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Pleasance Courtyard

Bristo Square, Edinburgh, EH8 9AG
Edinburgh

Upcoming Shows

Dracula - Lucy's Dream

Aug 1 – Aug 24, 2026

Plexus Polaire presents the UK premiere of Dracula - Lucy's Dream, a reimagining of Bram Stoker's gothic masterpiece that portrays the myth of Dracula through the female lens of his first victim, Lucy. Directed by Yngvild Aspeli, the production uses life-sized puppetry to...

Hold on to Your Butts

Aug 12 – Aug 26, 2026

Recent Cutbacks returns to Edinburgh Fringe with a limited three-night run of Hold on to Your Butts, a shot-for-shot parody of the greatest dinosaur film of all time. The show previously sold out in two consecutive years at the Fringe and subsequently transferred to London ahead...

Alfie Dundas: First Class Panic

Aug 5 – Aug 30, 2026

First Class Panic is the debut full-length stand-up hour from British comedian Alfie Dundas, performed at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2026. The show explores life and death at the extremities of society, tackling themes of class, privilege, family and religious guilt through...

Andrew Doherty: Reviewers Welcome... TO DIE!

Aug 5 – Aug 30, 2026

Andrew Doherty returns to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with a brand new solo show, a tongue-in-cheek revenge fantasy that marries classic hallmarks of slasher movies with comedy. The show follows Felix Chatelier, a know-nothing reviewer invited to head a new fringe festival...

PILATE: The Lost Gospel

Aug 5 – Aug 30, 2026

A one-man drama written by Michael Punter and performed by Maxwell Caulfield, directed by Asaad Kelada. Set in Rome in 36AD, the notorious Pontius Pilate has been summoned back to answer for his conduct as Governor of Judea, revealing the events leading to the fate of Jesus...

Pushing 30

Aug 5 – Aug 30, 2026

Pushing 30 is a stand-up comedy show by Abby Govindan about dating, getting older, and breaking generational curses. Govindan explores her family's history of arranged marriages and her own experiences navigating modern dating culture. The show examines Big Tech's influence on...

REDACTED: The Cover-Up of a Cover-Up of a Cover-Up

Aug 5 – Aug 30, 2026

Fargo meets The Matrix meets The Office in this high-octane, darkly comic thriller. It's 1973. Marnie Makowski arrives in New Mexico, searching for her missing sister. When a butcher, a pilot, and a priest each reveal fragments of a millennium-spanning conspiracy, Marnie faces a...

The Real Kyle McCarren

Aug 5 – Aug 30, 2026

The Real Kyle McCarren is a new musical by Jonathan Larson Grant recipient Andy Roninson and international indie recording artist Sean McVerry, making its festival and UK debut at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Co-directed by multi-Emmy Award-winning and Tony Award-nominated...

The Second Best School Shooting

The Second Best School Shooting

Aug 5 – Aug 30, 2026

Two best friends struggle to process surviving a school shooting that is overshadowed by a much worse school shooting on the same day. A dark comedy about America’s traumatized, despondent, yet somehow hilarious youth. Developed with hundreds of students, teachers, and survivors...

A Foot is Not an Appropriate Prize for the Tombola

Jul 4 – Aug 31, 2026

A Foot is Not an Appropriate Prize for the Tombola is a camp and interactive murder mystery in which the audience becomes a revolving cast of suspects when a severed foot is discovered at a village fete. The indomitable Lydia, performed in drag by Daniel McVey, attempts to keep...

ARCADE

Aug 5 – Aug 31, 2026

ARCADE is an immersive experience from DARKFIELD, created by artistic directors David Rosenberg and Glen Neath, returning to Pleasance Dome for its third year at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Using the aesthetic of 1980s video games, the 30-minute show places audiences in...

Copycat

Aug 1 – Aug 31, 2026

Copycat is written and performed by Joe Sellman-Leava, developed with and directed by Katharina Reinthaller, and designed by Dylan Howells. The show explores imitation, AI, creativity, and democracy through impressions of Big Tech overlords, former teachers, and celebrities...

Day of the Locust

Aug 1 – Aug 31, 2026

Day of the Locust features award-winning multi-instrumentalist Callum Patrick Hughes, who rips apart and rebuilds Nathanael West's 1930s Great American Novel. The show is part of Fake Escape's Decade of Fringe season at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2026, performing at 12.50.

Don Quixote (is a very big book)

Aug 5 – Aug 31, 2026

Veteran puppeteer, clown and audience whisperer Dik Downey makes his Edinburgh Fringe debut at the age of 63 in this one-man show, placing his own mid-life crisis deep in the heart of Don Quixote's impossible dreams in a touching and funny reflection on the joys and indignities...

Fly, You Fools!

Aug 5 – Aug 31, 2026

Recent Cutbacks presents a live, shot-for-shot parody of the first chapter of the most iconic fantasy franchise ever made, compressing 178 minutes of cinematic action into just 60 minutes. Three actors and a Foley artist band together to retell the epic story using live sound...

KEVIN!!!!!

Aug 5 – Aug 31, 2026

Recent Cutbacks presents the UK premiere of KEVIN!!!!!, a live, shot-for-shot parody of the greatest Christmas movie of all time. The show is part of Recent Cutbacks' triple bill feature at Pleasance in August 2026. Recent Cutbacks is a creative ensemble known for their live...

NewsRevue

NewsRevue

Aug 5 – Aug 31, 2026

Guinness World Record-breaking NewsRevue (47 years!), makes its debut in Pleasance One. If the news has got you down, this is your antidote. Expect four preposterously talented performers, a brilliant musical director on keys and a barrage of hilarious sketches and parody songs...

EDINBURGH 2026: Review: FORGET ABOUT ME, Pleasance

EDINBURGH 2026: Review: FORGET ABOUT ME, Pleasance

by Natalie O'Donoghue · August 23, 2026

In a remote, north-east village, something lurks in the bathroom: something Dylan struggles to remember, which even his dad's deadly DIY skills can't fix... Designer-performer Dylan Howells weaves psychological illusions and fragmented memories into a magical, chilling tale of a home that won't stay…

EDINBURGH 2026: Review: SLAYERS, Assembly

EDINBURGH 2026: Review: SLAYERS, Assembly

by Natalie O'Donoghue · August 23, 2026

'He takes hold of my wrist. His thumb is on the vein. I don’t pull away. Then I do, I pull away.' Liane is a single mother, a survivor of abuse, now trying desperately to shield her ten-year-old daughter from the world’s dangers. As her daughter suffers bullying, Liane has a real-world encounter…

Review: WIPING MY MOTHER'S ARSE, Pitlochry Festival Theatre

Review: WIPING MY MOTHER'S ARSE, Pitlochry Festival Theatre

by Natalie O'Donoghue · August 22, 2026

A care home. A complicated son. A mother with secrets. This one’s darkly funny, unexpectedly tender, and hits different if you’ve ever had to navigate messy family dynamics (so… everyone). A sold-out Fringe hit, back and bolder than ever.…

EDINBURGH 2026: Review: SWAMPLESQUE, Assembly

EDINBURGH 2026: Review: SWAMPLESQUE, Assembly

by Natalie O'Donoghue · August 22, 2026

The hottest ticket of Fringe 2024 and 2025. Everyone's favourite ogre-inspired burlesque and drag parody is coming back to Edinburgh! Swamplesque is the award-winning, critically acclaimed, five-star rated burlesque parody show!…

EDINBURGH 2026: Review: FLOP! THE BEST SONGS FROM THE WORST MUSICALS, Gilded Balloon

EDINBURGH 2026: Review: FLOP! THE BEST SONGS FROM THE WORST MUSICALS, Gilded Balloon

by Natalie O'Donoghue · August 23, 2026

Arthur Hull returns with an updated version of his blockbusting musical cabaret celebrating Theatreland's casualties. This love letter to Broadway and the West End features a motley assortment of the misunderstood, critically panned and financially catastrophic musical misfires, including forgotten …

Past Shows

32 total · showing 21–30

Rita Lynn: Life Coach

Jul 31 – Aug 25, 2024

Louise Marwood makes her Edinburgh Fringe theatre debut with Rita Lynn: Life Coach, a candid and darkly humorous exploration of addiction, inspired by her own struggles. In this semi-autobiographical one-woman show, she portrays Imogen, a dancer-turned-life coach facing her own...

Sheeps: The Giggle Bunch (That's Our Name For You)

Jul 31 – Aug 25, 2024

SHEEPS returns to the stage with their first new show in six years, titled The Giggle Bunch, promising a fresh dose of their beloved style of sketch comedy. Known for their unpredictable and beautifully performed sketches, the trio, celebrated for their cult following, aims to...

The Sex Lives of Puppets

Jul 31 – Aug 25, 2024

Blind Summit Theatre presents a unique exploration of intimacy in The Sex Lives of Puppets, co-written and directed by Ben Keaton and Mark Down. This engaging theatre experience features puppet couples sharing candid monologues and interviews, revealing sexual challenges that...

The Writing On The Stall

Aug 14 – Aug 25, 2024

The Writing on the Stall features Caitlin Cook as she reflects on her decade-long obsession with bathroom graffiti, a fascination sparked by a chance discovery in a Chicago dive bar. The show blends humor, poignancy, and catchy songs, exploring themes of vulnerability and...

Stamptown

Aug 3 – Aug 24, 2024

Stamptown returns to the Pleasance Grand for a limited run, showcasing a dynamic late-night variety show that blends chaos, clowning, and innovative comedy. Led by Zach Zucker, known as the "bad boy of clown," the performance features an array of electrifying alternative acts...

This Must Be Heaven

Jul 30 – Aug 24, 2024

John Tothill returns to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with This Must Be Heaven, the latest installment in his comedic saga of health woes and misadventures. After a dramatic stint involving a self-inflicted malaria infection to fund his show, followed by a burst appendix during...

Jack Tucker: Comedy Standup Hour

Aug 21

Zach Zucker returns to the Edinburgh Fringe with his acclaimed character, Jack Tucker, in a one-night-only performance at the Pleasance Grand. This comedy stand-up hour features Jack, a lovable but hapless character grappling with marital woes and financial troubles while...

Pauline

Pauline

Aug 3 – Aug 29, 2022

Pauline is the story of three generations of women in one family - and the story of the writer who went digging in the secrets file in order to bring them all on stage. Witness a brutally honest and joyfully hilarious glimpse into what it has meant to be a woman in the Bentinck...

Alex Edelman: Just For Us

Alex Edelman: Just For Us

Aug 4 – Aug 26, 2018

“Each routine is told with the impeccable rhythm and pin-sharp punchlines we’ve come to expect from this ruthless comedy technician” CHORTLE ON ‘JUST FOR US’ 2018 Bostonian comedian. Jew. Sweetheart. Alex Edelman’s first show, Millennial – about very traumatic stock photos and...

Catherine Bohart: Immaculate

Catherine Bohart: Immaculate

Aug 1 – Aug 26, 2018

“A comic with both a distinctive voice and a story you'd like to hear” Steve Bennett CHORTLE Introducing Irish rising star Catherine Bohart who debuts this very personal show entitled ‘Immaculate’ at the Pleasance Courtyard for the month of August. This very funny show explores...

BroadwayWorld TV


Antigone 1989: A Town Hall Musical in Scotland Antigone 1989: A Town Hall Musical
Gilded Balloon Patter House (8/05-8/29) PHOTOS VIDEOS
Patient 13 in Scotland Patient 13
Zoo Playground 2 (8/07-8/30) VIDEOS
Trainspotting The Musical in Scotland Trainspotting The Musical
Alhambra Theatre (3/01-3/06)
Girlfriends: A Not So Straight Play in Scotland Girlfriends: A Not So Straight Play
Forest Theatre at Greenside at George Street (8/07-8/29)
A Costume Drama in Scotland A Costume Drama
ZOO (Playground 3) (8/07-8/30)
Roomies in Scotland Roomies
Underbelly (Jersey) (8/05-8/31)
Furniture Boys in Scotland Furniture Boys
Underbelly (Jersey) (8/05-8/30)
A Queer Little Murder in Scotland A Queer Little Murder
Gilded Balloon Patter House (8/05-8/30)
The Time of Your Life in Scotland The Time of Your Life
The Voodoo Rooms (8/10-8/24)
The List Festival Awards  in Scotland The List Festival Awards
W Edinburgh (8/28-8/28)