EDINBURGH 2025: Review: KARINE POLWART: WINDBLOWN, Queen's HallAugust 12, 2025Too old and unsteady to move, too vulnerable to survive on its own, the lofty Sabal palm of Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Garden reflects on two hundred years of containment, dislocation and human care, as it outgrows its 19th century glasshouse home and approaches its chainsaw demise, making way for a new conservation research facility.
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: POP OFF, MICHELANGELO, UnderbellyAugust 11, 2025After a smash hit 2024 season and fresh off a 9-week London run, best-pals-turned-bitter-rivals Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci return to Edinburgh! A bloodthirsty friar is on the hunt for homosexuals in Renaissance Italy just when childhood friends Mike and Leo realise they both like boys. Terrified, they devise a foolproof plan to gain God's forgiveness: become the greatest religious artists of all time. Can Michelangelo gaslight, gatekeep and girlboss his way to the Vatican? Will Leonardo ever shut up about his helicopter?
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: HOT MESS, Pleasance CourtyardAugust 23, 2025Hot Mess: a new musical. After a billion years of bad dates, Earth's finally found the one... Humanity. Sparks fly. Wheat is harvested. Technology flourishes. But what begins as a passionate love affair between the universe's most iconic couple quickly descends into a Hot Mess. From the creative duo behind 42 Balloons comes a new pop musical about love, hope and the ultimate break up – with Danielle Steers (SIX The Musical) and Tobias Turley (MAMMA MIA!)
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: THE UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIP OF FEATHER BOY AND TENTACLE GIRL, AssemblyAugust 10, 2025Two friends perform breathtaking aerial shows. They fly, spin, hang from the rooftops and fall out of the sky... But they weren't always so glorious. How did they transform from feeling like outsiders to the fantastical creatures they always knew they had inside them? A touching story of a girl who wants to be a monster and a boy who wants to fly.
EDINBURGH 2025: FACILITY 111: A GOVERNMENT EXPERIMENT Q&AAugust 9, 2025Facility 111 is a surreal new audio play, written/performed live by Inge-Vera Lipsius. Taking place in darkness, it asks audiences to visualise poetic images in two interconnected cities: one made of glass, another of sand. Are we ultimately less different from one another than we think? Developed with Soho Theatre Labs. Lipsius is an American/Dutch director, writer, performer.
EDINBURGH 2025: Rebecca Perry Guest BlogAugust 8, 2025Recent anthropology graduate and feisty redhead Joanie Little is stuck working as a barista, studying the 'creatures' (customers) as if she were Jane Goodall, bushwhacking through the jungle to study chimpanzees! In her 'coffeeshop jungle,' hilarity ensues, with jazzy tunes, co-worker showdowns and maybe even romance!
EDINBURGH 2025: Saria Callas Guest BlogAugust 8, 2025This sexy, camp, pop-filled tragicomedy unpacks aspirations of becoming a singer while growing up where it is forbidden for women to sing. Already a bottle of red in, Sara reminisces about her experiences from childhood to womanhood. Tehran, the school bus parties, the wannabe prayer-caller and the secret w**ks at the all-girls' school. Did I get used to repression or is music my way of fighting? How does a woman who has experienced firsthand repression of her body and voice react as her child struggles with their own gender identity?
EDINBURGH 2025: Mimi Martin Guest BlogAugust 8, 2025haos. Rebellion. A city on the brink. But Millie's focused on living life to the full – who wouldn't? Amid the 2019 Hong Kong protests, Millie searches for her sense of home whilst a city fights for its identity
EDINBURGH 2025: FORGET ME NOT Guest BlogAugust 8, 2025Orange is the New Black’s Julie Lake and songwriter Annie Macleod join forces in Forget-Me-Not, a true story of motherhood, lost love and hauntings set to original music and heart-exploding harmonies. Two estranged childhood best friends reconnect in midlife – both mothers, stifled by traditional roles and longing for more creative freedom, adventure, sexual liberation and a deeper sense of self. Through storytelling and song, they rediscover the power of their bond, finding the healing and freedom they’ve been searching for all along. A moving, magical celebration of motherhood, creativity, resilience and the transformative power of female friendship.
Interview: Chiara Sparkes and Dani Heron on ROLLERS FOREVERAugust 8, 2025When two old friends meet at a haunt from their youth they relive their exciting teenage years in the poptastic seventies. Clothes, boys and music all play a big part in their coming of age at a time of phone boxes, mail order catalogues and crispy pancakes. Every adventure is soundtracked by a hit from the greatest boy band of them all – The Bay City Rollers. And meeting their pop idols becomes the most important thing in their lives.
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: MARJOLEIN ROBERTSON: LEIN, PleasanceAugust 6, 2025Her last two sold-out, award-nominated Fringe shows explored the mind and body - and then Marjolein died. Now she’s back, and exploring the soul. Shetlander Marjolein was a finalist in Channel 4’s Sean Lock Comedy Award and BBC’s New Comedy Awards, and expertly weaves stand-up and folklore to share her own personal stories.
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: JOSIE LONG: NOW IS THE TIME OF MONSTERS, PleasanceAugust 7, 2025 A new show about extinct, gigantic, charismatic megafauna from three-time Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee, Josie Long. In these troubled times, in this wicked world, it can feel like apocalypse is everywhere. Also my daughter has a hamster and I'm not saying distract yourself from everything, but I'm saying he's also part of everything. Josie (me) is back with a new show about discovery, wonder, extinction and how to walk through a landscape of monstrous disaster. There is also a good tip about silt, guaranteed.
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: MOTORHOME MARILYN, Gilded BalloonAugust 7, 2025Michelle Collins makes her Edinburgh Fringe debut in Motorhome Marilyn, a dark comedy by Ben Weatherill. The play follows Denise, an aspiring actress with an obsessive relationship with Marilyn Monroe, hoping to live up to the icon's fame and beauty. In the 1980s, she heads to Hollywood, but as her dreams falter, she is forced to confront the painful truth of unfulfilled aspirations. Inspired by Michelle's real-life encounter with a woman known as Motorhome Marilyn, the play reveals the toll of living in the shadow of an icon, exploring failure, aging, and the heartbreaking cost of unattained dreams
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: NERDS, UnderbellyAugust 7, 2025If South Park and the IT Crowd had an affair, Nerds would be the unapologetic lovechild they put up for adoption to avoid a scandal. Fast, funny and full of shit wit, experience the possibly doobie-induced highs and self-deprecating lows of tech titans Bill Gates and Steve Jobs as they face off in epic rap battles, ill-advised schemes and hilarious songs. Get your lightsabers at the ready for this laugh-out-loud musical comedy!
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: STANDING IN THE SHADOWS OF GIANTS, Traverse TheatreAugust 5, 2025It's the early noughties and Lucie Barât is fresh out of drama school busy auditioning for laxative-ads and flipping burgers. While in the next room of their shared flat, cult Indie band The Libertines are rising to dizzying fame. But what about being the frontman's sister? While her brother's band skyrockets to stardom gaining a chaotic rock and roll reputation, Lucie can't get signed. Dodging exes, sycophants, unwanted advances and drinking dry the free bar, Lucie is forced to question her failures. And her sexuality. A whirlwind of hilarity, chaos, addiction and awkward self-discovery.
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: BRYAN SAFI: ARE YOU MAD AT ME??, UnderbellyAugust 4, 2025Emmy-winner Bryan Safi (star of ABC's 9-1-1, Netflix's You, Attitudes!) brings his distinctive voice to this solo comedy spiral all about queerness, confidence and the art of being unapologetically too much. A beloved comedian, podcaster and performer, Safi dives deep into big laughs, big feelings, terrible flirting and one aggressively horny apartment that might just steal the show. It’s a hilarious and heartfelt journey from one of comedy’s sharpest voices. After sold-out shows in LA and NYC, the spiral continues. If you've ever felt like 'a lot', this one's for you.
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: THE TALE OF THE LONELIEST WHALE, UnderbellyAugust 5, 2025'I can hear someone out there. They're singing to me.' Whale sings into the deep blue sea... but no one sings back. Just as he's about to give up, a mysterious voice calls through the waves! Determined to find the singer, Whale sets off on a thrilling adventure – diving through glowing coral caves, dodging wibbly jellyfish and facing wild-eyed sea monsters! Join Hoglets Theatre for a deep-sea adventure packed with beautiful puppets, hilarious creatures, original songs and audience interaction!
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: ROSIE O'DONNELL: COMMON KNOWLEDGE, Gilded BalloonAugust 3, 2025The eleven-time Emmy and Tony Award winner, known for her legendary career in film, television and stage, brings her highly anticipated debut show to the Fringe following her recent move from across the pond. Join Rosie as she reflects on her life in the present, including why she moved to Ireland from the USA, and how that shift has shaped her future. With her signature blend of heart, humour and honesty, expect a night of laughter and reflection from a truly unique voice sharing her opinions on subjects that matter most – here and now.