Edinburgh Festival

Gloriously unhinged BAFTA-nominated newcomers Ada and Bron bring their chaotic brand of sketch character comedy to the Edinburgh Fringe with The Origin of Love, a fast-paced, surreal and delightfully filthy exploration of romance, in all of its very strangest forms.

Rohan Sharma makes his Edinburgh Fringe debut with his stand-up show Mad Dog. Rohan, a British/Indian comedian with an ambitious style of comedy, delivers his hilarious tech-heavy show. The audience is taken through a PowerPoint presentation as he speaks about his experience with racism, his love for British food and an abundance of Colonel Gaddafi jokes.

Milk on the Side: a Barista Musical is a show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year which was produced by Short and Sweet Theatre. It follows a day in the cafe with baristas Amy (Clare Roberts) and Casey (Emily Mahi`ai) who invite the audience to join them for a shift in their coffee shop.

Love Me Like a Chai Tea Latte is a comedy/theatre show making its Edinburgh Fringe debut this year. The show is written and performed by Sanjay Lago, a Glasgow-born South Asian actor, playwright and comedian who trained at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and is a recipient of the Assembly ART Award 2025.

Horror media, in any form, is often one of the most difficult genres to get right. Scatter: A Horror Play may stumble but it never falters, crafting a play of exceptionally high quality.

Unusual comedian Johnny White Really Really is back at the Edinburgh Fringe with new show am/pm. Those who enjoyed his last Fringe hour Catland (2023) will be happy to know that this is another pensive, curiously clever set of offbeat comedy from the entirely original and multi-faceted writer, composer and performer. 

In Year 6 Michelle Brasier’s mate uttered nine words that, at 30, still ring in her ears. They’ve sparked a Fringe show, and it’s a stunner. 

Alternative, kooky character comedy great Lucy Pearman (BBC Three’s Please Help, BBC’s The Mind of Herbert Clunkerdunk, BBC2’s Mister Winner) is back with her first Edinburgh Fringe hour since 2019’s Baggage. 

Don’t be fooled by the gentle, speakeasy vibe of the entrance music: these are certified divas, here to take you through a showstopping mix of music from various films and musicals. There is no plot and no need to study beforehand, just sit back and enjoy.

Ayo Adenekan makes his highly anticipated Fringe debut with a hilarious and heartfelt show about growing up in Scotland. With sharp storytelling and a laid-back charm, Ayo explores identity, belonging and the awkward moments in between.

Too 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.

After 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?

Hot 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!)

Two 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.

Facility 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.

For the past 17 years, Grace Helbig has been building her online presence as a content creator. Starting out by posting daily, short, vlog-style videos, she became one of the original YouTube stars. She has now amassed over 2.6 million subscribers on her channel.

Douglas Widick’s Paperclip is a witty, genre-bending thrill ride, which imagines a world where the fate of humanity rests in the hands or rather, the wires of Microsoft Word’s long-forgotten writing assistant Clippy.

Prepare to be indoctrinated into your new favourite cult! This show is exactly as it says on the tin: a pseudo-religious service with all the elements required to make up (or make fun of) a church. Organ music and an abundance of pink fabric sets the scene, and despite it being a wildly unfamiliar environment, the actors do a wonderful job of embracing their new congregation. It is as ridiculous and depraved as you might expect, but hilariously crafted in its crassness.

The Durham Revue's latest may not be their finest hour, but it sure is a fun one.

Like Fleabag meets Normal People, this play from writer/star Ned Blackburn is one of the greatest Fringe shows you will ever see.

I would be unsurprised to learn that Dunhuang was directed by a composer. Thirteen songs is an impressive number to fit into a one-act show, especially one with such a rich historical context to explore, which may have been why the dialogue seemed to just be filling time before the next song.

The King of Whimsy is back at the Edinburgh Fringe…it’s Alasdair Beckett-King with his hour of the silly and the fantastical with King of Crumbs. 

Puppets and sparkles, sing-a-longs and a wee dance, Monski Mouse Baby Cabaret is fun for the whole family - the ultimate baby friendly event at the Edinburgh Fringe. In the gorgeous Palais du Variété at Assembly George Square Gardens both you and your little one will be dazzled by the Spiegeltent and the wide open space inside to sit and cuddle or dance and sing with glee. 

Recent 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!

This 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?