The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the biggest arts festival in the world, with over 3,000 shows. This year, Playbill will be going to Edinburgh in August for the festival and we’re taking you with us. Follow along this summer as we cover every single aspect of the Fringe, aka our real-life Brigadoon!
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe can be intimidating to newcomers and returnees alike. With thousands of different shows on offer, Playbill has sifted through programming from many of the different venue operators at the festival to offer you a handy guide to some of the best at the Fringe.
First up is Gilded Balloon! Begun by Karen Koren in the mid 1980’s, Gilded Balloon is comedy central, with solo shows and stand-up acts dominating their lineup. In recent years, they have expanded to also offer richly dramatic and family friendly offerings as well. While the venue operates year-round, they leap into action during the Fringe, operating as the unofficial home of Australian artists at the Fringe. The following 11 shows will be staged at their Teviot location this year.
READ: 11 Edinburgh Fringe Shows to See at Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose (That's a Venue)
Walking Home
This year’s roster includes several insightfully dramatic shows, including Walking Home. Exploring the politics and tensions within the issue of sexual violence against women and people of marginalised genders, the show sheds a light on the community's role in this conversation. The play is built on real experiences collected from people of diverse genders, nationalities, and walks of life.
Devised by female-led company Prickly Pear Productions, the show references Sarah Everard’s journey home, Sabina Nessa’s murder in London, and the global outpouring of grief and anger that followed these events.
Hollywoodn’t
Touching on the hugely impactful Me Too moment that swept Hollywood in recent years, Hollywoodn’t is the world premiere of the musical theatre solo show written and performed by Lisa Verlo. Based around a fresh-faced Midwestern actress’s experience in the movie business, the show focuses on the golden boys and the gentlemen predators in the industry, and the women who don’t know they've been screwed until much later. With help from her imaginary mentors, Katharine Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe, as well as original songs and multimedia projections, Verlo faces the truth about abandoning dreams in this humorous, heartfelt, and poignant musical.
Let the Bodies Pile
For some thrilling theatre, check out a highly-anticipated premiere from British playwright, director, and performer, and three-time Fringe First winner, Henry Naylor with perhaps his most provocative play yet, Let The Bodies Pile. Following two seemingly unrelated killings 27 years apart, the play explores a diagnosis from infamous serial killer Harold Shipman in 1993 and a care home’s mass deaths from Covid in 2020, deriving its title from an alleged statement from the UK’s former Prime Minister Boris Johnson during lockdowns. Let The Bodies Pile is a tale of two killings—one story relays the callousness of Britain’s most prolific serial killer, and the other, the ruthlessness of government policy during COVID.
Man Shed
Man Shed is a bittersweet one-man theatre piece that explores the joy of sheds, the pain of loss, and the comfort of friendship. Inspired by the work of the Scottish Men's Shed Association, the solo work stars Ron Emslie. At the center of the show are a series of questions: how does a man find purpose when he grows older and all the major life events come thick and fast? Should he retire to the solitude of The Shed as usual and escape from the world, or get out and try something new? When the familiar rules no longer apply, is it too late to change the habits of a lifetime? A sensitive study of grief, loneliness, and growing older, Man Shed is heartbreakingly tender and funny.
17 Minutes
An unfortunately relevant topic, the critically-acclaimed 17 Minutes explores the communal and residual effects of a school shooting as a Sheriff’s Deputy looks for meaning in the wake of the tragic event as he struggles with his own complicity in the tragedy. Exploring the repercussions of 17 minutes of action and inaction, and a community searching for someone to blame, the drama heads to the Edinburgh Fringe following a 2020 Off-Broadway run.
MEMBER
Based on the gay hate crime epidemic that swept Sydney’s coastline between the 1970s and 90s, resulting in as many as 80 murders and 30 unsolved cases to this day, MEMBER is a gruesome Australian history lesson. The show centers on the fictional man Corey who, as a child, was forced to participate in these horrific hate crimes. Burying the past, he grows up to lead as normal a life as he can, until his son winds up in hospital, the victim of a brutal attack. The critically acclaimed one-man show is written and performed by Ben Noble, with direction and live cello accompaniment from Royal Conservatoire of Scotland graduates.
Impact
The European premiere of Impact explores award-winning playwright, composer, and performer Amy Engelhardt’s fated trip to Lockerbie, shortly after the 30th anniversary of the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing. What began as a bucket-list trip to honor lost friends evolves into a personal and global exploration of grace, kindness, and simplicity. Impact unfolds through photographs, video, storytelling, and soul-stirring original songs as Engelhardt's previous and newfound connections to the tragedy unexpectedly yield a renewed hope for humanity.
Poof!
Writer of Academy Award-winning short film Trevor and co-founder of The Trevor Project, Celeste Lecesne brings a story centered around fairies. With the world under threat from climate change, the fairies are not pleased and are revealing themselves in surprising ways, sharing wisdom, songs, and spells that will be needed in the days ahead. Poof! is a celebration of these wonderful beings, both magical and real, as Celeste Lecesne (formerly James Lecesne) weaves their legend together to reveal their mystical, mythical, and indisputable ability to survive repression within a hostile world.
Lost in the Woods
An absurd comedy for all ages, Hawk & Hill Theatre brings a new twist to fairy tales we all know and love, with buckets-full of imagination, oodles of laughter, and decades of theatrical experience. Re-imagining classic fairy tales of The Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson, and more, the story is told by a middle-aged Hansel and Gretel, who have been lost in the woods ever since they were kids. A fast-paced, comedic and energetic show, Hansel and Gretel dive into stories brought to life with shadow play, physical theatre, voiceovers, props, music and laughter. Will the duo (and the audience) get home, or will they all be stuck in fairy tales forever? This show is particularly suited to young theatregoers, and the young at heart.
The Slightly Annoying Elephant
Fans of best-selling kids classic The Slightly Annoying Elephant are in for some Fringe family fun, as the beloved book by David Walliams is brought to life by award-winning home of puppetry Little Angel Theatre. Adopting an elephant at the zoo turns out to be a lot more than little Sam bargained for—as a hungry, antique-loving, cycling-enthusiast elephant turns up on his doorstep.
Mystery House
In 1886, following the death of her husband and child, Sarah Winchester purchased an unfinished farmhouse near San Francisco. She started building, and for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for 38 years, she didn't stop. The result, a massive, maze-like mansion, with staircases to nowhere and a dedicated séance room, is the Winchester Mystery House, reportedly one of the most haunted houses in America. Join acclaimed writer-performer Wendy Weiner as she explores the history behind the mystery, and much more, in this simultaneously poignant and lighthearted reflection on obsession, grief, and love.
Hungry for more Fringe recommendations? Check out Playbill Goes Fringe to keep up with our coverage before, during, and after the festival! For more information about Gilded Balloon's Fringe programming, visit https://tickets.gildedballoon.co.uk/.
