Edinburgh Festival

Following an NYC preview run, Midnight Building is a contemporary drama that is guaranteed to spark debate and make you question your morals. Watch as a selfish hero and a heartless lover battle for the ethical high ground.Think you're a good person? Think again.

Wake up to the World Premiere of this raw, funny, and poignant solo show from narcoleptic comedian Sarah Albritton, host of the podcast Sleeping with Sarah. Called 'vulnerable and honest' by the Chicago Tribune, Sarah sheds light on the challenges of living with a misunderstood disorder. Directed by Josh Sobel, this show explores diagnosis, medication side effects, and misconceptions of invisible disabilities. Sarah's personal journey of self-discovery is interwoven with humorous anecdotes from relationship fails to hypnagogic hallucinations to sleep paralysis, and, of course, falling asleep at the worst moments. Don't sleep on this!

'Queers in classrooms!' 'Perverts panicking parents!' – a new musical about pride, protest… and abseiling lesbians. Section 28: the landmark legislation that silenced a generation and offered a global blueprint for LGBTQ+ oppression.

Super feels just as artificial and hollow as the characters it is portraying.

Death Suits You is an entertaining scrutiny of humanity’s psychological avoidance yet behavioural sprint towards our end with strong theatrical and comedic elements at work. A must-see for musical theatre fans with a penchant for dark humour.

Kit Sinclair’s 30 and Out takes a more adult approach to coming out narratives - a real life story of discovering yourself aged thirty, the show dives headfirst into queer sex, the club scene, homophobia, and relationships in a high energy hour of cabaret-style theatre.

Unstuck With You is a poignant reflection on the significance of humanity in an empty and apathetic universe in which we take up an infinitesimal amount of space. An uplifting reminder of the importance of our everyday connections in a world tilted towards nihilism, it runs Aug 10-12 at Emerald Theatre.

With light and breezy writing, Jorgensen delivers an accurate analysis of what it feels like to try to find a partner in the 21st Century in 35 delightful minutes of Regency fun. It’s a quick glimpse into the horror of modern romance.

My Father’s Nose is a surprisingly heartwarming show about death and moving on. Douglas Walker’s comedy is shaped with hilarious non-humour and eccentric irony. His sorrow is mirrored by the stranger’s sympathy in a well-rounded journey into irrational fears and comical anecdotes. Walker offers a poetic view of life and dementia, comparing Alzheimer’s disease to a locked cupboard in an astonishing image. Everything is in there, his dad just can’t open it.

All in all, it’s not a great play, but it’s also not a particularly bad one either. It’s tentatively poetic but commonplace, with a dash of humdrum personal reflection in the mix. Jealousy, love, pain, bereavement, it’s a to-do list of life.

What seems like a silly little comedy about millennial dread at first becomes a pointedly anti-Tory invective in Louis Rembges’s Chatham House Rules. It’s a production for the chronically online, anti-Brexit internet addicts, and those who simply want to have a laugh before they’re thrown into a vortex of political revenge. The zillennial experience is summed up with funny videos that ease its constant doom. Full of viral references and deliciously cynical, the monologue deftly handles poetic interiority and iconic dark humour.

Box Tale Soup adapt MR James’s ghost story into a play that has the same dark feel of a Penny Dreadful episode. Elegantly directed by Adam Lenson and featuring impressive puppetry and stage tricks, it’s a production of outstanding craft and storytelling.

Zach Hawkins is incredible with Ryan’s exuberant resignation. He waltzes through the flowing stream of consciousness with ease, handling the final shift in tone with depth and reflection.

Sikisa: Hear Me Out a brilliant hour of comedy that will leave you in stitches and in awe of the incredible woman on stage. She’s funny, she’s witty, she’s talented, and she’s not ashamed to be herself - What more could one ask for?

Double Emmy Award winner and star of Smack The Pony is doing her first ever show. Like most working mums, since her children were born she didn't have a moment for herself. Now free, she has tried new hobbies, new places, even attempting to get fit. Difficult when your spirit animal is a sloth. With nowhere left to turn she went on the road as a stand-up. A show about family, marriage, and things that truly annoy her. It's a show for everyone, even those passive-aggressive school mums.

Nick Pupo: Addicted is a powerful story about one man’s struggle with addictions; a heartfelt reflection on mistakes from the past and looking towards the future, but rarely is it a comedy.

Debut hour from Geordie rising star with a show all about class, chaos and coming out. She did ask her friends if her life had been feral enough to warrant this title; they laughed and assured her it still is.

​​​​​​​Don't go into A Gay Dad with any expectations. Honestly. Don't. I had the feeling it was a stand-up show about being, well, a gay dad. And it was funny. But it was also a heck of a lot more, in many surprising ways.

There is something surreal about watching a play banned for blasphemous biblical portrayal in an old Church. Embedded with symbolic poetry, repetitive references to the moon and the desire to kiss a severed head, Philomene Cheynet's interpretation of Oscar Wilde’s Salomé presents an unusual twist on the classic biblical tale.

​​​​​​​Going in, I wasn't sure what to expect from this show. And as it turns out, neither do the performers. With no script, no plot and no directions, the lovely group from ShakeItUp Theatre create a modern Shakespeare play in front of your very eyes. 

Have you ever watched a Netflix documentary about a cult, listened to the stories of how this group fell apart, and wondered what it was like to be in one of those cults? Well, wonder no more. Moses Storm: Perfect Cult presents a unique opportunity to audience members - For one night only, you and everyone else in the room will create a cult.

Mental health features a fair bit in this lovely show, a hot topic with a number of comedians these days. And I'm all here for it. Especially Alison's understated, open and refreshing look at her own 'Menty B'. 

A one-woman show about growing up with a trans female parent, written and performed by Maria Telnikoff. Filled with hilarious tales from her school days, it shows the difficulties of fitting in as a young person and the fears we feel about being labelled as 'outside the box'. Brimming with life and sincerity, the play challenges a world of heteronormative values.

Award-winning comedian Stephen Buchanan (BBC New Comedy Award and Scottish Comedian of the Year) returns to the Fringe with his unique blend of stand-up, sketch and character comedy, in this hour of daft laughs

A new gig-theatre show featuring songs by Kyle Falconer of The View. Inspired by real-life experiences of Kyle and Laura, the story follows two new parents grappling with the challenges of parenthood and weight of postnatal depression. Through a powerful blend of music, tears, and laughter, the audience is taken on a heartfelt journey as they navigate the ups and downs of their new life.