An opportunity to have some time and space for yourself and to prepare, recoup your energy and maximise your time at the Fringe meeting and working with other artists. Workshop leaders will include Gabriel Gawin, Niamh Dowling, Magda Koza, Company of Wolves, Bertrand Lesca and Nasi Voutsas and others.
“If you break my heart, I’ll break yours too.” This thrilling and inventive new work from one of Belgium’s most exciting young companies explores the world of both tolerating and being tolerated.
In an age when technology multiplies every mistake, can we find a way to understand each other? A razor-sharp satire about the search for a sure footing in an uncertain world from BAFTA-nominated Vinay Patel.
A fearless play about the limits of hope and the consolations of reality, from Finland’s youngest and most irrepressibly talented new playwright
The makers of BigMouth return with a thrilling, relevant new show, delving deeply into the politician’s life and exposing those juicy backstage scenes we all look for and asking why anyone seeks recognition in a job that is known to be the most unpopular ever.
The show that rocked Canada, sparking a thousand conversations with its head-on confrontation of toxic masculinity. Adam Lazarus plays The Father and he's done bad things in his life. Taking you through his struggles with love, lust and violence, he presents himself as a figure for our amusement, dismay, and judgement
The only two children born in a North Yorkshire village for a generation cannot imagine ever being apart, but as their lives shift, so too do the ties that bind them. Charley Miles’ outstanding debut play Blackthorn explores the changes and choices that pull us from the places and people we love.
Inspired by our collective nightmare of being chased and the manifestation of this in film culture and real-life experience, three women enact various chase scenes at a break-neck pace. In combination with video cameras displaying live-feed projections, a collection of props and costumes, the spectacle is both live and on screen.
Kate, Sam and Pete are stuck. The town they live in doesn’t have much going on. But they don’t really care about that when they’ve got cheap cider and their whole lives ahead of them. And they’re going to break away anyway.
Sun Son Theatre return to Summerhall after the success of Heart of Darkness in 2017, welcoming you to a light-hearted world of live action and hand-crafted animation.
The Delusion of Home is a strong and original documentary-style depiction of everyday life in the Chiayi area of southern Taiwan, refracted through one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies.
Tremor is a play about now. It’s about how we choose to see things and live our lives in a world riven with anxiety and division.
Huff is the wrenching yet darkly comic tale of Indigenous brothers caught in a torrent of solvent abuse and struggling with the death of their mother. Their dream world bleeds into reality, as they’re preyed on by The Trickster through hallways at school, the abandoned motel he loves more than home and his own fragile psyche.
'A striking dream world... one of the most ambitious pieces we have ever presented' (Anna Woo, The Getty Villa). California’s marijuana country: the still-Wild West. Annie conducts a forensic exploration of 'the facts' about her outlaw weed farmer brother as this genre-bending work slips into disputed territory: childhood memories.
In Finnish tradition, the sauna is a solemn place; a scene of cleansing, contemplation, birth and death. According to myth every sauna had its own spirit, whom visitors should care for and respect. The Sauna is a speechless mask and object theatre performance accompanied with live sound effects and original music.
Music’s power has erased boundaries before, but can it make us feel connected as citizens, even after Brexit?
Isabelle summons her family back to their ancestral home in Québec. Despite their history, they come. Her right-wing brother Harry, daughter Mina, and Catherine, the rebellious baby of the family, who has her new Scottish boyfriend in tow. Then there's François, her adoptive son, and her long lost friend from her radical youth. It’s time to talk about the future. But who does the future belong to?
Being a small-time drug dealer in Cardiff is tough. Marc avoids his mum, disguises his cannabis plants with fake tomatoes at the allotment, and now has to bail his old man out of £6,000 owed to local loan shark Oggy.
Max is a normal-ish kid in a normal-ish town. He spends his days daydreaming and hanging out with his weird wee pal Stevie Nimmo. But when Max is called for his first Square Go, a fight by the school gates, it’s his own demons he must wrestle with first.
Behold: the eternal masterwork of puppetry for adults finally comes to Edinburgh! Willingly undergo a heart-wrenching parade of theatrical demises that will severely exacerbate your fear of death.
When we can have sex whenever we want, with whomever we want, why settle for a normal relationship? With the promise of fresh excitement just a swipe away, is Kat’s long-term lover her lifelong dream?
A Belgian popstar moves to London to steal the job of British popstars. Luckily, austerity is there to stop her. A witty pop-opera about a girl called Nele who turns her life into a big international mess because she wants to be famous on the other side of the English Channel.
“The children grabbed him (the father) and put him on the table. And he became the food. They took him apart, dismembered him. Ate him up. And so he was liquidated... the same way he liquidated his children.” Louise Bourgeois, The Destruction of The Father (1974)
Fusing storytelling, movement and song, Achilles is the epic story of a man's exorcism: a burning out of his grief, his rage and his humanity.
The night of the Manchester uprising. That night should change everything. Drawing on his own personal experience, Ed Edwards’ script crackles with anger, humour and authenticity as he chronicles the fallout for communities crushed by the heroin epidemic at the height of Thatcherism.
The Last One is brutal physical theatre created by Gema Galiana and Anthony Nikolchev. Evoked by the song of the last Kauai O’o bird, waiting for a response that will never come to its call for a mate.
Cock, Cock… Who’s There is confrontational, unrestrainedly funny, deeply touching and formally simply virtuoso. Elagoz explores desire, the power of femininity and the male gaze in a world in which the virtual and the real are inextricably intertwined.
Est. 2010, this is Edinburgh’s institutional shot of deep rhythms and rugged grooves. Expect rare funk, the deepest disco, Brazilian boogie and some afro-Latin vibrations as Soulsville takes up its August residency at Summerhall. Dress light - shoes advisable!
Join Jelly and Jonjo on their quest to discover the truth in a rip-roaring adventure through space full of friendship, fun and flying saucers. Contains: one confused alien, two brave kids and a busted spaceship. For space cadets age five and up.
27-year-old Edinburgh-born singer/songwriter Adam Holmes is one of the brightest rising stars on the UK roots music scene, with influences from either side of the Atlantic mixing traditional and contemporary folk with his own brand of soul and Americana.
Rhythm Machine is a night of dance music and performance art. Each week DJs Yves, William Francis + special guests play dance music from around the world - rooted in the international new wave scene - as guest artists create new work for the space; approaching it as if creating for a gallery while utilising and responding to the unique context of the nightclub space.
We’ve chosen 4 of our fave short plays from our back catalogue to bring to the Fringe in this ONE OFF show to, in the words of P!NK, get the party started. Expect big laughs, tears, dancing, bucket hats, confetti, gunfire, Freddos, snogging, and people off the telly.
The Italian Horror Soundtrack maestro Claudio Simonetti and his band Goblin return to the UK to perform their classic scores live to screenings of the famous films SUSPIRIA and DAWN OF THE DEAD in celebration of their 40th Anniversaries.
Made in the UK and Georgia, Ur Medëa confronts our world of infinite choices, and moral relativism, with the consequences of remote clandestine wars and the distant awakening of a brutality that finds its way home back into our dreams of family.
Winner of the Best International Performance Award at the 2017 Amsterdam Fringe and hit of the 2018 Brighton Fringe. Performer and playwright Bastiaan Vandendriessche’s gripping new play invites his audience to step into a darkly woven and deceptive story about his time as a leader of the Seascouts in Ghent six years ago.
Northern Ireland’s And So I Watch You From Afar are an instrumental rock outfit, often cited as one of the most influential music acts in their genre of the last decade. Ranging from Post to Math-rock, the Belfast band have released 5 albums & 3 EPs to date.
Start to End return with a live band interpretation of John Martyn’s classic 4th solo studio album ‘ Solid Air’, following a sold out appearance at Celtic Connections 2018. Featuring Sam West on vocals and a very special line-up of musicians from Admiral Fallow, Roddy Hart & the Lonesome Fire, Pronto Mama and more.
Growing up in the 90s, GG and her mates obsess over music, vaginas and witchcraft. But there’s a problem. Living feels too extreme. To be one of the good girls, GG learns to make herself numb. But at what cost? Bold and provocative, Good Girl tells a darkly comic coming of age tale about learning to live un-apologetically.
Nothing's easier than returning to the welcoming arms of civilian life post-Army, right? Not for this soldier. Through theatre and VR headsets you will see post-Army life from the perspective of an Iraq War veteran returning home.
The story of a young woman soldier's journey through post-traumatic stress. Following training, Joanna is deployed to Afghanistan and believes she is prepared for what lies ahead. What she is not prepared for is a visit from her past.
The Scottish and Fijian wives of Commonwealth soldier, who have served in the British Army, share stories of war from their perspective. Based on real-life interviews, the wives voices are formidable and brutally honest. They deserve to be heard
After a long military career, life back on civvy street should be a breeze... right? Tommy’s observations on the absurdities of the everyday are “comic and convincing” (InDaily) and “fabulously witty” (TheClothesline.com.au).
PUSSY RIOT need little introduction, the Russian protest art collective have one of the most important voices of the last 10 years whose lyrical themes include feminism, LGBT rights, and opposition to Vladimir Putin.
A gripping story of love and loss set during World War One, blending dance, original music and archive film. Moving from rural Punjab to the Belgian trenches where young Indian men have been brought to fight for the Allies, we learn about the secret promise made by one soldier, Lehna Singh, as he makes the ultimate sacrifice to save another.
Kevin Rowland - style icon and leader of the band Dexys (formerly Dexy’s Midnight Runners) - is renowned for his vast wealth of musical knowledge & a highly charged eclecticism, which in turn has secured his standing as a fascinating and entertaining DJ, or perhaps more accurately, “Sing-J”.
Award Winning Not Too Tame, deliver a raucous and raw night of lyricism, laughs and live music in the world premiere of NORTHERN SOULS.
Multi award-winning venue CanadaHub returns to the Fringe with a new late-night show. Guest hosts introduce the best of Canadian cabaret, comedy and music from across the festival. All acts guaranteed to have been to Canada at least once.
Forget Me Nots is a love story between a young Icelandic man and an English soldier. It’s about love, new priorities and the people that got hurt along the way. In a collaboration between Icelandic and British artists, it explores a little known story from our collective history.
Fancy getting dirty later? Three Welsh writers. Three Scottish writers. Six short plays. One dirty late night extravaganza.
Follow Doaa who dreams of a better life amongst a backdrop of war, terror and enduring love. The boy from the local garden centre, whose tranquil existence amongst the flowers is torn apart. A mother who cannot keep her children safe.
Following two critically-acclaimed sell-out runs, the National Youth Theatre present the Edinburgh debut of Mohsin Hamid’s Man Booker Prize shortlisted novel The Reluctant Fundamentalist adapted for stage by Stephanie Street and directed by Prasanna Puwanarajah.
Award winning Irish company Sunday's Child’s previous productions include Overshadowed, winner of the Fishamble Award for Best New Writing, recently adapted for television with Rollem productions for BBC Three.
Meet Davy. The things he sees. His streets. His mates. His girl and... The Boys. With pumping techno, pulverising movement and street sharp poetry, East Belfast Boy is a cliché-free zone.
Meursault presents Crow Hill, a series of urban horror story vignettes, set in the titular, fictional, Scottish town. A project comprising of a studio album, a feature film and a graphic novel, Meursault will be performing Crow Hill in it's entirety, accompanied by projections, dancers and actors.
Memories of the director’s own experiences of military recruitment assessments are used to redefine existing concepts to create a queer fantasy system. Written for four actors and a pianist, his real-life story becomes an impulse for a performative, camp variety piece.
The legendary duo JD Twitch and JG Wilkes bring Optimo to Edinburgh this festival. Renowned for their visionary and exploratory musical approach during sets, as well as throwing some of the best parties on the planet, the original weekly club night ran uninterrupted between 1997 and 2010. Experience one of the most influential and eclectic late nights ever formulated in Scotland.
For ONE NIGHT ONLY see Kieran and Gary step up and go toe to toe for their very own Square Go performing the show script in hand to raise money for SAMH the Scottish Mental Health Charity.
Heat will rise for one night only to ignite The Dissection Room with fed-after-midnight electro disco, homegrown in Summerhall's last industrial graveyard.
World Poetry Slam champion Harry Baker and jazz virtuoso Chris Read return to the Fringe after sold-out shows in 2016 and 2017 with their third show that they've somehow managed to resist calling The Harry And Chris Show Three. As seen on The Russell Howard Hour misusing the word 'literally'.
A one-man musical comedy by award-winning duo Tom Wells (words) and Matthew Robins (music) fresh from a sell-out tour.
Meet Leah and Chris: raised on Harry Potter, New Labour and a belief that one day they would be as special as their parents promised. But what happens when those dreams don’t become reality?
Fusing introspective songwriting with vivid polyrhythmic indie rock and pop, Wye Oak emerged from Baltimore’s underground sound in the mid-2000s to acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic.
After a decade of sharing stages and crafting collaborations in the studio, real-life rap BFFs SAGE FRANCIS and B. DOLAN have finally caved to years of fan pressure to form an official group.
The viral poet returns for his second Edinburgh Fringe along with his critically acclaimed new book 'The Future’. The most watched poet of all-time, famous for the internationally successful poems 'OCD', 'Joey', and 'The Future’.
The Welcome to Night Vale 2018 / 2019 World Tour will bring a new story to the surreal desert town of Night Vale, examining the role secrets play in the lives there. This entirely new script written by Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor is a completely stand-alone story that will never be heard on the podcast, and can be enjoyed by both long-time fans and newcomers alike.
BALKANARAMA are back at Summerhall this August with their incredible sell-out show. This riotous night brings you the best of tastes and sounds of the Balkans - expect superb live music, gypsy belly dancing, Balkan Beats DJs, bespoke live visuals, Balkan rakija, costume boudoirs and more.
Westhouse Collective’s outstanding Transatlantic Ensemble return this August to perform Fleetwood Mac’s iconic Rumours album in its entirety, a record that has soundtracked the lives of multiple generations. Experience one of the greatest albums of all time, lovingly & accurately recreated in a live setting - including many of the band’s greatest hits.
Part open rehearsal, part durational performance, the final piece in this loose trilogy of work looks at the left through the prism of the right, considering the polarization of political debate and the rise of populism across nations; amid the ruins of unresolved conflict, Bert and Nasi explore whether we can still come together on common ground, however unsteady.
Niteworks fuse Gaelic language and traditional music with electronic influences to create a fresh and exhilarating sound, winning them the ‘Up and Coming Artist of the Year’ award at the 2012 Scottish Trad Awards. The band’s unique sound comes into its own in the live arena with the last year alone having seen multiple sold-out shows in Scotland and stage-closing performances at festivals across the country, leaving packed crowds pulsating into the night.
The Lone Bellow burst onto the scene with their self-titled debut in 2013. The Brooklyn-based band quickly became known for their transcendent harmonies, serious musicianship and raucous live performance — a reputation that earned them their rabid fan base.