Edinburgh Festival

In a brand new hour for Edinburgh 2025, the erudite and endlessly affable comic Alice Fraser has brought A Passion for Passion to Underbelly Bristo Square this year -  a comedy show about writing a book about romance. (As an audience member it does not feel as niche as that sounds!)

In a charming tale for the stage, everyone’s favourite characters from the beloved A. A. Milne stories delight young ones and adults alike. The Wonderful World of Winnie-the-Pooh invites the audience to journey through the Hundred Acre Wood in a play with music full of the rag tag bunch as they wander through the forest trying to remember the aim of their search!

A restful and contemplative multimedia play for one audience member at a time, The Fahrenheit Alliance V is a unique immersive performance, originally from Japan. Concocted during lockdown times, it began as a way to stay connected when the world was in solitude. Now Hirai-Kikaku has adapted the piece to travel around the world, from city to city and from country to country, passing on messages in relay from one audience member to another.

I really need to touch that 3 times. 1, 2, 3. F*ck. Did anyone see that? In a world full of ugliness, desperation and people touching you with dirty hands, a young girl tries to hide her OCD symptoms, but it's in her DNA and the world starts noticing. But relax. It's a comedy. Fine, tragicomedy. A monologue full of 1,2,3's, changing from verse to prose focused on the PTSD of sexual abuse, which worsened the girl's OCD and developed it to a place where she didn't feel 'normal'.

How do you rebel against parents who are already rebels? Form a band? Cool. Smoke some weed? Whatever. But finding Jesus? Now that's hardcore... Despite the yoga and therapy, Callum's past isn't done with him, and neither are the ghosts he conjured. Through live underscoring, razor-sharp storytelling and a whole lot of holy sh*t, Callum dives into belief, regret – and the things that refuse to stay buried

Henry Cyril Paget was one of the world's wealthiest men, until he lost it all by being too damn fabulous. This fierce and tragi-gorgeous comedy musical is a true story about expectations, masculinity, privilege and failure on an epic scale. It's about feeling desperately weird and alone but knowing that to fit in would cost you everything.

When Shaun turned his back on the church, he found a new home in music. Confronted now with acute degenerative hearing loss, he’s making the choice to live joyfully in the face of life's many unanswerable questions. An exhilarating and celebratory true story about losing faith and finding hope in the darkest of places. The Olivier Award-winning producers of Fleabag and Baby Reindeer bring you this intimate and rousing new musical experience featuring creative captions. From Obie-winning indie-folk duo The Bengsons.

Emily Wilson returns to the Fringe at long last and proves herself, yet again, as one of the funniest acts at this years Fringe.

Devil's Point is an interesting show with plenty of potential, but one which never quite succeeds in engaging us fully.

Christopher Macarthur-Boyd proves himself as one of the funniest men Scotland has ever produced. When you rock up to a venue during the Edinburgh Fringe only to be greeted by two separate lines - one for ticketed punters and another for hopefuls - in the hundreds (but which feels like thousands), something tells you that it’s a big deal.

Newly-widowed Mrs Lovett needs to find a way to survive. Using skills learned from a whaler father, a courtesan mother and a butcher husband, Eleanor 'recalibrates' her life - and her relationship with God. An origin story set before her infamous partnership with Sweeney Todd, we discover what would later lead her to turn pie-maker. You may think you already know Mrs. Lovett, but this new play explores what made her: the brutal choices and disappointments of a life in poverty. When the difference is life or death, morality becomes a moveable feast - and Eleanor is getting hungry...

In a perfectly paced show featuring musical numbers and smooth crowd work, Robyn Reynolds details the ups and downs of her life – or rather, brings out the silver lining in the downs. A sunny disposition and riotous humour, light and dark and everything in between, this talented comedian gets her audience laughing at even the toughest subjects. Between family trials, chronic illness, and adapting to life on the other side of the world, it’s amazing she found time to breathe, let alone discover a knack for spontaneous quips or groan-worthy puns.

1554. The Tower of London. Lady Jane Grey, the 'Nine Days Queen,' awaits execution. The walls whisper the stories of the women who came before – and those yet to come... Battling sleep and the horrors that lurk within it, Jane retraces her short, tumultuous life. Can she reclaim her own legacy? Grey unearths the humanity behind infamous names: who was Bloody Mary? What does it mean to be remembered? A haunting, thought-provoking journey through grief, fear and hope, woven with a modern, emotive soundtrack. 'Do you think people would write about my love story?' – Lady Jane Grey.

In 2023 TikTok sent a notification to millions of users with Jodie's face, and the caption 'Is She Hot?'. Now, her debut show is a hilarious reflection on womanhood, grief and feminine rage. Told through musical comedy, sharp observations, and her own teenage diary, Jodie delves into the contradictions of modern femininity, balancing girliness and grief, sweetness and fury, and humour and heartbreak. A style that blends charm, candour, and raw emotional depth, Jodie delivers an unforgettable hour that's as thought-provoking as it is funny. A must-see debut from a rising star.

After her hit sold-out show at last year’s Fringe, national treasure Miriam Margolyes returns with a brand new piece. At 84 years young, Margolyes knows she doesn't have to prove herself to anyone. Sporting a beautifully vibrant gown, she commands the stage with a charming combination of crude remarks, cheeky innuendos, and brilliantly timed one-liners.

Unsettling music and Chekov's child draw the audience in before 1612 even starts, creating the perfect environment to learn about this historic witch trial. Rather than focussing on the people in power and how the hysteria and rumours spread, the show centres around the rising panic in a few central families. The deliberate targeting of traditional medicines is better understood now, and not a particularly new take, but this show highlights the reality of how people, generally poor or oppressed already, come to be accused of witchcraft.

This whirlwind show absolutely flies by in the time we wish it took to learn to love ourselves. Blending a variety of original songs with comedic rants, this sermon on self-love is halfway between standup and a musical. It's hilariously ironic and relatable, highlighting the conflicting messages about defining self-worth, and the unpredicatable nature of the show reflects society; when is a suggestion a joke? When is it a threat?

49 and 64 are in the room. They cannot see each other but they can talk and pass notes. All they have is questions, wedding veils and dog tags. Who are they? Where are they? What is going on? And why? And who is J Doe? And why are they watching them? 113 focuses in on the ideas of identity and memory. It asks if memory is what makes our identity, and if we were able to see ourselves objectively, could we change?

Following the arrest of a famous billionaire, four unlikely friends team up to break her out of prison in return for half her fortune. Led by bumbling Luke and set in the rather grim reality of struggling to make ends meet, it’s an interesting concept that asks the audience to question what their morals would really be under duress and begs the question: “if I’m not the worst person here, is my position justified?” Featuring a number of good songs, a charismatic villain, and funny side characters, Dirty Money has the makings of a great musical.

Advertised as a 'moving and darkly comic remix' of Shakespeare's famous tragedy, Lost Lear retells the play through the eyes of Joy, an elderly dementia patient and former actress trapped in a perpetual memory of rehearsing King Lear for the stage. Doctors and nurses step into her imagined world, supplying sound effects and taking on roles to maintain her charade. But when her long-absent son Connor arrives seeking reconciliation, his presence unsettles the fragile theatre of make-believe she has so carefully constructed.

Khalid Abdalla (The Kite Runner, The Crown) redefines and reclaims the solo show in a lyrical tapestry where resistance, displacement and selfhood are delicately woven through an avant-garde aesthetic. At its heart lies a searing question voiced at the start: ‘This nowhere is safe. But there are places in the world where nowhere is safe. And when the unfathomable becomes persistent, where do you go?’

Mary: A Gig Theatre Show is a cool concept. It advertises itself as a blend of folk rock music and spoken word formulating a feminist retelling of the story of Mary Queen of Scots. In theory it feels inspired by the hit show Six, but with it's own unique voice. The idea of a 'gig theatre show' suggests an interesting new form to explore within the realm of performance. Unfortunately, in practice the show certainly gives us 'Gig', but severely lacks in 'Theatre'. 

A monster's guide to tolerance and temperance. The silliest of shows for the scariest of days from Edinburgh Best Show Award Nominee. You've seen Jess on BBC's QI, Live at the Apollo and Celebrity University Challenge. From Travelman on C4, World's Most Dangerous Roads on Dave and more. You know her from her two BBC R4 series of Sturdy Girl Club plus podcasts The Guilty Feminist, Hoovering and Contender Ready

A Y2K-drenched coming-of-age comedy-drama: ASTNT follows David’s move from the city to a small Northern town where being the only Black kid means fitting in isn’t an option. Against the chaos of the 2000s: lads mags, MSN and questionable fashion, he tries to find his place but fails spectacularly. For fans of The Inbetweeners, it’s nostalgic, sharp and hilarious... But beneath the laughs lies a Black British story about identity, belonging and carving your place into a world that can’t quite place you.

Josh Elton makes an assured and highly memorable Fringe debut with Away With The Fairies, a show which captures both the unfiltered chaos of the life of a comic and the mythic absurdity which shapes it. With an energetic blend of sharp gags, playful storytelling and sincerity, Elton proves himself to be one to watch.