iain Lee, Tom Ballard and many more... 

The Glenda J Collective

The Glenda J Collective

The Glenda J Collective are four superheroes of improv, ready to smash your minds with improvised songs, sketches and japes created right there on the spot. Three nights only! Featuring Josie Lawrence (Whose Line Is It Anyway? Comedy Store Players), Pippa Evans (Showstopper, The Now Show, Tonight at the Palladium), Ruth Bratt (Showstopper, People Just Do Nothing) and Cariad Lloyd (Austentatious, Peep Show). 

The Expiration Date of Jonas Müller (Age 70)

The Expiration Date of Jonas Müller (Age 70)

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

6 x 6 x 6

6 x 6 x 6

In their 12th year, Comedians' Theatre Company has become synonymous with exciting new writing and pushing comedians' performance boundaries by casting them in works of theatre. Watch six different brand-new 20 minute long theatrical duologues on the theme Together? Asunder... 

Fast Fringe

Fast Fringe

So many comedians, so little time! Twelve top comedy and variety acts perform ridiculously short sets in one furiously fast-paced showcase. There's a different line-up every day, selected by leading comedy website Chortle, so check chortle... 

The Not So Late Show With Ross and Josh

The Not So Late Show With Ross and Josh

Join your hosts Ross Brierley and Joshua Sadler as they take the late-night chat show to its illogical conclusion. A multimedia extravaganza from the creators of UK Garage Horse Racing ‘The funniest thing in the world’ (ComedyCentral... 

The Comedy Reserve

The Comedy Reserve

The Pleasance Comedy Reserve is back for its 13th year at the Edinburgh Fringe with another four brilliant new acts, handpicked by the Pleasance and supported by the Charlie Hartill Special Reserve Fund... 

Suspicious Minds

Suspicious Minds

It's been a particularly tough year for Mark and Fran. Mark's Dad died of cardiac arrest whilst playing squash. Fran f*cked someone. In a last-ditch attempt to fix their relationship, they book a commercial time-travel holiday... 

Dad's Army Radio Hour

Dad's Army Radio Hour

Celebrating 50 years of Perry and Croft’s quintessential sitcom, which won the Best One-Liner accolade in a poll of comedians conducted earlier this year by Gold, with the immortal words: 'Don't tell him, Pike'... 

Ingo's War

Ingo's War

The heart-warming tale of Ingo the dog and his journey of bravery, hope and finding courage where you thought you had none. A unique amalgamation of storytelling, puppetry and movement that combines historical truth with imaginative new writing. 

Me and Robin Hood

Me and Robin Hood

I first met Robin Hood in the Autumn of 1975, as a seven-year-old boy, and we have been good mates ever since. Recently, he's been going crazy about the direction our world is heading... 

Aaaand Now For Something Completely Improvised

Aaaand Now For Something Completely Improvised

Fringe sensations Racing Minds are back after four sell-out years! A doddery grandfather can't quite remember his ripping yarn, but with your help a mystery stuffed with hilarious characters, whip-smart wit and breathtaking twists will take hasty shape before your very eyes... 

Marcel Lucont's Whine List

Marcel Lucont's Whine List

Marcel Lucont is one of the great comic characters of the new millenium; a soft-spoken Gallic egotist with bare feet beneath his blue suit, and a large glass of pinot noir permanently in hand... 

Often Onstage

Often Onstage

At its most fundamental, theatre could be described as a series of entrances and exits, with a variety of complex journeys thrown in between the two to spice things up. A self-described “choreographic exercise in comings and goings”, Often Onstage is a bizarre production which, despite its tremendous energy and inventive humour, never quite works out what it wants to be... 

Andrew Hunter Murray: Round One

Andrew Hunter Murray: Round One

Andrew Hunter Murray, star of Fringe smash-hit Austentatious ***** (Times), QI podcast No Such Thing as a Fish and No Such Thing as the News (BBC Two), presents his debut solo hour, a sizzling slab of character comedy and high-stakes idiocy... 

Lou Sanders: What's That Lady Doing?

Lou Sanders: What's That Lady Doing?

It is a rare treat to see surrealist comedy this good. Sanders’ genius is to keep the audience off balance, no sooner have they wrapped their heads around one concept another comes flying at them,There’s not much structure or narrative to the show, it moves at breakneck speed and feels like you’ve over indulged in some amphetamines... 

BEASTS Present Mr Edinburgh 2016

BEASTS Present Mr Edinburgh 2016

Sketch troupe BEASTS are not here to perform sketches. No, they have a grander aim this year — a higher purpose, if you will. For they are the hosts of the inaugural Mr Edinburgh competition, which aims to find the manliest man/woman/child and crown them champion of champions... 

Knightmare Live: The Game Has Changed

Knightmare Live: The Game Has Changed

For many like me Knightmare was watched with a religious fever back in the 90s. The theme tune still has the power to instil a giddy excitement in many. So, it is with a sense of trepidation and excitement the fans would hold for a live production of the programme... 

Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show

Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show

On top of the breakfast (croissant, coffee and strawberries), there is a handful of ten-minute theatre pieces that are eccentric, funny and outrageous. This is a show that boasts a faithful following, whose dedication to the annual production bespeaks the undeniable quality on offer by the bite-size plays... 

Police Cops

Police Cops

In its second year at the fringe, Police Cops is a spoof boys-in-blue parody along the lines of Police Squad. It follows the classic storyline of a young cop following in the footsteps of his older brother (and father) by joining with a retired old-hand to take down a criminal mastermind... 

Bearpit Podcast (Podcast): 100 Year Anniversary

Bearpit Podcast (Podcast): 100 Year Anniversary

To commemorate the 100th year of the Bearpit Podcast (Podcast) the gang have invited back some of the best loved guests from the back catalogue, and some new faces, to help celebrate this huge occasion... 

Brendon Burns and Colt Cabana Do Comedy and Commentary to Bad Wrestling Matches!

Brendon Burns and Colt Cabana Do Comedy and Commentary to Bad Wrestling Matches!

I’m sure we’re all used to growing the Fringe brochure and seeing shows with enigmatic titles which tell you nothing about the eventual content. If only there was a show that told you exactly what to expect before you even step in the room... 

The Inevitable Heartbreak of Gavin Plimsole

The Inevitable Heartbreak of Gavin Plimsole

This quirkily named show from young company SharkLegs follows the story of Gavin Plimsole as he finds out he has a rare heart defect which could end his life at any moment. This leads him to have an audience-led adventure, various people choosing the next fork in the road of the story, as he attempts to make the most of his time in this bucket-list flavoured inspirational tale... 

Nel

Nel

Nel is a charming little love letter to cinema that follows foley artist, Nel, on her misadventures with her insufferable aunt, demanding boss and a hopeful screenwriter. For context, Nel is a single woman who lives with her pets and is perfectly content to focus on her career so, of course, she must be miserable and ends up reinventing herself to appease her overbearing friends and family... 

Chris Gethard: Career Suicide

Chris Gethard: Career Suicide

Too often, successful American comedians make their way to the UK assuming that audiences are as easy to please as they are back home. Many wrongly expect that our frames of reference will be exactly the same too... 

Ben Hanlin: Trickhead

Ben Hanlin: Trickhead

At the end of Trickhead, Ben Hanlin asks the audience to tell everyone about the show but not to spoil the tricks. That’s going to make this a hard show to review as all I can really say about Ben Hanlin apart from his skills as a magician is that he’s a charming, funny and witty chap to spend an hour with... 

Sarah Callaghan: 24

Sarah Callaghan: 24

I like Sarah Callaghan. Last year’s debut hour, Elephant, stormed it.Unfortunately, 24 started badly. The first few jokes didn’t land and after an unenthusiastic bit of audience participation in the form of a Mexican Wave failed to lift the mood, it was perhaps ill-advised for Callaghan to start discussing ‘wasting time’... 

A Gala For Mental Health

A Gala For Mental Health

Top comedians Felicity Ward, Chris Gethard, Susan Calman, Richard Gadd and Martha McBrier team up for a gala show to explore the funny side of mental ill-health – and to raise money for the Mental Health Foundation, one of the UK's leading mental health charities... 

James Veitch: Game Face

James Veitch: Game Face

We’ve all been irritated by unfair traffic fines and generic email newsletters. Most of us have been annoyed to the point we’ve considered doing something about it. Perhaps we’ve even typed out a snarky response detailing exactly what we think of the organisation, f-words and all... 

Fossils

Fossils

Fossils is an intriguing play where scepticism meets the loch ness monster. With a fantastically designed set and awesome soundscape, the quirky atmosphere is set the instant you walk into the room... 

Boris: World King

Boris: World King

A lot has happened to Boris Johnson since Boris: World King’s runaway success at last year’s Fringe. None of it has slowed down his onstage imitator David Benson, who returns more brash, more bombastic and as bicycled as ever... 

Kill the Beast: Don't Wake the Damp

Kill the Beast: Don't Wake the Damp

The reason to go and see Don’t Wake the Damp is simply for the moment after you’ve walked out, sat down with your pint, and think: ‘There’s no way I could’ve predicted anything that happened in there... 

Rachel Parris: Best Laid Plans

Rachel Parris: Best Laid Plans

Parris has a seemingly natural knack for creating comedy imbued with emotional depth that doesn’t feel forced or insecure. Dividing her stage time between her piano and a correspondence with the Samaritans, Parris appears to hide behind her storytelling devices... 

Think No Evil of Us: My Life With Kenneth Williams

Think No Evil of Us: My Life With Kenneth Williams

Twentieth anniversary performance of David Benson's Fringe First Award-winning tour de force, showing Kenneth Williams at his funniest and his most badly behaved. 'Masterpiece' (Evening Standard)... 

Hardeep Singh Kohli's Mix Tape

Hardeep Singh Kohli's Mix Tape

Hardeep Singh Kohli was meant to talk about seven nostalgic songs within his hour show, Mix Tape. He made it to three. This tells you everything you need to know about the Glaswegian funnyman’s style of comedy, which centres around improvisation... 

Lili La Scala: Another F*cking Variety Show

Lili La Scala: Another F*cking Variety Show

For a night of revelry and a hot mix of incredible performances, Lili La Scala’s Another F*cking Variety Show is a tough show to rival. With assistance from her wonderfully expressive pianist Tom, Lili is the perfect cabaret hostess... 

En Folkefiende

En Folkefiende

En Folkefiende, in English, translates as An Enemy of the People, and in this clever and modernised adaptation of Ibsen’s classic tale, Brad Birch has written a scandalous piece that should appeal to a modern audience... 

Dusty Horne's Sound and Fury

Dusty Horne's Sound and Fury

Do you know what a foley artist does? No? Well here’s your chance to find out from Hollywood’s unsung hero, Dusty Horne. It’s 1963 and in this interactive performance lecture, Dusty explains that foley is the art of reproducing and enhancing sound effects for film and TV (often via some unconventional and unbelievable methods) and, as she is the person behind the movie business’s sound effects, and we’re invited to learn some of the tricks of the trade... 

Tank

Tank

Breach Theatre blew everyone away with The Beanfield last year, and their new show, Tank, is no disappointment, retaining their distinctive brand of semi-devised/semi-verbatim theatre with a clear political edge... 

Katy Brand: I Was a Teenage Christian

Katy Brand: I Was a Teenage Christian

One Sunday, aged 13, Katy Brand went to a local church service and became a fundamentalist Christian. From then on she attended church four times a week. For seven years she put the 'fun' into fundamentalism... 

Luke Kempner: Judi Dench Broke My Heart

Luke Kempner: Judi Dench Broke My Heart

Judi Dench Broke My Heart is a farcical hour of spot-on impressions, loosely tied together with a basic premise: Luke Kempner is marrying Judi Dench, and the congregation has a few objections... 

Ten Storey Love Song
BOBBY WINNER

Ten Storey Love Song

Ten Storey Love Song may be the greatest Fringe show I’ve ever encountered. And I’m going to try my hardest to explain why, because it truly is worth your time.Middle Child Theatre are based in Hull... 

Nina Conti and Simon Munnery Whack it Up the Flagpole

Nina Conti and Simon Munnery Whack it Up the Flagpole

Weird cabaret. At the end of the day does it matter? Comedy pioneers Nina Conti and Simon Munnery bring their playful best, plus oddball guests from across the Fringe.  

WiFi Wars

WiFi Wars

Ahead of his national tour in 2017, Steve McNeil (Videogame Nation, Dara O'Briain's Go8Bit) presents the future of live video gaming comedy! Log in with your charged smartphone/tablet to compete against the whole audience in a fun range of games, quizzes and challenges... 

We Are Ian

We Are Ian

It’s difficult trying to describe We Are Ian. There are three women in white overalls onstage with their hair scrunched up and their faces almost always in states of fear and bewilderment... 

Max & Ivan: Our Story

Max & Ivan: Our Story

Max & Ivan are celebrating the anniversary of when they met – and having in recent years become a staple of the Fringe, it’s easy to understand why. Their brand of slick sketch comedy is an unmissable part of the festival for the comedy aficionado (though if you’re a comedy aficionado, you probably already knew that)... 

Best of HUB

Best of HUB

HUB is back in Edinburgh with a weekly line-up of brilliant acts! Catch the sell-out, smash-hit comedy night, with some of the most exciting names at this year's festival, hand-picked especially for you by the Pleasance... 

A Remarkable Person

A Remarkable Person

It’s a little bizarre to go and see something which calls itself ‘a touch of genius’ in its description. Not that someone hasn't indeed said that, but it does rather set itself up for a fall... 

Live at the Pleasance

Live at the Pleasance

In a free live broadcast where anything could happen, join some very special guest hosts as they meet the Fringe's finest acts. Hand-picked by the Pleasance, every day features a different line-up of brilliant guests from across the venue’s 2016 programme... 

Children and Animals

Children and Animals

Florence Read’s play takes place in a hotel room. An eccentric couple push and pull for each other’s attention as some kind of sinister plot unveils itself. What this plot is, however, is incredibly unclear... 

Callisto: A Queer Epic

Callisto: A Queer Epic

Callisto: A Queer Epic is a thoughtful piece of theatre which explores social conflicts that coincide with the queer lifestyle. Brought to life by a talented ensemble cast, this play by Howard Coase weaves together stories from the 17th, 20th and 23rd centuries to form a rich tapestry of queer narrative... 

Philip Pullman's The Ruby in the Smoke

Philip Pullman's The Ruby in the Smoke

Reprint Productions present The Ruby in the Smoke, a detective story that delights in its Victorian setting, following the adventures of resourceful Sally Lockhart. Much like the novel by Philip Pullman that it is based on, it appeals to both young and old... 

Big Bite-Size Lunch Hour: Best Bites

Big Bite-Size Lunch Hour: Best Bites

Big Bite is celebrating it’s 10-year Fringe anniversary with a ‘best of’ showcase: although an enjoyable selection of short pieces - effectively boiling down to long sketches - they tend towards middling rather than the ‘best of’ that was probably intended... 

Bucket List

Bucket List

What do you do when your mother is murdered for protesting corporate and governmental corruption? In the case of Milagros, you fight for the justice your mother was denied and seek revenge... 

Epic Love and Pop Songs

Epic Love and Pop Songs

This is a pretty great show. It’s about two teenagers, Doll and Ted (Norah Lopez Holden and George Caple respectively), who both have a lot going on in the background of their lives – barely any of it good – but who spend an hour, essentially, telling us the story of their friendship... 

A Regular Little Houdini

A Regular Little Houdini

Houdini came to Newport twice in the early twentieth century - not a piece of information you'd find at the top of Houdini's Wikipedia page, but of utmost significance to young Alan, played by Daniel Llewelyn-Williams, who becomes enchanted by the great man’s magic and escapology... 

Audible Presents

Audible Presents

Audible presents a series of completely free live performances and special guest appearances, celebrating the best of spoken word comedy. It’s time to pin back your ears for some big name stars, revealing interviews and laughs you simply have to listen to... 

Des Bishop: Grey Matters

Des Bishop: Grey Matters

One of Ireland’s most successful comedians is back in Edinburgh with a show about getting older. Shocked by turning 40, Des has caught himself saying things like 'in my day’. Not married, with no kids, Des thoroughly enjoys being the backseat parent amongst his friends... 

Arthur Smith – The Arturart Museum of Socks

Arthur Smith – The Arturart Museum of Socks

A unique exhibition telling the little known but inspirational story of socks. Rarely studied, discussed, or even thought about, socks have nevertheless made a huge contribution to the history of humankind... 

D.R.E.A.M.

D.R.E.A.M.

Why do we forget our dreams? Why can't we control them? And how can dreams impact on our day-to-day lives? Touching Sky Young Company explore a society where dreams are an unprecedented concept and do not exist... 

Aaaand Now For Something Completely Improvised

Aaaand Now For Something Completely Improvised

Fringe sensations Racing Minds are back after three sell-out years! A doddery grandfather can't quite remember his ripping yarn, but with your help a mystery stuffed with hilarious characters, whip-smart wit and breathtaking twists will take hasty shape before your very eyes... 

Garrett Millerick: The Dreams Stuff is Made of

Garrett Millerick: The Dreams Stuff is Made of

On his misguided quest to follow his dreams, Garrett Millerick got locked in a shipping container by Eminem, directed hip-hop videos for deluded city traders and once made a feature documentary about a ballroom dancer trying to save all the children of Birmingham from certain destruction... 

Fast Fringe

Fast Fringe

So many comedians, so little time! Twelve top comedy and variety acts perform ridiculously short sets in one furiously fast-paced showcase. There's a different line-up every day, selected by leading comedy website Chortle, so check www... 

Comedy Reserve at the Dome

Comedy Reserve at the Dome

Catch four of the best new acts on the comedy circuit in the twelfth year of the Pleasance Comedy Reserve, supported by the Charlie Hartill Special Reserve Fund. This year, for the first time ever, we're bringing two Comedy Reserve shows to the Edinburgh Fringe... 

The Marked

The Marked

As a boy, Jack lived in a world of monsters and invisible guardians, as he fought to protect the people he loved. Now grown, his life on the streets of London is less fantastical. But when a ghost from his past turns up, Jack must harness the power of forgotten myths to defeat her... 

Neil Henry: Mindwangler

Neil Henry: Mindwangler

YouTube sensation Neil Henry is back following his five-star sell-out show Mindsquirm, the hilarious and brain-scratchingly mystifying show that What'sOnStage.com simply described as 'Jaw-dropping'... 

Iphigenia In Splott

Iphigenia In Splott

The link between Greek myth and a deprived district of Cardiff is not an obvious one, and Iphigenia in Splott raises this intriguing question tantalisingly. Sherman Cymru’s production presents the answer deftly, and while the eventual reveal is fairly blunt, it does not diminish too much what has come before... 

Neil Henry's Magical Mindsquirm

Neil Henry's Magical Mindsquirm

You probably expect misdirection from magic, but it’s a rare thing for it to move you. This extraordinary offering from Neil Henry ended with such heartfelt sweetness that not even the most begrudging sceptics among the audience – if there were any left by the end of the show – could have come out feeling anything but joy... 

Yve Blake: Lie Collector

Yve Blake: Lie Collector

Yve Blake is fascinated by the lies we tell and has even gone so far as to set up a website where you can anonymously reveal the various untruths you've told. She's taken that collection of little fibs, white lies and massive untruths and created a one woman musical comedy show that's unmissable... 

The Pin: Ten Seconds with The Pin

The Pin: Ten Seconds with The Pin

It’s almost impossible to see a sketch show that doesn’t have its misses; hit and miss is so much of an audience expectation it has almost become the received format. However The Pin, a double act comprised of Cambridge graduates Ben Ashenden and Alexander Owen, have managed to avoid this... 

Tom Neenan: The Andromeda Paradox

Tom Neenan: The Andromeda Paradox

Following last year’s generally well-received comic homage to the Edwardian Ghost Story (The Haunting of Lopham House), writer and performer Tom Neenan shifts his genre gaze forwards to 1950s British drama and, in particular, the grandfather of television Science Fiction heroes – Professor Bernard Quatermass and his British Experimental Rocket Group... 

Lazy Susan: Double Act

Lazy Susan: Double Act

Deceptively sweet, Lazy Susan bring a cheeky malevolence to their character-driven sketch comedy. The double act has a cute, compact aesthetic, complete with breeches and theatrical make-up... 

Dorian Gray

Dorian Gray

Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray is a tale ingrained in our cultural consciousness. It is 125 years since Wilde’s decadent satire was first published. In that time the story has been adapted into films, television dramas, plays, operas and musicals... 

Nathan Caton: Straight Outta Middlesex

Nathan Caton: Straight Outta Middlesex

Once he gets going, Nathan Caton's anecdotes and stories are funny, clever and a pleasure to listen to. But it takes him a hell of a long time to stop the preamble and start the show... 

Tats Nkonzo: The African With Wifi

Tats Nkonzo: The African With Wifi

'One of the best acts to happen to South African comedy' (Argus). 'I wrote this show so I could tell the world how Simba really felt after Mufasa's death. The people deserve to know the truth' (Tats Nkonzo)... 

Lee Nelson: Suited & Booted

Lee Nelson: Suited & Booted

Fresh from headlining Glastonbury with Kanye West and bribing Sepp Blatter at FIFA’s headquarters, Lee Nelson returns to the place where it all started. Only this time he’s bringing a new look, a new outlook and a brand new show this overpriced, overlong festival... 

Massive Dad 2.0: Step Up 2 Massive Dad

Massive Dad 2.0: Step Up 2 Massive Dad

Massive Dad (Liz Kingsman, Tessa Coates, and Stevie Martin) have a sense of humour like Japanese fusion cooking, with their combination of social detail and zaniness. Their sketches range from of-the-moment skits on contemporary etiquette to absurd 1870s cop shows... 

Fast Fringe

Fast Fringe

Fast Fringe is a comedy showcase of comedy and variety acts from all over the fringe with a simple but entertaining premise: each performer, all selected by comedy website Chortle, has only three minutes to show us what they can do and convince us to go to their show... 

The Sunset Five

The Sunset Five

Sunset Five puts a quirky British twist on a thrilling heist drama. Set in Chipworth, East Anglia, the champion team of the local pub quiz must band together to raise £80,000 in order to save their pub from redevelopment by a large commercial chain... 

Jess Robinson: The Rise of Mighty Voice

Jess Robinson: The Rise of Mighty Voice

Jess Robinson is a first class mimic. Veteran of TV and radio shows like Dead Ringers, Newzoids and Little Voice, she has earned her place at the top of the UK impressionist scene. She’s also a tremendous singer – combine the two disciplines and you really have something... 

Captain Morgan 2: The Sea of Souls
BOBBY WINNER

Captain Morgan 2: The Sea of Souls

Captain Morgan is back – and now he is armed with the Sands of Time. This does not sit well with his foes, who do all in their power to reclaim this precious artefact; a journey which takes us to the bottom of the ocean, the frontiers of the Wild West and the titular Sea of Souls... 

Electric Dreams

Electric Dreams

Rose’s earliest memory is a ruined birthday party at the age of eighteen. The rest of her past is a blur to her: snatches of information, electric dreams. She meets Sebastian, a Chilean migrant and opponent of the Pinochet regime, on a bridge... 

Unmythable

Unmythable

An engaging, inventive and deliciously silly ride, Unmythable will appeal to anyone who enjoys either Greek legends or big laughs. Or both. It retells various Greek stories from a hilariously modern perspective, full of doo-wop songs, physical comedy and wonderfully imaginative storytelling... 

Ben Russell: The Tokyo Hotel

Ben Russell: The Tokyo Hotel

This show begins with the sound of drums and then a dreadful storm and so gives its audience certain expectations of what is to come but, as Russell himself exclaims, “prepare yourself for the unexpected”! When he emerges through the black door that serves as his set it is not as some monster or a strange character but a seemingly ordinary, if somewhat flamboyant, man who serves as a sort of narrator for the events that take place within the hotel... 

Impossible

Impossible

Alan Cox is Harry Houdini and Phill Jupitus is Arthur Conan Doyle in a play exploring a belief in the spiritual and the reasons that can lead you to believe in something which nobody can prove... 

The Hampstead Murder Mystery!

The Hampstead Murder Mystery!

When High Court Justice Sir Horace Fewbanks is found dead, Detective Inspector Chippenfield and Detective Sergeant Rolfe are on the case to find the killer. That is, as long as they aren’t beaten to it by Montague Crewe, a debonair private detective with an Errol Flynn-style moustache... 

Fiction

Fiction

Fiction is unlike anything else you'll see at the Fringe. Partially because you don't do much seeing. The show takes the form of a narrative soundscape, putting each audience member into a set of headphones in the darkened theatre, for an individual journey that is gripping and frighteningly ambiguous... 

Blind Man's Song

Blind Man's Song

Conceived and directed by Guillaume Pigé, Blind Man’s Song follows the imagination of a blind musician at the speed of thought. This beautifully choreographed piece of mime and physical theatre moves at a stunning pace with complex stage manoeuvres that keep us constantly engaged... 

A Very British Childhood

A Very British Childhood

We are invited into the supposedly idyllic lives of an average suburban family, where absolutely nothing is amiss. Honestly.However, as the endless summer sun beats down on them, the façade of being a perfect family begins to crack... 

The Solid Life of Sugar Water

The Solid Life of Sugar Water

Graeae Theatre Company, according to the information sheet handed out before the start of the show, sees itself as ‘a force for change in world-class theatre – breaking down barriers, challenging preconceptions and boldly placing deaf and disabled artists centre stage’... 

Best of HUB

Best of HUB

Seated and ready for some late night entertainment in the Pleasance Dome, Best of HUB brings the best of the best from the Fringe arena, providing a mixture of stand-up comedians and sketch show performers, in a dynamic, energetic and overall marvellous showcase of the talent that has come to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival... 

The Jest: The Five Humours

The Jest: The Five Humours

Like some much of our interaction with the wider world, it starts with a button. If you’re planning on seeing The Jest, press it when prompted (you can’t miss it). If anything, it will give the venue staff one less job to do... 

Eating Seals and Seagulls' Eggs

Eating Seals and Seagulls' Eggs

Eating Seals and Seagulls’ Eggs is a poetic telling of Ireland's ‘most hated woman’ – Peig Sayers. It skilfully uses multimedia in the form of period-appropriate screens, radios and projections... 

Divas

Divas

Divas charts the relationship of two men from first meeting to last parting. Following the structure of Jason Robert Brown's Last Five Years, we see Damien and Adam tell their own story but in opposite directions, one starting at the beginning of their relationship and one at the end... 

The Year of The Hare

The Year of The Hare

I would like to preface this review by saying that I think this production could be fantastic. With the right edits it really could be an incredible show - a weird one, but great. As it is, Aleksis Meaney’s production falls short of greatness, and is instead a bit of a bizarre mess... 

Spillikin – A Love Story

Spillikin – A Love Story

Spillikin, expertly directed and written by Jon Welch, follows two periods in the life of Sally, a charming and rebellious woman who married her unlikely childhood companion, the child-genius Raymond... 

Loranga, Masarin and Dartanjang

Loranga, Masarin and Dartanjang

Loranga, Masarin and Dartanjang could perhaps be best described as the illegitimate love child of CBeebies and Michael Gondry, conceived in a fever dream. With a story that veers between being overly repetitive and occasionally profound, Loranga, Masarin and Dartanjang struggles with establishing an interesting narrative whilst being visually inventive... 

Max and Ivan: The End

Max and Ivan: The End

In Max and Ivan: The End, the eponymous duo take you on a guided tour of the small town of Sudley-on-Sea, introducing you to all of the residents. The end result is a hilarious and fantastically well-crafted show... 

Big Bite Size Breakfast Show

Big Bite Size Breakfast Show

Only in Edinburgh could you start your morning off having breakfast while watching some theatre. But is it really worth waking up in the morning, or should you stay and have your breakfast in bed? Judging this theatrical offering, I’m inclined towards the latter... 

The Girl Who Fell in Love With the Moon

The Girl Who Fell in Love With the Moon

A troupe of hopeful Fringe performers get lost in the woods, forced to deliver their starry-eyed show to the "nonexistent" audience. Blending with music, comedy, and physical theatre, this playful metatheatrical setup paves the way for a quirky exploration of storytelling that unfortunately falls victim to its own free spirit... 

Ari Shaffir: This is Not Happening

Ari Shaffir: This is Not Happening

Years ago Ari Shaffir and some of his comedian buddies were sitting around in LA telling stories. It started to become a regular thing, then they did it in front of an audience in the US, then the show got picked up by Comedy Central... 

Titus Andronicus: An All-Female Production

Titus Andronicus: An All-Female Production

Smooth Faced Gentlemen have subverted the original performance conditions of Shakespeare’s plays, which were all-male productions, and have tackled his bloodiest tragedy, Titus Andronicus... 

Adam Riches is Coach Coach

Adam Riches is Coach Coach

While Riches’ audiences are usually treated – one might say subjected, if you’re on the front row - to an abundance of audience participation, this year’s iteration features only one such instance... 

Captain Morgan 1: The Sands of Time
BOBBY WINNER

Captain Morgan 1: The Sands of Time

If you think that swashbuckling adventures are only for children, think again. Captain Morgan And The Sands of Time will take you back to a world where sea gods rule supreme, arguments are settled by sword and pirates skirmish with the Royal Navy for precious treasure, unfolding madcap encounters along the way that jump through space and time with ultimate precision and immaculate timing... 

Pappy's Presents...The Secret Dudes Society

Pappy's Presents...The Secret Dudes Society

Two-time Edinburgh Comedy award nominees and stars of BBC Three's Badults, Pappy's, bring their comedy club to the Edinburgh Fringe for four very special shows. There will be exuberant dicking-around (Tom), hapless grinning (Ben) and genuine annoyance (Matthew)... 

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... 

Aaaand Now For Something Completely Improvised

Aaaand Now For Something Completely Improvised

Aaaand Now for Something Completely Improvised spins out a fully-fledged, one hour show, firmly founded on nothing more than the performers’ wit, charm, comedic reflexes and audience responses to an old story book... 

Lili la Scala: Another F*cking Variety Show

Lili la Scala: Another F*cking Variety Show

The hottest ticket of the Fringe is back! Treat yourself to a late night date with Lili la Scala and her glittering cavalcade of Cabarati. Previous guests include Jason Manford and The Boy With Tape on His Face... 

China Doll – A Neuropera in Four Seasons

China Doll – A Neuropera in Four Seasons

LET Award Finalist. The seasons are turning and winter is closing in on a small eastern European village. Nina is alone, childless and barren, with no one to warm her through the winter's night... 

The Pleasance Comedy Reserve

The Pleasance Comedy Reserve

Catch four of the hottest new acts on the comedy circuit in the 11th year of the Pleasance Comedy Reserve, supported by the Charlie Hartill Special Reserve Fund. Sample the best outstanding new comedians to hit this year's Fringe, handpicked for you by the Pleasance... 

Hardeep Singh Kohli: Big Mouth Strikes Again

Hardeep Singh Kohli: Big Mouth Strikes Again

When you've a mouth this big, is it any wonder you get into trouble? The Fringe’s favourite comedian, broadcaster, journalist and chef explains all in a brand new show. 'Immensely funny' (Daily Express)... 

All the King's Men Photo Exhibition

All the King's Men Photo Exhibition

A series of personal portraits of extraordinary men. Photography exhibition by London based photographer Dee King featuring colourful close-ups. Includes some well known figures from front and backstage at the Fringe, as well as other men across the arts and beyond... 

Rob Beckett: Mouth of the South

Rob Beckett: Mouth of the South

Beckett's back with a brand new hour of funnies and he's taking on the big issues like Kit Kats and flatbread! Star of BBC One's Live at the Apollo, BBC Two's Mock the Week, Channel 4's 8 Out of 10 Cats & ITV2's I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here Now... 

Wireless Theatre Presents: Couples Who Changed the World

Wireless Theatre Presents: Couples Who Changed the World

Ever had a burning desire to see radio entertainment being made in the studio? Me neither. Nonetheless, Wireless Theatre has offered just that. Spectators are given the chance to be part of a live studio audience as an hour of radio programming is recorded, with a different piece of radio drama, comedy, or history performed each day... 

Light

Light

In a technological netherworld, government agents struggle against rebels for control of the ‘mindspace.’ On orders from his father, Agent Petros sets out on a mission to shut down an illegal ‘disconnection clinic... 

merry christmas, Ms Meadows

merry christmas, Ms Meadows

During the last few years, the Belarus Free Theatre company has built a strong reputation in issue-based theatre, utilising a wide range of performance techniques to frame and express their chosen subjects in a forceful, memorable manner... 

Deborah Frances-White: Half a Can of Worms

Deborah Frances-White: Half a Can of Worms

Australian born Frances-White was adopted into a loving family as a baby. She never knew much about her birth mother - or any of her biological family- until a few years ago. With a few scraps of information, the ball suddenly began to roll and after a few twists and turns, she found out about her past piece by piece... 

Cariad & Paul: A Two-Player Adventure

Cariad & Paul: A Two-Player Adventure

A completely spontaneous improv adventure, taking one word from the audience and immersing them in a bespoke world of bizarre scenes and bold characters. International improv veterans Cariad Lloyd (The Cariad Show, BBC3; Edinburgh Comedy Award Best Newcomer nominee) and Paul Foxcroft (Drifters, E4) are ‘the slickest in the business’ (Chortle... 

McNeil and Pamphilon Go 8-Bit!

McNeil and Pamphilon Go 8-Bit!

Returning to an even bigger venue this year, sketch duo McNeil and Pamphilon reprise their geekalicious gameshow for this year’s Fringe: once again McNeil and Pamphilon Go 8 Bit hits the mark for nerds and noobs alike... 

Wingman

Wingman

This chuckling two-man verse-play charts part of the life of a TFL office worker trying to navigate life’s rocky road after the death of his mother and reappearance of his father... 

Travesti

Travesti

Travesti claims to emphasise the absurdity of the difficulties women face by putting their words into the mouths – and bodies – of men. Its fundamental premise is its fundamental flaw: it takes the words out of women’s mouths in the assumption that to do so makes their words more compelling... 

Cambridge Footlights International Tour Show 2014: Real Feelings

Cambridge Footlights International Tour Show 2014: Real Feelings

Stepping into some pretty big comedy shoes, Cambridge Footlights have brought a fast-paced sketch and improv show to this year’s Fringe. With some new and amusing concepts in the show, the student performers entertain but don’t quite hit the big laughs enough to put them in the higher leagues of sketch groups at the festival this year... 

Mr Swallow – The Musical

Mr Swallow – The Musical

In Mr. Swallow, Nick Mohammed has created a character so wonderfully original it’s hard to fully explain what he exactly is; nonetheless, this screeching, exasperating and nauseating figure wreaks havoc in a thoroughly enjoyable hour of comedy... 

Des Bishop: Made in China

Des Bishop: Made in China

Born in America, Irish-bred and currently residing in China, it’s a safe bet that Des Bishop has a diverse collection of experiences and stories to share. This interesting and uncommon amalgamation certainly gives his brand of comedy a unique voice and far-flung quality... 

Hardeep Singh Kohli: Hardeep Is Your Love

Hardeep Singh Kohli: Hardeep Is Your Love

Full disclosure: I came very close to tears during Hardeep is Your Love. This caught me rather off guard. I don’t make a habit of welling up during stand up shows, even ones with quite such spectacular puns in the title... 

Dan Nightingale is Trying His Best Not to Be a Dick

Dan Nightingale is Trying His Best Not to Be a Dick

After a hilarious pre-show announcement which tells the audience to prepare themselves for an “extravaganza”, Dan Nightingale has set the bar for himself considerably high. Fortunately, he does deliver and what unfolds is an excellent repertoire of laughs aplenty material... 

Goodbye Gunther

Goodbye Gunther

Frank Wurzinger’s Goodbye Günther takes the audience on a curious little journey through facing the inevitabilities of life and death, which provides ample amounts of gentle humour and touching melancholy... 

Tom Rosenthal: Meme, Myself and I

Tom Rosenthal: Meme, Myself and I

Tired of being tired of panel shows? This show is for you! About the internet, it differs enough from other ones to make it legally viable but not enough to make you feel uncomfortable... 

#MyWay

#MyWay

Young Pleasance has built up a reputation as a company surprisingly close in quality to many more adult and professional theatre troupes at the Fringe. 2014 is no exception. This year’s #MyWay charts the social and digital struggles of a Sinatra-obsessed teenager with a penchant for love: Charlie, the boy who dared to leave Facebook... 

Swimming

Swimming

The sea has inspired fear, dread, awe or hope in many a work of literature. Menagerie Theatre’s piece of new writing, Swimming, draws on all of these and more in a thoughtful and believable tale in a beach cafe on the Isle of Wight... 

Foul Play. The F*cking Nasty Show

Foul Play. The F*cking Nasty Show

Foul Play offers up the filthiest material from the most daring comics, and it really doesn’t disappoint. Expect a lot of fucking swearing. Each night different comics will be bringing their most outrageous sets, and I was lucky enough to see Mark Nelson, Desmond O’Connor (no not that one), Mark Dolan, Marcel Lucont and Tom Stade, with compere Mick Ferry... 

The Hive

The Hive

The Hive presents a dystopian future which functions by the principle of “safety in segregation”: each person lives isolated in an eight-by-eight-metre cell and can communicate with others only through screens... 

Dan Clark: Me, My Selfie and I

Dan Clark: Me, My Selfie and I

Dan Clark is back on form. After a notable absence from the comedy circuit (and a notable absence in love life), he is back. It's been almost twelve years since he has had a proper girlfriend, and during that time he has spent a lot of time on his own... 

Another F*cking Variety Show

Another F*cking Variety Show

If you’re looking for a variety show that is deliciously sexy, a little bit bizarre and a whole lot of unbridled, raucous fun, look no further. Lili La Scala and her sparkling Cabaratti entourage are at the ready to cater to your every cheeky thought and naughty whim... 

Marcel Lucont Is

Marcel Lucont Is

One has to admire Alexis Dubus' character of Marcel Lucont. He does everything, absolutely everything, at his own pace which is about a quarter of the speed of any other comedian. He practically personifies confidence and his cool, French manner conveys a sense that he does not care a jot what others think... 

Joseph Morpurgo: Odessa

Joseph Morpurgo: Odessa

Joseph Morpurgo’s epic, sprawling opus opens with a montage of a VHS recorded presentation of early ‘80s TV adverts and news reports from the city of Odessa, Texas. From these little nuggets of retro gold, Mopurgo spins what has to be one of the most bizarre, innovative and tear-inducingly hilarious comedy routines I have seen at the festival... 

Friday I'm in Love

Friday I'm in Love

The poptacular London band started thirty minutes late for their three and half hour set, most likely due to technical difficulties or the arrangement of the room. But the loud band appears professional, making few mistakes and swiftly covering up any they make... 

The Curing Room

The Curing Room

The intriguing central premise of The Curing Room is based upon a terrifying true story. A captain, three lieutenants and three privates have been trapped and abandoned in a Polish cellar at the climax of the Second World War, awaiting liberation... 

Fast Fringe

Fast Fringe

The line-up of this comedy showcase changes daily, making each viewing unique. The performance that I attended took place on ‘Black Wednesday,’ compere Ray Peacock was quick to inform us: the first day when Fringe tickets lose their 2-for-1 deals and crowds thin dramatically... 

Jason Cook: Broken

Jason Cook: Broken

Jason Cook reveals near the beginning of Broken that his journey into stand-up comedy was a stereotypical one. He started telling jokes at school to avoid being bullied, carrying on his love for making people laugh at the shipyard and pub before some mates told him he should give it a whirl professionally... 

Mat Ricardo: Showman

Mat Ricardo: Showman

Juggling is impressive. Juggling with household objects is very impressive. Juggling with bowling balls is even more impressive. But juggling is also repetitive. What works well when you’re watching street performances for five minutes loses its novelty fifteen minutes into an hour long show... 

Morgan & West: Parlour Tricks

Morgan & West: Parlour Tricks

Performed with delightful Victorian flair and charm, magic has never looked quite so dashing and debonair. With elements of theatre, storytelling, science and time travel thrown in for good measure, Parlour Tricks is not your average magic show... 

When It Rains

When It Rains

Never have I laughed out loud so much at a show which has left me feeling so hollow. This is dark humour at its most inventive and its most bleak. The wit of When It Rains is unique, generated mostly through the use of a robotic voiceover and text projected onto a backdrop, both of which provide a dry commentary on the lives of the four characters whose lives fall apart over the course of the piece... 

Austentatious: An Improvised Jane Austen Novel

Austentatious: An Improvised Jane Austen Novel

It is a truth universally acknowledged that starting a review of Austentatious with ‘it is a truth universally acknowledged’ is so cliché that the author should be beaten. Thus this review actually starts in the next sentence... 

Shappi Khorsandi: Because I'm Shappi...

Shappi Khorsandi: Because I'm Shappi...

Shappi Khorsandi is set to take Edinburgh by storm at this year’s Festival with her show, Because I’m Shappi. Sorely missed at the Festival last year, she is back with a bang. Effortlessly witty and cheeky as ever, Shappi graces the stage with a new set of anecdotal, sometimes rude and always hilarious ponderings... 

The Word Café

The Word Café

Take two Radio 4 poets, Matt Harvey: ‘...not only funny but tender and true’ (Guardian), and Kate Fox: ‘funny and endearing with enough journalistic cynicism to cut through the whimsy’ (Sunday Telegraph), mix well with Liverpool poet Julie Mullen: ‘does for sprouts what Wordsworth did for daffodils’ (Brian Patten)... 

The Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show

The Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show

It is amazing what a coffee and a croissant can do to a bleary-eyed audience. The collective hangover which overcasts every morning of the festival vanished for the crowd of The Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show, clearing the way for an hour of laughter and intrigue... 

Jonny & The Baptists: The Satiric Verses

Jonny & The Baptists: The Satiric Verses

From Bruce Springsteen to Mitch Benn, music has long been a great vehicle for political enlightenment and for having a good liberal whinge. For the fantastic English duo Jonny & the Baptists, it has been the socialist tour-bus dragging them around the country, preaching a message of acceptance, socialism and that Nigel Farage’s last name rhymes with ‘carriage’... 

Lorraine & Alan

Lorraine & Alan

Lorraine and Alan adapts an Orkney folktale about selkies - seals who shed their skin to become human - and places it in the contemporary world. The story begins with Alan, a fresh university graduate with a degree (a high 2:2) in marine biology... 

John Conway Tonight

John Conway Tonight

The John Conway Tonight show is an oddball comedy night that could be called A Comedian’s Descent into Madness. Conway asks a lot of questions of his audience and delivers a number of non-jokes... 

Broke

Broke

Broke sells itself as a collection of dramatised verbatim interviews tied together less narratively than thematically, the exchanges centring on the financial circumstances of their interlocutors... 

Happy

Happy

What does it mean to be happy in 2014? How is it even possible? No jobs, no cash and no hope. But still people seem to manage. No Prophet Theatre return to bring you a dark and comic look at how we all continue to stagger (some more successfully than others) towards the holy grail of humanity... 

Blofeld & Baxter: Memories of Test Match Special

Blofeld & Baxter: Memories of Test Match Special

Back by popular demand! Even more untold stories from TMS! Henry Blofeld and Peter Baxter cordially invite you to join them on a trip down memory lane to discover fascinating untold stories from the TMS commentary box and beyond... 

Andrew O'Neill's History of Heavy Metal

Andrew O'Neill's History of Heavy Metal

Andrew O'Neill (Buzzcocks, Museum Of Curiosity, Stewart Lee's Comedy Vehicle) knows more about metal than you've had hot dinners. Come and watch an extremely funny (multi award nominated) comedian talk about the thing he loves most in the world... 

The Comedy Reserve

The Comedy Reserve

Catch four of the hottest new acts on the comedy circuit in the 10th year of the Pleasance's Comedy Reserve, supported by the Charlie Hartill Special Reserve Fund. Sample the cream of the crop of outstanding new young comedians to hit this year's Fringe... 

Adam of the Riches

Adam of the Riches

2011 Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Award winner Adam Riches returns with a brand new hour of phenomenal bullshit. ***** (Independent). ***** (Telegraph). ***** (Scotsman). ***** (Time Out)... 

Jess Robinson: Mighty Voice

Jess Robinson: Mighty Voice

Join the star of BBC1’s Dead Ringers, Impressions Show, and Jim Cartwright’s Little Voice for a sublime hour of laughter as she impersonates everyone from classic Hollywood stars to pampered pop celebs... 

Lloyd Langford: Old Fashioned

Lloyd Langford: Old Fashioned

A stand-up show about feeling bamboozled by the modern world. Join Lloyd for a brand new hour of gags, anecdotes, riffs and occasional exasperated pleas to the sky. Will contain jokes about CGI, plugs and gang bangs... 

Tim FitzHigham: Hellfire

Tim FitzHigham: Hellfire

True spirit of the Fringe, multi award-winning, Perrier nominated expeditionary comedian, author and explorer Tim FitzHigham is back in a brand new show. Tim rowed the channel in a bathtub, run rivers in paper boats and tackled weird wagers... 

McQueen: McQueen

McQueen: McQueen

When comedian/producer McQueen Adams called up Timothy Oakley of Phantogram fame he wanted to create something nobody had ever seen before. So that's what they did! They formed McQueen and have created an audio/video world of live comedy, music and parody! ‘An original show that showcases immense talent and wow factor' (HuffingtonPost... 

Nathan Caton: Teenage Mutant Nathan Caton

Nathan Caton: Teenage Mutant Nathan Caton

The award-winning Nathan Caton (BBC2's Mock the Week, BBC Radio 4's The Now Show, News Quiz and Can't Tell Nathan Caton Nothing) brings his wonderfully entertaining new show to the Edinburgh Festival... 

Garrett Millerick: Smile

Garrett Millerick: Smile

The critically acclaimed, Breakthrough Act 2019 Award nominee returns with a defiant battle cry against the gloom – Smile. 

In Loyal Company

In Loyal Company

The incredible true story of missing WWII soldier Arthur Robinson by David William Bryan and Sascha Moore (Trashed, 2017). Declared missing after his ship is sunk during the Battle of Singapore in 1942, this epic untold tale of survival is a one-man powerhouse performance presented by the team behind Trashed in 2017... 

Aardman Model Making Workshops

Aardman Model Making Workshops

Aardman Animations are giving you the chance to learn how to make your very own classic character, at these hands-on clay modelling workshops with Aardman’s Lead Senior Model Mak… 

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