Fringe 2023

The Rose Theatre will pop up again for this year's Fringe under the organisation of the Soundhouse live music charity and Edinburgh-based Bellfield Brewery.The venue had been mothballed pending sale, but over 25 days in August it will rock to the sounds of some...

In Modern Witches, a woman in the midst of a sapphic relationship crisis finds her ground thanks to the spirits and witches in her life, resulting in a surprise visit from Virginia Woolf’s ghost.Lesbian actor Kate struggles to create a self-tape audition as Virginia...

In 1563 the Witchcraft Act became law in Scotland. From the 16th to the 18th centuries between 4,000 and 6,000 people were tried on charges of witchcraft. Over three-quarters of these were women.Of the 1,500 found ‘guilty’, the majority were garrotted; their bodies...

Actors preparing for this year’s Fringe picked a fitting location to make an appearance in full Jacobite costume: North Leith Churchyard, where the heroine of their play Colonel Anne lies buried.Anne Farquharson Mackintosh defied her husband, the Laird of Mackintosh during the 1745 Jacobite...

An unlikely star takes the stage in witty new comedy at Edinburgh Festival Fringe.As summer heats up, so does the anticipation for the Fringe. The new play Ringer is a humorous dive into the complex world of overworked actors and is the debut work...

The Royal Mile becomes a gathering point for street performers and performers trying to increase their audiences by handing out flyers and offering a snapshot of their shows. It is always busy and can be a lot of fun.All photos Alan Simpson Photography10/08/2023...

In his 30th year on the Fringe, Mervyn Stutter has announced his Spirit of the Fringe Awards - the MERVs - chosen from all the genres who have performed here.This year’s winners are Horizon Showcase: Birthmarked, Ian Stone Will Make It Better, Death Suits You,...

The play Arthur Miller would write after getting kicked in the head by a horseDeath of a Salesman. Our Town. A Streetcar Named Desire. And now, Bad Play. American sketch comedy group Big Tobacco has set out to write the next great American drama,...

Saskia Solomons's highly stylised show about money is very much a performance in need of an audience.Dressed in a golden body-hugging tunic, designed by the Italian tailor Antoinetta Gambino, with a bodice containing a distended belly, and sporting a burgundy-coloured dressing gown and a...

Colour. It plays a big part in our lives. But what if your skin colour means you don’t seem to fit in anywhere at all?In Tones, Gerel Falconer’s fast-paced Hip-Hop opera, Jerome (also played by Falconer) grows up in a happy Jamaican family in...

Honest, funny and very naughty – US comedian Maggie Widdoes will take Fringe audiences on a rollercoaster ride through all her life’s ups and downs. The international premiere of Stay Big & Go Get 'Em marks the Edinburgh Fringe debut of a comedian and actor direct from the...

A Bloody DelightSad-Vents is not a play about making its audience feel comfortable. And maybe that’s exactly why you ought to see this tragicomedy dripping with talent this Fringe. As audiences arrive at the Underbelly’s Jersey space, the actor begins with a disclaimer of the graphic...

Breaking Open at theSpace @ Surgeons Hall is a powerful one-woman play that delves into the life of Oskar Saville, once the lead singer of the multi-platinum band, 10,000 Maniacs.Despite the modest audience turnout, including her supportive teenage kids who are wearing T-shirts...

At the Grand at Pleasance on Saturday there was a fabulous array of talent on display in the Opening Gala, and every show which performed this morning would be an excellent choice to add to your Fringe diary.Comedy of Operas opened the show...

Alan Turing was a brilliant mathematician, computer scientist and cryptanalyst.His work at Bletchley Park during World War Two is credited with having shortened the war by at least two years and saved the lives of 14 million people.In 1954, at the age of...

Christopher Biggins would love you to join him for tea at Prestonfield House where he will entertain Dean Friedman on Friday - (yes Dean who had a hit with Lucky Stars which he sang with Denise Mara in 1978) - and the Artistic Director...

YOU just never know where and when you will find a gem. Up on The Lawnmarket on Riddles Court, a audience packed out the space for this show.They were well rewarded with, what it says on the title. From the Wild West to...

After initial microphone issues, Spicer quickly built a nice rapport with the audience and made it clear to them that they were in safe hands.His initial interactions with some of the audience members provided some laughs, though they went on for a little...

Comic magician JezO aims for a Royal Variety Performance with his debut at Edinburgh Festival Fringe.JezO (Jez Bond), a member of The prestigious Magic Circle, is set to premiere his family-friendly Car-Crash Magic Show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this summer. Running from August...

This is an intensely personal story written, performed and composed by Brook Tate who was disfellowshipped from the Jehovah's Witnesses after coming out as gay, but it is also a very Fringe show.Tate has been unable to retain contact with his nieces and...

RuPaul stars Baga Chipz and Anita Wigl'it pose at Virgin Hotels Edinburgh as they begin their Fringe shows at Gilded Balloon. Baga Chipz and Anita Wigl'it performed at a one-off Drag Brunch at Virgin Hotels Edinburgh, in the midst of their run at Gilded Balloon...

Former First Minister, Alex Salmond is coming back to the Fringe in a new show The Ayes Have It! The Ayes Have It! along with Succession star Brian Cox, CBE, and former Speaker John Bercow in the Speaker's chair for a couple of nights...

AN ESSEX theatre producer is bringing not one but two shows to the Edinburgh Festival in August.There are over 3,500 shows at the world’s largest arts festival and Joel Goodman hopes that theatre goers will come to his two productions.Joel’s shows are: Alan Turing: A...

‘The London property market is the fundamental driver of inequality; it makes everything very difficult and it’s getting worse.’Jeremy Corbyn has been MP for Islington North since 1983.  Helping his constituents is his favourite part of the job, and housing issues are the number...

The memory of President Lincoln is widely revered – there is even statue of him in Edinburgh – but the First Lady who supported him through the Civil War is forgotten in Scotland and reviled in America.A new play, which has its international premiere...

In After Shakespeare, Lexi Wolfe imagines the lives of four of the Bard's characters after their plays have ended.What happened to them? And why?If this all sounds a little Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, it’s not. Wolfe digs deep into each character, and what she...

The Fringe is often criticised for the dominance of stand-up comedy and a sense that much of it is trivial. In contrast, Marlon Solomon's updated Conspiracy Theory: A Lizard's Tale deals with one of the most serious challenges we face; the rise and mainstreaming...

Mad or just angry – she’s certainly alone. Jazz icon Zelda Fitzgerald is locked up in a mental hospital and has just hours to live. Award-winning actress Catherine D. DuBord and Texan director Lydia Mackay will premiere their new version of The Last Flapper by William Luce...

The line-up for Mervyn Stutter’s special charity gala on Monday 21 August has been announced. Mervyn’s gala celebrates three decades of Mervyn Stutter's Pick of the Fringe, the legendary showcase that presents a curated mix of Fringe picks, highlighting the Festival’s international acclaim.The choice of shows covers all genres of...

Alan Turing: A Musical Biography***** StarsWith well over three thousand performances on at the Edinburgh Fringe it is quite a feat for a show like Alan Turing being performed at before midday to sell out.It may well be simply because it is was such...