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.
BRUSH Theatre, last seen at Summerhall with The Overcoat, are back with another vivid and inventive show for younger audiences. A lonely boy Woogie and his troublemaking pet turtle Boogie experience their first sea adventure. What will happen to them in this beautiful but scary new watery world, and will they return home safely?
What happens when memories disappear? Where do they go, and can we get them back? Using just his voice and a Roland TD-4KP electronic drumkit, Antosh Wojcik explores the effects of inherited Alzheimer's on speech, memory and family. Poems become beats become glitches in time in a mesmeric display of live drumming and spoken word.
North Pole, 4 am. Under a snowstorm powerful enough to wrestle with a sequoia, a used-up van finds its way across the icecap. Three reporters land on the ice as if stepping on the moon for the first time. A bear stares straight at them. The team gets ready...
In Fallen Fruit, as the Berlin Wall splits open in 1989, a girl looks forward to life beyond communism, a couple unravels, and 80s TV permeates everything. In 2019, Britain leaves the EU while Europe celebrates 30 years since the end of the Cold War.
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 Italian company Nina's Drag Queens explores drag queen aesthetics, blending songs, film extracts and lip-syncing with theatre, live acting and choreography.
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.
Produced by Raw Material, in association with the Beacon Arts Centre. A dark comedy by Gary McNair, directed by Beth Morton. It's the future; just like now, but a bit more... well, shitey.
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
After a sell-out run at the Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh, nostalgic bookseller Lewis and party-boy Glen are back in this hit gay romantic comedy set in 1980s Edinburgh. Love Song to Lavender Menace is a funny, celebratory play about the radical, lesbian, gay and feminist bookshop which began in the cloakroom of Scotland’s first gay nightclub and became the beating heart of Edinburgh’s LGBT+ community.
Ladies and gentlemen, we’d like to direct your attention to the on-board safety demonstration and ask that you give us your full attention. In the unlikely event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure alternative scenarios will be provided. Flight is presented by Darkfield, the creators of 2017 Edinburgh Festival hit, Séance. It takes place in a shipping container in absolute darkness.
Performer:Maker was originally produced to consider the fetishisation of the artist as a labourer; overworked and underpaid. The piece will exist both as performance and sculpture. It is a physical artwork activated by performance, and lives on even once the performance has ended.
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.
Written in response to conversations with survivors of domestic violence and abuse, Never Vera Blue is a disorientating story of one woman’s journey to recover who she is. From the city to the Kent coast, from a war-torn land to the pit of the stomach, Alexandra Wood’s new play explores just what it means to be made to doubt yourself and how to regain a sense of identity.
The true, touching and hilarious story of a Belfast boy growing up with no father to guide him through, and a giant ball to weigh him down.
Katie & Pip celebrates the relationship between Katie, a 15-year-old Type 1 Diabetic girl and Pip, her five-year-old border collie, trained by Katie to save her life on a daily basis.
This delightful neo-historical head-scratcher playfully welds future, past and present into a glittering bracelet of time.
In this brave and outlandish performance a grown woman attempts to be your baby to discover if innocence really is as sexy as we’re told it is.
“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)
Take a gin jolly with Pickering's Gin in their home at Summerhall Distillery. With a G&T in hand, discover how the former kennels of the Royal (Dick) Vet School came to be Edinburgh's first exclusive gin distillery in 150 years and Visit Scotland's best visitor attraction in Edinburgh.
Duckie is a reimagining of Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling with a message of tolerance and self acceptance at its core. Family-friendly glamour and glitz takes centre stage as critically acclaimed cabaret star Le Gateau Chocolat breaks out of his shell in his first work for children, a classic tale of identity and belonging.
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.
Love Letters from Blackpool, a comedy theatre piece about love and Blackpool, originally commissioned by The Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester and subsequently nominated for Best New Show at Leicester Comedy Festival and Best Comedy Show at Greater Manchester Fringe, uses found love letters, original songs, poetry and audience interaction to answer the questions... What is love?
The Egg is a Lonely Hunter is a dark, comedic odyssey about beached whales, black holes and the redeeming power of eggs.
Big Aftermath explores how lives can turn on a word and the allure of the self-destruct button. Comedy and tragedy collide in a play about what happens when one person wants to go and the other wants them to stay.
A modern telling of an ancient myth, woven from hair-raising spoken word and soaring soul music. A tale of side streets, dive bars and ancient gods. A story of death defying love from the creators of Fable and Beulah. Winner of the VAULT Festival Summerhall Award and Adelaide Fringe Best Theatre Award.
People Show are the UK’s oldest experimental theatre collective. Defying definition and constantly pushing the boundaries of live performance, the company continues to explore the world around us. Each show has been numbered. This is People Show 130.
Trojan Horse was a local story that hit the national press, accusing ‘hardline’ Muslim teachers and governors of plotting extremism in Birmingham schools. Adapted from the real-life testimonies of those at the heart of the UK Government's inquiry, critically acclaimed theatre-company LUNG investigate what really happened.
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.
A Generous Lover is the true, and very queer tale, of one soul’s journey through the wasteland of mental illness, to deliver their lost love. Brimming with psychedelic proletarian prose, and trenchant wit, it recounts the pandemonium of navigating mental health services on behalf of a loved one, whilst being transfeminine, and occasionally mistaken for a patient.
Gerling walked 4,000km in 15 years, photographing those he met along the way. He compiles these portraits into flipbooks which capture magical everyday encounters. Gerling returns to Edinburgh with his Total Theatre Award winning show, featuring old favourites and new faces: a gentle meeting of cinema, photography and story.
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.
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.
Blackout is the honest, brutal, uplifting and darkly comic story of alcoholics, and ultimately of their hope in recovery.
Join Willy for a queer coming-of-age remix, as he questions if ‘bottom’ in the bedroom means ‘bottom’ in life - and whether Beyoncé can help put his love on top.
This striking mixed media performance takes the pulse of GP practice then and now, continuing the conversation in the 70th year of the NHS.
Paris. 1650ish. Impotence is illegal. When a member of the aristocracy is accused of being less than upstanding, his wounded pride leads him towards a monumental and very public flop. But can a cast of total idiots save a show about a flop... from being one?
'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.
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.
My best friends, Sarah and Emma, asked me for my sperm. This is the tale of what happened after I gave it to them. A storytelling show about love, faith and trying to do the right thing. Made with Daniel Goldman and set in the same universe as Team Viking and A Hundred Different Words for Love.
The team behind last year's five-star double-bill, Love+ and BlackCatfishMusketeer, is back. This one's for anyone who wants to be tickled, provoked, or has a brain and has ever worried about what it's not telling them.
Triple Fringe First and Olivier Award-winning Fishamble’s Maz and Bricks tells the story of two young people who meet over the course of a day in Dublin. Maz is attending a ‘Repeal the 8th’ demonstration, while Bricks is going to meet the mother of his young daughter.
Music’s power has erased boundaries before, but can it make us feel connected as citizens, even after Brexit?
Operating out of Summerhall since 2012, Barney's Beer invites visitors to get a behind-the-scenes look at how our brewery runs on a day-to-day basis.
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?
Egg is a powerful and evocative new aerial theatre production from acclaimed circus theatre company Paper Doll Militia, a highly visual exploration of female fertility, sexuality and choice.
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.
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.
A dancer dances, while another explains. A quirky performance-lecture about the problems of dance and meaning, referencing iconic figures in contemporary dance such as Yvonne Rainer, Tatsumi Hijikata and Jérȏme Bel, and getting tangled in non-dance, Butoh and somatic practice.
Vivid and lyrical, Extinguished Things is a captivating exploration of what it means to spend your life with someone, and the nature of what you leave behind.
Ever since he was a kid Nick has loved Michael Barrymore. In this heartfelt and playful tribute, Nick invites you to examine the turbulent relationship between showman and spectator.
The boiler's broken, the owl with the rings is missing, the celebrant's late and the band haven't turned up. Can Mona and Geoff still tie the knot and live happily ever after? This is a wedding you won't forget. An unmissable evening of ink-black comedy and brilliant performances.
Inspired by the reality of a multicultural neighbourhood in Glasgow, Closed Doors refuses to recognise genre boundaries as it tackles questions of identity, heritage, community and isolation with rigour and heart.
With every choice we create a new universe. I make it, I don’t make it, I make it, I don’t. Two musician-performers take us on a fantastical journey that links four characters in interconnecting stories across the Multiverse.
We all have a nationality.
Or almost all of us.
Status is a show about someone who doesn't want his anymore. About running away from the national story you're given. About who is responsible for that story and what might happen to it if you try to give it up.
Springing from globe-spanning conversations about nationality, Status is a journey of attempted escape – with songs.
It’s me running for an hour. That’s it. I’m just, running. Down the street, or maybe in the park…Look the route isn’t set yet, but I’ll be running the whole time and I'll, like, do my best y'know? But I’ll also just be myself, but like, faster than usual. I will be taking questions and although I fell over last time, I can’t promise that kind of gripping drama this season”
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.
A group of Edinburgh residents, carers and health professionals examine their experiences of seeking and giving care in the NHS. Grassmarket Projects return to Summerhall after the successes of Doubting Thomas and Doglife with another politically charged true life drama directed by six time Fringe First winner Jeremy Weller.
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.
Told through spoken word and within timed boxing rounds, Until You Hear That Bell is a story about ten years of amateur boxing and a changing relationship between father and son. Sean Mahoney is a spoken word writer and performer; this is his first solo show.
Vivacious and hilarious, BAFTA Cymru nominee Carys brings her extensive research, along with buckets of Welsh charm (and oxytocin) to Summerhall in this intelligent and highly entertaining show.
Prehistoric offers an iconoclastic and hilarious take on the pivotal 'punk moment' that still echoes today. Winner of Best Performance award – Melbourne Fringe Festival.
Named stand-out cabaret of the year by the NZ Herald, Valerie is an inter-generational, interdisciplinary and interrupting piece of theatre reaching into the guts of family mythologies. Music, genetics, and storytelling combine to unravel one family's history. A love letter from grandson to grandmother, this celebration of resilience is gig-theatre at its finest.
Drive-by Shooting is a video and sound installation that blends opera, street art and animation. It appears as a stencil style animation on city walls with sound transmitted to wireless headphones. Created by John McIlduff and Brian Irvine. Featuring Doreen Curran, Sylvia O'Brien and the RTE Concert Orchestra.
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?
Step into this unassuming Alcoholics Anonymous meeting where twisted storytelling and spectacular circus skills are shaken and stirred, with one part dark comedy, one part serenity and three parts hostility, hilarity and honesty.
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.
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!