Shows at Summerhall

Nude Parade (WIP)

Roll up your sleeves, and go under the knife as we enter into an anaesthetic world turned upside down. Like a live theatre version of the game of Operation – but make it trans. A work-in-progress by Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee, S.E. Grummett, combining live-feed video, interactive surgery and trash puppets. From the creators of SLUGS 'Brilliantly smart and beautifully stupid' **** (Guardian), Creepy Boys ***** (ToDoList.org.uk) and Something in the Water (Winner of Best Theatre award at Adelaide Fringe), comes a glittery and gory dissection of bodies, queerness and identity.

Summerhall • 19 Aug 2026 - 24 Aug 2026

The Dreaming

How do you justify bringing a child into this world? When she was a teenager, she vowed she never would. Yet, when babies start appearing in her dreams, her resolve is challenged by a monstrous desire for a baby of her own. Channelling a wide array of personas and worlds, The Dreaming sees us lost between landscapes of fantasy and nightmare. Here we seek answers to the questions: What drives us to create life? How do we grieve the futures the economic and climate crises have taken from us? What makes our lives meaningful?

Summerhall • 19 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

Good Enough?

From the critically acclaimed, award-winning company behind Mass Effect and Champions comes a brand-new performance celebrating imperfection, queer joy and the courage to find your tribe. Good Enough? is a queer, quirky and boisterous physical theatre performance about reclaiming your story and having the courage to be loud, awkward and unapologetically yourself. This is not a show about perfect bodies or polished dancers. It's about the instinct to move, to express and to be seen – especially when language isn't enough.

Summerhall • 19 Aug 2026 - 30 Aug 2026

Derek Mitchell: Work in Progress

Comedian and viral creator of @letsdoubledutch Derek Mitchell tests new material and characters for an hour – expect accents, sketches and cross-cultural weirdness. With nearly a million followers and over half a billion views online, Derek has built a global fanbase through his whip-smart characters and satirical takes on Dutch, British and North American cultures. 'Hysterically funny' ***** (BroadwayBaby.com). 'Seriously impressive' **** (Stage). 'Masterful' **** (List).

Summerhall • 18 Aug 2026 - 30 Aug 2026

Transmission

Freedom Party leader and founder of the Scots Mission, Big Jimmy, is here to tell you how to keep yur grannies safe and Make Scotland Cis Again! Hilarious, curious and deeply human, Transmission is a darkly comedic, tender-hearted performance by playwright and drag artist Nelly Kelly, exploring Scotland's shift from world-leading on LGBT+ rights, to fertile ground for the anti-trans movement. Blending DIY-cabaret with political theatre, male impersonation and a heap of mischief, Transmission examines how public perception of trans people is shaped – not by trans voices – but by 'single issue' campaigners, political-footballing and media distortion. MadeInScotlandShowcase.com

Summerhall • 18 Aug 2026 - 23 Aug 2026

Women of Will

Jack, an aging actor, walks into a pub. Ava, a bartender auditioning, once again, for drama school, pours him a drink. Jack offers to help Ava with her monologues, and the two wend their way through the Shakespeare canon, clashing and connecting as they do. Based on the ineffable Tina Packer's Women of Will, this production charts the way Shakespeare's writing for women changed across his career. Intimate, epic; what emerges is an homage to some of the Bard's heroines, a love song to connection, as they learn to listen to both the text and each other.

Summerhall • 18 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

Our Other Organ

With brutality and humour, Boaz Barkan digs into a living body to uncover a new organ – the place where our racism resides. Our Other Organ dissects antisemitism and its impact on Jewish identity, culminating in the creation of a new Zionist body and structures of violence and domination. The performance explores the anatomy of victims and oppressors as simultaneous conditions within the same body. Moving through bodies and time, it connects personal histories to collective trauma, tracing how oppression is embodied, reproduced and transformed into systems of power, fear and ultimately, genocide.

Summerhall • 18 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

Laughing Out Lonely

Laughing Out Lonely (LOL) is a portrait of contemporary loneliness. With a universal relevance, and a tour de tour performance from acclaimed countertenor Morten Grove Frandsen, this thrilling new opera is a thought-provoking performance that pushes the boundaries of what opera can be. Created using English lyrics that are based on posts from young people on social media, and staged by Louise Beck as a theatrical echo chamber where the audience is part of the setting, Laughing Out Lonely is a compelling work that is relevant for audiences of all ages.

Summerhall • 18 Aug 2026 - 30 Aug 2026

TITCLOWN: daddy's little girl

OnlyFans slut makes a clown show about falling in love <3 'Hysterically funny' ****½ (One4Review.co.uk). 'Brilliantly relentless' **** (Fest). 'This is not simply under-grad humour. This is, in my view, a skilled clown presenting and counter-balancing the arguments which wax and wane through the generations about whether to sexualise or not to sexualise the female body.' ***** (UKCabaret.com). 'Her tits might have put bums on seats. But it's her silly, provocative humour and commitment that kept them there.' (Chortle.co.uk).

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

Daddy

Joel has Daddy issues. In a party of pick'n'mix participation, acclaimed Aboriginal choreographer, Joel Bray, hankers for his father and their lost mother tongue. Creating a candy-coloured world he folds and sifts his way amongst the audience, playfully seducing the room with a dollop of queer desire while prodding the deep cavities of colonisation. Heartbreaking and hilarious, Daddy is a provocative confection of conversation, choreography and (actual) cream. Joel soft-serves a sugar rush of spontaneous community where everyone is safe and licking is optional. 'Does performance art get more powerful and intimate?' ***** (Sydney Morning Herald).

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

Creepy Boys: SLUGS

It's about nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. We promise. For tonight, we are free. From the award-winning performance/comedy duo Creepy Boys, S.E. Grummett and Sam Kruger, this anarchic fever dream is a techno-punk concert, a play, a clown show and a basement puppet nightmare all rolled into one. Best Show nominee, Edinburgh Comedy Awards 2025. 'The underground hit of the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe' (Telegraph). **** (Guardian). **** (Scotsman). **** (Chortle.co.uk). ***** (ToDoList.org.uk). ***** (BroadwayBaby.com). **** (List). **** (Financial Times). **** (Fest).

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 17 Aug 2026

Daydreams

It's 3am. The phone glows. The feed is insatiable. Sleep doesn't come. From the producer of Mother Has Arrived (The Stage's Top 50 shows of 2025). Daydreams locks you into a sleepless loop where headlines and half-dreams collide. A solo performer carries the night through spoken thoughts and a body that can't rest. 3D projection fractures the space into flickers, scrolls and sudden images. An ominous soundscape swells and distorts, turning notifications and breath into a tightening pulse. Dark humour cuts at the edge of collapse. By morning, you're still awake. Three coffees should do it, right?

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

Bunny!

Meet Bunny, an aspiring theatre starlet looking for her big break. She's also a serial killer, streamlining the talent pool through cold-blooded murder to increase her chances of landing a role. After getting rid of the country's actors, emerging theatre companies and even some big hitters, she's still no closer to achieving her dreams. But a revolution is starting to unfold, and Bunny is at the heart of it. Her murderous ways inspire a radical movement hell-bent on destroying billionaires, celebrity culture and artistic fascism. But Bunny just wants to be on Broadway...

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

Salty Brine: HOW STRANGE IT IS (The Neutral Milk Hotel Show)

Neutral Milk Hotel's indie-rock triumph In the Aeroplane Over the Sea and Anne Frank's stunning and candid The Diary of a Young Girl fuse with confessions from Salty's adolescent longings in this genre-defying cabaret with wit, spectacle and heart. Sparks fly, time bends, and the ghosts of our past return to us in this hilarious and devastating work from Salty's acclaimed and expansive Living Record Collection. 'Astounding' ***** (Stage). ***** (List). 'A storyteller in total command of voice, a cocked eyebrow and his audience' **** (Guardian).

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 30 Aug 2026

How Not to Make it in America

It's 2001. A naive young Australian actor arrives in New York. One man plays twenty-eight characters in this heartbreakingly funny award-winning play about 9/11 and chasing your dreams. Twenty-five years after September 11 changed the world, performer James Smith transforms from a hopeful Aussie to a weary New York lawyer to a British compulsive liar (to name a few), in a fragmented story inspired by playwright Emily Steel's real-life experiences. 'Beautifully told, deeply resonant' ***** (List). 'Go see it and take all of your friends' ***** (GlamAdelaide.com.au).

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

Puttana

Puttana is a work that questions the boundary between body and commodity, between desire and power. In a society that normalises consumption, the buying and selling of bodies follows the same rules as any other market: I pay, therefore I can. A single actress gives voice to five characters, through music and words, to tell an uncomfortable and cruel story. Will you be the one who casts the first stone?

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

Bigfoot Ripped My Dog In Half I Saw It

Two teenagers perform fake Bigfoot sightings in their Appalachian town, until a neighbour's dog turns up torn to pieces. Aside from sparking a panic that spirals out of their control, it forces them to question what might actually be terrorizing their under-resourced and already superstitious community. From 2022, 2023 and 2024 Fringe First award-winners and 'the Fringe's most dynamic theatrical duo' (Telegraph), Xhloe and Natasha, comes a Brechtian puppet show ripped in two about conspiracy, misdirection and seeing something with your own eyes.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 30 Aug 2026

Meteors

Grief. Stars. Mums. Lasagne. 'Among the more than a thousand works on offer in the Fringe, Meteors is likely a standout – both entertaining and emotional, offering a chance for real connection' ***** (InDaily.com.au). Grief isn't part of the conversation. Especially not as a young person. No one knows what to say, so it's simply left unsaid. An acclaimed breakout at the 2026 Adelaide Fringe, Melissa traverses the messy, non-linear aftermath of losing a mother at age 20, the vastness of the universe, too many lasagnes and the search for light in the dark.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

Sauna Sessions Arts Club – The Hottest Club in Town

You, your mates, hot sauna, cold plunge, our resident DJs on the decks, plus a host of special guests. Surprising, delighting theatrics, comedy, music, Aufguss and much more in the UK's largest sauna with state-of-the-art lighting and surround sound for a fully immersive experience. Watch a performance in the sauna, plunge in an ice bath, have a dance with your mates, grab a chilled 0% beer and step back into the heat of the moment. This is the coolest/hottest arts party around.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

Werewolf

Attention: multiple new occurrences are now confirmed and verified. Healthy citizens must report to their safehouses by sunset and shelter in place. Three ill-equipped wardens keep watch over a makeshift community who must learn to work together. But as the threat outside takes shape, the atmosphere inside begins to turn. A gripping blend of thriller and comedy that pulls you into an immersive world of suspicion, survival and uneasy laughter. With heart-pounding sound design, razor-sharp performances and a daring, darkly funny style, this international cult hit asks: when night falls – who do you trust? ***** (BritishTheatreGuide.info).

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

FORIEGNER

This foreigner hopes his genius performance gets him naturalised or deported. A dizzying solo that refuses to explain Sohrab's experience as an Iranian asylum seeker. A paradoxical autobiographical anti-identity, anti-comedy clown show inspired by Rumi's call to kill yourself. 'Unconventional. Undismissable. Unforgettable' (Plays Unpleasant). FORIEGNER is co-created by Koan Brothers (Sohrab Haghverdi, Benjamin Rosenthal, Mason Rosenthal). The show received the Al-Bustan Award for SWANA Artists and the Tyler Touring Fund. Mason Rosenthal is a founding member of Lightning Rod Special, the company behind Underground Railroad Game (Edinburgh Fringe First and Edinburgh Stage Awards) and a 2026 Creative Capital Awardee.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

PLASTIC

Minyoung Kim is a composer and soloist from Seoul, who combines geomungo - a traditional Korean string instrument – with jeongga – traditional Korean singing based on poetry and electronic music. PLASTIC is her solo project first presented in 2025, in which she explores the contradictions of human beings: their fragility and, at the same time, their immense potential, offering a modern and updated version of traditional Korean music with accompanying psychedelic projection.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

Man Sings the Same Song Over and Over Again for an Hour

One man. One song. One hour. Award-winning comedian Conk takes to the stage and sings the same song over and over again on repeat for an entire hour. That's it. That's the show. Which song? You'll have to come and find out. Equal parts comedy and live art experiment, what begins as a simple musical premise of singing the same hit song over and over again spirals into a hilarious feat of absurdity.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

Magic Lantern Anthology

Let the Magic Lantern Anthology guide you through future folklore and forgotten myths. Through the power of puppetry, science and light, puppeteer Jacob Graham lures you into distant worlds, aided by Michael Vandergard's light puppets, the art of magic, and strange physics. Explore how the world around us manipulates our identity and how the confines of our physical world can never stop us from taking a joyride or flying toward the stars.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

The Plot

5th November. 1605. London. A plot foiled. A trial imminent. A story rewritten. Two brothers stand accused of high treason for a plot they bet their lives to pull off, and on the other side of the Thames, a playwright weaves their story into a new masterpiece to save his own skin. The Plot is a show about the power of great stories, those who wield them, and the imagination. It is the fourth show by Emma Howlett with her company theatregoose, makers of consecutive Fringe hits Aether, Sisters Three and Her Green Hell.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

HAM

A grief-stricken vegan seeks revenge for the death of a pig. First, he thinks for a long time. Second, he blames his mother. Finally, he wreaks the ultimate vengeance... by putting on a play. HAM is a kinky eco-hijacking of Shakespeare’s Hamlet about meat, madness and the power of shame. The 'vividly, viscerally alive' ***** (Guardian) Hotter Project twists this high-brow tragedy into a sordid wrestle between a vegan and a sausage-lover. As we hurtle towards the end of humankind, every one of us must decide: to eat, or not to eat? That is the question.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 30 Aug 2026

Lions

Fringe First winners return with a sweaty mustache of a comedy about the business of letting our dads die. With a dose of Kafka and 'A Christmas Carol,' Lions disassembles the myths our fathers told themselves about becoming great men. Part clown show and part deconstructed eulogy, Lions honors our fathers by not denying them the humanity they could not offer themselves. 'Lions made me laugh, cry and consider my doomed legacy' (8 Best Shows at Philadelphia Fringe, Philadelphia Inquirer). From the creators of UNDERGROUND RAILROAD GAME (Fringe First Award, The Stage Award, Obie Award, **** Guardian, ***** Stage).

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 30 Aug 2026

Kismet (Ghesmat)

Work in progress of a new play, written and performed by Shaparak Khorsandi, based on true life experiences of her Iranian family, scattered around the globe after the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Featuring original live music by Jean Delkhaste, aka Smiling Beth. Can two sisters from different generations hold the same inheritance without collapsing into resentment, fantasy or ideology?

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 16 Aug 2026

They're Just Small Town (Northern) Lads

Boys are shaped by the men around them. So what makes a man? It's Y2K and a teenage boy has been caught between two very different influences: a volatile father and a gentle Windrush-era grandfather. But when he's uprooted to a working-class Northern town, he quickly learns the rules: who the hard lads are, what to say on MSN Messenger and how to be a "proper" lad. Blending vivid storytelling with sharp humour, this nostalgia-drenched autobiographical show explores boyhood, masculinity and the moments young boys must decide what kind of men they will become.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 16 Aug 2026

Tell Me

Two timelines collide in this bold fusion of dance and circus, offering a fresh perspective on HIV. When Grace receives a diagnosis, she is transported back to the 80s alongside Michael, a gay man navigating a very different reality. Their journeys unfold through striking choreography, Chinese pole and aerial artistry. Sadiq Ali Company, makers of five-star, award-winning The Chosen Haram, return to the Fringe with their new show Tell Me, part of the Made in Scotland showcase. 'Stunning, soulful, a total triumph' ***** (PinkPrinceTheatre.com). 'Poignant tale of sex, revelry and glistening abs' **** (Guardian). MadeInScotlandShowcase.com

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

I AM JOHNNY

Boys, are you shirkin for a gherkin? Attempting openness while navigating the pressures of his troubled masculinity, Johnny finds himself off-piste in the world of spoken-word poetry. I AM JOHNNY is an unsettlingly funny, absurd and politically sharp solo performance that dives head-first into fragile power dynamics, performative masculinity and ownership of the female body. Blending surreal humour with piercing insight, this is a hilarious, raw and unforgettable interrogation of gender, class and vulnerability.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

The Distance

He's been running his whole life. Time to catch up. When the football pitch freezes, Chris is forced into cross-country. Everyone hates it, but something in Chris ignites. A coming-of-age story set in the world of elite sport where everything is measured, every meal, every metre, every moment, asking why we push ourselves as far as we can... Then further. From former GB athlete Ben Norris, The Distance is part play, part extreme workout – a sweat-drenched exploration of ambition, identity and letting go. Directed by Julia Locascio. From the producers of SIX, Choir of Man and Playfight.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

We Had Fun

Where did it all go wrong? Well, it depends who you ask. Close friends Oscar and Ela navigate the fallout of a drunken sexual encounter as their conflicting versions of events are replayed, rewound and re-written against the sensory medley of a wild night out. Olivier and Tony nominated Carrie-Anne Ingrouille (SIX the Musical) directs the world premiere of this distinctly un-romantic dark comedy and 'fascinating exploration' (Daniel Finkelstein, The Times) of the greyest areas of consent and sexual politics.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

ROLEPLAY

Hey slut! A broke feminist podcaster reinvents herself as a provocative slutfluencer in pursuit of fame, only to lose herself in the performance. Darkly hilarious, gripping and surreal, ROLEPLAY is a ferocious interrogation of modern sex, the commodification of feminism and the era of the personal brand. Writer, actress and comic Hannah Reilly brings her 'fresh, female-first approach' (Elle) to the Fringe in this NSFW one-woman show directed by Paige Rattray (Fangirls). From award-winning producers Francesca Moody Productions (Fleabag, Baby Reindeer) and Global Creatures (Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Muriel's Wedding The Musical).

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

Boogie on the Bones

A political musical play set in Soviet-era Moscow, where a youth subculture resists conformity through jazz, dance and underground culture. Music is carved onto X-ray discs and passed in secret as young people search for their voice and dream of a freer world beyond the USSR. As pressure from the state intensifies, friendships shift, choices become dangerous and those dreams begin to fracture. What starts as rebellion through music turns into a struggle to hold on to identity, love and freedom under constant threat.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

The Speakeasy Experience

Hidden within the Old Dick Vet School lies a clandestine tavern where Edinburgh's rogue doctors and veterinarians gather. Surrounded by animal skulls and illicit research, you are invited into the medical underground's inner circle. Sign the ledger and swear a binding oath of secrecy before being administered two potent, gin-based trials. From an eerie tonic designed to stir the senses to a controversial elixir inspired by bizarre early-century surgical grafts, this immersive experience blends local history with forbidden anatomy.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

An Evening with Gerald Lloyd-Davies

Aspiring national treasure and quintessential luvvie Gerald Lloyd-Davies amuses the audience and himself in a comprehensive career retrospective, from his humble beginnings in the Rhondda to playing an ageing Peter Parker in Spiderman: Never Too Late. But when confronted with an inconvenient opinion about his past, Gerald must adapt in order to secure his future. Can he do so before the curtain falls? Laurie Stevens's theatre debut follows her hit character show David's One-Man Band: 'Gleefully funny' **** (Everything-Theatre.co.uk). 'Evocative... well-written... nails something universal' **** (List). 'So relatable' **** (LothianLife.co.uk). 'Touching' **** (ThreeWeeks).

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

Surreally Good

Say hello to Scott – the finest "Edutainment Officer" in the business, a leading expert in overhead animation and lo-fi storytelling, a renowned descendent of the Turnbull Family Edutainment programme and a grieving son. The only problem is, he’s gone a little bit freaky-deaky. With the Wilkes Booth Corporation breathing down his neck, our charming yet unreliable narrator is struggling with the pressure of real life. The award-winning show (Best Performance, Newcastle Fringe) is back at Edinburgh Fringe for a second year! 'Nothing else like it at the festival' (Scotsman). 'Weird and wonderfully warm' (Guardian).

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

JULIUS CAESAR VARIETY SHOW

JULIUS CAESAR VARIETY SHOW is the worst audition you've ever had. A Black actor, a woman actor, and a straight white male actor walk into a Shakespeare audition in a condemned theatre space. Amidst a riot outside the theatre, three auditionees attempt to impress an intensely respected director set on reinventing the play in "unorthodox" styles. As the audition unfolds, the actors' identities are called into the audition room and exploited for better performances.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

Nesting

A father dreams of dying. A daughter dreams of living. A seagull dreams of being human. Francis is caged in his home by devotion, duty and a devastating diagnosis. A seagull offers an escape: it will nest inside his body, take control and free his pregnant daughter from the burden of his care. But what begins as selfless sacrifice risks becoming violent surrender. An absurd, darkly comic new play with an electrifying score, Nesting is a visceral exploration of love, death and duty from Trolley Problem, following their sold-out production of Mistero Buffo at the Citizens Theatre.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

We Will Hear The Angels

Stunned by the revelation of her husband's infidelity, Bea feels heartbroken and alone. If only she knew that her neighbours, Sonia, Van and Ian, were each also trying to get over the pain in their hearts, unable to articulate how they feel. Maybe the mysterious Lou can help them? A poignant and uplifting celebration of the power of sad music: 'a subtle and intelligent combination of words, movement and music' (Stage). Performed by five actor-musicians, including the music of Hank Williams, Orange Juice, Etta James, JS Bach and more.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 30 Aug 2026

Tether

Part ceilidh, part play, and a good night out, Tether is a bold new collaboration between Scotland's Wonder Fools and South Korea's Theatre SAN. Spanning 60 years and three generations, the piece weaves folk songs, love letters and war stories into a shared experience of music and memory. Beginning as a joyous communal gathering, it gradually reveals an intimate love story shaped by migration, oppression and time. Playful, powerful and deeply human, Tether invites audiences to collectively dance, laugh, listen and remember – tracing the invisible threads that bind two nations together.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

Homecumming

Our heroine can't come anymore... While orgasms are the inciting incident (and an entertaining one), they're really an invitation into a much larger conversation about mental health, depression, shame and self-worth. This isn't a story about sex (maybe a little), it's a story about healing. Inspired by real life, Homecumming explores the taboos surrounding female sexuality with honesty, humour and tenderness. Her journey is messy, funny, sexy, vulnerable and painfully relatable. Through therapy, self-reflection and a growing desire to reconnect with herself, she begins a transformation – from caterpillar to butterfly – rediscovering her taste for life.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 16 Aug 2026

Turn Your F*cking Phones Off

Hi. Thanks for making time for whatever this is. I suppose it's a theatre show. Perhaps it's an interdisciplinary, interactive, mixed-media piece of performance art. An ambitious, impactful and timely exploration of human connection in the information age. A town hall meeting at the end of the world. A karaoke booth in a nuclear bunker. A clear-the-air chat between you, me and the rest of our plane of existence mates. A thrilling and vital new work from the multi award-winning theatre maker. As voted for audiences at BABYFLEAREINDEERBAG. 'Unmissable' ***** (ToDoList.org.uk).

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

The Subplot: A Hyperfixation on the Titan Submersible

The world moved on from the OceanGate Titan sub implosion. Captain* Sophie Smyth hasn't (rip). Armed with laptop, Logitech F710 controller and autism, she's spent three years (and counting!) diving deeper and deeper, descending the depths of the internet and herself. A dark multimedia comedy about neurodivergence, mortality and the risk/reward of going too far. *self-declared

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

Kirsty Mann: Corpse

A real-life ghost story from an award-winning comedian. Kirsty bought a house. Sure, it was derelict. And in a dodgy area. And OK someone just died in it. But she didn't mind because she didn't believe in ghosts. She does now. 'The Woman in Black meets Catherine Tate' ***** (The Fourth Wall, Perth). ***** (Fringefeed, FRINGE WORLD). ***** (TheScoop.au). ***** (Fringe Benefits Podcast). ***** (Scenestr). Winner: Best Theatre, Adelaide Fringe 2026. Winner: Best Comedy, FRINGE WORLD 2024.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 30 Aug 2026

The Great Chevalier

Mr Chevalier, the flamboyant new director of the Ballet National Folklorique du Luxembourg, presents an exceptional moment of dance. Hailed as the Bad Boy of Folklore and renowned for his expertise, bold artistic vision, and magnetic stage presence, Mr Chevalier pays tribute to Summerhall as part of the 50th anniversary of the company's iconic Pigeon Dance. The unpredictable director and choreographer, whose stage performances are as rare as they are emotionally intense, will perform emblematic classics from the company’s exceptional repertoire. This unforgettable experience will be followed by an autograph session.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 29 Aug 2026

You and Me (and Whoever Comes Next)

Recipient of the 2026 Mary Dick Award. Keron Day is disabled. Dani is his Personal Assistant (not as fancy as it sounds). A touching and funny exploration of how care goes both ways. A world-premiere play with live music from the acclaimed Patch of Blue (Lyn Gardner's Best Theatre of Edinburgh Fringe, Stage) and 3 hearts canvas (SPIN - Best Solo Show of The Fringe, Theatre Weekly).

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

LANDSFRAU

When the last plane left Kabul, Afghanistan vanished from Ariana’s reach. In LANDSFRAU, the return of the Taliban and the withdrawal of the western troops in 2021 triggers an auto fictional reckoning with war, memory and responsibility. Onstage, Ariana dismantles images of Afghanistan and builds her own counter-archive: fragments of family history, imagined pasts, longing and rage. Afghan folk music collides with electronic beats; Attan meets contemporary dance. Through a feminist lens, she confronts the quiet guilt of living safely abroad. Refusing explanation or absolution, this performance becomes a personal act of political resistance.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

TWELVE: Going The Distance

Twelve rounds. Five women. No holding back. Set inside the charged atmosphere of a boxing gym, this high-impact theatrical dance follows a rising superstar, a fading referee and the figures who orbit them. Sweat meets spectacle as pounding beats collide with sweeping classical strings. Characters clash, alliances form and ambition burns through every round. Raw, physical and fiercely human, this 47-minute contemporary dance asks what it really costs to go the distance.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 16 Aug 2026

Man or Bear

Man or Bear is a fast-moving, darkly comic new play about fear, friendship and survival inspired by the viral question: Would you rather be alone in the woods with a man or a bear? Blending kitchen sink realism, music and bold physical sequences, it follows three generations of women in the lead up to an act of violence. Rather than centreing the perpetrator, the play turns its focus to women's resilience, humour and solidarity, offering a poetic and unsettling reflection on modern day misogyny.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 30 Aug 2026

The King of All Birds

Who is the king of all birds? This tongue-in-cheek gig for voice and vocoder by award-winning sound artist Martha Knight is a love letter to the history of flight. Based on the phenomenon of aerial photos being displayed in Irish homes from the 1960s, the one-woman play expands this story to include explorations of ancient mythological birds, bringing us to the present, where airplanes and satellites rule the sky. Conjuring tales through traditional Irish music, using live electronics and effects to bring the ancient Irish tradition of song into the present day. **** (Irish Times).

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

Lunch Break Luxuriate Lit Salon

A literary salon in a sauna. Mellifluous phrases, magical worlds and radical ideas float in the heat as stories unspool in steam. Poems, extracts of novels, fragments of plays, sonnets, myths, manifestos and more while you relax, revive and re-energise in our saunas and cold plunges. Our purpose-built sauna theatre with state-of-the-art lighting and surround sound transforms into a luxurious portal to escapism. Let words wash over you; lie back, listen in and leave inspired. Literature has never been this hot.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

SAND

Set against the dramatic backdrop of Devon’s coastline, SAND follows Dylan and Heather as they navigate the complexities of living with dementia. Together, they uncover profound truths about love, memory and resilience, while coastal erosion symbolises life’s inevitable changes. Created by the acclaimed Kook Ensemble, Sand is a non-verbal circus theatre show that blends acrobatic skill with meticulously crafted storytelling. Through visually striking, emotionally resonant performances, the company brings the experiences of people living with dementia to life, offering audiences a deeply moving experience. A must watch!

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 17 Aug 2026

Forgive Me

When a hyperactive mother (ADHD) and a gaming-obsessed son (Autism Spectrum Condition) meet head on, there's a collision worthy of any blockbuster movie. An intimate dive into intergenerational neurodiversity, Fringe First Award winners (Everything I See I Swallow, 2019) bring you Forgive Me – an innovative, highly personal solo show that fuses skilled pole performance, video projection and song (plus a bit of gameplay!). 'A gorgeous evocation of intergenerational schism and mutual understanding' **** (Independent). 'Fierce, unapologetic, thought-provoking and radical as f*ck' ***** (TheCircusDiaries.com). 'Hypnotic and exquisitely choreographed' **** (Stage).

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

Playback

It's 2013. Euan's got a camcorder, a bowl cut and a dream. Combining live performance with Euan Munro's real childhood YouTube videos, this cringe-filled comedy nostalgia trip spirals into a story of dark ambition, online predators and digital ghosts.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

Come Back Home

Come Back Home is a solo contemporary theatre work exploring ongoing grief and how the past continues to inhabit the present. It moves through self-criticism, fear and the unknown through absurdity and the logic of the subconscious. Through text, video and sound, Fadi Murad questions how loss shapes ambition, identity and the idea of return. The performance shifts between humour and catharsis, exposing doubt, ego, tenderness and contradiction, while asking what it means to carry home within you.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

Taiwan Season: The Wall

2024 Bobby Award-winning company Seed Dance returns to the Fringe with the UK premiere of another 'stunning' (BroadwayBaby.com) production by gifted artistic director Huang Wen-Jen. For her, dance is a form of socially acute visual thinking. Here her subjects range from contemporary division and connection to human vulnerability, adaptability and perception. Using a pair of simple yet strikingly symbolic framed platforms, Huang plays blazingly smart games with vertical, horizontal, internal and external space. The result is an explosively dynamic, emotionally provocative quintet packed with restless, urgent precision.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

Is It Too Late Now To Say Sorry?

We've all said things we wish we could un-say. Done things we wish we could undo. Broken things we wish we could un-break. But is one word enough to fix all our regrets? Acclaimed theatre-maker Adam Lenson returns to Summerhall with a new collision of gig, storytelling and autobiographical investigation. Moving from synagogue to school playground, from online feuds to family drama, Is It Too Late Now To Say Sorry? examines the way we apologise, the pain we carry and the opportunities for healing amidst the damage.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

Jitters

'I've dreamed of this day. My whole life.' There's one hour to go before the wedding, but now the wedding may not be going ahead. From Lyn Gardner-recommended double act Britney – aka Ellen Robertson (Vladimir, Mickey17, The Pale Horse) and Charly Clive (Rooster, Pure, The Lazarus Project) – comes a brand new two-hander about ownership, tradition and the all-important 'L' word of any relationship: leverage. Praise for previous shows: 'Charly Clive and Ellen Robertson's wonderfully infectious relationship radiates warmth and mischief from the stage' **** (Scotsman). 'A surreal, sensitive triumph' **** (Independent). 'Funny, heart-wrenching and honest' (i Paper).

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 30 Aug 2026

Adam Riches: The Captain

From the writer of Jimmy, the totally sold-out, smash-hit, one-man show of Summerhall 2024 – 'solo shows are ten a penny at the Edinburgh Fringe, but this feels like one in a million' ***** (Telegraph) – comes the true story of Captain Matthew Webb, the first man to ever swim the English Channel. The bravery! The fortitude! The sheer outright insanity! It's time to remember this most humble of men, this Shopshire lad, whose extraordinary feat ought to be far more celebrated than it is. A man who died as he lived, chasing the impossible.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

QFWFQ

You are reading about QFWFQ, Best Solo Show at the 2025 Hollywood Fringe. A surrealist labyrinth that stretches time and space. Inspired by Italo Calvino's If On a Winter's Night a Traveller, this razor-sharp, absurdly funny and deeply personal show breaks all genres and has no fourth wall. Join Gregory Nussen as they rummage through the power and peril of storytelling, growing up Jewish and queer, grappling with geopolitics, and art that saves your life. QWFWQ neither begins, nor ends. How does it come together? I can't explain, but it does. Directed by Hannah Pilkes.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me but Banjos Saved My Life

'Storytelling at its best!' (Playbill.com). Sold-out runs in 2023, 2024 and 2025. This highly awarded, internationally touring, inspirational true story is about overcoming obstacles, pursuing passions and the healing power of the arts, and is told with warmth, humour and banjo music! Through donations, including 100% of all artist fees, the show has raised over $1.2 million dollars (CAD) as of December 2025 for various charities, including cancer organisations, music programmes, community groups and artist funding and development. All proceeds from this Edinburgh Fringe run will benefit Summerhall Arts.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

As Far As We Know

YESYESNONO (we were promised honey, Nation) return to Summerhall with another prophetic act of storytelling. Written and performed by Sam Ward, it's a hallucinogenic road trip through a world of anomalies. It's about holes appearing in the ground and prices that just go up. It's about cartographers, bubbles, crashes and psychics. It's about trying to understand what's going wrong... and a world that refuses to be understood. Praise for previous work: 'Something really special' ***** (BritishTheatre.com). 'An aerial feat of storytelling' ***** (Scotsman). 'An apocalyptic, strange hour of theatre' ***** (Financial Times).

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

The Trials of Magnus Coffinkey

A broken fairy tale for broken people. In a whimsical land of broken toys, Magnus Coffinkey must fix a bell atop an impossibly high spire. Success will make his wish come true. The price of failure is a permanently broken heart. Funny, honest and deeply devastating, The Trials of Magnus Coffinkey is a dark fairy tale where the power of storytelling is used to make sense of great personal trauma. Outstanding Theatre Award at Brighton Fringe, 2024. 'Sublime. Heart-wrenching. Perfect' ***** (TheReviewsHub.com).

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

The Wreck

Two siblings dive a shipwreck and decide the fate of their family's seaside nightclub. A live-cinema show about diving, dancing and descendants. Combining live camera work, practical filmmaking, puppetry, and a live score. Following the sell-out run of Bark Bark – **** (Scotsman), **** (Skinny), **** (Fest) – Buzzcut return to Summerhall with a new live animation. Wes Anderson meets Katie Mitchell underwater in this delicate, funny, high-tech spectacle about returning home and diving into your family history.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

ArounD the WorlD in 80 ToyS

A surprising hybrid of theatre and film that is at once highly theatrical and wonderfully cinematic. Paris, 1925. In a tiny toy shop inside the Montparnasse train station, film and special effects pioneer Georges Méliès, now forgotten, faces eviction. A toy comes to life. Using hidden cameras, a movie screen, miniatures and magic, Georges creates an epic cinematic universe and voyage that leads to his rediscovery. Theatrical wizard Thaddeus Phillips 'could have been a great silent-movie comedian' (New York Times) and 80 eclectic vintage toys star in this visually stunning tour de force.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

Get Set for the Day Sauna Session

The best way to start your day: relax and recharge with chilled tunes and good vibes in our beautiful sauna theatre. Take time to recline on the benches of the UK's largest sauna with state-of-the-art lighting and surround sound for the most immersive and indulgent experience in Edinburgh. Sink into the moment in quiet solitude or easy conversation as the music washes over you, fragrant steam caresses you and our Aufguss Masters circulate waves of delicious heat. A social space to supercharge your day with a natural high... you're looking HOT.

Summerhall • 6 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2026

Medusa

“A heid full ae snakes is bound tae make yae do mad hings.”Medusa works behind the bar in Athena’s nightclub, slinging waters to the pilled-up masses. She’s popping off on social media, talking about being ‘clinically radge’, revelling in the lights and dancing in the debris – until Poseidon takes something that wasn’t his to take.Written by Heather Marshall (Creative Electric) and directed by Jen McGregor, Medusa is a new show for theatre lovers, ravers, and people searching for queer, disabled community. Designed with access in mind, it can be experienced whatever way works for you – in the afternoon, evening or late at night, while sitting, dancing, or lying down – and tickets will be sold on a ‘pay what you can’ sliding scale. Full access information is listed below.Evolving from Heather’s own personal experience, Medusa invites us under the prescription pad of Pre-Menstrual Dysphoric Disorder (PMDD), and the way it ravages both the physical and mental health of those it affects. Bringing an electronic soundtrack, contemporary choreography and Scottish underground rave culture to an age-old story of misogyny, Medusa challenges our view of the ‘hormonal woman’ and complex mental health conditions. The show will feature choreography by Sula Castle and costume design by Chanel O’Conor (Drag Race UK Season 6).BookACCESS INFORMATIONEach performance of Medusa will feature BSL interpretation. Each performance can be experienced in the way that best suits you. You can choose between sitting, moving around the space, or lying down. There will be access to a designated quiet area for audiences who may need or want time to decompress. Audience will have access to ear defenders and sunglasses.Low sensory relaxed performance: The 2pm performance on Saturday 7 March will be a low sensory relaxed performance, with a lower level of music and no flashing lights. This performance will be best suited to people who experience acute sensory overwhelm and would find bright lights or loud music challenging even with sunglasses or ear defenders. A lower number of tickets will be sold for this performance so that audience members have more space to move around or watch from a distance.Visual StoryBefore the performances audiences can access a visual story that shows what will happen throughout the production including any trigger warnings that may be needed. This will be available in print from front of house and can also be posted to audiences where needed (to request one please email Medusa producer Andrew Eaton-Lewis on [email protected]). On the day of the performance staff will be on hand to talk audiences through the visual story where appropriate.Companion TicketsSupport workers and personal assistants will receive free companion tickets. A limited number of free tickets will also be made available via iThrive Edinburgh and the GP social prescribing team.If you have questions about any of the access information above, please contact Medusa producer Andrew Eaton-Lewis on [email protected]

Summerhall • 6 Mar 2026 - 8 Mar 2026

Auntie Empire

Auntie is a sweet old dear and a jolly good raconteur. All she wants to do is regale us with tales of dear old Blighty – but her body is falling to bits. Oh dear. Best not mention it. Someone ought to clean that up. By turns an absurd and rambunctious bouffon comedy and a bloody, messy, sing-along satire on Britain and nationhood, Auntie Empire is an unmissable collaboration between award-winning Scottish companies Disaster Plan and Jordan & Skinner.

Summerhall • 22 Aug 2025

The Butterfly Project

Join Undone Theatre for a sharing of their 'engaging and humorous' (BroadwayBaby.com) show, The Butterfly Project. A Japanese stewardess and a British pilot walk onto a plane. 25 years later, their son Joey is thinking of ending things with his Italian boyfriend. Turning to his parents' interracial relationship for guidance, he embarks on a journey to connect with his roots. But as Joey learns more about his family, a pattern begins to emerge: the notes of Puccini's Madama Butterfly underscore a century of Asian misrepresentation, orientalism and exoticisation.

Summerhall • 22 Aug 2025

Get Off

Queer performance legend Katy Baird has spent the last decade chasing pleasure, trying to make sense of the chaos. Fusing pounding techno, personal footage and razor-sharp humour, Get Off rips into what we crave, what we hide and the lengths we'll go to feel something in a world that won't slow down. This isn't theatre for the faint-hearted. It's a confession booth with a bassline. A party at the edge of collapse. A raw, funny, painfully honest trip through desire, distraction and survival. If you've ever felt you're raving through the apocalypse, this late-night show is for you!

Summerhall • 20 Aug 2025 - 25 Aug 2025

Piano Noir: Will Pickvance

The pianist is dead. Stuck in a cosmic waiting room, he contemplates the show he never quite managed to make. Will Pickvance returns for two nights only with his signature blend of improvised piano and theatrical storytelling. An immersive hour of virtuosity, humour, and poignancy… A singular blend of virtuosity and humour, this is what a pianist in the 21st century looks like' (List). 'Charming, inventive and diverting, guaranteed to cheer up even the most jaded Fringe-goer. The overriding emotion is simple joy in watching Pickvance as a raconteur and a pianist' (AllEdinburghTheatre.com).

Summerhall • 16 Aug 2025 - 17 Aug 2025

Waxen Figures

Waxen Figures is an immersive audiovisual experience – a supernatural fever dream, where live contemporary dance, Gaelic singing, and cutting-edge technology collide. This Cryptic Commission by audio-visual duo Muto Major plunges into Scotland's folklore, exploring the chasm between ancient rituals and modern lives. Clay, wax, and the human form intertwine, summoning the mythic and the mystical. Projection mapping and augmented reality bring Pictish carvings to life, blurring the line between past and present. Waxen Figures invites you into a multisensory world, where innovation and tradition dance together, reawakening forgotten truths through a bold, poetic lens. MadeInScotlandShowcase.com

Summerhall • 14 Aug 2025 - 15 Aug 2025

Anatomy of a Night

A love letter to the queers, the weirdoes, the trailblazers, the fringes and the night-walkers. An exploration of personal identity through a reflection of memories from queer and club spaces. Remembering the energy that can be drawn from these spaces and trying to sustain the sensation while understanding the longevity of a moment in time that is so communally charged. This show is a storytelling of any night, told through the use of dance, runaway show, spoken word and lip-syncing. It is an exploration of gender, queerness and camaraderie of different spaces.

Summerhall • 13 Aug 2025 - 25 Aug 2025

In the Bushes

One of Europe's most exciting female choreographic voices comes into its own, in this uncompromising and surrealistic piece. Plunged into an absurd world, In the Bushes celebrates the incomprehensible and magnificent contradictions of life. Quirky and witty, it mocks the idea that we are exceptional and questions our humanity with ferocious joy. 'Masterfully choreographed’ (BroadwayWorld.com) 'Powerful' (WritingAboutDance.com).

Summerhall • 13 Aug 2025 - 25 Aug 2025

Balfour Reparations

This performance lecture examines the UK's colonial legacy in Palestine, focusing on Arthur James Balfour, Prime Minister (1902-1905) and Foreign Secretary (1916-1919), and his role in denying Palestinian political rights. Utilising speculative choreography and Afrofuturism, Saleh intertwines history, fiction, and fantasy, drawing inspiration from archival materials. Set in 2045, the lecture reflects on a fictive apology letter issued by the UK in 2025, promising reparations to the Palestinian people. The audience become members of the reparations' evaluation committee created on the 20th anniversary of the apology and are invited to participate in the performance. MadeInScotlandShowcase.com

Summerhall • 13 Aug 2025 - 25 Aug 2025

Pussy Riot: Riot Days

Pussy Riot need little introduction – the Russian protest art collective have one of the most important voices of the last 10 years, whose lyrical themes include feminism, LGBT rights and opposition to Vladimir Putin. They gained global notoriety in 2012 when three members, Maria Alyokhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich were imprisoned for 'hooliganism motivated by religious hatred' for their performance inside Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. The accompanying piece to Alyokhina's memoir of the same name (Penguin Books), the touring play Riot Days (Revolution) merges punk, electronica, theatre, documentary footage and protest.

Summerhall • 12 Aug 2025 - 23 Aug 2025

King

King tells the story of Geok Yen, a public relations executive who seemingly has it all – a stable job and a boyfriend who is about to propose. This safe stable life gets upturned when on impulse, she attends the party in the guise of a man, Stirling da Silva. Emboldened by the alter ego, Yen discovers a newfound confidence to speak her truth and be whatever she could be without self-judgement. In this two-hander, Jo Tan delivers a tour de force performance playing multiple characters, navigating expertly through a host of social stereotypes.

Summerhall • 12 Aug 2025 - 25 Aug 2025

Burst

An oasis of peace and calm in a sea of festival chaos. Burst is a sensory escape from the intensity of the Fringe. Designed with, and for, neurodivergent families and their friends, Burst aims to explore and soothe anxiety. Creative Electric's bubble doctors prescribe a short stay in one of their infamous bubble beds where you will listen to a track over wireless headphones... slowly throughout your experience bubbles will appear and you'll feel your anxiety float away. In collaboration with Refuweegee, Burst is available in Arabic, Farsi, Ukrainian and English. MadeInScotlandShowcase.com

Summerhall • 12 Aug 2025 - 16 Aug 2025

BABYFLEAREINDEERBAG (WIP)

A focus group. A pitch meeting. A multiverse imaginarium. Having received critical acclaim for a show about grief, addiction and mental breakdown, Maxwell is stuck on how to up the ante with her next confessional solo show. She needs you for some intensive audience research: which of her personal traumas is most fundable, marketable and ripe for TV adaptation? In an era hungry for the next smash-hit overshare, BABYFLEAREINDEERBAG kicks over the bucket of ideas Maxwell can't yet bring herself to make a show about, interrogating the risk and cynicism in telling one's own story onstage.

Summerhall • 12 Aug 2025 - 25 Aug 2025

An Evening With Jay Phelps (MILES.)

The UK's foremost trumpet player, Jay Phelps, has performed with some of the world's top artists such as Wynton Marsalis, Shabaka Hutchings, Amy Winehouse and Wizkid. Phelps is a household name on the international Jazz scene and is making his acting debut at the Festival this year. This evening is an opportunity for jazz fans to come and ask questions, listen to anecdotes and enjoy some acoustic offerings of some old favourites, as well as get an exclusive opportunity to buy Jay's new album ahead of general sale in October.

Summerhall • 9 Aug 2025

A Grand Don't Come for Free

We're Wright&Grainger, multi award-winning, internationally acclaimed storytellers. We went to school together and grew up on some seminal albums. A Grand Don't Come For Free by The Streets is top of that list. It's inspired us to make everything we've done since. So we're gonna play it live, in full. It's full of bangers (Dry Your Eyes, Fit But You Know It, Blinded By the Lights) and it's full of love, mates, heartache and hope. We're playing it for three nights only. The dance floor will be rammed – see you at the bar.

Summerhall • 8 Aug 2025 - 10 Aug 2025

Ivory Cutlery

Ivory Cutlery is a 50-minute visual, musical storytelling performance, inspired by iconic Scottish artist Ivor Cutler. Ivor was a unique man from Govan, born in 1923, famed for songs/lyrics such as Women of the World Take Over and Why Don’t a Woman Love a Woman? Other songs are about quirky animals, everyday food or elements of Scotland’s natural environment such as I Believe in Bugs. The show will tempt adults to reconnect with their wilder imaginations and include traditional Scottish music, movement and BSL.

Summerhall • 8 Aug 2025 - 17 Aug 2025

Peregrinus

A wandering theatre show, inspired by T.S. Eliot's poetry, follows a contemporary everyman through a single day. Using striking visuals, dynamic choreography and grotesque humour, it reveals the traps of modern life, where many lose their individuality without reflection. The performance, blending satire and spectacle, questions our fate: does the collective possession of the Peregrinuses ever end? Are we victims of the dybbuks, or do we become them? This journey forces us to confront whether we still control our identities or if we surrender to the forces shaping us. A thought-provoking, visually captivating experience.

Summerhall • 7 Aug 2025 - 11 Aug 2025

The Quiet Earth Beneath

An earthy, delicate and devastating concept album about things that vanish; a strange, rich and lyrical exploration of ritual and the underland. Fringe First-winning writer Casey Jay Andrews and musician Jack Brett fuse spoken word and urban legend with music and experiments in sound. It's a descent into the darkness of a cave in South Wales, an attempt to piece together broken fragments of porcelain, and a rite of closure. 'Into the underland we have long placed that which we fear and wish to lose, and that which we love and wish to save' (Robert Macfarlane).

Summerhall • 4 Aug 2025 - 25 Aug 2025

The Herald: Unspun Live at the Fringe

A series of political interviews and debates at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. With the Holyrood election looming, we speak to First Minister John Swinney, Labour leader Anas Sarwar, Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes and leading pollster Professor Sir John Curtice, among others. Herald journalists and columnists will lead the discussions, asking big questions about the future of Scotland, the shape of UK politics and the international forces reshaping our world. Expect sharp analysis, lively conversation and a chance for the audience to have their say. Please see venue website for daily line-up.

Summerhall • 4 Aug 2025 - 7 Aug 2025

Julia Masli & Paulina Lenoir in Former Gentlemen’s Locker Room

On June 2015 Paulina and Julia met for the first time at an afterparty in France. Paulina thought she would be sleeping at Julia’s, due to a miscommunication. Julia offered the floor of her bedroom in confusion. Paulina had been promised a bed, so that didn’t sound right. Paulina did not stay on Julia’s floor.Ten years later they’ve shared a bed, meals, peed together, dressed each other, betrayed each other, made up, grieved together, went out dancing, shopping, met each other’s families, analysed each other’s dreams, shared therapists, brushed teeth together, spent Christmas together, wore each other’s dirty socks, learnt to sing together, got rejected from a nightclub, sat in silence in cafes crying, started ambitious projects that didn’t materialise and kept each other’s secrets.Today they ask you for 60 minutes of your time, regarding a matter very close to their hearts. What they mean to say is sharing their work with you may just make everything ok?

Summerhall • 4 Aug 2025 - 10 Aug 2025

PHILOSOPHY OF THE WORLD

Daddy's hired the venue, paid the deposit and organised the photoshoot. Our first fringe show in six years. So, this is fate. This is our PHILOSOPHY OF THE WORLD – inspired by the best worst band of all time, The Shaggs. We'll play the band. You play the audience. It'll be perfect. Load up on guns, bring your friends. (Free soda on admission.) Previous reviews: 'Late night theatre... a bit like a party and a bit like a nightmare?' (ExeuntMagazine.com). 'Anarchic, unclassifiable performance' (TheStage.co.uk). 'Might be brilliant or might be shit' (Fest).

Summerhall • 31 Jul 2025 - 25 Aug 2025

PUMP

Step into the club. It's hot, it's dirty, it's sweaty. You feel his hands creeping up your body. You feel sexy, desired, on edge. Pump drops you in the middle of a nightclub dance floor in a desperate search for validation, intimacy and identity. Following successful seasons at Melbourne Fringe (2024) and Adelaide Fringe (2025), emerging artist and VCA graduate Isabella Gilbert makes her Edinburgh Fringe debut with this immersive and explosive solo show. Pump is an honest and shameless exploration of club culture, vulnerability and the artist experience. **** (TheClothesLine.com.au).

Summerhall • 31 Jul 2025 - 11 Aug 2025

Mr Chonkers

It's a solo show. A mockery and celebration of performance. Absurd. Simple. Outrageous. Stupid. Fun. It's terrible. An important waste of your time. It's great. Please strongly consider all of this information before coming. John Norris is a man whose absurd comedy is singular and oozes mountains of stupidity and silliness. Based out of Los Angeles and Las Vegas, John brings his word-of-mouth cult hit, sold-out, five-star, award nominated debut show back to the Edinburgh Fringe. Also, in 2009, he ate and digested an entire Kia Forte.

Summerhall • 31 Jul 2025 - 24 Aug 2025

Derek Mitchell: Goblin

Dark, theatrical comedy meets nostalgia in Goblin, written and performed by Derek Mitchell. Set in 2007, it tells the story of Eliot, an emo kid with an imaginary goblin who just wants to be loved. Peppered with period details, Eliot's life takes a series of turns when he meets a much older reality TV star and begins transforming into something truly horrifying... the co-owner of a spin studio. Named one of The i Paper's best shows of the 2024 Fringe.

Summerhall • 31 Jul 2025 - 24 Aug 2025

The Ceremony

Pick of the Week, Adelaide Fringe 2024. The Ceremony returns... Welcome. Thank you. You're welcome. An improvised, interactive ritual – part sermon, part group therapy, part comedy show. Not a cult. Crafted afresh from audience responses, the show is completely different every night. Who are we? What are we doing? Does this mean anything? What does meaning mean? Hmm. Let The Ceremony begin… 'Exhilarating' ***** (BingeFringe.com). 'Brilliantly funny' ****½ (GlamAdelaide.com.au). 'Quintessential Fringe experience' **** (List). **** (Scotsman). 'If I were not being held to a demon schedule, I'd book to see The Ceremony every night' (Lyn Gardner, Stage).

Summerhall • 31 Jul 2025 - 25 Aug 2025

Orpheus

Dave is single. He's stood at the bar. Eurydice is a tree nymph. And Bruce Springsteen is on the karaoke. Enter a world of dive bars, side streets and ancient gods. Internationally acclaimed storytellers Wright&Grainger weave a tale of impossible, death-defying love told through hair-raising spoken word and soaring acoustic soul music. Originally made to play five performances, 600 shows later it still feels as fresh and exhilarating as when it began. After touring the world for almost a decade, Orpheus returns to Edinburgh. 'Theatrical magic. I laughed, I cried, I loved it' (GlamAdelaide.com.au).

Summerhall • 31 Jul 2025 - 10 Aug 2025

SLUGS

It’s about nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing. For tonight, here, together, we are free – we promise. From the creators of 2023’s cult-hit CREEPY BOYS (***** (Fest), ***** (SomewhereForUs.org), ***** (InDaily.com.au), ***** (WhyNow.co.uk), ***** (ToDoList.org.uk), **** (BritishTheatreGuide.info), join us for a technocolour acid trip where you’ll meet puppet Joni Mitchell, a two-person horse and every body part we have. A techno-punk concert, a play, a clown show, a basement puppet nightmare all rolled into one, SLUGS is about trying to have a good time while the world burns.

Summerhall • 31 Jul 2025 - 25 Aug 2025

FATAL FLOWER

FATAL FLOWER, an ode to the hysterical woman. In this tragicomic musical and over-the-top one-woman show, Valentina explores the boundaries and clichés of the female image in society. With a mix of opera, theatre, musical, cabaret, classical music and comedy, she introduces various hysterical women, including the Queen of the Night, a vengeful bride-to-be, and a strict Russian piano teacher (or is that her mother?), all leading to Valentina herself. Armed with remarkable musicality, humour, social criticism and larger-than-life characters, Fatal Flower keeps the audience on edge, evoking either sympathy or bewilderment – either way, it's a triumph.

Summerhall • 31 Jul 2025 - 25 Aug 2025

Paldem

Megan and Kevin are close friends bonded by their love of takeaways, Rick and Morty and Jeremy Paxman – a match made in adult heaven. But after a desperate one night stand is unwittingly caught on camera, Kevin and Megan realise that perhaps there's something more to their friendship... Written and created by BAFTA Rising Star Winner David Jonsson, Paldem explores the amateur porn industry from the perspective of those who produce it. An anti-romantic comedy that crosses the murky lines of interracial dating, fetishisms and hook ups in the digital age.

Summerhall • 31 Jul 2025 - 25 Aug 2025