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.
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: SHAME SHOW, Pleasance CourtyardAugust 3, 2025Storm Seamus has struck Northern Ireland and Adam and Stevie are stuck inside. The rural fixer-upper they've inherited can't hack it... and neither can their relationship. Adam wants to stay to make it a home but Stevie has big city dreams of holding hands in public. With no TV to distract them and an all-night fight on the forecast, they parody 00s TV comforts (Straight in Their Eyes, The Weakest Twink, Top of the Poppers) to confront home, happiness and heteronormativity.
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: FOOTBALLERS WIVES THE MUSICAL, AssemblyAugust 5, 2025A new British musical based on the iconic TV series following the fall and rise of captain's wife Tanya Turner as she schemes to save her marriage and her husband's career. Rewind to 2002 when Premier League football was the new rock'n'roll – with the money, glamour and bad behaviour to match. Spoiler alert: Contains scenes of an adult nature, drug-taking, noughties fashion, attempted murder, offensive language, outmoded attitudes, sexual impropriety, drama, heartbreak, comedy, singing, dancing – and absolutely no football
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: JACK TRAYNOR: BEFORE I FORGET, PleasanceAugust 3, 2025One of Scotland's fastest-rising stars, Jack's highly anticipated debut combined the bizarre and the brilliantly relatable. Ranked fourth in the world in the Roast Battle League, Jack shares his best stories before he forgets. Jack's vibrant storytelling weaves the real and surreal, and his distinctive comedic style have led him to placing second in the Hot Water Comedy Club New Comedian of the Year, and Roast Battle's MVP in 2024.
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: MOLLY MCGUINNESS: SLOB, Monkey BarrelAugust 3, 2025Join BBC New Comedy Awards finalist Molly McGuinness for her highly anticipated debut show about what it means to be a slob. To Molly, life didn’t get any better than a good buffet and belting out Meatloaf down the pub karaoke. But when the Salford-born libertine was unexpectedly laid out by a life-threatening illness, Molly was forced to slob out whether she liked it or not...
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: ROSE + BUD, Pleasance CourtyardAugust 3, 2025Derry Freshers’ Week, closeted Bud is in for a rollercoaster of tequila, tiaras and transitioning. Lucky they have Rose keeping them on the not-so-straight and narrow. This hilarious double-act was described as the 'Queer Philadelphia, Here I Come' at Dublin Fringe. Witness this heartfelt and heartbreaking coming-of-age story about transitioning from Belfast's superstar Rose Coogan.
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: LAURA BENANTI: NOBODY CARES, UnderbellyAugust 2, 2025A love letter to people pleasers everywhere. Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares is a one-woman comedy show from the mind of Tony Award winner Laura Benanti. With her razor-sharp wit, the star of stage and screen blends side-splitting storytelling with original songs co-written with Todd Almond. The New York Times Critic's Pick Nobody Cares is a hilarious, heartfelt and sometimes brutally honest tribute to recovering ingenues, mothers and anybody working on themselves.
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: DEAD AIR, Pleasance CourtyardAugust 3, 2025Since Alfie's dad died, he's visited everyone's dreams but hers. Rude. Desperate to talk to him, she turns to AiR, an AI chatbot designed to connect the living with the lost. What starts as a comforting conversation between daddy and his little princess spirals into chaos. Each chat uncovers more about her dad's life – and death – than she ever bargained for. Was his death suspicious or is it just a glitch in the machine? A heartfelt and darkly funny dive into grief, technology and the consequences of talking to ghosts.
EDINBURGH 2025: Review: HANNAH MORTON: CHA CHA REAL SMOOTH, Gilded BalloonAugust 2, 2025You're invited to Lachlan-Thomas' sixth birthday party hosted by your favourite children's party entertainer, Hannah Banana! Hannah is a writer, performer and most importantly, a children's birthday party entertainer... on the weekends that is! But what do you do when you realise your side hustle is no longer on the side? And maybe being a clown is the only thing you're truly good at? Have an existential crisis during the Cha Cha Slide of course! Expect prizes, games and Hannah asking herself, what the f*ck am I doing with my life?!
EDINBURGH 2025: CECILIA GENTILI'S RED INK Q&AAugust 2, 2025God won't give up on Cecilia Gentili. Unfortunately, neither will the devil. Follow a young trans girl as she navigates the hilarity of rural Argentina during the 1970s. Part stand-up, part camp and (almost) all true, Red Ink is an irreverent romp in searching for faith while trans.