The world’s largest performance arts festival returns to Edinburgh in August with one of its most enticing line-ups in years. As a a key platform for European talent spotting, the programme for the Fringe is famous for its eclectic mix of stand-up comedy and theatre.
ADVERTISEMENTScotland’s capital is about to be taken over by the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, turning venues across the city into non-stop showcases of some of the most pioneering artists.
Across the month (2-26 August), more than 50,000 performers will take over 3,600 shows with the hopes of wowing an international crowd and possibly propelling their careers to stardom.
The programme for the Fringe is famous for its eclectic mix of stand-up comedy and theatre, but attendees will also find tons of musicals, cabaret, dance, circus, and spoken word performances to get stuck into.
Among the established comedy names making their annual pilgrimage, one of the biggest appeals of the Fringe is that it attracts a cohort of unknowns hoping to make their big break.
Since it was first founded in 1947, the Fringe has become one of the key sources for talent in the UK arts industry with many great British acts of the past century having been discovered north of the border.
Performers and writers who have made their breakthrough at the festival have included Rowan Atkinson, Stephen Fry, Alan Bennett, Tom Stoppard, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Hannah Gadsby, and most recently Richard Gadd, whose show was adapted into the Netflix drama ‘Baby Reindeer’.
However, Edinburgh's status as a nexus for aspiring artists has been in question increasingly in recent years.
Anyone taking a show up to the Fringe will be acutely aware of the rising costs of renting a place to stay. The city's council has long been considering a control system for the rampantly growing (and increasingly expensive) number of Airbnb-like properties. Even if these are phased out, with hotel prices also through the roof, it's hard to see how the Fringe will continue to maintain its appeal for creative hopefuls wealthy with ideas instead of their parents' money.
Similarly, the festival itself has been in some financial distress since the pandemic caused it to cancel in 2020 and run a stripped-back 2021 edition. Earlier this year, Creative Scotland, the the government development organisation that funds arts in Scotland, chose not to include the Fringe in its funding programme, citing the “particularly precarious” state of the festival’s organisation.
If all that's not enough, the actual festival this year could be beset by local issues as waste and refuse workers unions across Scotland have agreed to a strike during August.
What highlights do we expect?
Euronews Culture will be in Edinburgh to share our recommendations of the best things on offer, just as we did last year. We’ll give you tips on the theatre, comedy and other entertainment, as well as guides on how to get the most out of the extravaganza.
We've also created a guide to the best things to do in the UNESCO site-laden city when you're not getting stuck into the cultural arts here.
In the meantime, here’s our preview guide to the Festival, with highlights, how to best move around, effectively plan your time, and useful tidbits.
While almost all the shows in Edinburgh this August will be being seen for the first time, some of the performances are already standing out.
For comedy, Edinburgh always attracts a raft of Britain’s finest talents. Top of the list this year will be new shows from the likes of Rose Matafeo, Hannah Gadsby, Ivo Graham and Nish Kumar. All have proven themselves to be some of the biggest names in the past few years, from Gadsby’s defining Netflix special ‘Nanette’ to Kumar’s stint on ‘The Mash Report’.
ADVERTISEMENTExpect all of these to sell out… quick.
Up-and-comers of the comedy scene will also be out in force. There’s the clown-inflected comedy of Joe Kent-Walters, who won BBC New Comedy Award 2023, and American comedian Natalie Palamides whose show ‘WEER’ promises an impressive next chapter for the Edinburgh Comedy Award Winner behind Netflix’s ‘Nate’.
There are also plenty of exciting theatre shows to get your teeth into. Darkfield bring their latest immersive theatre show to the Fringe, called ‘ARCADE’ - and this company always provides some of the most exciting pieces of the festival.
‘Bellringers’ also promises to excite as it comes from the Stage Producer of the Year Ellie Keel Productions and is written by Women’s Prize for Playwriting 2024 winner Daisy Hall.
ADVERTISEMENTOver at the Edinburgh International Festival (EIF), Olivier Award-winning playwright Stef Smith has teamed up with former National Theatre of Scotland artistic director Vicky Featherstone to present ‘The Outrun’. Expect something spectacular.
Speaking of the EIF, there’s a lot of treats on offer, from the UK premiere of Opéra-Comique’s ‘Carmen’ to a special performance of Cat Power playing the songs of Bob Dylan’s legendary 1966 Royal Albert Hall concert.
European acts stealing the show
While most of the headlines will go to the British and Irish acts proving their worth over the course of the month, the Fringe is a truly international event. People come from all over the world to enjoy the arts in the Scottish city, including a raft of European acts making a personal cultural pilgrimage.
The EIF naturally draws in a broad international programme. Highlights for this year include the UK premiere of Heinrich von Kleist’s 'Penthesilea' from the Internationaal Theater Amsterdam. The 1808 tragedy from the German playwright has been reinvigorated for the stage by director Eline Arbo.
ADVERTISEMENT
Also at the EIF is Mozart's 'The Marriage of Figaro' from the Komische Oper Berlin. Notably, this opera has been directed by Kirill Serebrennikov, the Russian theatre and film director critical of the state's invasion of Ukraine, who has been living abroad since his two-year house arrest in 2017.
For something more light-hearted, comedians who live around Europe will come together to unpack stereotypes and expat life abroad in '100% C*ntinental'. Head on down to 'Comedians of Europe – Best of European Comedy' for more comedy from the best names across the EU throughout the Fringe.
Non-binary Ukrainian performer, Antonina Romanova who was kept at the frontline of the war is the topic of Polish production 'The Border' from the Grotowski Institute Residence at Fringe supported by Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of Poland.
Elsewhere, Finnish double-act Red Nose Company bring their new 5-star adaptation of 'Don Quixote', while Belgian dancer and choreographer Julien Carlier and 75-year-old sculptor Mike Sprogis reinterpret Jewish-Czech mythology in 'Golem'.
ADVERTISEMENTGetting around Edinburgh
If you’re lucky enough to be going to Edinburgh for the festival, getting about the city can seem quite the daunting task. One of the best resources to get a hold of is the Edinburgh Fringe app. All the shows are listed in the app and you can make a curated calendar of anything you’ve booked.
Shows take place in venues across the city, so it’s always worth checking closely on Google Maps how far away each location is. With Edinburgh’s labyrinthine layout, it’s a classic Fringe mistake to think that the next show you’ve got booked in is just around the corner, only to find out it’s on a road bridging over yours and a 10-minute walk away.
Another thing to get your head around is the different major companies that run theatre complexes as part of the Fringe. While a large number of the shows take place in theatres that are run directly by the Edinburgh Fringe company, there are a number of big companies that have taken over large spaces to present their own venues.
Some of the big names for this include the Traverse Theatre, known for its cutting-edge theatre; the Summerhall, a hub with a huge range of theatre; Underbelly, which creates its own structures to house a range of comedy and theatre; and Pleasance, which is popular with some of the biggest comedy names.
ADVERTISEMENT
Fail to prepare, prepare to fail
In our opinion, the best way to spend time at the Edinburgh Fringe is to combine planning with spontaneity. Big name acts will always sell out quickly, so it’s worth having a look through the programme to find anything you absolutely must see and book tickets for that as soon as possible.
That said, don’t let your schedule get too booked up. Part of the joy of the Fringe is that the entire city is bursting with creatives vying for your attention. Put enough spare time in your day to get lured in by street performers, random shows you see, and the recommendations you get from others. You never know, you might find the next big thing.
Also, for those on a budget, get stuck into the Free Fringe. Run alongside the regular Fringe, this year will see 7,500 performances of 370 shows all without any on-the-door cost. There is a pay-what-you-want system in place for these performances, so if you do enjoy something, consider tipping!
