Edinburgh Festival

Set in Edinburgh, Make It Happen sees legendary actor Brian Cox return to the Scottish stage for the first time in a decade as Adam Smith, the ghost of fiscal past.

Join Astronaut Indra on a nine-month mission to the moon... but not all missions are successful. A new autobiographical solo show by Indra Wilson about the lonely, turbulent journey of experiencing pregnancy loss as a queer young person

This is the story of one boy's grandad who won a fortune betting on the 1966 World Cup and, when diagnosed with cancer, gambles it all on living to see the year 2000. Gary McNair's intergenerational tale of what we live for and what we leave behind has toured the world since making its award-winning, sell-out world premiere at the Traverse in 2015.

Amy Mason is witty, unfiltered, and enjoyably coarse, diving right into how connection, intimacy, and the chaos of how modern life works in reality. Mason brings a refreshingly honest perspective to the hour, delivered in a deadpan yet inviting style which creates a sense of wonder at her candour, with every understated punchline.

A roundup of our coverage from the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Two brothers — one a progressive novelist, the other a convicted murderer and high-ranking member of a white supremacist prison gang — shared a traumatic childhood. Now adults, these men navigate the edges of their bond. Are they truly so different?

Joz Norris is an enthusiastic lover of fun, concerned with elevating joy and embracing his inner weird. With a blend of surreal storytelling, gentle earthy chaos and endearing self-awareness, Norris draws the audience into a world where logic is irrelevant. 

Ned Van Zandt was in the Chelsea Hotel the night of Nancy Spungen’s death, and he was with Sid and Nancy just before her sad demise. Ned was also an actor during the 1970s in Hollywood heyday and cavorted with Chaka Khan, Steely Dan, director Hal Ashby and others, he was away in San Francisco when a double murder occurred in his apartment in LA.

Following his sell-out 2023/24 runs, Stu returns to the Fringe with his highly anticipated new show about settling down, growing up and how he’s being controlled by his step-dog. Join the host of smash-hit podcast Some Laugh and star of BBC Scotland’s Scot Squad for another sensational hour in which he pokes fun at 30-something relationships, generational divides and why he doesn’t want to die surrounded by loved ones.

Our award-winning Cantonese opera adventure is back! Join Captain Dic Dic and Chang Chang at the Cantonese Opera Playground in Edinburgh, where the Cantonese Opera Fairy teaches them skills to outwit the Boring King. But they can't do it alone – they need you, the audience, to become secret agents in this interactive spectacle.

New production images have been releasedfor Karis Kelly’s dark comedy Consumed, a co-production with Belgrade Theatre, Sheffield Theatres and the Women’s Prize for Playwriting. See photos here!

Written by Justin Butcher. On Millenium Eve, a 100-year-old clown comes offstage after his final ever performance to tell the story of his life: epic, hilarious and tragic. Performed by Fringe legend Thom Tuck (Penny Dreadfuls, Horrible Histories, Play What I Wrote). Tuck presented this play at the Fringe 2005 and 2015, and plans to revive the piece every decade as he approaches the age of the character.

In 1423 Berlin, two peasants find themselves at the center of hysteria, hypocrisy and impending doom. How… fun! As the flames of persecution rise, they must decide: will they take a stand or simply watch? A darkly comedic dive into fear, guilt and the price of inaction. Wenches! blends historical absurdity with modern relevance, revealing how easy it is to mistake performance for purpose.

Jess Robinson, Your Song: Elton Reimagined is an uproarious triumph which cements Jess Robinson as the reigning diva of comedic musical impressions.

Inspired by the Book of Jonah – and probably God – award-winning shunt veteran, Mitchell and Webb writer, John Finnemore's Souvenir Programmer (and Keith Darren Dean in Ghosts), Simon Kane, regurgitates his highly acclaimed, horrifyingly evergreen divine comedy about the extremist in us all.

Winner: 2023 Birmingham Comedy Festival Breaking Talent Award. Nominee: 2025 Leicester Comedy Festival Awards Best Debut Show. Arab. Muslim. Brummy. 'Deliciously funny' (Guardian) Hasan Al-Habib's parents left Baghdad for the land of opportunity (Birmingham). But when Britain invaded Iraq, friends and teachers saw him as the enemy within. Featuring Big Tescos, why Saddam Hussein would've loved Drayton Manor and - amidst a search for those pesky weapons of mass destruction – finding self-acceptance.

The gorgeously gross new piece from Rosa Garland, the creator of Trash Salad, one of The Telegraph's Funniest Shows of the Fringe. Join Rosa on a slimy trek into the recesses of our erotic imaginations, celebrating pleasure in its ugliest forms, and the hard work of accessing desire. Like Jackass if Johnny Knoxville was Gwyneth Paltrow, this new comedy experiment will stop at nothing to investigate the mucky mind-corners we prefer to ignore. Come into the bog; the mud's just fine.

Debut show from Pedro Leandro, a comedian who has famously been described as 'magnetic' (Guardian) and 'a beautiful bright-eyed joy' (Everything-Theatre.co.uk). Sadly, he has found this praise to be insufficient. Standing atop the lonely Everest of his innumerable achievements, he invites his audience to reflect: will it, can it, ever be enough?

Award-winning character comedian Lorna Rose Treen has made a diner. She's inviting you in for an hour of characters, nonsense and a working grill. (Now with no working grill!) Afterwards, you'll say to your neighbour, 'I'll have what she's having!'

'Fresh' from hatching a baby girl and a sold-out Edinburgh run, '...uninhibited feminist with a foul mouth' **** (Daily Express), Lily Phillips, as seen on ITV, BBC, Comedy Central and E4, is back with a new hour… and she and her perinium are fine!

Irish comedian Katie Boyle brings her newest stand-up, a uniquely personal dark comedy, to Edinburgh. It's about living in America, Catholic shame, St Brigid, cutting off a parent and somehow all connected to abortion.

Old God is a foppish, irreverent oracle. A singer of doom. A weaver of myth. A being so old they have forgotten their own name. With beautiful costuming, painted canvas backdrop and fancy golden foot lights, this white face clown seems to have walked out of the theater houses of the 1800s. Pantomime is performed along side improvisational feats of language. No one can keep up as Old God buries the audience beneath a sea of imagery and play spinning wildly in topic but elegantly in body.

Emmy-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.

James Trickey is throwing it all away. A hotly anticipated debut hour from award-winning new act and chartered accountant (but in a cool way) which explores what it means to risk everything. Expect to laugh, learn and crucially, laugh again.

Hyp Me Baby One More Time! The unmissable smash-hit comedy hypnotist is back with a 90s party hypnoshow!