The Besties 2026: Week Two Winners

As we enter the final stretch of this year's Edinburgh Festivals, we were delighted to award the second set of Besties Awards for 2026 in a ceremony at the Festival Theatre this morning. Now in their third year, the Besties celebrate all of the Edinburgh festivals, honouring the best of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Edinburgh International Festival, Edinburgh International Book Festival, Edinburgh Art Festival and more. 

The No Strings Attached Award: Dracula: Lucy's Dream

Here at The Skinny, we love a puppet. And so when it came to awarding a show for its puppetry credentials, which obviously we had to do, Dracula: Lucy’s Dream was an easy call. Plexus Polaire have created a production which showcases the magical possibilities of physical theatre: the ways in which materiality and liveness can be central to the emotional and narrative qualities of a piece. From our review: “Dracula: Lucy’s Dream is both a visual and literary tour-de-force, using astonishing puppetry to frame Lucy’s descent into vampirism as an act of violation and psychological devastation." Pleasance at EICC (Lennox Theatre), until 29 Aug (not 26), 5.30pm

The Debut Award: Tia Rey for Oot Ma Banger

There are some comedians you come across who you feel were simply born to do it, and Tia Rey is the perfect example. First trying stand-up in 2024, as well as hosting Too Queer, a comedy night in Glasgow, she is one of the most exciting emerging Scottish talents to burst on to the scene. Her debut hour Oot Ma Banger takes us with her on a wild psychedelic journey which she experienced in her twenties, told with the skill and tenacity of a performer who would appear to have been on the circuit for years – decades, even. We’re so excited to see where Tia Rey will go next and how she will develop, and of course, to see her back at the Fringe next year with a brand new hour! The Gilded Saloon (Basement), until 31 Aug, 9pm

The Visionary Award: The Arrow at Rest at Every Instant of its Flight (dir. Theodore Schafer)

Theodore Schafer’s dizzyingly experimental sophomore feature, The Arrow at Rest at Every Instant of its Flight, recalibrates the very notion of what a film can be. This black-and-white portmanteau triptych acts like a love letter to New York, unfolding as three surreal stories centred on love, money and faith that feel closer to poetry than any straightforward narrative. Schaefer’s filmmaking style is as unpredictable as the plot, and the resulting work is one of the most confident, original and exciting American indies we’ve seen in quite some time. The Arrow at Rest at Every Instant of its Flight had its world premiere at Edinburgh International Film Festival.

The Outwith Award: Border Bodies

Part of the Sao Paolo Showcase at this year’s festival, Border Bodies is unlike anything we’ve seen before – a frenetic celebration of plurality and collectivity told through meticulous choreography and seven dancers’ bodies. In a time of increasing political and geographical division, it speaks to what is possible when we transcend the borders between us. Assembly @ Dancebase (DB3), 22, 23 & 26-30 Aug, 5.15pm

The Night Owl Award: Sam Eley is Basil Crumbwick: Soul Sewage

It’s getting to that part of the Fringe where tiredness is setting in and it takes the rumblings of something special to tempt many a punter to stay out past 11pm. Well, Basil Crumbwick – AKA Sam Eley and his giant papier mâché head – is that something special. Boiling over with “impotent rage”, as Fest’s reviewer put it, Basil Crumbwick is an act worth sacrificing many a good night’s sleep for. Monkey Barrel Comedy (MB2), until 30 Aug, 11.25pm and Monkey Barrel (MB3), Mon 24 Aug, 1.25pm

The Collaboration Award: not for glory

not for glory meets at the crossroads between dance, theatre, gig and comedy, as well as therapy for those who have survived the youth competition culture of the traditional arts world. In it, dancers Jack Anderson and Charlotte Mclean and piper Malin Lewis bind together their pasts in order to examine the interaction between passion, reward, and memory. The show has a genuinely unique point of view – Fest reviewer Eilidh Akilade singled it out for its “thoughtful dissection of heritage and all its complexities” and “empowered disregard of tradition for tradition’s sake”. We also loved it for its humour, for the weird and obscure elements of the scene that the trio so generously bring to life for us – after all, bearing witness to these absurd joys is normally the privilege of an exclusive club, one whose membership is earned through years of toil and despair. Assembly @ Dance Base (DB3), until 23 Aug, 7.45pm

The Truth to Power Award: The Good Immigrant

We wanted to call this the Fuck the Government Award but then we thought the award name should probably come from a more positive place, so we’re putting it in the copy instead. It’s been ten years since essay anthology The Good Immigrant was released and in those intervening ten years, everything has gotten a lot worse. We are giving this award in recognition of the seminal work The Good Immigrant has done in reframing conversations around immigration in this country, and to recognise how much work we all still have to do in the next ten years, and the next and the next. The Good Immigrant's ten year anniversary was marked with an event at the Edinburgh International Book Festival on Fri 21 Aug

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The Besties are a collaboration between The Skinny, Fest, Capital Theatres, and Premier Scotland. Winners of The Besties are chosen each week by the editorial teams of The Skinny and Fest, drawing on their cross-festival expertise to celebrate the best work happening across the Edinburgh festivals. The categories reflect the diversity of the magazines’ coverage and change from week to week. The final Besties ceremony for 2026 will take place on Saturday 29 August at the Festival Theatre.