Theatre

#Hysterical

Panad Productions®

Hysterical: Synonym: Over-emotional, deranged. The Brighton, Camden and Lambeth Fringe sell-out show is back! A satirical, educational comedy show exploring the historical views and issues surrounding sexuality and gender. Join the one-person powerhouse performer Callaghan on a journey from the uptight Victorian misunderstandings of female anatomy, to the "debauchery" of sexual pleasure. 'This show is delightful' ★★★★ (www.FringeFan.com). 'Everything that needs to be said... but said hilariously'(Wombshine). Developed with the support of Soho Theatre Labs

00:45:00

Wilison Labs

Five people walk into a room, and only one will make it out alive. 00:45:00 is an experiment that plays out in real time through the lens of a scientist pursuing an answer to the philosophical question: is one person's life more valuable than another's and how can anyone make that decision? This story is about daring those who sit back and watch to do something and exploring what happens when they do.

1 King, 2 Princes and Shakespeare's Lie

Slade Wolfe Enterprises Limited

Sold out in 2025. Back by popular demand. A king. A traitor. A villain. Or was he? Richard III returns to confront the myths that condemned him, challenging Shakespeare’s version of events and putting history itself on trial. In this gripping one-man performance, fact clashes with legend as Richard defends his reign and questions who gets to decide the truth. Provocative, compelling and darkly entertaining, this show asks whether history judged the wrong man. As power, propaganda, legacy and reputation collide on stage, you must decide whether history lied.

1518: The Dancing Plague

Open Variations Theater

Get ready to shake your a$$ and dance ‘til you (hopefully don’t) die. 1518: The Dancing Plague is a satirical comedy based on the very real mass hysteria that led to uncontrollable dancing in medieval Europe. As the city of Strasbourg descends into chaos, two (capital P) Peasants, Katherine and Anna, rekindle their long-fractured romance. Meanwhile, authorities and clergy scramble to contain the mysterious outbreak. The chaos of the plague, both absurd and dire, reveals uncanny parallels to the crises of our modern age. Come join us for a dance party you seriously can’t forget!

2%: A Play About Privilege (And Also Milk)

Kevin Qian

What does milk have to do with growing up privileged and Asian in America? In his Edinburgh Fringe debut, Kevin Qian shares stories about tasting flesh, private schools, and how his family’s love language is primarily milk. You'll meet the voices in his head and watch him drink so much milk.

3.2.1. Hold Me on Stage

Selin Bakan / Stüdyo Kolektif

Hello, I’m Daphne Bell. From my left profile I’m shy; from my right, I’m remarkable. I can sing – sometimes I even feel like a soprano. I’ve been trapped inside a claw machine for a long time; perhaps I wanted it, too. From behind the glass, I wait to be chosen, to be noticed, to be valued. Would you choose me? I think I need to hold me on stage. This play portrays Daphne’s struggle with invisibility and inadequacy as she seeks recognition. Social pressure and past traumas become her greatest obstacles.

A Cat in a Box

Tom Nemec

A deeply personal solo play that tells a story everyone can relate to. Through darkly humorous and dramatic monologues, Tom explores love, loss and hope growing up in an alcoholic, dysfunctional family, showing how trauma shapes our lives. Offering that no matter how dark the past, the present holds the possibility of light. 'Nemec avoids all of the flaws of the genre that make autobiographical solo plays cringeworthy' (Showtones.com). 'For a moment, we were united in our collective experience, and in our resolve to heal' (ArtsIndependent.com).

A Desperate Remedy

Magdalen College School Drama

May 1606. In the Tower of London, Father Henry Garnet awaits a traitor’s death in the morning. Through his last confession, we follow the Gunpowder Plotters’ doomed conspiracy as Garnet wrestles with his own conscience and the indefatigable will of charismatic ringleader Robert Catesby. As Catesby recruits a group of desperate men, including the enigmatic soldier Guy Fawkes, we are led to question just how far a man will go for his friends and his faith. This exciting new play offers an intense, fast-paced and moving portrayal of one of the most infamous events in our history.

A FACE

Rabbit Head Productions

Helen of Troy inspired desire, destruction and death…didn’t she? Or was she simply the face of it all? An infamous beauty seducing others, or seduced herself? A girl awaiting the life expected of her, or a woman taking control of her future? A FACE is a play that rebrands the ruination of Troy, interrogating Helen’s agency and responsibility as a woman making choices in a world built by, and for, men. Priceless to those around her – materially, politically and sexually – but forgotten as an individual, a human being, until she is nothing more than A FACE.

A Forgotten Woman: Mrs Oscar Wilde

Slade Wolfe Enterprises Limited

Constance Lloyd is rarely remembered in literary history, overshadowed by her infamous husband. Feminist, writer and mother, her life is told through letter excerpts written in her own hand, revealing wit to rival Oscar’s, with dry humour and fierce selfhood. From a troubled childhood to society womanhood and quiet tragedy, this intimate solo performance restores a voice history diminished, inviting audiences to root for a brilliant, resilient heroine. Her story unfolds with grace, courage, humour and defiance. ‘Gut-writhingly convincing’ ★★★★ (TheReviewsHub,com). ‘Wolfe excels’ ★★★★ (Fringe Guru).

A Highly Suspect Murder Mystery: ABBAsolute Murder

Highly Suspect

It’s the Continental Song Content 2026! But when competition royalty BABA are found garrotted inside a portaloo, 'the name of the game' is catching the killer! Award-winning mystery maestros Highly Suspect return to the Fringe with a new hilarious interactive murder mystery for the audience to solve! Featuring a fiendish plot, evidence packs to examine and cryptic clues to crack, can you deduce whodunnit? Fun, frivolity and fatalities guaranteed! Sold out show 2021-2025. ‘Prepare to have your funny bones and little grey cells equally tickled!’ (BroadwayWorld.com).

A Highly Suspect Murder Mystery: Knives In

Highly Suspect

A famous author. An impossible murder. Knives are out for renowned detective Beignet Blank, but can he peel back the layers before he wakes up a dead man? Award-winning mystery maestros Highly Suspect return to the Fringe with a brand-new hilarious interactive murder mystery for the audience to solve! Featuring a fiendish plot, evidence packs to examine and cryptic clues to crack, can you deduce whodunnit? Fun, frivolity and fatalities guaranteed! Sold out show 2021-2025. ‘Prepare to have your funny bones and little grey cells equally tickled!’ (BroadwayWorld.com).

A Little Green Leaf

Leaf Collective

A Little Green Leaf is inspired by the life of Odette Hallowes (MBE, Legion d’Honneur, George Cross), Britain’s most highly decorated spy of the Second World War. This play tells the story of Odette’s service as an agent of the Special Operations Executive, resilience in the face of Gestapo brutality, survival of Ravensbruck concentration camp, and her remarkable ability to retain her light, humanity and compassion in the face of unimaginable suffering. A Little Green Leaf is a poignant and timely reminder of sacrifice, courage and how one achieves peace.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Greene Shoots Theatre Company

Step into a world of magic, mischief and romance in Shakespeare's comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream. When four young lovers flee into an enchanted forest, they find themselves caught in a tangled web of spells, mistaken identities and mischievous fairies. Meanwhile, a group of amateur actors prepares a hilariously chaotic play for the duke’s wedding, unaware that the fairy kingdom is watching and meddling at every turn. Bursting to life with sparkling wit and a touch of theatrical magic. Expect laughter, love and a little bit of chaos as worlds collide under the midsummer moon.

A Traitors Pantomime

MTAO Productions

Follow a new traitors series, with all the melodrama that we know and love, plus some panto pizzazz. Our Dame, Claudia, and her fringe will guide us through the twists and turns of each roundtable. A devious trio of traitors, a comical set of faithfuls, and a Romeo-and-Juliet love story; this series will be unlike any other. Using the power of deduction and a predictable parody (or two), will good win out? Or will evil take all the money, money, money for itself? (Yes, that is an Abba reference). Come and find out!

A&E

Wide Eye Productions

Woolwich hospital. A&E waiting room. No sign of a doctor. Orla Wyatt’s fierce new play, A&E, invites the audience to sit in the A&E waiting room and participate in humanity’s favourite activity: voyeurism. It follows the encounter of a hospital regular, a volatile and twitching addict seeking help for her meth problem, and a cocky prisoner with a broken hand, who, together, seem to see what others can’t. Wide Eye Productions presents a bold and witty take on class prejudice, moral ambiguity and Maltesers. In the fluorescent light of the waiting room, who’s really sick and who’s still human?

After 4am

After 4am Productions

Thea is freshly 18 and eager to work as a bartender at her local nightclub. Nike is the head bartender with dreams of spreading her wings and seeing the world but is burdened with responsibility and financial troubles. Dion, the general manager of the venue, has his eyes set on Thea, while Lachie, a fellow bartender, is a romantic after Nike's heart. This show has flair, drama, comedy, physical theatre, and, for those lucky enough, a free shot.

After Careful Consideration

JumpShip Theatre

Getting a job is hard. It’s especially hard when you have an arts degree, don’t know what sort of work you want to do, have vague notions of grandeur and can’t pay your rent. After Careful Consideration explores the experience of four friends thrust into post university life, where secret romances, jobs, lack of jobs, jealousy, uncertainty and ultimately an inability to match each other's ideas on how to live a good life leads to breakdown. Brought to you by JumpShip theatre.

After Shakespeare

Slade Wolfe Enterprises Limited

Returning for its third Edinburgh season, After Shakespeare asks what happens to Shakespeare’s heroes and villains once the curtain falls. Lady Macbeth, Portia, Hamlet and King Hal reflect on power, love and survival, beyond the endings we think we know. In this acclaimed solo show, Lexi Wolfe transforms seamlessly between four iconic characters, weaving Shakespeare’s language with historical insight and fresh dramatic imagination. Witty, poignant, surprising; a thoughtful, inventive celebration of voice and consequence, long after the lights fade. 'A must-see show' ★★★★★ (EdinburghGuide.com). 'One of this year's stand-out shows' ★★★★ (GetYourCoatsOn.com). 'Refreshing and gifted writing' ★★★★ (WestEndBestFriend.co.uk).

After the Fact

Blue Bird Productions

Set in 1980s Scotland during the Cold War, when nuclear bombs were a very real threat. The play is inspired by true events and real experiences, when one night in Peebleshire, Scotland, the unimaginable happened. Five scared, lost, turbulent young women grapple with the adversities and joys of life in the 80s, with the constant knowledge that their lives could be obliterated at any moment. In the face of nuclear war, how do they cope, love, and live?

Against the Grain

Mimi van Amerongen

Winter, 1943. As the Siege of Leningrad tightens its grip, two scientists guard a seed vault designed to preserve humanity. Faced with starvation, yet surrounded by food they refuse to touch. When a desperate intruder forces his way in, the moral line they have defended for years suddenly becomes unbearable. Nina and Olga must confront an impossible question: will they save the world or save themselves? A thrilling new work inspired by true events.

An Island of Bad Ideas: The Tempest

Edinburgh Youth Theatre

A fast, funny Tempest packed with magic, mischief and spectacularly poor decisions. Edinburgh Youth Theatre returns with a bold 50-minute adaptation performed by a brilliant young ensemble. Critically acclaimed for hugely entertaining, fast-paced, relevant productions that are accessible to audiences aged 8 to 108, the youth company brings shipwrecks, scheming nobles, mischievous spirits and one very chaotic island to life. Expect physical comedy, a foot stomping soundtrack and a storm of bad choices as power, revenge and forgiveness spiral hilariously out of control. Perfect for families, Shakespeare connoisseurs and newcomers alike.

An Opportunity in Kind

The Optimiserables

An Opportunity in Kind is a darkly comic tale about wasted potential, loyalty and the seductive pull of easy fortune. Three disaffected young men drift through life in a haze of bravado, drugs and half-baked philosophies, masking their fear of failure and mortality with banter and delusion. When an unexpected crisis disrupts their aimless routine, cracks in their friendship widen, exposing greed, insecurity and moral weakness. Blending absurd humour with sudden brutality, the play explores how some men rationalise the unforgivable and how quickly dreams of opportunity curdle into chaos, consequence and bitter irony.

And The Little One Said

Minotaur Theatre Company

And The Little One Said is a grotesquely dark comedy that follows Sasha and her three friends, Henry, Cedric and Rose, as they spend two weeks at her uncle’s country home for a summer holiday. With a backdrop of late 90s Britain (a time of innovation, new ideas and excitement for the future), the group's fate is about to be destroyed forever by a series of disturbing events that will expose evils and completely change their lives. And amongst all the discomfort, death and despair, as the little one says... roll over.

Angelshark

Blue Dot Theatre and New Celts Productions

Sign up to Saving Squatina: a summer camp focused on Shetland's returning population of Angel Sharks! The only catch? You might have to solve a marine murder whilst you’re at it. Camp members Mira, Harry and Lottie decide to take things into their own fins and dive deeper into this mystery. The three will have to push against the tide of the island to find the truth that lies beneath the sandy exterior, but what surfaces will force them to confront themselves, scales and all.

Animal Farm

PDS Theater

George Orwell's revolutionary masterpiece comes to life in this fast-moving, physical adaptation. After revolting against their negligent master, the downtrodden animals of Manor Farm overthrow Farmer Jones to create a self-ruled utopia. Guided by democratic ideals, they strive for a paradise of equality where every voice matters. However, their virtuous mission is soon betrayed as the temptations of power and privilege take hold. Ruthless new tyranny replaces the old, proving that power corrupts even the noblest of causes. Experience this spellbinding, high-energy production – a painfully relevant warning that while all animals are equal, some are more equal.

atticwife

RnL Productions

Astrid Fisher is an influencer who goes from tradwife to trapped-wife when her husband locks her in their attic. She says she’s soooo happy to be up there, but some of her viewers aren’t so convinced. When one of those concerned viewers breaks into the attic to try and rescue her, she is forced to question if the life she’s made as a “traditional woman” is as perfect as she’s always claimed... or if she’s in serious danger.

Bachelors of Fine Arts

Method in Madness Co.

Our college stalker is facing a felony. We skipped depositions for rehearsals. Picture this conservatory fairy tale: BFA besties, chaotic sublets, borrowed underwear and one super-fan who confused method acting with method stalking. Partners stolen, careers nuked, faculty too dazzled by "genius" to spot the red flags. Bachelors of Fine Arts is a dark two-person comedy that roasts ambition gone cultish, institutions that shrug at sabotage because "talent," and the noble tradition of smiling through betrayal. Not true crime. Not therapy. Come watch us process publicly and affordably, or... something like that.

Be My Baby

Parker & Snell Youth Company

Set in 1964, four teenage girls are sent to a church-run mother and baby home, hidden away by a society that refuses to acknowledge them. As they wait for their babies to be adopted, unexpected friendships form and courage quietly emerges. Warm, witty and ultimately heartbreaking, Amanda Whittington’s powerful drama explores love, shame and resilience in a world ruled by judgement and silence. Performed by the Parker & Snell Youth Company, this moving production brings to life a hidden chapter of recent history with honesty, humanity and hope.

Bean vs The Robots: A Solo Show Musical

Midge Lema / Lemabean Productions

Bean is trapped inside her spaceship. And now you’re trapped with her. Unfortunately for you, Bean lost her memories and must play sad little songs on her keyboard in order to get them back. While she sings, you start to lose all sense of time. But don’t worry. In space, there’s always time. Or is there? As Bean unravels, she remembers why she, and perhaps you, needed to go to space in the first place. A sci-fi exploration of grief through the funny, wistful and weird eyes of a lost space traveller.

Before the Sun Comes Up

FirstByte Theatre

Under Burnley’s grey skies, a group of teenagers try to find where they fit. When two friends announce an impulsive engagement, the group is swept into a blur of cheap suits and reckless love. They feel invincible, until one night changes everything. Before the Sun Comes Up is a warm, gritty exploration of growing up in a place that doesn’t wait for you, navigating the space between childhood dreams and the reality of adulthood. When the laughter fades and the future looms, FirstByte Theatre asks what remains of the friendships and places that defined you?

Bella

Jin Hi Soucy Rand

In this raw and riveting one woman show, JinHi lays bare the moments that fracture and forge a life. Through fierce honesty, sharp humour and unexpected grace, her monologue traces love, illness, art and resilience, inviting audiences into an intimate reckoning with survival and selfhood.

Betsi

Her Story Theatre Company

Following sell-out Welsh tours, Her Story Theatre Company presents Betsi – the electrifying story of Betsi Cadwaladr. From humble beginnings to globetrotting adventures, Betsi's extraordinary life culminates in her most daring venture: in her sixties, defying all conventions, she sailed to the Crimean battlefield to serve as a nurse, where she famously clashed with Florence Nightingale herself. Through flashbacks and poignant interviews, this superb script by Welsh playwright Adele Cordner brings Betsi's indomitable spirit to life with heart-stopping excitement and tender humanity. Prepare to laugh, cry, and be swept away by this unforgettable theatrical experience celebrating a true trailblazer.

Bite

Anovian Productions

Twenty-one-year-old Riley spends her time regurgitating her chewed-up thoughts into her journal, finding comfort in her words. Riley's closest confidant, Anna, knows what is really eating away at her, keeping Riley all to herself. The family says Anna leaves a bad taste in their mouths. But to Riley... she is insatiable. Inspired by a true story, Bite opens the door into the complex world of atypical anorexia, bringing to life the small thoughts and voices that nibble away at a person. Because some people just don't get it?! So come on, have a bite. Just for us.

Bloody Mary's

Fat Pooch Productions

Set in 1823, an Edinburgh riddled with greed and decay, Mary McKinnon is the queen of the night. Her brothel, Bloody Mary’s, is successful, her reputation untouched... Until one night of violence changes it all. When gentlemen turn ungentlemanly and demand more than Mary is willing to give, tragedy creeps under the red curtain and blood becomes the new currency. Come join us for a night of song and dance where the women from Edinburgh's past reclaim their voices.

Body of Evidence

Trauma Recovery

In Body of Evidence, Hazel Katherine Larkin brings you on a tour of her body. She explains how various parts were impacted by the sexual violence perpetrated on her – by her father, brothers, and others – throughout her childhood. Audiences may be surprised to learn that more than sexual and reproductive areas of the body are affected. Honest, euphemism-free and surprisingly funny, this piece will affect all who see it.

Body Parts

University of Bristol DramSoc

Recently widowed May (60s) is visiting her eldest, Carmel (32), in her new house in rural Scotland. She brings her youngest, Margot (22), who suffers from immense Catholic guilt. May begins an affair with Carmel’s long-term boyfriend. Using cutting-edge facial mapping software invented by our collaborator, Alensi Studios, Body Parts is a taste of the future of theatre. Live art and technology meet in this experimental dark comedy which confronts ageing, guilt and the insatiable sexual appetite of an older woman.

boobytrapped

No Tits Theatre in Association with theSpaceUK

Bodyswap romcom chaos erupts when Simon, a trans man, and Kevin, a cis man, meet in a gay club and are instantly drawn to each other. Their hookup derails when Kevin realises Simon is trans, but before things turn ugly, a magical twist traps them in each other’s bodies. Forced to navigate insecurities and prejudice, they must work together to reverse the swap - whether they understand each other or not. From the creators of Fckboy - winner of the Binge Fringe Queer Award and The Stagey Best LGBTQ+ Production.

Book Club

New Stagers

Grab your wine, nibbles and notebooks and get ready to join Linda and her fellow “book clubbers” as they attempt to dissect the classics. This award-winning comedy explores the idiosyncrasies of a mismatched group brought together (through Linda’s heavy persuasion) by their love, or mild interest, in books. As they journey through the novels, free-flowing wine and endless crisps, one question remains: can this motley group of strangers actually become friends? And what exactly is a cheese puff?

Brew Hill

Pecadillo Productions

Gordon suffers from panic attacks and is obsessed with Berlin. Nat is a recovering alcoholic who has visions of the Renaissance painter Pieter Bruegel. And Pieter, the great observer of wit and folly, has something he needs to tell us. As cracks appear in Nat and Gordon's routines and their story begins to overlap with Pieter's, this ‘kooky, self-assured tragicomedy with instant cult classic potential’ (Cherwell) asks the big questions: what is the difference between community and suffocation? Can creativity be home-grown? And is it a good idea to start a brewery if you don't like beer?

Bucksomly Betrothals

Theatre Paradok

Alan Rivers, former bowling world champion, has it all – glory (Bowling World Championship trophy), riches (semi-detached house in Milton Keynes), hair (thinning). Or rather, he almost has it all: Alan is alone. He’s on a mission to find love, with the help of Geraldine Bucksomly, the owner of Bucksomly Betrothals, a matchmaking agency. But Geraldine is facing financial ruin, Alan’s bowling success is perhaps not all that it seems, and a mysterious stranger has appeared in town with a thirst for revenge…

Cabin

Daffodils

Six friends gather in a remote cabin for a weekend away, hoping to reconnect and escape the noise of everyday life. But as night falls, something shifts. One by one, a friend disappears not just from the room, but from memory itself. Relationships subtly rewrite, shared histories distort and the group’s reality begins to fracture and the only person who realises it is the next one to go. As paranoia and grief intertwine, the cabin becomes a space where truth feels fragile and loyalty is tested. Cabin is an intimate, unsettling exploration of friendship, and truth.

CAKE: A Crime of Love

On The Brink

It’s 24 hours before Alfie’s birthday party. 24 hours before someone’s going to die. What happens next has everything to do with what happened before. Charlotte has made the cake. Dani has made a mistake – an unforgivable, best-friend-destroying, boyfriend-involving mistake. Darkly funny and deliciously unhinged, this reverse murder mystery slices through jealousy, friendship and the fragile line between telling the truth and protecting the people you love. Because sometimes honesty is an act of violence – and sometimes love is the crime. CAKE asks, who gets to have their cake and eat it too?

Carys Should be the UK’s Next Eurovision Entry

Carys Jeffrey Evans

Carys is campaigning to become the UK’s next Eurovision entry. In this one-woman musical comedy, she builds her case through bold vocals, unshakable self-belief and a growing list of signatures on her petition. Part manifesto, part love letter to Eurovision, the show celebrates big dreams and the reckless optimism required to think that this is going to get the BBC’s attention. Expect abundant ESC references, a curated track list and the joyful delusion to accept nil points if required. A heartfelt, hilarious tribute to the world’s most chaotic international song contest.

Cellotape

Queen Mary's Theatre Company

Cellotape follows the intricate relationship between two girls as they grow up and navigate the world of teenage drama, peer pressure and sex. However, we are soon exposed to the harsh reality that even from a young age, some friendships can be toxic and detrimental, as not everything is as it seems between the two main characters. Cellotape uses what I describe as ‘traumatic nostalgia’ in order to reflect on very real societal issues such as the indoctrination of children into abusive patterns.

Charles Dickens: The Hanged Man's Bride

Blue Orange Arts

'She comes towards me on the floor; always approaching; never coming nearer; always visible as if by moonlight whether the moon shines or not'. A writer struggling to reignite his creative vision. A real-life crime. And a visit to a supposedly haunted inn. As darkness descends, a ghostly tale is played out. But what is real and what is not? A tale of passion, deceit and the ethereal dance between the realms of life and death as the Hanged Man's Bride beckons from the shadows of the past.

Charles Dickens: The Signalman

Blue Orange Arts

A traveller meets a solitary railway signalman – and steps straight into a mystery he cannot explain. Ghostly warnings, fatal accidents and mounting dread haunt this faithful stage adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic tale. Inspired by the real-life 1861 Clayton Tunnel disaster, The Signalman explores fear, progress and the darkness beneath the steam-driven optimism of Victorian Britain. Blue Orange Arts delivers a tense, atmospheric production that crackles with suspense and psychological unease. Beware the signalman's bell...

Chip and Gus: A Comedy with Balls

Fat Knight Theatre (New York City)

A blisteringly brilliant comedy of two oddball men playing ping-pong in a rundown upstate New York bar. Their chemistry explodes with hilarious, heart-breaking revelations. Gus, a flamboyantly stoic professor of philosophy and socially inept genius, spouts jokes and pedantry. Chip is a goofy struggling music teacher and composer, whose life hangs by a thread. A spectacular, gripping, rapid-fire human symphony. Overall Excellence for Ensemble winner (FringeNYC). ‘Bright, funny and cathartic. An emotionally resonant buddy comedy for thinking audiences’ ★★★★ (Time Out). ‘One of the most impressive things I’ve ever seen’ (BroadwayRadio.com).

Cinderella and Frankenstein's Monster Are Dead

The Beachcombers

A gothic fairytale for the culturally confused. A Chinese exchange student at an American high school sees herself in Frankenstein’s monster – stitched together and out of place. When the drama club stages Cinderella, she auditions to prove her worth, only to find herself longing for the Mandarin rhymes she once sang with pride. As foreign stories glitch into nightmares, she realises: both the princess and the monster are dead. She’s neither. Critically acclaimed at 2025 Brighton Fringe: 'raw, eye-opening' ★★★★ (TheatreInBrighton.co.uk), 'refreshing and linguistically aware take on identity construction' ★★★★ (SoundBehindCurtain.com).

CIRCLE

JMTC Theatre

In this award-winning comedy and Off-Broadway hit, two actors play eight interconnected characters in a fast, funny daisy chain of sexual encounters. A country music star, an exchange student, a cybersex novice, an estranged husband, an S&M submissive, a frat boy and a lesbian bestie collide in a witty, provocative exploration of sex, power, intimacy and the universal longing for human connection. Bold, timely and sharply observed, CIRCLE turns desire into a revealing – and hilarious – map of modern relationships. 'CIRCLE delivers belly laughs from beginning to end!' ★★★★ (London Free Press). 'Ingenious!' (New York Times).

Collateral Damage

Without Compromise Theatre

'You can’t force someone to open up, can you?' In the aftermath of tragedy, a mother drowns her sorrows, one daughter lashes out at the world, while another soldiers on through the storm. The Laing family have been through thick and thin together but now lead separate lives. In the wake of Alex Laing’s release from prison, can they mend the rift between them, or have some wounds been cut too deep? Collateral Damage is a new-writing drama, tackling themes of generational trauma, mental health and recovery, through the lens of working class and queer Scottish women.

Come As You Are

Theatre Paradok

The whole family gathers to celebrate Katherine’s birthday; her husband, her kids, her best friends and her brother-in-law. Her lovely, stress-free evening seems to be going exactly to plan, until her brother arrives – it would seem he did not make the invite list. He barges his way through her ineffectual husband, with the assistance of her enthusiastic children and autocratic brother-in-law and finds himself in the midst of a dinner party he ought not attend.

Constellations

Theatre33

Every choice creates a universe. A simple conversation begins… and begins again. Slightly different each time. A word changes. A silence shifts. A life unfolds another way. In Constellations, time fractures and possibilities multiply as two people navigate love, loss, and everything in between. What changes us isn't just what happens – but what could have happened. Witty, intimate and quietly devastating, this is a play about connection in a world where nothing is certain… except the moments we choose to hold onto.

Countdown

Theatre Paradok

Curious about what it's actually like to be a teacher? Join Kelvin, a young, idealistic educator as he unsuccessfully navigates a teacher's day-to-day challenges, courtesy of the education system. Contrary to popular belief, teaching is not a calling. Countdown is a play that exposes what teachers go through on a daily basis and challenges the stigma surrounding discourse on teachers' mental health. Written from personal experience, it highlights the lack of support that teachers receive, demarcates the fine line separating dedication and burnout, and is a stark reminder that teachers are, at the end of the day, only human.

Cubicle Dialogue

University Of York Drama Society

Tensions are running high at Wessex District Council! As Labour falters nationally and Reform surges locally, inside a struggling local council office three civil servants and their boss find neutrality increasingly impossible. Cubicle Dialogue is a sharp British political satire where Angie, a Conservative councillor, faces a choice: loyalty or survival. Private arguments spill into public consequences as local elections loom and the future of the ward hangs in the balance. Funny, biting and uncomfortably familiar, Cubicle Dialogue turns a council office into a microcosm of modern Britain – where ideology, ambition and insecurity collide.

Cyn

Lonely Shepherd Productions

Cyn – set in 1995, explores the consequences of colliery closures on mining communities across South Wales. We follow Emyr, the sole drinker on a bleak morning at the village pub. He is the son of a miner, who's life trajectory had been scrambled by the closure of the mine. Into this sombre setting stumbles Simon, an Englishman who is out of petrol and, evidently lost. Over the next hour, accompanied by Max Boyce's music, the tensions between the two simmer as the past is interrogated as we look back and ask the question: Where did the heart go?

D H Lawrence: The Prussian Officer

Blue Orange Arts

Power. Desire. Control. Set within a harsh military world, The Prussian Officer charts the explosive relationship between a young orderly and his commanding officer. What starts as obedience twists into dangerous obsession as authority and attraction collide. Ben Mills-Wood’s charged new adaptation of D H Lawrence’s story shines a fierce light on repression, class and the human cost of desire denied. With striking performances and bold direction, this taut psychological drama reveals how passion, when silenced, becomes destructive – a gripping battle between control and surrender that leaves lasting scars.

Daisy Pulls It Off

Viva Arts and Community Group

Returning to the Fringe, Viva bring you this fast-paced, much-loved romp through 1920s girlhood by Denise Deegan. Daisy Meredith is off to Grangewood School for ‘Gals’ but she finds herself the target of a mean campaign of tricks and false accusations. Undeterred, Daisy launches into a mission of her own – to find the Beaumont Treasure – beat the bullies and save the school! An affectionate and hilarious parody, Viva’s Daisy Pulls it Off delivers a feel-good, charming and utterly spiffing show. Complete with a gripping on-stage hockey match and daring clifftop rescue!

Daughter of Sweden - That One Princess Who Got Drunk with Lizzie I and Thrown Out of England

Teater Kaleido, By/With: Cecilia Säverman, Director: Judith Hollander

Award-winning one-woman show, bringing royal scandal and the high seas to life. When Sweden's 19-year-old Princess Cecilia Vasa is caught with a lover in 1559, Europe thinks the scandal will tame the harlot. But Cecilia is just getting started. Condemned, filthy rich and yearning for freedom, she enters Renaissance Europe where war, chastity and men rule. Could friendship with Queen Elizabeth I of England grant her the independence she craves – or why not a life of piracy? Translated into English.

Dead Wrong

Jaimee Doyle

Dead Wrong is a gripping psychological thriller that pulls audiences into the aftermath of a night that may have ended in murder. Best friends Fiadh and Nolan have disappeared, hiding from the world and from the truth of what really happened. As fear tightens and outside pressure creeps closer, their bond is tested by suspicion, manipulation, and moral compromise. What begins as unwavering loyalty slowly fractures, forcing Nolan to question whether standing by the person he loves most is an act of devotion, or a dangerous refusal to see the truth.

Dear Lihua

Treetrick

A woman dies in London and wakes in an afterlife divided by language. Assigned to an “English Heaven”, she must navigate memory, identity and belonging while slowly losing her mother tongue. Dear Lihua is a bilingual theatre piece blending English and Mandarin, exploring migration, assimilation and the emotional cost of translation. Combining text, movement and multimedia, the work invites audiences into an intimate and unsettling space between languages, where communication is fragile and meaning is never fixed.

Dear Michelle Kwan

Triple Lutz Productions

Set in the early 2010s, four teen figure skaters rehearse for their annual holiday show, led by their bizarre and obsessive coach. They pray to Michelle Kwan, their god, for guidance. In the locker room, the girls navigate friend drama, twerking and IBS. When a blizzard traps them in the ice rink, reality warps. Their prayers to Michelle Kwan turn into violent rituals and life becomes a never-ending rehearsal… a never-ending ritual. A dark comedy about the beauty, violence and camaraderie of girlhood in hyper-competitive spaces.

Deckhand

Spinelly Productions and Los Angeles Theatre Initiative

Joseph, an abrasive pushing-40 talent agent, is awoken in the middle of the night to a call from his top-billing client – she’s on Catalina Island for a photoshoot without any of her wardrobe or glam. Joseph arrives at the dock ready to set sail but waits on one last thing: his assistant Fiona. Join Joseph and Fiona as they embark on a tumultuous journey aboard a failing speedboat in this comedic look at the divide between agent and assistant. Fresh off a sell-out run in Los Angeles, Deckhand makes it's Edinburgh Fringe debut!

Democrazy

Action Theatre (Italy)

From the company behind The Italians in England comes an extraordinary tale about democracy and dictatorship, told through Balinese mask, music and physical theatre with Edoardo Vanoni and Denis Haugh. Cycling through the countryside of a tropical island, an Italian tourist loses his way when his phone battery dies. He enters the home of an old mask maker and from then on a remarkable political story unfolds. This play explores the lure of populism and the common traits shared by dictators, reflecting the political realities shaping our world today. The show is dedicated to Alexei Navalny.

Departure Is My Homecoming

Feast on Waste Land

Is it fate that the Water Dwellers were born into drifting? Having once forgotten their choice to live at sea, yet later chose land – leaving both sea and home to become the first families to settle ashore. This performance, composed of body, sound and imagery, reveals how their wandering abruptly ended. Through whispered conversations with Water Dwellers on Hong Kong’s outlying islands – sharing stories once forgotten – it weaves lineage, history and imagination, piecing together fragments left between ocean and land, in an endeavour to return to the village left four decades ago.

Detective Heartbreak

Student Theatre at Glasgow

Detective Heartbreak, a detective trained in solving the mysteries and complexities of love and desire, tackles what might just be his most unsolvable case yet: why did Connor's Hinge date leave him on read? An offbeat detective parody tackling some of the biggest problems in the modern world; clowns, magicians and... dating apps!

Does the Oracle Speak Truth?

July2septembertheatre

Modern day worshippers seek answers from the Oracle – the speaker of gods – to help them through their past, present and future. But how long will this support last?

Don't Flush Me Yet

George Williams and Alan Robinson-Rising

When a lonely man’s poo becomes sentient and begs not to be flushed, Patrick is dragged into an absurd odyssey through Brighton. As the pair flee Thames Water, encounter drag bars, fortune tellers and a sinister scientist, Patrick is forced to confront his own repression, loneliness and emotional constipation. Ridiculous, heartfelt and gloriously unhinged, Don’t Flush Me Yet is a surreal new comedy about friendship, freedom and what happens when a lifetime of blockage finally gives way.

Don't Kill Daisy

Soleil Kohl

Daisy is lost in the middle of a desert rave. Your job: keep her alive, no matter what. Through a ridiculous, winding journey through every danger imaginable, Don't Kill Daisy is a choose-your-own-adventure comedy where the audience determines how Daisy’s night ends. And begins. And ends again.

Don't know? Have a go!

Fast Snail Productions

Where do forgotten memories go? What’s the meaning of life? Why is this so hard to answer? Don't know? Well lets have a go! Welcome back for one last time to everyone's favourite quiz show. One lucky contestant will trudge through the trials of the evening in an attempt to enter The Tunnel of Mystery. Fast Snail Productions invites you to their brand new one man show that explores the power of memory, the pressures of living and the hope that love and music can give us. You won’t want to forget this!

Don’t Rain on My Parade!

Miss Lossie Mouth

Don’t Rain on My Parade is a bold, hilarious and heartfelt 50-minute cabaret-theatre show starring award-winning Highland icon Miss Lossie Mouth. Featuring hit songs from stage and screen, razor-sharp comedy and moments of moving honesty, it tells the story of a boy who loved a fabulous dress and grew up under Section 28 – turning shame into sequins. With council-estate courage, queer resilience and gloriously camp theatricality, Miss Lossie Mouth celebrates identity, survival and sparkle in an uplifting show packed with heart, humour and powerhouse diva spirit.

Dr Faustus

Out of Office Theatre

Dr Jonathan Faustus is fed up with his life and desperate for the recognition he deserves. Cue the powers that be. In a vain bid to secure his glory Faustus turns to the occult. Experience the carnage that comes with literally... making a deal with the devil. Marlowe's classic, reimagined into the modern day (with one or two tweaks). 'An engaging version of the classic tale that keeps the message intact throughout its modernised adaptation' (Everything-Theatre.co.uk).

Dust: The Sixth Sense

3Bugs Fringe Theatre Society

The Sixth Sense pulls you into a world of decay and possession, following five fractured identities navigating darkness when guidance is absent. At it’s centre is Girl, confined to her home and to Mother, Dust, Air and Narrator. Experience our world of chaos and the original soundtrack that pierces through dimensions. This play insists on listening. On recognising. Dust is a story about the unstable sense of self and how we are shaped by our fortunate and unfortunate events alike. We invite you to sit with the parts of yourself the cracked mirror reflects.

Edward Albee's The Zoo Story

The Classic Theatre Project

The American dream meets the American nightmare on a bench in Central Park. TCTP's wickedly funny, shocking and heart-breaking show shines a timely light on masculinity and the need to escape our own zoo.

Eight

Drama Works (Parker & Snell)

A collection of searing monologues from contemporary Britain, each offering a distinct and uncompromising voice. From privilege and politics to identity, faith and personal responsibility, these characters wrestle with the beliefs that shape their lives and the society around them. Sharp, provocative and darkly funny, this acclaimed play examines the fault lines running through modern culture. Each story stands alone, yet together they form a striking portrait of a nation questioning itself. Bold, intelligent and unflinching, this compelling production invites audiences to confront uncomfortable truths and consider where they stand.

Eight Hours

Queen Mary's Theatre Company

Strangers, eight hours, one connection they can't quite explain. Eight hours follows two queer women through the only eight hours they'll ever spend together, it might mean everything – or nothing at all. As the night unfolds, they navigate tension, vulnerability and the question of what if. Upon their first meeting, a fantasy is created between them but when morning comes they are to never see each other again. Is eight hours long enough to fall in love?

Elsa McTaggart: Capturing the Light

sruth-mara in association with An Lanntair

The third child of Gaelic-speaking crofters, William McTaggart became one of Scotland’s most celebrated artists through sheer determination and hard work. What is his legacy a century on, for his country and family? Songwriter Elsa McTaggart tells the story of her great grandfather’s extraordinary life and talent, and how it shaped her own creative identity. Made in the Outer Hebrides – and part of the Made in Scotland showcase – this visually striking new theatre show is written by Elsa McTaggart and directed by Fringe First winner Laura Cameron-Lewis. Production design by Robbie Thomson. MadeInScotlandShowcase.com

Erika. Reflections on a New Era

Enebro Teatro

The play explores the power of the arts in general, and theatre in particular, as a tool for resisting the rise in violence and war in contemporary society. Erika is a Jewish woman born in Germany who now lives in Madrid. She is the director of a cadet residence and the central figure in the story. She is caught in a conflict between two residents: Adrian, who is preparing to enter the Spanish Army, and Khalil, a Syrian refugee training to enter drama school.

Escape from Fairytale Land

Fib and Fable

Welcome to Fairytale Land, the world’s most successful theme park, where happily-ever-afters run on a loop. Run by Grimm Corp, it exploits a dimensional rift, forcing fairytale characters to relive their stories for public entertainment. Enter Andie, who knows the park isn’t what it seems. With two documentary filmmakers, she sneaks inside, exposing the truth and daring a midnight character heist. But inside, nothing is straightforward. Memories shift. Stories clash. And some characters may not want to leave. Fast, funny and unsettling, this darkly comic show asks: Is escape freedom, or just another story we’re told?

Eve and Adam

Little Darlings

Tr*mp got elected – again, the environment is fucked and capitalism rules. But this show isn’t about that – Eve and Adam explores a modern day woman, obsessed with enemies to lovers, seeking honour as a way to get back with her ex and wanting to right the wrongs of the world, in a desperate attempt to change the world by going back to the very beginning... to make Adam eat the Apple instead of Eve.

exit strategy's How to Win a Gameshow

exit strategy

Graham has been the star contestant of a popular gameshow for either 4 or 327 days. Led by a series of violently charming hosts, Graham and the audience compete in a game neither party understands. The tasks are invasive, the stakes mysteriously high and the audience increasingly implicated. Part performance art, part improv show, part ethics inquiry, How to Win a Gameshow blurs the line between performer and audience-rendering everyone subject to scrutiny under the watchful eye of an ever-present, controlling, overarching force.

Famous Last Words

Montseratt Productions

Two failing writers recalling a drunken night remember a stroke of fortune which motivates them to finish their play. However, as creative tensions flare and truths are revealed, the narrative of their own struggles takes centre stage… Famous Last Words is a darkly comic exploration of art and its place in the world; through narrative playfulness, striking visuals and dynamic dialogue, this original work aims not just to bring our stories to life but to show the real life in all of our stories.

Fight or Flight

Noe Productions

Fight or Flight is a one-act play with two alternate endings that follows the story of two trans men who find and lose love for one another. Showcasing 14 scenes in a non-linear timeline, Fight or Flight is sure to keep the audience on their toes! With a twist ending, the audience chooses the characters' fate. The jury are aware it is life or death.

Film Noir Frog

On The Fly Theatre

Film Noir Frog, gripped by a dirty sense of morality, continues their pledge to clean the crime-ridden city. Finding themselves the number one webbed suspect of a recent arson attack on a city landmark, The Bowling Alley, they seek to wash the city with a slippery, slimy hard truth. With the whole of the morally ambiguous police force and their local pub against them, what secrets will they find amongst the rubble? How many prop cigarettes will they get through? Will Martha ever leave them alone? No, she won't. Screw Martha.

Follow Me

The Dog Ate My Theatre Company and New Celts Productions

'I know that life won’t break me, when I come to call, she won’t forsake me – I’m loving Angel instead...' Some say you should never meet your heroes, but four die-hard superfans are about to get closer than ever to theirs. Angel is a global sensation: chart-topper, social media goddess, the voice of a generation. She’s perfection. She’s family. She’s fantasy. Tonight, after the final show of her tour, dreams are coming true backstage. But in a world built on likes and curated connection, how real is love and fame? And who’s truly following who?

Fool's Gold

University Of York Drama Society

It’s just a regular day in the Last Chance saloon, that is until foul mouthed regular Sam finds a bag of gold stashed away by the barkeep. The other patrons join in on the action, arguing over who is most deserving of the gold and what it should be spent on. They are quickly interrupted, however, by the most fearsome bandit in the west, and the true owner of the gold, intent on reclaiming his property by any means necessary... A farcical caper about cowboys, dynamite, and property damage.

Fool’s Gold

Agents of Chaos Theatre Company

Ettie Best Comedy in a Fringe Venue nominee – here lies a dark comedy about a long underrepresented group: grave robbers (covert-excavators). A twisting show which keeps you guessing and 'balances grotesque dark depths with pure, ridiculous joy' ★★★★ (Everything-Theatre.co.uk). Grave-robbing can be a sticky business, so whack on your marigolds and observe this unhinged odyssey with marathon runners, ghosts and… Take That? 'The best show about grave robbers I’ve ever seen!' ★★★★ (PinkPrinceTheatre.com). One more dig and David can leave the game, but has he already dug his own grave?

Fruit Flies

Fast Snail Productions

When visiting her old gay best friend, Maddy is introduced to his new friend Steph, and sparks fly. One disagreement over Chappell Roan tickets later, and the two fruit flies find themselves sucked into a bizarre world where they are pitted against each other again, and again, and again...

Gaudí: God's Architect

AGAP Theatre

Genius? Madman? Saint? The story of Antoni Gaudí, internationally renowned visionary architect responsible for Barcelona's towering Sagrada Familia. The sell-out 2024 Fringe show written and directed by Stephen Callaghan returns with a revised version marking the centenary of Gaudi's death. As all eyes turn towards Barcelona for the completion of Gaudi's masterpiece and the case opens for Gaudi's canonisation, Callaghan heads a cast of three bringing to life the powerful and enigmatic events and characters surrounding God's Architect. ‘Acting is strong throughout... engrossing’ (AllEdinburghTheatre.com). 'Superb writing' (Derek Awards). 'Sincere storytelling' (BroadwayBaby.com). 'Fun and educational' (Scotsman).

Gloves

GlovesUK

A one-act psychological dark comedy about a Scottish sociopath named William, who believes his sole purpose in life is to fix the brokenness of the world person by person. We follow his dysfunctional life through his eyes, and we realise very quickly his tendencies, although wanting to be good, only end up creating more damage than fixing it. Through his picky nature we meet his next victim who ends up winning the game William didn’t even know he’d started, but in doing so, ruins her own life.

God Complex

Bristol Spotlights

Five Olympian Gods discover that no one believes in them anymore. As they grapple with existential dread, dysfunctional relationships and much-needed family therapy, the almighty deities reveal just how human they really are. Bridging 2000s nostalgia and Greek mythology, this sit-com style show confirms that sleeping with your flatmates is messy – especially when they’re family. Written and directed by the exuberant radio host Felix Glanville and ‘dazzling’ (PlaysInternational.org.uk) comedy-actor Leah Pollard, ‘God Complex’ playfully reimagines iconic mythological characters as morally dubious everymen.

Graduatric

A Lucy Linford Production

A love letter to Educating Rita for an age that can't agree on anything. A fierce, funny and unsettling two-hander about grief, reinvention and the fragile possibility of dialogue. When mature student Susan is accused of transphobia, charged encounters with her tutor force buried grief and long-suppressed truths to the surface. Written by Lucy Linford, a TV writer and graduate of the NFTS and GCU. 'Her bruised characters twitch with hunger' (Colin McLaren, BAFTA-winning screenwriter).

Grandma's Shop

Julie Flower

Clothes, cats and counterculture. Sheffield, 1989. Loveable, eccentric septuagenarian, Hilda, has run a second-hand clothes shop for decades. The profits feed 30 stray cats. One day, a journalist from The Guardian walks in... Hilda's granddaughter, Julie Flower, returns with her 5-star Fringe 2024 hit! A solo, multi-character show about family history subverting expectations. Step inside Grandma's shop, a nostalgic world of old carrier bags, pools coupons and vintage clothes... presided over by an unlikely punk icon. ★★★★★ (ThreeWeeks). ★★★★ (List). 'You will leave bathed in the warm glow of humanity at its best' ★★★★ (TheEdinburghReporter.co.uk).

Grief Encounters

Imogen Defriez

The last train of the day to France, 11:54pm. Three siblings embark on an emergency journey from London to the south of France, to be with their dad in hospital, experiencing some bizarre moments and encounters en route. This fast-paced, silly, tender one woman show will leave you wanting to tell everyone in your life you love them. We don't have long on this earth, let's make it count.

Guns in Dragonland

Los Angeles Theatre Initiative

Navigating youth is a universal challenge, but with the constant threat of firearms, American students are faced with their own mortality before they stop wearing tutus to school. Fortunately, these kids don’t have to face this horror alone, meet the guardian angels of America’s youth: dragons. Created and presented by students, Guns in Dragonland is a series of vignettes exploring American school society and its shocking overlap with America's gun culture. Witness as these children and their dragon guardians grapple with the dangers of gun violence with humour, bravery, and compassion. 'Surprising and extraordinary' (David Henry Hwang).

Halfway Home

Deliverance Theatre

Halfway Home follows the rippling effects of addiction and confronting mistakes of a past life. Davie is just out of prison and cooped up with his policeman-hopeful brother, Freddie. Caught in the middle is Laura, an overworked nurse in an underfunded NHS, who finds herself at wits end with both of them. Perspectives collide on treatment and attitudes, in the backdrop of austerity-hit Scotland, providing a bold, relatable story of a broken family trying to mend themselves.

Happily Ever Never

LS6 Theatre

Hello Princess! The Princess Party Planners are here to make your day magical – nothing less will do. But behind the glitter, one performer starts to realise the fairytale she’s selling isn’t so magical for her. As her job intensifies, feelings become harder to ignore, and cracks in the fairytale start to show. Can she take off the princess mask and face the story she’s been avoiding? A funny and heartfelt dive into the messy magic of becoming yourself. Expect laughter, discomfort, and a tear or two – but no guarantees of happily ever after.

Having a Baby - The Sh!t They Don’t Tell You in Books

Lou Cox

The journey to motherhood is fraught with the most painful and awkward moments for all women. This comedic and brutally honest one woman show takes the audience on an emotional and at times highly entertaining rollercoaster. From morning sickness to hypnobirthing classes to labour, you won’t find this stuff in the pregnancy books! No holds barred; get ready for a whirlwind of witty anecdotes and graphic storytelling with an ending no mother could ever imagine.

Henry V

Blue Orange Arts

A single actor takes the field in this electrifying retelling of Shakespeare’s Henry V, embodying kings, comrades and enemies alike. With nothing but language, imagination and sheer force of performance, the epic story of power, war and responsibility is distilled to its beating heart. Thrones rise and fall, battles roar and doubts whisper in the shadows as one man channels the voices of an entire world. Intimate yet monumental, Ben Mills-Wood’s interpretation of Henry V strips away spectacle to reveal the cost of leadership, the thrill of rhetoric and the fragile humanity behind a legendary king.

Homunculus

ECC

Art is the best revenge. The Off-Off-Broadway camp cult sell-out hit makes landfall in Edinburgh at last! It’s their umpteenth break-up, but this time feels different to artist and self-styled sorceress Mimi. The obvious solution? Sculpt an idol of her ex during a thunderstorm and top it off with the foulest love-hate potion alchemy can brew! An 'impish word-drunk play' giving 'big laughs and sharp plot turns with confidence' (Rob Weinert-Kendt, American Theatre Magazine), Homunculus is a classic farce in modern verse, a romance for the ages, an explosion of creativity and a monstrously good time.

Hope This Helps!

Shark Bait Theatre

Welcome to The Retreat, where guests can log off, detox and connect with nature (or perfectly kept astroturf). Five eccentric internet addicts search for an easy fix for their mounting problems, in the hopes that cucumber peels and trust exercises can buy back their happiness. When a violent storm threatens to uproot their plans, they are forced to question whether you can ever really go ‘off the grid’. Hope This Helps! is a satirical comedy by Shark Bait Theatre about wellness culture, connection in the digital age, and touching grass for once.

Horse Girls

Mercy Academy

BoYz may come and Go, bUt hOrSes aRe 4ever... A dark comedy play about a group of pre-teen girls in an exclusive South Florida horse club, the Lady Jean Ladies, who navigate middle school drama, insecurities and their obsession with horses, especially when their leader Ashleigh's family stables are threatened. The play explores themes of friendship, deception and the desperate need to belong, focusing on the characters' intense world of equestrianism and social hierarchy. 'Pitch-perfect... a 50-minute pop descent into madness' (New York Times).

Houdini Speaks to the Living

The Hidden Room Theatre

The year is 1924. Harry Houdini is at the peak of his fame, touring the country with performance-lectures that expose fraudulent mediums and challenge the growing Spiritualist movement. At the same moment, his friend (and eventual adversary) Sir Arthur Conan Doyle is lecturing in passionate defense of Spiritualism, convinced it represents a profound philosophical and moral evolution for humanity. Watch these two legends battle out the true nature of magic, science and faith through a historically based, largely verbatim play from writer-director Beth Burns and writer-magician Patrick Terry.

House Fly

Tess O'Shea

Bzzzz. Enter the surrealist world of a house fly. She’s come to share her story before she dies! In an astonishing historical first, a house fly has learnt human behaviour. Wanting to warn us about the worldwide insect shortage but getting lost along the way. This is Tess O'Shea's first show after training at Gaulier clown school – it's a theatrical exploration on the life of a fly and their cultural history. Come and see a fly's observations on the absurdity of modern life, inspired by Kafka and the surrealism of Dali. Swatters strictly prohibited!

How My Hormonal Imbalances Killed My Friends

Parmiter's Republic of Drama

Grinding is hard when you're an Alpha. Between looksmaxxing, assessing female options, making body investments and being high value, there's barely anytime to kill your friends and do a podcast. PROD return to Fringe with a new dark satirical comedy. Six friends, driven by a divine intervention, decide to drop out of university and plan a heist. Strange and twisted things happen, leading to the creation of the new smash hit podcast: How My Hormonal Imbalances Killed My Friends! This comedy play explores toxic masculinity, internalised homophobia and pack-mentality. Four shows only.

How To Feel Feelings

great thing going

Five supporters of a fallen authoritarian regime are sentenced to group therapy to help them get in touch with their feelings and find out why they were, like... so into fascism. Cuz, weird, right? Like, we got the big baddies, no worries. But what about the rest of them? Like, all those, maybe, not-so-innocent bystanders? This semi-devised dark comedy from Berlin-based theatre collective great thing going proposes the perfect, ultimate, most supreme solution: therapize them into repenting.

How to Write a Novel (or Not)

Greyhound Indigo Productions

A woman of a certain age is forced to trace the unruly manuscript of her life when a hijacking shatters the ordinary. Life snaps, twists, tumbles. Fear, fury, faith collide. Old choices that sting yet refuse burial. Her fierce devotion to animals becomes refuge and rebellion, a way of loving without condition. Like a ghost walk through the Eternal City’s layered past, memory flickers as she confronts truths avoided about survival, reinvention and resilience. Gathering fragments of experience, she discovers that the hardest story to write is the one that begins again.

I Almost Died for This?! (A love story. Sort of.)

Kristina Libby

One-woman show about a good girl who meets her soulmate, gets in way over her head, suffers a brain injury, starts an art movement, and comes roaring back. Forbes called this show 'All soul.' Kristina Libby is an award-winning creative force who has been published in places like The New Yorker, McSweeney's, Elle, the Boston Globe and has appeared on ABC, NBC, CBS and PBS. A Moth StorySLAM and Best Storytelling Show (United Solo Fest) winner, she founded the Floral Heart Project, a COVID memorial, and runs the Ampersand Cohort.

I Killed My Father

Irving Diptera

'This is the story of how I killed my father. Mostly.' Between demeaning beer auditions and his mother’s relentless calls, Irving performs a bitingly funny, "mostly true" autopsy on his own masculinity. From the salt-aired trauma of Veracruz to the grit of Mexico City, he dissects a paternal lineage of absentee biological fathers and the ghosts of men who only knew how to leave. A visceral, darkly comedic excavation of what we inherit, what we kill, and the high cost of a graceful exit.

I Was Never Here

Leo Lion

This sleeper agent is on his most important mission ever. Only problem – he has no idea what it is. From the clown/game show creators of last year's Edinburgh Fringe hit Help Me!!!! (an interactive mime séance) comes I Was Never Here: a highly interactive, gonzo spy thriller featuring an overzealous secret agent searching for activation phrases which will help him regain sections of his memory. Play along, decode cyphers, answer phones and most importantly remember – you never saw any of this.

If Aliens Attack, I'd Die First

Imperial College Dramatic Society

Jane is sensible, Sam is annoying, Harry is tired and Benji might be in love with an alien. A new sci-fi comedy following a group of friends as a meteorite lands in the local playground, kicking off an alien invasion. Set in their living room, the friends start to panic as more information is revealed to them about their impending doom, and accusations of secretly being Aliens start to fly about. It's a fast-paced, manic exploration of group dynamics and desperation – with a bit of ABBA added for good measure.

If I See Him

Nottingham New Theatre

In the months following her husband Zach's death, Zoe's life remains intact. She moves through the world with her happiness and her certainty untouched, accompanied by a man only she can see. As those around her insist on naming his death, Zoe begins to question whether absence is real or merely agreed upon, asking where existence ends when love refuses to let it.

In Her Hand

Surgeons Hall Museum

In Her Hand draws on real journals and letters from women serving with the Scottish Women’s Hospitals in the First World War. This defiant, darkly witty play follows an unlikely friendship forged through service on the Balkan front. Through the pages of Francis’s journal, an unlikely friendship sparks amid chaos. Thrown together, two very different women confront catastrophic injuries, scarce supplies and constant danger. Armed with quick thinking, gallows humour and fierce determination, they forge a bond strong enough to survive the harshest conditions. Go Home and Sit Still? Aye Right! Ticket includes Surgeons’ Hall Museum entry.

In the Cold Light

George Grant

The gravestones of two friends pull a journalist into an investigation he hopes will bury the past. Instead, it unearths the harsh reality of staying silent, confronting him with the one story he refused to tell. Following his five-star run in 2025, Scottish playwright George Grant returns with this powerful meditation on identity and grief. Making it’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe debut, In the Cold Light is a sharp, funny and quietly devastating exploration of how we mourn – and what we leave unsaid.

Inside Voices

Original Cast of Inside Voices

Alex, a young man navigates first love, friendships and the quiet pressure of growing up. At school, between lessons and late-night messages, he tries to balance who he is with who he feels he should be. As relationships shift, the audience is drawn inside his private world, where every word is rehearsed, every silence is loud and what he thinks rarely matches what he says. While classmates see an ordinary student stumbling through young love, we witness his doubts, his hopes and the quiet struggle to understand himself.

INTRUSIVE

INTRUSIVE Show

INTRUSIVE is a psychologically charged drama about anxiety, intrusive thoughts, and the weight of unspoken experiences. Set during a seemingly ordinary night with friends, the story follows Jess as her inner world begins to overwhelm reality. Blurring the line between memory and imagination, the play invites audiences to experience the unsettling intensity of a mind struggling for control. Honest, intimate, and unsettling, INTRUSIVE offers a raw exploration of mental health and trauma.

Invasion (JoMarZeb)

Philippine Theatre UK

Invasion, a bold multimedia spectacle from Philippine Theatre UK’s 23rd anniversary season, leaps across time – from the tense streets of 1940s Manila to the quiet corners of modern-day Oxford. Three mischievous spirits, a teacher, a lawyer and a nun crash into the present, pulling audiences into a haunting yet humorous journey blending horror, drama, comedy, music, film and history. At its heart is a stark look at Imperial Japan’s wartime atrocities, including the silenced suffering of Comfort Women. Guided by award-winning writer-director Ramon C. Teñoso, JoMarZeb explores memory, faith, loyalty and the lingering shadows of colonial trauma.

Is This Your First Crime?

Long Face

A new comedy set within a police interrogation. When Tim is brought in for questioning, he knows he's in for the third degree. But nothing can prepare him for what the desperate detectives have in store! From cops undercover to rehashed routines, from skittish psychologists to a problematic polygraph, watch the insane interrogation unfold, as the police pull out every trick in the book to get Tim's confession! Will they succeed? Or will Tim walk free? And are there more secrets at play? Who else has something they need to confess?

It Couldn't Get Worse; or, The Margarita Boat Tour Incident

Mariah Lee Squires, SW Jones and Riley Gene

Maggie is lost at sea after the Margarita Boat Tour Incident. Who even knew Edinburgh had one of those? As a storm closes in, her mother Judy and her fiancée Claire find themselves locked inside a lighthouse with only each other's opposing ideologies. Forced into an uneasy alliance, the pair desperately search for the person who ties it all together. It couldn’t get worse. Probably.

It Happened on a Tuesday

CTRL-ALT Productions

Six employees. An ordinary Tuesday in the office. One of them stole £60,000. To solve the mystery, the boss asks each of his employees to walk him through their day, leading to absurd recreations and ridiculous revelations. It Happened on a Tuesday is a new comedy play that merges the workplace sitcom with a whodunnit mystery, in the structure of Rashomon. In a world where everyone believes their own version of the truth, how can we ever be objective?

It's a Mystery!

Tim Benzie

For those who have ever wondered ‘whodunnit’ and why... Detective Tim Benzie examines the clues that drew him to the genre as a child – from Scooby Doo to Encylopedia Brown, to gobbling up the entire works of Agatha Christie as a teenager. Along the way he draws draws connections between obsessions with detective films the the TV series Murder, She Wrote.

It's A Struggle Coming Out

Los Angeles Theatre Initiative

When four Evangelical teens plan to convert citizens for their debutante ball, a closeted goth teen falls for a vampire, igniting a campy crusade of repression, romance and religious hysteria – forcing her to choose between her church, friends and thirst for authenticity. Written and performed by students at USC and fresh off a sold-out run in Los Angeles, It’s A Struggle Coming Out makes its international debut!

It’s Always Sunny on Olympus

Mind Yer Head Theatre and New Celts Productions

The Olympians have won the war with the Titans. The cosmos is theirs. Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hermes and Athena find themselves in the uncomfortable position of organising everything. Roles must be chosen, leaders must be appointed, worlds must be created and cared for – this is not what they signed up for. Egos clash, relationships are stretched thin, and the Earth is in peril from day one. The universe might be doomed before it’s even begun.

Jacuzzi by Twilight

The Optimiserables

A grizzled private investigator partners with a dewy-eyed homicide detective to solve the mysterious murder of a journalist that dug too deep. Together, they work to outmanoeuvre the crooked cops and scheming politicians that deal in the shadows of Metroville. But will they finish the case before the case finishes them?

January 6th The Musical

Kiely Sugayan and Jessie Ballard

When violent insurrectionists stormed the United States Capitol on 6th January 2021, they ruined a birthday forever. Kiely and Jessie are best friends who share the same birthday and the same big dreams of theatrical stardom. On the fateful day of the insurrection, their birthday goes from bad to worse when allegations emerge of their involvement in the attempted coup. Faced with their special day going down in infamy and spending the rest of their lives in prison, can Kiely and Jessie sing and dance their way to innocence?

Jekyll and Hyde

Muchmuchmore Theatre

Everyone has another face they hide behind... A radical re-imagining of Stevenson’s classic tale, where Victorian morality and modern feminist issues collide. This adaptation begins with Dr Jekyll’s wife, Harriet, continuing his work and exploring the duality of the soul – but her transformation is not all it seems. With powerful links between past and present, this gripping ensemble piece explores the timely question of how social change can be won, and at what cost. And crucially, do we all have a Hyde inside us?

Jessies

A Bunch of Jessies Ltd

Winner of the Creative Arts Award at the Proud Scotland Awards 2025, this powerful new play follows three unforgettable drag queens – The Jessies – and the staff of the infamous Jessie’s Bar in Scotland. Spanning from 1980 to 1995, the story dives into the highs and lows of queer life during a time of upheaval, hope and hard-won joy. Set against the backdrop of a changing world, this hilarious and deeply moving play is a celebration of resilience, love and the enduring power of community.

John Wayne Gacy: The Killer Clown, Born Evil?

No Frills Theatre Company

Gacy was one of the most prolific serial killers in US history. Between 1972 and 1978 in Chicago, he was responsible for the rape, torture and murder of at least 33 innocent teenage boys and young men. He became known as the Killer Clown due to his public performances as a clown prior to his crimes. In this theatrical piece, his story is told from his own perspective in chilling, vivid and unrelenting detail. This production is in memory of the 33 who died at the hands of a 'devil in disguise'.

JOSIAH

Thousand Miles of Bricks Productions

Based on the autobiography of Josiah Henson. Born into slavery in Maryland, enduring 41 years of unimaginable brutality and persecution before escaping to Canada. The play dramatises his unwavering resilience, determination and faith; the indomitable spirit which led him to become a respected leader, minister and teacher. His story inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe to create Uncle Tom in the seminal novel of the 19th Century – Uncle Tom’s Cabin. This is a story that matters today in a time when histories are being erased and challenged. It is a compelling true Canadian story of triumph over adversity.

Just William

Talking Shadows

William Brown requests the pleasure of your company in the audience for the play wot he has wrote, directed and also starred in for your delectation. The programme was supposed to tell you that: but Jumble ate it. I am presenting this theatrical in association with Talking Shadows Theatre, who sold out all their shows in 2025. They have also asked me to mention previous reviews such as: 1966 ★★★★★ (CounterCulture), Crime and Punishment ★★★★ (BroadwayBaby.com), 1612 ★★★★ (TheMumble.uk). Please tip the leading man generously (sweets accepted). Adapted with kind permission of the Richmal Crompton estate.

Keeping Secrets

Balancing Act Theatre and Jim Vetter Productions

Engaging, moving and hopeful, this one-person show examines links between what magicians do and what child sexual abusers do – and how secrets can be powerful in positive and destructive ways. Based on the performer’s true-life story from 1970s Boston to today, Keeping Secrets combines acting, visuals and a magic trick or two. A riveting performance, the show explores how traumatic experiences can be transformed into positive action. Creator Jim Vetter has enchanted fans internationally as a magician, mime and actor. Preview audiences call Keeping Secrets: Amazing, riveting, raw, funny, hopeful and that it 'should be on Netflix.’

Kitty Daddy

JMTC Theatre

How an unexpected cat turned award-winning monologist Bob Brader's life upside down. After weeks of hissing and growling from under Bob’s bed, his brand-new surprise feline, Jade, is determined to be alone, inspiring Bob to confront his own desire for isolation. A funny and touching examination of rage, love and healing. And how one impurrfect kitty can change everything. 'Storytelling gold!' (TheatreInLondon.com). 'Brader keeps the audience mesmerized with his dark comic relief!' ★★★★★ (Uptown Magazine). 'A must-see performance that will make you laugh, cry and just feel good' ★★★★½ (London Free Press).

La Musicca von Scene / Sonata

Thor Theatre Guliz Portakaloglu

Turkish-Norwegian theatre-maker Guliz Portakaloglu travels to Edinburgh with her new show. It is a solo theatre performance where a former actress creates a theatre play through improvisation, using objects found on stage to reflect on love, home, and music, as emotions awaken through sounds and theatrical remnants.

Larkhill

Talking Shadows

The women of the Auxiliary Territorial Service were crucial to the domestic and international efforts of the British Army during World War II. Over 250,000 young girls signed to the ATS: many working out of Larkhill in Wiltshire. This new piece explores their stories using verbatim testimony and contemporaneous musical numbers. Talking Shadows has a passion for presenting forgotten, true stories which have been described as being 'Not a dry history lesson but a living memory' (1966: ★★★★★ CounterCultureUK.com); 'Intense, emotional, excellent' (OTMA: ★★★★ TheRealChrisparkle.com); 'Wonderful' (1612: ★★★★ The Mumble). Sell-out shows 2025.

Launa

Tidal Theatre

After the loss of her daughter, young mother Edna must navigate the shifting terrain of grief as memory begins to consume her present. Movement, music, dialogue, puppetry and shadow-play converge in this visually arresting production. Within the cluttered familiarity of her apartment, grief erupts amidst the mundane like the sudden chorus of a song: supermarket flowers, intrusive cold calls and the apparition of Launa herself. This is a world in which the echo of childhood imagination and devastating loss co-exist, asking whether we have to let go of the past to remain present with the living?

Lawrence of Arabia and ME

Eamonn Gearon

Hollywood needed a cast of thousands, David Lean, and won seven Oscars. Eamonn Gearon had a camel called Osama. This Oxford-trained historian spent decades in the Middle East – living with Bedu, risking his neck and uncovering secrets Britain buried with Lawrence. History and comedy collide; a sharper image emerges. Neither villain nor hero, but something more interesting. What was promised? What was broken? What would Lawrence make of Peter O’Toole’s performance? With the wit of a raconteur and authority of a scholar, Gearon reveals man, myth, movie... plus camels.

Lipstick

Angelina Nichols

A post-apocalyptic tale of beauty, misogyny and bisexual baggage. Amidst societal collapse, Mila and Sam find comfort in their close friendship and budding attraction. It seems possible that the end of the old world could be the beginning of something better. All that changes when a strange man arrives. Joe is desperate for Mila’s companionship, and in exchange he can give her an artefact of her former life: a lipstick. As tensions among the three rise, Mila finds herself caught between Sam’s hopes of a better future and Joe’s offer of the safety of male approval.

Living the Dream

Steel Antler Theatre and New Celts Productions

After a failed attempt to get Oasis tickets, a group of friends meet for another night in the pub. Once discovering The Hardest Geezer’s marathon, the group decide to walk the Fife Coastal Path hoping to achieve something in their lives. Will this adventure be enough to break their midlife crisis, or have they bitten off more than they can chew? Living the Dream is a Scottish coming of age comedy drama, exploring mental health, friendship and a love of the Scottish Coast.

Long Story Short

New Stagers

Four fast-paced comedies about love, life, murder and... houseplants. From dating disasters to domestic dramas and a good old-fashioned whodunit. Two Sides: a couple replay their break up, two memories, two truths, both are right obviously. Hello Plant: a woman finds unlikely relationship advice from her houseplant. I Wrote A Play: a mum unveils her "masterpiece" with an unexpected twist. And, award-winning whodunit, 15 Minutes To Solve a Murder: a period farce where everyone is desperate to solve Tubby's murder. Four Plays. Plenty of laughs.

Lysistrata

Basement Theatrics

Imagine 20 years of war. A war in Ancient Greece, between Sparta and Athens. Now picture Lysistrata, an ordinary Athenian woman who says, 'Enough war! We women will end this war!' But how? 'By going on a sex strike! Are you with me?' Aristophanes' comedy Lysistrata gets an explosive, modern reimagining through protest, politics and power.

Macbeth: Blood and Bluegrass

The Barden Party

Critically acclaimed, highly original adaptation of the Bard’s dark tale. Tragic yet uplifting, tender, raucous, poignant and high-energy. Set to a live score of Americana and bluegrass music, the multi-award-winning New Zealand troupe blend classic literature with a modern twist alongside original arrangements of Mumford and Sons, Dolly Parton and The SteelDrivers, creating an emotional, accessible, toe-tapping theatrical experience. Winner Best Theatre Award Adelaide Fringe 2025. Received multiple five-star reviews Edinburgh Fringe 2025, including: 'Fantastically gifted team' ★★★★★ (TheatreWeekly.com), 'Macbeth as you’ve never seen it before' ★★★★★ (MusicalTheatreReview.com), 'Bravo' ★★★★★ (TheWeeReview.com).

Macbeth’s Midsummer Night’s Dream

Studio 919 DC

This is not the Macbeth you know; he might be your neighbour. In this modern absurdist adaptation, Macbeth is no longer a character; he embodies the human condition. A Macbeth who kills for power, seeks escape in potions and chooses his mother's early death. Lady Macbeth is clearer-headed but unable to flee. In a collision between gritty realism and surreal distortion, and between classical tragedy and modern absurdity, three pairs of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth mutate across time and space. Two actors. Six souls. Fifty minutes. How do they descend into a midsummer nightmare?

Madame La Mort

Full Moon Theatre / Labyrinth Productions

Set in a decaying attic by the sea, this radical reworking of Rachilde’s French Symbolist play traces two people entangled in cycles of violence, care and control. Language fractures between clinical detachment and intimate confession as survival becomes performance. Lucie constructs narratives to contain horror; Paul absorbs and repeats them. Outside, the world remains distant, almost imagined. Blurring tenderness with complicity, the piece interrogates how violence and pain are rationalised, inherited and finally, endured. Visceral and claustrophobic, Madame La Mort stages the moment where care turns dangerous – and escape becomes implausible.

Make Me Good Again

New Place Productions

Max is eighteen, autistic and spiralling into outbursts that his parents, Harry and Miranda, can no longer manage. When a job offer poses a new beginning in America, it feels like a fresh start – until they realise the world they’re entering views Max as an epidemic to be cured. Max's younger brother, Daniel, is caught amongst these rising concerns. As the plot unfolds, Daniel’s own sensory world begins to fracture and he must face a terrifying question: is he more like Max than he knows?

Measure for Measure

Liahona Theatre Department

An incredibly poignant and relevant production of one of Shakespeare's least-performed shows that will make you think about your own actions and how you treat others. Performed by the defending champions from the National Utah Shakespeare Festival high school competition and direct from a sold-out run in the United States.

Milkdrunk

Cathleen O'Malley

Crackling with humour and vulnerability, writer-performer Cathleen O'Malley plunges headfirst and tit-deep into childbirth, milk and what it takes to be a nursing mammal in a modern world. 'A hilarious one-woman hurricane of a show' (RocCityMag.com). 'Brilliant' ★★★★½ (AllAboutSOLO.com, Critics' Choice).

Mind Full

Mon Espoir

How do you know what is reality and what is not? Mind Full: new writing by Lewis Teckkam. This surreal, Brechtian and Beckett-esque play combines quirky humour with existential thoughtfulness. Conscience, Memory, Imagination and Intrusive Thoughts explore what it means to live in a body that needs help with everything. Except thinking. Entertaining, provocative and darkly funny, Mind Full examines society, disability, politics, and the arts. It questions our individual and collective responsibilities and hopes to inspire audiences to imagine real change. For the better.

Mind The Gap Year

Wabi-Sabi Productions

Four teenagers. Twelve months. Endless possibilities. Four teenagers are ready for a taste of the real world before they embark on... whatever comes next. As they plan their adventures and start to figure out who they’ll be, a frightening realisation hits: a gap year can’t last forever. There’s so much to do and only so much time. Will they rise to the challenge and forge an iconic legacy, or crumble and question everything? Only time will tell... Filled with laughs, live music and a touch of pathos, you can't miss it.

Miss Thing

Nottingham New Theatre

The village of Acklesford is holding their annual charity beauty pageant – and you’re invited! While all eyes are on the stage, the real drama is happening behind the scenes in the storage-cupboard-turned-dressing-room. Will reigning champion Carmen hold on to her crown after the death of her mother? Or will newcomer Felicity finally shake things up? And does anybody know when they’re going to fix the village hall roof?

Mistakes Were Made: Shiver Me Timbers!

Bottoms Up Theatre

Three heroes. One dungeon. No dragons. They’re back, and this time they’re on a boat! Bottoms Up Theatre returns with Mistakes Were Made: Shiver Me Timbers! When the crew’s treasure hunt takes an unexpected turn, it’ll take all their daring to set sail... and to survive your dice rolls. You shape the action from the comfort of your seat in this exhilarating and hilarious show! This is Mistakes Were Made’s third outing at the Edinburgh Fringe and we’re back once again at Surgeon’s Hall. Will this magical tabletop improv show sell out yet again?!

More Myself Than I Am

Talking Shadows

A vivid exploration of how three sheltered young women from a remote Yorkshire parsonage created some of the most raw, violent and passionate literary works of all time. Charlotte: the ambitious dreamer. Emily: the intense loner. Anne: the gentle, would-be social reformer. And their brother Branwell: the brilliant "lost" boy whose disappointments served only to highlight the extraordinary success of his sisters. 'Gripping and unforgettable' ★★★★ (BroadwayBaby.com). 'A cut above' ★★★★ (TheWeeReview.com).

Mrs Macbeth

Susanna Hamnett

If you hear everything and say nothing, does that make you complicit? From multi award-winning writer and performer Susanna Hamnett (Nearly Lear, Hotel Elsinore), Mrs Macbeth is a new solo show exploring the complexities of integrity in dark times. Set in the aftermath of Macbeth's fascist rule, explanations are being demanded from those closest to the murderous couple, including Margaret, Lady Macbeth's gentlewoman, who happens to share her last name. Tragic, funny, and unsettling, Mrs Macbeth is presented here in a 50 minute version. 'A virtuosic performer' (New York Times).

Mummy’s Dead, Long Live Mummy!

Koël Purie Rinchet Mic and Couch Entertainment Ltd

Raw, chaotic, heartbreaking; much like motherhood. God couldn't be everywhere, so he created mothers. Of course, he could be everywhere, he's God, he chose not to be, he knew mothers have the hardest job. This dark comedy from Paris dramatizes the relentless nature of motherhood by following the often ridiculous but sometimes moving journey of four diverse mothers. The play opens as each one is dealing with a 'die or kill' moment of mothering. The acting is compelling, the writing is painfully funny and, at times, painfully painful. It'll change your perspective.

My Beautiful Brain!

Hannah Rose Curtis

Winner of Creative Corner Festival 2026! If you can read this, you’re one step ahead of Hannah! With a mix of humour and heart, this autobiographical play sheds light on the misunderstood world of dyslexia. Get ready to laugh, cry and meet my BRIAN! Find out how Hannah navigates her way through life without being able to read the map. A fast paced, light-hearted look at the realities of a mixed-up girl in a world full of words. Hannah’s story is both relatable and inspiring, with heartwarming scenes, quirky characters and audience participation!

My Life Is a Sonnet

Eric Weiner Inc. in association with Fringe Management LLC

Charlie Katz found true love in a prep school seminar on Shakespeare’s sonnets – but he let it slip away. Now a chance encounter has given him new hope. Is it ever too late for love? That’s the question posed by this touching and comic solo show, written and performed by Eric Daniel Weiner, the acclaimed six-time Emmy nominee. Touching on mental health issues such as dissociation, depression and rage, the hero tries to face his own role in his life’s unhappiness. At long last, can he make himself vulnerable enough to experience true joy?

Night of the Fox

Aquila Youth Theatre

Attie can’t stop dreaming of a fox-masked truth-teller who lives deep in the woods, a mysterious figure said to reveal who you really are. When Attie dares to summon him, he vanishes. As his friends struggle with a sudden social media ban, they follow him into the forest, hoping to bring him home. But the deeper they go, the more they’re forced to face painful truths. In a place where every truth must be spoken aloud, saving Attie may come at a cost. Will they risk revealing their true selves or lose their friend forever?

Nocturnal Is The New Sexy

By Esme Sharpington

A darkly comic, movement-led play about love working against the clock. When NHS call-handler Alice is swapped onto night shifts, her relationship with nine-to-five Ben begins to unravel. Using an inventive ensemble and striking physicality, the show explores exhaustion, intimacy and working whilst the world sleeps. Fast, funny and painfully human, this absurdist love story asks whether being loved means being seen and what happens when you disappear in plain sight. Perfect for afternoon audiences, Fringe romantics and anyone who has ever felt invisible at work or in love. Overnight.

Nude

Bacchanalia

'No, but how funny would it be though? Like, he turns up, and it’s just me – with my tits out. His model student.' Clara has a plan. It involves a life drawing class, her favourite lecturer and stripping naked in front of a room full of strangers. What could go wrong? A lot, it turns out. Funny and devastating, Nude is a solo play about desire, fantasy and the seductive idea that being seen is the same as being empowered.

Numbers

City Youth Theatre

Teeth. Talons. Toxicity. In the hour before the Head Girl is announced, four school friends unravel as they realise there's more at stake than just the coveted position. Deception and manipulation replace old friendships and loyalties. Not even the veneer of their privileged lives can stop the rot. No one makes it to the top without a little bloodshed. Numbers by Kieron Barry is presented by City of London School for Girls.

O Brave New World, That Has Such People In’t!

Mulberry Theatre Company

The sky, it seems, would pour down stinking pitch... and for Maya the rain wouldn’t stop coming. Her parents are away, tending to her sibling in hospital, leaving Maya in a house that doesn’t feel like home. Her saving grace is a garage of junk left by the previous owners. With the help of her cat, she fetches stories from across town, bringing them to life. But when the town floods, she is forced to step into the real world and find her place amongst the community. Fringe First winners return.

One House on Brick Lane

Mulberry Theatre Company

From the Fringe First winning Mulberry Theatre Company, One House on Brick Lane is an original play rooted in East London. Set in a single house, centuries collide with the voices of past and present. In 1985, a Bangladeshi family faces eviction amid protests. Through stories told by Huguenot weavers of anti-fascist resistance, migration and community struggle, the house reveals its memories. Drawing on oral histories and lived experience, this powerful production asks who gets to belong when home is under threat. Created by young East London voices, it celebrates resilience, humour and collective hope.

One More Time

Angel Chan

A paper boat becomes the path through which an elderly woman revisits the regrets she left unresolved. Wrapped in humour and heartbreak, she finally comes to terms with her past.

Opening: A Dessert Place

NCUHS Drama Company

Shakespeare's Macbeth is a violent and disturbing play. This stage adaptation contains some of the same disturbing elements. In this case, two high school seniors are plotting murder. Elizabeth, through the urging of her best friend Mackenzie and the supernatural intervention of three restaurant servers, gives into 'vaulting ambition' and surrenders to her bloodiest impulses. Like the classic play by Shakespeare that inspired this story, it includes witchcraft and 'prophesy'.

Operation Blank

George Grant

Someone has dropped an atom bomb on Copenhagen! With all-out war looming, one junior minister in the British Government must somehow stimulate a response from his hopeless superiors. There’s just one thing standing in his way: Microsoft Teams. Welcome to Operation Blank, the subversive dark comedy debut from up-and-coming Scottish writer, George Grant. Delve into this biting critique of modern online working, that weaves laugh-out-loud humour to themes of unfulfillment and existential dread. It’s the show where nothing happens, and nothing has ever been more entertaining. Leading Light Prize nominee, Scottish Theatre Awards on the Fringe 2025.

Operation Market Garden

Inspired Theatre

A powerful new piece of verbatim theatre, inspired by the wartime diary of Welsh paratrooper Neville Neads, captured during the 1944 operation of the same name. Offering a raw, personal perspective on war, identity and survival as a prisoner of war, the show centres the real testimony of the often-overlooked foot soldier. This is a story of resilience and remembrance, told from the ground up. Drawn directly from Neads’ own diary and letters to his fiancée, the production traces his experience and that of his comrades during almost a year in captivity.

Our Town Needs A Nando's

Hot Mess Productions

School is a nightmare, boys are infuriating and Maccies is the only place open after 6pm. Growing up isn’t easy, but it’s even harder when you are from a place where no one expects anything of you. Especially if you’re queer or the new girl at school. Beth, Rachel, Zahidah, Ellie and Chloe are stuck: stuck in their drama group, stuck in school and stuck in their small town. Gossip, chaos and brutal honesty build into a funny, painfully familiar look at friendship, sexuality and teenage girlhood in a town that feels far too small.

Paddy Hill: Inside Out

Conor Mc Clean

In 1974, with the Troubles escalating in Northern Ireland, two bombs explode in Birmingham – the biggest mass murder the UK had ever seen. Six Irishmen are given 21 life sentences and left to die in prison as the most despised convicts in history. It would take superhuman strength and indomitable courage for them to prove their innocence. They found it in a diminutive giant called Paddy Joe Hill. This is his astonishing, uplifting true story of redemption against seemingly insurmountable odds.

Padlocked!

Zinc Simian

Guy prepares himself for a bondage session with his Grindr hook-up, the alluring but elusive Fabio. Once the chains are on, there’s no escape – certainly not from Guy’s problems. As the minutes tick by, Guy must face a reckoning with all the responsibilities of his life. It’s Pillion without motorbikes; Gerald’s Game without Gerald; Locke with locks! Revealing, exposing comedy drama. Sex positive, life negative. Definitely adults only.

Pajama Talks

Ad Astra Productions

Pajama Talks is a coming-of-age story following childhood best friends Abby and Nina as they relive memories of their sleepovers. Together they are forced to confront their friendship, their girlhood and their personal identity. The show examines the joys and hardships of growing up and grief in all forms, asking the question: Are the people we’ve loved and lost still with us? A play about platonic love, figuring out life and existential conversations in the middle of the night.

Paris in a Jazz Age: The Memoirs of Eloise Defleur

The Hot Jazz Vagabonds

Step into a Parisian cafe – relive the music, romance and glamour of the Jazz Age through the eyes of chanteuse Eloise DeFleur and her talented band. Featuring vintage swing, evocative chanson and timeless classics performed live, this stylish cabaret transports audiences to the smoky clubs of 1930s Paris and beyond. 'As Eloise, Airlie Scott sparkles like a coupe of champagne at one of Gatsby’s shindigs' (GetYourCoatsOn.com). The five-star reviewed show blends storytelling, music and charm.

Parkies

Honey Badger Productions

Porn star wannabe, retired accountant, Croatian student on a gap year, Christian proselytizer and a drag queen in training. We all live and work together in a remote corner of one of America’s most beautiful national parks. Parkies is a train wreck of humour, mischief and intrigue. Come take a look at what happens when this land of misfit toys collides with greedy corporate America and the National Park Service.

Peggy Day

Double Edge Drama

London, 1969. Albie, an anxious out-of-work actor, is caught between the suffocating affections of an older playwright and the chaotic influence of his roommate, Turner. When a chance encounter at the cinema leads him to Peggy Day, Albie seizes the opportunity to reinvent himself. But as one night spirals into a farcical web of lies, and with Albie disastrously out of his depth, Turner begins to suspect Peggy may not be what she seems. A dark, off-beat comedy backdropped by 1960s Soho, Peggy Day explores desire, delusion and the dangers of being double-booked.

Persona

Namesake Theatre

Deliciously disturbing. Award-winning, sold out LAMDA graduate company Namesake Theatre returns to the Edinburgh Fringe with their new play Persona, a gripping, darkly comic and cathartically unsettling reunion. Four boarding-school alumni gather in a secluded country house to divide a dead friend’s trust, but the night quickly begins to unravel. Insults are flung, compliments concealed and civility begins to fracture under the weight of social grace pushed to its breaking point. By turns hilarious and hellish, Persona peels back the curtain on the masks we wear to survive, and asks what, if anything, lies beneath.

Pierrepoint: The People's Hangman

No Frills Theatre Company

Albert Pierrepoint was an English hangman who executed an estimated 435 people in a 25-year career with HMP Prisons between the 1930s and 1950s. During his tenure, he was responsible for the executions of several high-profile murderers including the Acid Bath Killer – John Haigh, and Ruth Ellis – the last woman to be hung in England. Another was the case of one John Reginald Christie of 10 Rillington Place infamy. Through the executioner's eyes, this theatrical production dissects and scrutinises Christie's crimes and examines how he came to be on the end of a rope.

Pigeon Syndrome

Broadly Speaking Productions

When a hapless husband accidentally steps on a bee that his wife has been trying to save, it seems that their marriage really has hit rock bottom. But when he inadvertently gets back into her good books by saving an injured pigeon that's flown into the window, he finally believes he's found a way to restore their former passion for each other. An absurdist comedy, with a dash of dark humour and questionable puppetry, that explores the fundamentals of relationships.

Pink Dolphin

Ashley McLean

Fiona's boredom with life has sunk to new lows, perhaps an attractive new-start at the office will be a good distraction. Pink Dolphin is a comic tale of overthinking and repressing what's important.

Portraits of Americana

APU Theater Arts

Inspired by iconic American portraits, this devised performance invites audiences into the imagined inner lives of contemporary youth. Young Los Angeles artists transform still images into raw, funny and deeply personal monologues – each a confession, a protest, or a dream. What begins as art on a wall becomes living testimony, capturing the contradictions, urgency, and fragile hope of a generation coming of age in America today. By giving voice to those often unseen, the piece reframes Americana through honesty, vulnerability and wit. This 45-minute ensemble work is intimate, unfiltered and unapologetically human.

PrimeTime

Theatre with Teeth

A man finds himself trapped in the cyclical world of TV. A plethora of channels he encounters. A fast paced comedy with multi-rolling actors, this new-written piece of theatre brings TV to Fringe.

Propaganda

Lund

Teachers win wars. When a group of history students make a film about their town, they uncover a past they were never meant to know. From youth theatre company Lund, Propaganda is a new play about youth, resistance and the making of history.

Putting the Ass in Brass

Four Headed Dragon

Soap suds, brass bands and a 1970s sexual awakening. A cornet-playing youth cheerfully derailed by bum notes, feisty women and very questionable choices. From analogue grime to digital chaos, I've stumbled, squeaked and occasionally hit the right note, uncovering embarrassing truths and buried stories along the way. This one-man romp is a noisy, nostalgic revelation of identity and heritage from bigotry to the digital age. Sharp, cheeky and utterly unpolished, it's a blast through the past with all the wrong notes, laughs and just enough courage to blow me right out of the closet.

Queen of The Empire

Sasha Snowdon

Drinking, dancing and debauchery – just another night at The Middlesbrough Empire! And Lizzie, Boro's resident party girl, loves nothing more than a wild night out. But behind the dresses, drunks and drama, her family fractures under the weight of a devastating illness. When Lizzie is ultimately forced to face her reality, is it all too late? Queen of the Empire is a tale of grief, addiction and what it means to be a sister. Darkly entertaining and based on a true story, Sasha Snowdon's Fringe debut promises laughter, complexity, and a cheeky little dance.

Reaching The C

Ursula Leveaux

A show that explores the way music can be woven through life – using personal experience, a bassoon and a loop pedal. It is a story about living and learning, unexpected paths and places, and about finding your way through. Written and performed by Ursula Leveaux. Original script development and direction by Rosemary Harris. A work-in-progress version of this show was first performed at Open Space at Theatre by the Lake in Keswick in April 2024.

Reel to Real

Bedazzle Inclusive Productions

A funny, heartwarming journey through classic cinema, seen through the lens of five friends who know… absolutely nothing about film history. As they encounter legends like Charlie Chaplin, Ginger Rogers and Alfred Hitchcock, they discover far more than they expected. Combining music, dance and film, Reel to Real is a joyful exploration of creativity and self-discovery. Bedazzle Inclusive Productions celebrates their 20th anniversary this year, marking two decades of championing and amplifying disabled actors. Previous productions include Mythic Trials at the Cambridge Arts Theatre and a site-specific Sleeping Beauty in Essex, exploring life with chronic fatigue.

Revelation

Los Angeles Theatre Initiative

The four horsemen gather at Mama Ruby’s Restaurant in Nowhere, North Carolina for their annual apocalypse conference, convinced that this is the year that the world will finally crash and burn. Unfortunately for them, humanity seems to have other plans. Created by an ensemble of students from Ithaca College, this world premiere explores humanity’s stubborn dedication to doing good even when the forces (or the horses) that be are trying as hard as they can to make it impossible. Will civilisation finally crumble, or will the horsemen's plans be halted by the power of human connection?

Robert Louis Stevenson: The Body Snatcher

Blue Orange Arts

A chilling tale of greed, guilt and the macabre, The Body Snatcher exposes one of the darkest truths in history – the grisly pursuits of the so-called Resurrection Men. When medical student Fettes is recruited to assist the enigmatic scholar Wolfe Macfarlane, a chilling chain of events is set in motion. To what lengths will they go for the advancement of medical knowledge? This stunning adaptation brings to the stage Stevenson’s masterfully weaved story of suspense and morality – exploring the dark depths of human ambition and its terrifying consequences.

Rockbeth

More The Merrier

After a sold-out, head-banging debut, Rockbeth returns to the Fringe: louder, darker, and even more deliriously doomed. A prophecy. A power-hungry frontman. A band teetering between glorious world domination and total backstage collapse. When ambition collides with reverb and blood-red stage lights, the fallout is spectacular. Featuring classic rock anthems from AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Jimi Hendrix, Santana, and The Sex Pistols, this is Shakespeare with riffs, fate with fuzz pedals, and murder most metal. Expect shredded guitar solos, unhinged visions, thunderous drums and tragedy at full volume. Part live gig, part Shakespearean meltdown... all killer, no mercy.

Romeo and I

ToyHorse Theatre

A newly devised piece focusing on the relationship between human beings and artificial intelligence. The performance follows a politician named Jane, whose life crumbles when she becomes the victim of deepfaked porn. This causes Jane to isolate herself from the world, taking comfort in an AI chatbot – who she affectionately names Romeo. The performance focuses on the progression of their relationship as it takes on a more romantic nature, and confronts the risk of replacing human connection with AI. Eventually Jane is forced to chose between her real life and her new, idealised virtual life.

Room 1219

Keystone Theatricals

Hotel St Francis, San Francisco, September 1921. The principal players – silent movie star Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle, actress Virginia Rappe and rabble-rouser Maude Delmont. Room 1219 – a room of secrets. Roscoe Arbuckle – the man who turned slapstick into gold – is at the top of his profession; but a charge of murder sees his world come crashing down. With his future career in tatters, Arbuckle becomes Hollywood’s first fall guy! This is Roscoe Arbuckle’s story – his rise to fame and his shameful downfall at the hands of the public, the press and Hollywood.

Sabotage

Mayaswell Productions and Fool's House

The protagonist is ready to board a one-way flight to a destination unknown, but a series of delays delivers an unexpected passenger: the antagonist, his older, more accomplished self. What begins as a reunion quickly spirals into a surreal showdown – who really knows him best, and who gets to move forward? Part Waiting for Godot, part Looper, Sabotage is a tender battleground of ego, regret and missed connections, skewering ambition and holding self-love under siege in a wry take on the quarter-life crisis. Because when you’re boarding a flight to nowhere, all runways lead back to you.

Seeksaw

Pan Pan Collective

Transforming the stage to a 'meta-lab' of uncertainty, 'who' and 'not sure who' navigate the intersection of spiritual desire and tech-worship. Inspired by the phenomenon of China's youth using AI chatbots as fortune tellers, Seeksaw explores our desperate craving for omniscience and the wanting of control. This funny, existential, original devised performance – part philosophical inquiry into fate, part mutual consulting for dog-shit level anxieties – captures a snapshot of our contemporary era: in a time of no questions or no answers, what is next?

Shadows, Mirrors, Echoes

Badminton School

In seeking to explore how social media defines our reality, this play reimagines the story of Narcissus and Echo for the social media age. Weaving in Plato's allegory of the cave, we ask questions of the nature of the reality we glimpse through the screens of our phones. At what point does reflection become distortion and what is left behind as a digital echo once the screen has been turned off? How easily does the illusion of reality we see projected towards us consume and devour us – are we willing participants or slaves to the algorithm?

Shakespeare's Dead Dames

Academy of Expressive Arts (AEA Productions)

After their in-performance deaths, six female Shakespearean characters find themselves in a holding area until the play they are a character in gets revived by another Shakespeare company so that they can (re)live their tragedy over (and over) again.

Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Innsmouth Crown

Innsmouth Crown Productions

Whilst clearing out her mother's belongings from her care home, Kelly discovers a hidden family secret. Her grandfather was Dr John Watson. As she digs further, Kelly uncovers the truth of the untold final case of Sherlock Holmes: a case involving an otherworldly crown of mysterious origin, and the abandoned American coastal town of Innsmouth.

Sherlock Holmes: The Speckled Band

Blue Orange Arts

A dying woman’s mysterious last words and a plea for help from her sister, lead Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson to a crumbling country house. How did a young woman die there with no obvious cause of death, and why does her sister believe she will be next? With a seemingly locked room mystery on his hands, Holmes must solve one of the darkest and most baffling cases of his career. Adapted from the short story by Arthur Conan Doyle, this is Sherlock Holmes at his finest!

Sissy Boy

Jake Bickford

Sissy Boy is the story of a Bristolian teen on his way to uni and his online relationship with his femdom goddess. Through humiliation kink in his boyish teenage room, to confused feelings with the lads down at the local, Sissy Boy challenges our taboos while exploring its own, and begs the question of our own desires in a changing world. This one-hour and one-man show is a coming of age comedy that aims to push us past our own insecurities to explore the unspoken taboos in our society.

Sisters of the Seas

Acting Coach Scotland

Two female pirates are condemned to hang for sailing with Calico Jack and terrorising the high seas. Anne Bonny and Mary Read are saved from execution at the last moment, but how? In an age of brutality and adventure, these two outcasts chose to fight alongside and against men. Their pirate careers were short, but their legacy endures. Acting Coach Scotland presents an original theatre show combining physical theatre, music and storytelling to explore the true story of these extraordinary women. Devised by acting graduates, written and directed by Jake Norton in a bold new production.

Slim for Life

Thirsty Theatre

Welcome to Slim for Life. A friendly local slimming group... with a taste for the dramatic – and perhaps something darker. Newcomer(s) welcome. Results guaranteed. Side effects may include eternal damnation. When heartbroken Lily joins her first session, she expects weigh-ins, wellness jargon and forced positivity. Instead, she finds a devoted leader, eccentric regulars and an atmosphere feeling increasingly ritualistic. As mantras become chants and discipline turns to devotion, Lily must decide how far she’s willing to go for transformation. A sharp, fast-paced dark comedy with live-musical flair from the team behind The Caper Trail (Fringe 2023).

Soaked

La'al Marra Productions

High-flyers Imogen and Rich like wine. It drips into their lives as their love language and helps them to cope with their stressful lives. But after twenty years of excess, Imogen is wavering. She’s tired of waking up with unexplained bruises, tired of the mornings thick with shame, tired of being tired, but is it enough? When life has become so intertwined with the powerful nectar is it easy to break away, or do relationships start to unravel? Perhaps a wake-up call is all she needs? Filled with humour and drama, Soaked seeks to unnerve.

Somewhere, In Between: A Play About Hope

Theatre for a Cause Geneva

What do people reach for when certainty disappears? Inspired by true events, this play brings together intimate monologues and dialogues moving through love, doubt, grief, humour and everything in between. As voices across ages and experiences are given room to speak, the stage becomes a space for recognition, connection and reflection. Here, hope is not a perfect ending. It is something searched for, questioned and rediscovered, often in the moments when life asks us to keep going without all the answers. From Switzerland, this show makes its international debut at Edinburgh Fringe.

Sonder

Queen Mary's Theatre Company

Sonder: the realisation that every random passerby is living a life as vivid and complex as your own. Sonder is a short play which speaks to lived human experience and the discovery of a profound feeling in which you appreciate the beauty of others as equals and other main characters rather than side characters in your own world. Everyone’s journey is the same, yet so vastly different. Sonder stories of people's lived experience and their point in their journey on a shared train ride.

Spare Room

Blue Duck Theatre Company

Inspired by true events, the five-star smash hit play Spare Room follows Jodie as she takes the plunge and applies for a room in a house share. Confronted with the unexpected world of chunder charts, STIs and tangible testosterone, this wasn’t the fresh start Jodie imagined. Entirely set in a student living room, expect to be thoroughly immersed in the lives of these badly behaved twenty-somethings who’ll leave you cackling one minute and speechless the next, in this honest insight into masculinity, mental health and consent. Nominated for five Fringe theatre awards including Best New Play.

Star Vehicle

Created and performed by Giuliana Mancini

Esther knows she's destined to be a pop star. The Pop Princess Programme of Prestige Produces Protégés. Will she become the pop star of her dreams? Or a nightmare like you've never seen?

Swan Song

Jilted Bride Productions

When a disgraced director launches a show to secure his return to the spotlight, he will spill the secrets of some powerful people he ought not to f*ck with. Boasting divas, deceit and Sarah-Jessica from HR – Swan Song bristles with comedic absurdity! With a distinctly abstract and whacky style, this show promises to bring fun, drama and much-needed criticism of mainstream media to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe!

Take Care

Late Shift Theatre

Follow Lilian, Richard, Cassandra, Chloe, Aidan and William as they navigate New Year’s Day working in a care home for adults with learning disabilities. While the rest of the world celebrates, they remain on shift, taking care of those who rely on them. Amid outings, new arrivals and the unexpected chaos of the day, these carers face fresh starts, mounting responsibilities, and the quiet resilience required to keep going. Thoughtful, funny and profoundly human, Take Care offers an intimate glimpse into the realities of care work – and the people who show up, every single day.

Taken

Talking Shadows

In post-war England: shame, secrecy and societal pressure forced unmarried mothers to part with their children, through the institutionalised and systemic coercion that is still awaiting an official apology. Between the Adoption Acts of 1949 and 1976, thousands of babies were taken from their families in a scandal which continues to ripple through the lives of those affected. Talking Shadows has a passion for telling lost female stories in shows such as 1966 ★★★★★ (CounterCulture), 1612 ★★★★ (TheMumble.uk), OTMA ★★★★ (TheRealChrisparkle.com). Sell-out shows 2025.

Teen Spirit

Blackstar Productions

Noah is dead. He spends his afterlife in limbo, passing the time with failed 90s grunge rocker Elijah. When he starts seeing his living brother Alex, Noah finds himself torn between the worlds of the living and the dead. Finding out that his time in limbo might soon be up, he must tie up all the loose ends of both his life and after-life before he dies... again. Part coming-of-age comedy and part ghost story, Teen Spirit is a bittersweet comedy about grief, ghosts and grunge rock, complete with alternative fashion and a concert atmosphere.

The Body I Left in Susquehanna National Forest

Ur Mean Kathleen

POV: you and hubby are fresh off the altar, driving to your Niagara Falls honeymoon, sipping on your fave bevvy. It's the middle of the night and you haven't had service for miles, but it's okay – you're drunk off the bliss of married life! Or... trying to be? Out of nowhere, your drink is in your lap, and the car is in a ditch. Shit, what (or who) did he just hit??? A dark comedy about where the mind takes us when faced with the questions we never wanted to answer.

The Colour of Water

Magia Productions

In a Zurich university hallway, a group of academics become obsessed with a mysterious “beast” lurking just out of sight. As speculation spirals into certainty, language begins to distort, alliances shift and reality itself feels unstable. The Colour of Water is a sharp, character-led dark comedy exploring grief, perception and the absurdity of intellectual authority. Blending humour with unease, the play examines how quickly certainty can become delusion – and how fragile our understanding of the world truly is.

The Cut of Her Jib

Rubber Ear Productions

A wicked, gin-soaked dark comedy set on a stormy Edinburgh Hogmanay. Belinda Crabbs’ husband disappears, leaving behind police tape and three decades of marital fatigue. Enter Barbara, the cleaner with forensic instincts and impeccable timing. What follows is a razor-sharp dismantling of marriage, class and sex. Delivered with biting one-liners and delicious cruelty. Female rage detonates. Widowhood, it turns out, can be an upgrade and menopause absolute murder. From the multi award-winning writer of Sex, Chips & Ouzo, Glasgow Hard Tickets, Death of a Playboy, The Devil Wears Primark. 'A rip-roaring delight!' (Independent). 'Brilliant' (Scotsman).

The Extraordinary Life of a Rat Racer

Stage Leftovers

Ever wondered what the person next to you is thinking? Eva is just a regular rat racer. Single mother to a six-year-old boy, she is desperately trying to play the game – pay the bills, get him to football, survive mum’s comments. Her mind has different plans. On the way to an important job interview, Eva gets bombarded by a series of ever-worsening intrusive thoughts. So prepare for the uncomfortable and dive into Eva’s mind. Guided by Arthur, a sadistic, half-real figure, this two-hander surreal dark comedy will shift your concept of normality.

The Extraordinary Life of a Rat Racer

Stage Leftovers

Ever wondered what the person next to you is thinking? Eva is just a regular rat racer. Single mother to a six-year-old boy, she is desperately trying to play the game – pay the bills, get him to football, survive mum’s comments. Her mind has different plans. On the way to an important job interview, Eva gets bombarded by a series of ever-worsening intrusive thoughts. So prepare for the uncomfortable and dive into Eva’s mind. Guided by Arthur, a sadistic, half-real figure, this two-hander surreal dark comedy will shift your concept of normality.

The Girls Who Made Us

Inherits Her Flame Theatre Company

The Girls Who Made Us is a tribute to the women who shaped us. After the loss of Auntie Jane, five girls discover a box of memories revealing how Jane met each of their mothers and the lifelong bonds they formed. Through multi-rolling, the performers bring to life their mothers' journeys and how they lend themselves to resilience, sacrifice and identity. As past and present intertwine, the girls confront what it means to grow up as women today. This heartfelt play celebrates survival, friendship and the quiet victories that define who we become.

The Great Shakespeare Showdown

Flying Solo! Presents

Draw your quills, sharpen your wits and polish your pickaxes for the Great Shakespeare Showdown! Cheer, hiss and boo with the silver miners of Leadville, Colorado through this highfalutin verbal duel as the acclaimed Shakespeareans and renowned thespians, England’s Sir Charles GoodKnight and America’s Mrs. Twelvetrees, do battle using Shakespeare’s own words to be crowned The Wild West’s Best Bard 1882.

The Hobbit

Theatre on the Blue

Six actors. Dozens of characters. One dragon. Adventure awaits in this bold, imaginative adaptation of The Hobbit, authorized by Middle-earth Enterprises. With only six actors, a few props and limitless creativity, Tolkien's epic tale springs to life through inventive staging, physical storytelling and playful theatrical magic. The ensemble transforms into trolls, elves, goblins, eagles and Smaug, the dragon, as Bilbo Baggins leaves the comfort of the Shire and discovers courage he never knew he had. Fast-paced, funny, filled with surprises, the production uses movement, lights and shadows, puppetry and imagination to create a world larger than the stage.

The Hollowed Man 5.0

Grad LEUNG Wai Kit

Hollowed: a state of passive depletion. We earn and spend under the guise of normalcy, yet when balance falters, we slip into a hollowed existence. Society, wealth, space and freedom fade into the nihility of a mirror’s image. Pray to God? Who is the devil? Even the divine is emptied by human arrogance. Autonomy is our birthright. Let us strip away the layers of self and confront the demons hollowing us from within. As the void burns to ashes, we rise through the fire to reclaim our spiritual freedom.

The Horse That Jumped at the Moon

Bonnet and Belt Theatre Company

The Horse That Jumped at the Moon (formerly Boat Horse) is an exciting and funny musical romp through the days of the horse drawn boats on the English canals. John and Molly Swift (played by real canal boat people) tell the story of Tommy, the horse that hated the moon, and other tales, through original music, poetry and puppetry. It's fast paced, funny, poignant and highly entertaining. 'One of this year's sparkling gems. Singalong choruses, make sure you catch it' (SidmouthHerald.co.uk).

The Hunger

Black Bright Theatre Company

Megan and Deborah live alone on their farm in the Yorkshire Dales. What was once their home has now become their only refuge from an increasingly dangerous outside world. They have their farm, their food and each other. But when their fragile harmony is sent into a dark, downward spiral, the cost of survival is chillingly laid bare. Kitchen sink drama meets post-apocalyptic horror, The Hunger is about morality and motherhood at the end of the world.

The Hypochondriac

Rebrand Theatre and New Celts Productions

A satire comedy about a wealthy eccentric, Argan, with delusions of illness. His greed for answers has led to him arranging his daughter, Angelique, to marry a doctor to selfishly fuel this obsession, whilst she pines for her true love. Hilarity ensues as Argan's family and his witty maid attempt to guide him to see reason as he falls further into his hypochondria due to a capitalistic healthcare system feeding his fantasies. Will Argan break away from his wife? Will Angelique end up with her true love? Or will Argan succumb to his hallucinations?

The Insanity of Mary Girard

OLSH Theatre

The Insanity of Mary Girard tells the haunting true story of a Philadelphia woman committed to an asylum by her husband in 1790. Inside, ghostly furies from her past accuse and torment her as memory and reality blur. The play exposes the cruelty and psychological abuse of early mental institutions, revealing how women could be silenced and labelled mad for defying societal norms. This gripping drama confronts injustice, power and the devastating cost of being unheard.

The IT

Fuzed Theatre Company

"It’s growing. It’s heavy. It’s angry. And it’s about to come out." A teenage girl has something growing inside her. She doesn't know what it is but she knows it's not a baby. It expands. It has claws. Eventually, it takes over her entire body. No one must know about it. But she can't contain it forever. Sooner or later something's got to give... This surreal psychological thriller viscerally explores the teenage mental health crisis. Blending sharp social commentary with heightened storytelling, The IT captures the internal rage of a generation pushed to the brink.

The Italians in England

Action Theatre (Italy)

Early 1570s. Some years before Shakespeare. Commedia dell' Arte's combination of mask, comedy, wild plots, hilarious improvisation and women performing on stage is taking Europe by storm. Queen Elizabeth I insists on seeing the Italian players at her royal court. Following their success at the 2024 Fringe, the Italians are back in an adaptation of Flaminio Scala's canovaccio, The Jealous Old Man, featuring a ten-strong troupe, leather half masks, exquisite costumes, live music and four-part harmony. 'A rare chance to see such work done this well' ★★★★ (BritishTheatreGuide.info). ★★★★★ (GetYourCoatsOn.com).

The Joker and The Thief

Dylan and Will Theatre

Five years after splitting, former comedy duo Sid and Larry reunite at the 1980 Edinburgh Fringe. One's a star, the other's failing. Before Larry takes the stage, old truths threaten to steal the spotlight...

The Knocking

Black Cat Theatre Company

Three sisters pack up their deceased mother's house during a thunderstorm. They discover an ancient story that is close to home and has resonance with their childhoods. Together, all three, reluctantly confront the past and – with the help of another figure in the room – reconcile the future.

The Land Beneath Our Feet

LeftCoast and Nathan Parker

One man, one garden, one last day. On his last day in Blackpool before the waves take it away, Ted, an old-timer with a big heart, recalls the stories and people who made his beloved community garden so special. This new play, written and performed by acclaimed poet Nathan Parker, is full of love, hope and heartbreak as it celebrates community spirit and shines a light on the reality of climate change for seaside towns. This evocative story will leave you feeling inspired, moved and ready to change the world! 'Brilliant, emotional, powerful' (Audience Review).

The Last Audition

Paul Shearman

The Last Audition. A once-celebrated Shakespearean actor returns to an empty stage to rehearse King Lear and prove he can still live independently. As memory falters, voices from his past intrude, turning rehearsal into reckoning. Darkly funny and deeply moving, this intimate solo play explores ageing, caregiving, legacy and the courage to keep stepping into the light. European Premiere. Written and performed by international actor Paul Shearman, it blends Shakespeare with contemporary storytelling and emotional truth, resonating with audiences across generations. Perfect for Fringe-goers seeking powerful, human theatre.

The Last Ballad

Performed by Tuli & Co

In a land where music has been losing its ground in the dreary desert of despair, a voice arrives with latent promise. Among the mysterious world of mythical sea creatures, guardians of ancient secrets and enticingly melodic voices, one soul discovers that compassion can ripple through even the deepest darkness. As destiny intertwines beneath moonlit waves, the courage of a single human being heals old wounds and awakens lost dreams. This play is a journey through pain, love and redemption, reminding us that even one heart, steadfast in hope, can transform the entire world.

The Last Days Of Liz Truss?

Oxia Theatre Company / Emma Wilkinson Wright

Join Liz, on her last morning at number 10, in an exploration – equally comic and tragic – of the tensions in politics: between ambition and ability, vision and reality, going short and playing it long. Can a fighter ever quit? This award-winning production (Emma Wilkinson Wright, Best Actor, London Pub Theatres Awards 2025) comes to Edinburgh after a West End Transfer to London at The Other Palace Theatre in March 2026.

The Last Girl There

Queen Mary's Theatre Company

When a university student is found dead in her flat, there are no signs of forced entry. No strangers. No one else who could have done it. The only suspects are the three girls who were with her that night – her closest friends. Exploring sisterhood, loyalty and the complicated reality of female friendship – where love and resentment can exist side by side. Because if it wasn’t a stranger, it had to be one of them.

The Man Who Said Too Much

Eoin Carney presents

Can two people be together if they always say exactly what’s on their mind? That’s the question in this smutty but sweet film noir comedy for the stage. A private investigator can’t keep his thoughts, including his fantasies about the dames that come to his office, to himself. His poker game has gone to shit. Could there be someone out there for him in this ramshackle world of gumshoes, gangsters and broken promises? It will be a night of cynicism, femme fatales, musings on gaydar and the benefits of smoking, and general perversion.

The Night Ali Died

Raising Cain Productions

A gripping, cinematic and award-winning solo thriller about a man who becomes dangerously out of his depth in the criminal underworld. Ali is wanted dead by a vicious London gangster and is placed under police surveillance for the protection of himself and his family, yet for some reason, Ali decides to sneak out into the night, sparking a bloody domino effect that ricochets through the sleepy streets of his city. Through the accounts of Ali, a henchman, a detective, and a mob boss, find out what on earth happened on the Night Ali Died.

The Orchardist

Magdalen College School Drama

A boy jumps from a thirty-foot oak tree and survives unmarked. It's the first day of the evangelical summer festival, The Orchard, and newcomer Lucas immediately makes an impression among the other children. The younger kids believe he’s a miracle maker. But Benji is the pastor’s son, and he won’t give up his assumed leadership easily. Meanwhile eldest girl, Ruth, isn’t sure that what Lucas is doing are acts of God. But as the "miracles" grow in extremity, so too does Lucas’s influence.

The Painted Revolutionary

Tip Top Theatre Collective

Painted Revolutionary is a new political satire where political concepts are (strange, deeply flawed and unrelenting) people. Struggle lives amongst words in her bookshop with Order popping by to make sure she's well and in check. But something's about to happen that hasn't occurred in years – Struggle will have an audience and a burden of responsibility. Bringing change won’t be easy and with a host of complicated concepts and characters, will it be worth it?

The Passion

The LAMPS Collective

The life, death and resurrection of Jesus are recreated in this moving, memorable and ultimately joyful retelling of the Easter story, through monologue and song. Told from the perspectives of Peter, Mary Magdalene and a Roman centurion named Marcus, this powerful contemporary drama leads us up to and through the events of Holy Week, to the cross and beyond. 'A very moving and beautiful portrayal of the most amazing story in history. Phenomenal performers!' 'Absolutely mesmerising. Really helped me get into the characters of the people involved – who represent us all really' (Audience reviews).

The Poetical Life of Philomena McGuinness

Moon Rabbit Theatre

How will history remember you? As the person you are or, the person you want to be? It’s 1939 and Philomena is on her way from Dublin to London to join the British war effort. But can she live true to the poet inside her when she is constantly being defined by her role in the war? Philomena is a poignant and funny solo play, infused with poetry and inspired by the true stories of Irish nurses in WWII. 'Charming, funny, soulful and heartfelt' ★★★★★ (BroadwayBaby.com). ★★★★★ (TheWeeReview.com). ★★★★★ (TheEdinburghReporter.co.uk). ★★★★★ (TheatreAndArtReviews.com).

The Powerpop Girls: A New Diva Religion

Locked In Thought Theatre Company

The play is a camp workplace comedy set in a celestial bureaucracy where pop divas are treated as religious figures. When a rogue employee accidentally merges the religions of three modern pop icons, the department must deal with the chaos of creating an entirely new faith before it spreads to Earth.

The Problem With Kate Winslet's Dress

Switch Theatre in association with Centre Stage Theatre Company

The Problem With Kate Winslet’s Dress is a witty and heartfelt theatre piece exploring life through the lens of cinema. Inspired by iconic films and television, the show reflects on love, loss, self-discovery and the expectations movies place on our lives. Blending humour, nostalgia and music, it celebrates storytelling and those moments when reality feels nothing like the movies – and the surprising times when it feels exactly like one. Warm, playful and deeply human, this show invites audiences on a joyful, cinematic journey.

The Red Lantern

Tagtrick

No bombs. No witnesses. No one looking back. A place suspended after war, where time stretches and everything slowly disappears. In this fragile stillness, a boy takes shape – gradually, almost imperceptibly – formed by absence, silence, and what remains unspoken. Without recognition, without resistance, his sense of self begins to shift. And within this quiet, something else starts to emerge: a subtle, unsettling proximity to violence. A solo performance where text and body collide.

The Red Shoes

Shiplake College

In the cutthroat world of a 2000s fashion empire, a pair of red-hot shoes becomes the driving force behind a young girl’s dazzling yet dangerous decline. As she navigates regret born of temptation and uncontrollable power, the shoes cling to her with a pulse of their own, tightening as she weakens. Each strut thrusts her deeper into a labyrinth of vanity, manipulation and sacrifice. Her spirit soon shatters as she discovers that the only thing more frightening than the shoes themselves, are the price they demand...

The Seat of Me

Giulia A. Cryan

The Seat of Me is a raw, intimate one-woman show about memory, identity and the moments that shape us. With just a chair, a few symbolic objects and fragments of Edith Piaf’s music, Giulia retraces a journey from Rome to New York to Los Angeles – through ballet, vanished mentors, an immigration scare at LAX and an unexpected love story – to ask: what happens when we finally sit with our past so we can stand in our life?

The Sins of the Father

Cat Isaacs

One man’s decision determines the fate of the family. Where they’ll live, who they’ll interact with, what they’ll believe… The patriarchal idea that the father is the head of the home, while the system below him, never equal in standing nor given equal respect, suffers on behalf of his decisions. What happens when decisions go too far and we neglect the individual identities of our children? Through Suraya’s life we explore the inherited burden and what it means to carry it. One woman. Four characters. A journey into family dynamics and how they affect us…

The Skarsgård Effect

Ellen Eklund

Three sisters. One lie. What's the worst that could happen? Besides, don’t you feel like every time you blink, there’s a new Skarsgård actor on the scene...? Follow the adventures of three ordinary girls as they stumble headfirst into the disorderly world of fame, and transform themselves from nobodies to global superstars. The Skarsgård Effect is a comedy about hubris, nepotism, AI deepfakes and what happens when you lie too close to the sun. It’s a love-letter to the paradoxical world of the performing arts and the fantastic Skarsgård family.

The Unsolvable Case of Keir Starmer

Chasing Rainbows

A therapeutic unravelling in four sessions. 'Oh God, you know I don't do this self-analysis thing very well.' Through imagined conversations with a therapist, Keir Starmer grapples with the transformation from respected lawyer to national leader – finally ending up in a present-day crisis. What went wrong? And is it solvable? This is a wryly comic look at a political unravelling of frankly criminal proportions.

The Unwilling Accomplice

Pigeon Patter Productions

Pigeon Patter Productions presents their debut show The Unwilling Accomplice. A horror comedy, following two sisters – Riley a serial killer, Emily her unwilling accomplice. We step into their world as cracks begin to form and the sisters learn that sometimes family shouldn’t be forever... This show tackles the difficulties that come when you can no longer rely on the few people you grew up with, and we ask the question of whether blood relation should be held sacred if all it's doing is poisoning your life.

The Vagina Monologues

Drama Works (Parker & Snell)

A ground-breaking play by Eve Ensler, this internationally-celebrated work gives voice to women’s experiences with honesty, humour and unflinching courage. Through a series of powerful, intimate monologues, stories of love, sexuality, identity, violence, joy and resilience are brought vividly to life. Hilarious, shocking and deeply moving, this bold production invites audiences to listen, reflect and celebrate the strength and complexity of women’s lives. Raw, empowering and unapologetic, it remains as urgent and relevant today as when it first electrified audiences around the world. Don't miss The Vagina Monologues – six performances only!

The Witches of Macbeth

Inanna's Children

A bold, fresh take on Macbeth as a pagan ritual, in which three immortal witches enchant an unsuspecting man to become the bloody Thane. This innovative production mashes the glorious text of the Shakespeare classic with a 4000-year-old Sumerian epic poem, recasting Macbeth as a sacrificial king. You'll be on the edge of your seat as the immortals lead Macbeth to the heights of power, then use his own dark impulses to destroy him. The ensemble of four actors brings all the roles to life in this fast-paced, spellbinding show. An age-old drama made startlingly new.

The Woman in the Box

Fragments Theatre Group

She is alive... but trapped! In a pristine gallery, a woman stands inside a glass box watched, commodified and silenced. Over the course of one night, the thief and a janitor collide in a fragile space, between fear and rebellion, when the thief breaks in and vows to free her. As tension builds, so does the question: who is truly imprisoned? Blending poetic physical theatre with raw, intimate realism, it is a haunting dystopian exploration of patriarchy, power and control. It lingers, unsettles and leaves you questioning the systems they accept.

Therapy "R" Us

Adrienne E. Foran, d-composing Ink

This is group therapy. It requires each actor to have a different psychological disorder. The group works well together until a new member arrives and then it doesn’t.

This Year I Am Going To Die

Turtle Hellion Production Company

Convinced his time has come, Jojo invites you to the funniest funeral: his own! Through chaotic conversations with family, friends and therapists, join him on this journey of what it means to die – and most importantly, what it means to live. This dark comedy was originally written for writer-performer Jonas Feind's thesis on the use of playwriting as therapy. It features the voices of many creatives you probably share mutuals with on Instagram and is perfect for fans of comedy, pop culture references and the exploration of mental health.

Tim Kenneth Kicks the Bucket

Kestrel Eye Productions

After their professor, Tim Kenneth, suffers a mental breakdown in class, obnoxious prankster Scooter and teacher's pet Pencil embark on an odyssey through New Jersey, saddled by the weight of their own existence and with complicated feelings towards their lecturer. After its sold-out run in New York and debut at the Edinburgh Fringe, this academia-set dark comedy returns, bolder and brighter than before!

Treasure Island

BB&N Theater

Brace the main sails, land ahoy, and shiver me timbers! Robert Louis Stevenson's timeless classic comes to life in this new interactive adaptation. This show is designed to entertain audiences of all ages. Following on from their successful debut with The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Buckingham Browne & Nichols School returns with their favorite Scottish author's tale of pirates, castaways and hidden gold. A fast paced swashbuckling romp accompanied by music and flashing child-friendly plastic blades. We invite you to set sail and join the adventure! Singing and dancing is optional.

Trust Me, I’m a Doctor

The Magazine Studio Theatre

Dr Rose Pratts is a respected GP who spends her days reassuring patients that everything will be fine – despite secretly battling crippling health anxiety herself. Her carefully controlled life begins to unravel when she develops feelings for a much younger junior doctor at the practice. As professional boundaries blur and panic sets in, Rose is forced to confront the one thing she has always avoided: herself. Trust Me, I’m a Doctor is a sharp, warm comedy about anxiety, desire and the terrifying possibility that it’s never too late to change your life.

Turn the Screw, Tickety-Boo

Faceless Theatre and New Celts Productions

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to find yourself trapped by destiny in an independent bingo hall? So has Jo. Jo’s life has taken a turn for the worse. She’s eighteen, grieving the loss of her mother, and at risk of losing her flat. Through a mix of desperation and a pull of fate, she stumbles into her local bingo hall. As events unfold, Jo is offered a job and becomes part of the hall’s great history. Can she overcome her anxiety, find out the truth and turn her life around?

Twelve Angry Men

Tower House School

Locked in a jury room on a sweltering day, twelve strangers must decide the fate of a young man accused of murder. What begins as an open-and-shut case unravels as one juror dares to question the evidence. Tensions rise, prejudices surface and tempers flare as reason battles bias. Twelve Angry Men is a gripping courtroom drama about justice.

Two Halves

Muddrag Productions

Sean is an ageing, downtrodden professional rugby player from Wales. When he meets world-famous US soccer star Sophie, they begin an unlikely romance. Can they survive the pressures that come with elite sport? Two Halves offers a window into their private lives as they try to enhance or preserve their own reputations, navigate the cut-throat world of social media, and balance personal ambition with home life expectations. Past secrets are revealed. Mistakes are made. Consequences are inevitable. Integrity, morality, resilience and love are all tested in this tense and explosive relationship drama.

Unearthed

Plush Tiger Productions

In 1968, Nottinghamshire housewife Emma Smith traded her kitchen for a coffin. Buried beneath the Skegness seafront in a record breaking attempt, Emma invites us into a subterranean world of Radio Caroline, cream crackers and DH Lawrence. As she battles claustrophobia and public scrutiny, she unearths her past as a Belgian refugee and former nun. Unearthed explores the "everyday housewife's" desperate search for identity. A haunting, gritty portrait of a woman finding freedom in the dark. Previous production, Waiting for Elvis ★★★★ (TheWeeReview.com), ‘Life affirming’ ★★★★★ (ThreeWeeks).

Until Hope Fades Away

Theater and Performing Arts Commission

Set during the smallpox outbreak, the play follows Ali, a young man anxiously waiting at an old harbour for the return of his father, who had left for Bombay, India, to find a cure for his ill wife. Trapped in an endless cycle of waiting, Ali never sees the medicine arrive, and his mother passes away, leaving only her and her husband’s story behind.

Very Cheap

Fat and Dumb

A part of the Very trilogy, Very Cheap is a dazzling cabaret-philosophical ride about capitalism and the price of art. Fat and Dumb boldly compare creating art to sex work, exposing how both are shaped by performance, demand and the elusive promise of “authenticity.” With sharp humour and theatrical flair, they explore desire, value, and what it really means to sell yourself in a system that turns talent, emotions, even the body – into a commodity. Playful, biting and deeply relevant, Very Cheap makes you laugh while questioning the cost of creativity in today’s market-driven world.

Very Funny

Fat and Dumb

A bold, hilarious performance and a key part of Fat and Dumb’s Very trilogy. Stepping into the shoes of Shakespearean fools, they mix clowning, contemporary performance and self-ironic humour to tear apart the fantasy of the artist-genius. With their own bodies and careers as the battleground, they expose stereotypes, ambition, insecurity and the absurd pressures of artistic success. At once playful and brutally honest, Very Funny turns laughter into a tool for reflection – revealing what it really means to create, perform and survive in today’s art world.

Very Sad

Fat and Dumb

A part of the Very trilogy – a sharp, auto-ironic performance inspired by Schubert’s Winterreise. It takes the form of a 'sit-up' show, because standing up is tiring already. Blending music, brutal honesty and dark humour, the performers explore aging bodies, psychophysical exhaustion, illnesses and the slow comedy of falling apart. Echoing the melancholy journey of Schubert’s song cycle, Very Sad turns vulnerability into punchlines and fatigue into rhythm. It’s intimate, absurd and strangely uplifting: very sad, and therefore very funny.

Via Dolorosa by David Hare

Gary Hay of Chasing Rainbows

Through the medium of theatre, David Hare gives a dramatic account of his travels though Israel and Palestine, from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem to Gaza and Ramallah. The playwright was given unique access to a range of public and private figures, each with a different perspective on the region and its troubles. The resultant drama draws together these very different voices, exposing the passions and opinions that run deep throughout the region. At the end, like its author, the audience is left wiser but exhausted by the experience.

Voltei

Tropodora

Voltei, a true story, begins by telling us what it takes for young people to leave their home country, what those big changes are, and the challenges they face. Voltei takes us back to England in 2006, when smartphones weren't yet a thing and YouTube had just become part of our lives. It explores the various social and cultural differences between Portugal and the UK, through various first-hand emigrant stories and through the real impact of Brexit on the decision made by so many to return to their home country. Voltei is interdisciplinary and combines theatre with stand-up comedy.

Waiting For Elvis

Plush Tiger Productions

March 3, 1960. Elvis is returning to the US after completing his military service in Germany. His flight stops at Prestwick Airport for refuelling. Margaret Rutherford (the definitive Miss Marple) while waiting in the departure lounge for her London flight, meets Elvis fan, Albert, hoping to glimpse the King. 'Quietly moving two-hander imagines a meeting that changed a life' ★★★★ (TheWeeReview.com). 'Life affirming' ★★★★ (ThreeWeeks). Previous productions Noiseless & Patient, 'Beautiful and lyrical' (FringeGuru.com), and When Kurt Met Thora, ‘As an imagined piece of entertainment folklore, it’s priceless’ (TheStage.co.uk).

Waving

Dogs in Wellies

In a coastal studio, a portrait takes shape and old roles are redrawn. The talented artist is no longer a woman her children recognise. Her adored son and overlooked daughter are rocked by the change. What washes up when the tide retreats – and what stories vanish with the shifting sands? Waving is a moving and humorous look at the nerve centre of a creative yet destructive family. In Rosalind Philp’s debut play, time and reality blur in a vivid exploration of life, loss and identity.

We Are All Florida Man

Lubna Kerr and Kerr Arts Collective

This is a modern myth born from real headlines, a term for the bizarre, chaotic and utterly unbelievable stories that come out of Florida. An absurdist comedy set inside a support group for these infamous characters. Meet the woman who trained attack squirrels, the man who tried to rob a Chinese restaurant using only finger guns, and gloriously eccentric ensembles of headline-makers. As their stories unravel, audiences are drawn into their strange world to question what it really means to be a “Florida Man.” Expect chaos and laughter that will leave rolling in the aisles.

We Have a Dream

Fast Snail Productions

The Tartan Army are back! Four friends follow Scotland across the Euros, hauling flags, hangovers and secrets they barely share. Lost tickets, packed stands and late-night pints force moments of honesty. As the team falls short, so do their attempts to ignore drifting friendships, hidden fears and personal struggles. Laughter, arguments and warm cans expose the cracks between them. Turning a football trip into a reckoning with their own lives – where loyalty, fear and the messy truths of adulthood hit harder than any final whistle.

We Were Sisters

Julia Van Praagh and Tigs Edwards

What happens when your supposed "built-in best friend" becomes someone you can't stand? When Celia loses her phone after a night out, it sets off a chain of small, seemingly inconsequential, events that force Celia and Josie to accept their incompatibility. Beginning as a morning-after comedy of errors, the fuse is lit for the play to slowly develop into the unravelling of sisterhood. Through clashing personalities and different life stages, distance creeps in. This funny and honest play begs the question: how well do we understand the people we love, and what happens when we don't?

What Happened Here

Written by Lisah Graziano

In this heart-pulling and comedic play, two lost souls in a constant battle with their self-worth get set up on an awkward blind date. But when the date proves to actually be worth their time, the two are led into a relationship they never expected and an ending they never knew they needed.

What Happens in the Dark

Identity Crisis Productions

In this laugh-out-loud, award-winning farce, the lights are "opposite" – what’s dark to the characters is fully visible to you. When a burglar breaks into a married couple’s home, long-buried secrets come spilling out. Over one chaotic night, they must outwit the intruder, maintain their compounding lies and somehow save their marriage, all while navigating total darkness. Packed with wild physical comedy, mistaken identities and escalating mayhem, this high-energy comedy keeps audiences laughing from start-to-finish. Winner of the StageCrafts Freeway Circuit Award and Nominee for Hollywood Fringe Best Comedy.

What's Rotting in the Office Fridge?

Inksplat Theatre Company

Monday, 9am. Welcome to Last Resort Incorporated! Robin is the newest employee in the office and they’re not sure what’s worse: dealing with the broken printer or their eccentric co-workers. There’s a buzz in the air as Jones’ retirement party grows near... or maybe that’s the sound of flies circling the leftover lasagne. It’s almost time for the employees at Last Resort Inc to reap what they’ve sown or continue to look the other way. A show about capitalism, the stages of grief, and what it takes to break the cycle.

When The Tide Comes In

Hungry Wolf Visionary Youth Theatre

An original play commissioned by Hungry Wolf Visionary Youth Theatre Company and written by Naomi Denny in collaboration with the young company. As nine young people approach the end of their GCSEs, a celebratory gathering on the beach takes a devastating turn. A singular, defining event inexplicably binds the group, forcing them to grapple questions of collective responsibility and individual guilt. Hungry Wolf VYT represents a new generation of youth theatre. With work both thought provoking and relevant, Hungry Wolf has established a reputation for hard-hitting, truthful and uncompromising material.

When We Were Young

Geez a Break Productions

The public and critically acclaimed multi award-winning When We Were Young is back for 2026. This five-star show goes beyond the tabloid stereotype of ‘neds’ to tell a powerful and hilarious story about the realities of gang culture and young team mentality in Glasgow during the 90s. Follow the lives of one of the many young teams who polluted the streets of the city during a time when it was known as the murder capital of Europe.

Wherefore Art Thou, Woman-Hater?

Written anonymously and first staged in the Renaissance, Swetnam The Woman-Hater, is where the word misogyny comes from. Star-crossed lovers, swordfights and sexism in the 16th century – it has it all. But how could that possibly be relevant today? Come and judge for yourself... The second show brought to you by Cumbrian production company Acting Speaks Louder, creators of Disco, Baby? 'Outstanding' (FringeReview.co.uk). Created and produced by three up-and-coming artists working across music and theatre. If they don’t take the Fringe by storm, at least there'll be plenty of rain when they get home!

Who We Become: Breakfast at the Track / A Poster of the Cosmos by Lanford Wilson

Deep Flight Productions

Award-winning, five-star production of two one-acts by a Pulitzer Prize winner. The first, a two-hander, captures a pre-dawn hotel room encounter between a couple. The second, a monologue, is set in a Manhattan police station, where a tense interrogation becomes a searching exploration of love, identity and human connection. Distinct in tone yet thematically linked, these plays trace private moments when ordinary lives are tested and reshaped. ‘Tragic themes… superbly acted’ (The Student Newspaper). ‘Stoner gives a superb performance’ (ReviewsHub.com).

Who We Become: The Moonshot Tape by Lanford Wilson

Deep Flight Productions

Award-winning, five-star production of a play by a Pulitzer Prize winner. In this compelling monologue, Diane, a successful writer, returns to her Missouri hometown to help her ageing mother. Responding to questions from an unseen local interviewer, she revisits pivotal moments from her past. Written with Wilson’s signature lyricism and emotional clarity, the play explores memory, identity and the moments when lives quietly change course. ‘Perhaps one of the best performances you will see at the Fringe this year’ (BroadwayBaby.com). ‘Incredible’ (Independent).

Whose Play Is It Anyway?

The Wharf Theatre Company

Join your host, Barry Ruffles, and his glamorous assistant, Jenny Flannel, for a game show like no other! 18 pieces of theatre in 50 minutes; all you have to do is guess the genre, playwright or year to win a speedboat, cuddly toy or a holiday for two on the Isle of Fernando!

Witches Corner

Encapulus Productions

Witches Corner is a comedic socio-political play written by Eilidh Smith with original songs composed by Rona Johnston. Born out of injustice and a burning desire for more female-led storytelling, Witches Corner explores the fear of feminine power and the misogynistic roots of the witch trials. Challenging gender-based stereotypes and asking the question – are women still on trial today? Step into the shoes of both the accuser and the accused. Would you follow the crowd, be a bystander or stand up for what is right? Witches Corner will leave you aching for justice.

Woman Seeking Cuddles

Hannah Strauss

Harper unknowingly slept with her sperm-donor father. After that, nothing was ever quite the same. Making its Edinburgh Fringe debut from New York City, this darkly comic, confessional one-woman show traces that event’s fallout – as shame, grief and reckless desire collide in one woman’s messy, defiant search for love. In a landscape of dating apps, modern polyamory and kink acronyms, boundaries blur and destiny feels algorithm-driven. Raw, funny and unflinchingly honest, Emmy-nominated writer Renwick McAslan asks, in a culture obsessed with connection, why is it still so hard to feel held?

Woodcutter

John Anthony Gorman

Returning from the USA, only child John Anthony Gorman (Daredevil, Lioness, Blacklist) clears out his late parents’ home in Glasgow in this autobiographical one-man show. Armed with cardboard boxes, he tackles each room layered with traditions, celebrations and heartache. Between the dust and daft keepsakes, every object sparks a story – from stealing his mum’s diamond earrings to be like David Beckham to pouring his dad's last Guinness. As the house empties, the past grows louder. Blisteringly funny and brutally honest, Woodcutter confronts what we can’t quite pack away while rediscovering what 'home' truly means.

Woyzeck

Exeter University Theatre Company

Woyzeck, a soldier who is slowly going mad, tries to make sense of the world around him. Abused by his doctor, suffering class inequalities, religious pressures, and the traumas of war, he is forced into a downward spiral that has violent consequences. A commentary on misogyny, class inequalities, and the effects of war, Woyzeck is a timeless reflection on the need for social change.

You Are What You Eat

Beautiful Death Theatre Company

You Are What You Eat is a comedy about friendship, tenacity and outrageous misadventures that dives into the gritty underbelly of fictional 1970s London through the eyes of two aspiring detectives. In this action-packed adventure, Lewis and Tom find themselves embroiled in a deadly mystery involving corrupt police, a crime boss and the death of a young woman. With the odds stacked high and bullets flying, their only weapons are their wits, awkward heroics, a sarcastic sister and the belief that they might just be the city's last hope. 'Excellent' ★★★★ (Everything-Theatre.co.uk).

You Talkin' to Us?

Authentically False Productions

Three vaguely incompetent gangsters decide to unionise against their tyrannical boss. With the help of a recently graduated, unemployed lawyer, the fight begins to bring about a more stable work environment despite no one knowing what that actually means. But after a failed robbery, personalities clash, loyalties are tested and it becomes clear that forming a union isn't going to be as straightforward as they thought.