Comedy
Rose Matafeo, Monkey Barrel
Since winning the 2018 Edinburgh Comedy Award, the Kiwi comic has created the acclaimed sitcom Starstruck and is about to host a children’s version of Channel 4’s Taskmaster. This run is an exclusive chance to see her workshopping a new live show.
August 16-27
Kieran Hodgson: Big in Scotland, Pleasance Courtyard
David Tennant lookalike Hodgson has appeared in programmes as diverse as sitcom Two Doors Down and satire Prince Andrew: The Musical. He also has a side hustle in viral spoofs of shows such as The Crown. This show is called Big In Scotland, but with talent like his he should be big everywhere.
August 2-27
David Baddiel, Assembly George Square
If you look up the word ‘prolific’ in the dictionary there should be a picture of Baddiel. Here he will be discussing his books Jews Don’t Count and The God Desire and dusting off of his last three shows to remind himself of the lines before they are filmed.
Various days in August, check website for specific show dates
Emmanuel Sonubi, Underbelly
Londoner Sonubi’s assured 2022 debut took in being a bouncer, having a heart attack and working on cruise ships. There is more where they came from in Curriculum Vitae, suggesting that his hinterland is even more hectic than we thought.
August 2-13, 15-28
Catherine Cohen: Come for Me, Pleasance Courtyard
New York star Cohen made her Edinburgh name mixing sassy songs and confessional stories about life as a twentysomething. In Come For Me the narcissism is slightly more considered as she enters her 30s. The sassiness, however, remains undiminished.
August 14-27
Daniel Sloss: CAN’T, Edinburgh Playhouse
Fringe fixture Sloss stops off as part of the world tour of his powerful, punchy latest show CAN’T, for two major performances. Having previously tackled toxic masculinity and relationships he now drills down into cancel culture.
August 9-10
John Robins, Just The Tonic
Robins hones his new show Howl while also trying out new ideas in a second daily show. Get a double dose of candid humour as he talks about his anxiety and alcoholism. The subjects might not sound funny but the laughs will flow.
August 3-27
Ivo Graham: Organised Fun, Pleasance Courtyard
The star of the recent series of Taskmaster is a triple threat in Edinburgh 2023. There is the obligatory new stand-up set, but he also dips his toes into theatre with a play and hosts four late-night DJ battles with fellow comics competing to see who has the best musical taste.
August 6-26
Chloe Petts: If You Can’t Say Anything Nice, Pleasance Courtyard
I could not believe Petts did not win any prizes for her 2022 full-length Fringe debut, which was a touching, hilarious account of being a woman who likes blokey things. She delves into her darker side with If You Can’t Say Anything Nice.
August 2-27
Sikisa: Hear Me Out, Monkey Barrel
When Sikisa made her debut last year she had to use up her holiday allowance from her day job as an immigration lawyer. If she hasn’t already she will surely have to hand in her notice soon as she is increasingly in demand, having made her debut on Live At The Apollo earlier this year.
August 2-15, 17-20, 22-27
Bruce Dessau
Theatre
The Grand Old Opera House Hotel, Traverse Theatre
Writer Isobel McArthur, the brains behind the Olivier-winning Pride and Prejudice* (*sort of), brings her new play to the Fringe. It’s set in an old opera house that’s been done up by a soulless hotel chain, and explores ideas of low pay, opera elitism and hauntings. It promises farce, ghosts and music.
To August 27
An Interrogation, Summerhall
A young detective brings in a suspect for a routine police interview, which soon unravels into something very sinister. Inspired by true events, this is Jamie Armitage’s debut play – but as the co-director of world-dominating Six the Musical, which started life at the Edinburgh Fringe, he’s bound to give us something brilliant.
August 2-27
Public the Musical, Pleasance Courtyard
The idea for this new musical is so good: four strangers, from different walks of life, become trapped together in a public gender-neutral toilet. Written by queer and non-binary-led theatre collective Stroud and Notes, it should be one of the hits of the festival.
August 2-28
Forge, The Lyceum
In 2014, the gate of the concentration camp at Dachau was stolen. Over four days, performance artist Rachel Mars will weld a new one while audiences come and go at the Lyceum Theatre. A simple idea that will make for an intense, powerful and very moving show.
August 23-25
Hello Kitty Must Die, Pleasance Courtyard
The American producers of Six are hoping to copy its success with this new musical, based on Angela S Choi’s critically acclaimed book about Asian-American stereotypes.
August 2-27
Party Ghost, Assembly Checkpoint
A horror circus show with drag, it explores death via dismembered limbs and dark comedy and is exactly the sort of thing you’d hope to find at the Fringe.
August 2-27
Danish Showcase, Various
This is really seven shows, all part of a showcase of Danish theatre. They all sound incredible, but the ones that stand out are: Sensuous Governing, a blindfold experience for one audience member at a time exploring the senses; an intense headphone show called The Insider putting you into the head of a banker responsible for massive tax fraud; and Mass Effect, a ridiculously high-energy piece in which the cast try to push themselves to the edge of exhaustion.
Various dates, see danishedfringe.com
Woodhill, Summerhall
Lung Theatre have made some of the most powerful Fringe shows of the past few years, looking at the Trojan Horse scandal, young carers, the E15 mothers and more, with their work going beyond the shows into activism too. This new documentary show explores the death of three men at Woodhill prison.
August 2-27
Bullring Techno Makeout Jamz, Paines Plough Roundabout
Yes there’s the fantastic title, but there’s also the fact that this play by Nathaniel Queeley-Dennis won the Bruntwood Prize, the biggest playwriting prize in the country. It’s about what it means to be young, black, male, Brummie – and it promises lots of Beyonce too.
August 2-27
Bodies, Deans Community High School
The warnings section on the Fringe website sums up everything you need to know about this show: “The performance is set in a swimming pool. Audiences will be required to enter and move around the pool. Contains flashing lights and distinctive smells.” Speedos and nose clips at the ready…
August 20-26
