Theatre Highlights: Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2022
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is in full swing with a smorgasbord of theatre offerings. Here are some of our favourites.
August is here and with it comes both the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. With over 3,000 shows taking place throughout Edinburgh between the 5th and 28th of August, there’s something for everyone. Here are just a few highlights to look out for this coming month.
At the Edinburgh International Festival, National Theatre of Scotland’s Medea (10-28 Aug) retells Euripides’ drama utilising Scots-inflected language for an interrogation of the heart under intolerable pressure. There’s more than fiction though: The Book of Life (13-16 Aug) sees Rwandan writer and activist Kiki Katese share stories of those affected by the Rwandan genocide alongside her all-female drumming group. There’s also Detention Dialogues (21 Aug), a series of verbatim scripts that shares the experiences of refugees being held in immigration removal facilities across the UK.
Travfest will occupy the Traverse, highlighting a range of vibrant new work. The world premiere of Tabby Lamb’s Happy Meal (4-28 Aug) promises a queer rom-com that’s a funny, moving and nostalgic story of transition. Psychodrama (4-28 Aug), starring Emily Bruni, delves into the dark heart of show business for a hilariously gripping revenge tale. Mixing comedy and poetry, acclaimed writer and performer ALOK (9-21 Aug) discusses themes of trauma, belonging, and the human condition in their show.
Summerhall will host a number of unique shows. For circus fans there’s The Chosen Haram (3-27 Aug) by Sadiq Ali which tells the story of two gay men and the barriers they must overcome, while Twa (4-28 Aug) blends Annie George’s theatrical storytelling with Flore Gardner’s animated and live (onstage) drawings to create a twisted fairytale.
Niall Moorjani
Storyteller Niall Moorjani is bringing several pieces to venues throughout the city. The thought-provoking Mohan: A Partition Story (4-16 Aug not 10th and 15th) retells the experiences of Moorjani’s Grampa during the partition of India. In The Girl and the Dragon (4-21 Aug not 10th, 17th, 18th and 19th) they and Minnie Wilkinson tell a story about a young girl on a quest to fight a great and terrible dragon. And Lighthouse Books will host Moorjani’s brand-new piece A Fairie Tale (18-21 Aug), which explores Scottish race and gender identities through a medieval fairie-inspired landscape.
Fairy tales and gothic horror are a recurrent theme across the Fringe this year. Becquer’s Legends (5-13 Aug) promises other-worldly temptations inspired by Spanish gothic author Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer’s short stories in a fusion of theatre, storytelling and choreography. Some Kind of Theatre’s The Grandmothers Grimm (15-27 Aug not 21st) laces the macabre with comedy in its depiction of women’s role in the creation of the Grimm’s famous tales. The Changeling Girl (15-27 Aug not 21st) explores neurodivergent experiences through the captivating story of an autistic girl living in medieval England accused of being a fairy changeling.
The Horizon Showcase brings several unique collaborations to the Fringe: Sonia Hughes’ I Am From Reykjavik (22-26 Aug not 25th) will craft a ritual about claiming and curating physical space for an audience. He’s Dead (23-28 Aug) by Malik Nashad Sharpe uses movement, theatre, and sound to create an experimental atmosphere seeking to unearth the dehumanisation of marginalised people. Nutcrusher (23-28 Aug) sees Sung Im Her use movement to explore misogyny and our relationship with our body.
The Fringe also offers a number of interactive pieces pushing the boundaries of traditional storytelling. New York’s Dutch Kills Theater presents Temping (9-28 Aug), in which the audience is invited to fill in for Sarah Jane at her job, explore her cubicle, send emails, and allow the story to unfold around them. Work.txt (3-14, 16-21, 23-28 Aug) similarly explores the gig economy in a piece performed entirely by the audience.
A Sudden Violent Burst of Rain
A Sudden Violent Burst of Rain (3-27 Aug not 7th, 9th, 14th, 16th, 21st and 23rd) crafts a poetic fable of an impregnable immigration not dissimilar to our own in a new piece by award-winning playwright Sami Ibrahim. Those interested in music through storytelling should check out Oedipus Electronica (3-26 Aug) which sees Pecho Mama bring their sublime soundscape back to Edinburgh for a radical reinvention of the ultimate love triangle.