Here & Now unveil 2025 Edinburgh Fringe showcase

This year’s Edinburgh Fringe details are coming in thick and fast, with new shows being announced each week. One programme we’re particularly looking forward to is Here & Now, the annual showcase of some of the best personal and political theatre being made south of the border.

This year’s Here & Now presents four public performances, two industry performances, and a series of pitch proposals for artists to promote their upcoming work to UK and international delegates attending the 2025 Fringe. Among those public performances is Nowhere from British actor and activist Khalid Abdalla, who’s probably best known for his performances in films like United 93, The Kite Runner and Green Zone. This intricate one-man show is inspired by Abdalla’s involvement in the Egyptian revolution of 2011, and his experience of the counter-revolution that followed. We’re told it’ll take audiences on a journey that weaves the actor’s own life with seismic world events, creating a kind of anti-biography that asks “how we got here and how we find agency amidst the mazes of history”. Nowhere is at the Traverse, 12-24 Aug.

Another highlight of Here & Now looks to be Last Rites from Bristol-based company Ad Infinitum. Taking place at the Pleasance Courtyard, 18-24 Aug, we’re told to expect “a stunning fusion of visual storytelling, electrifying movement, and an immersive soundscape”. Created by Scottish-Singaporean theatremaker Ramesh Meyyappan and Ad Infinitum's artistic director, this wordless show utilises creative captions, sign language, and a deep, resonant soundtrack to bring to life a story about the complex relationship between a Deaf man and his father, who never learned sign language. 

If dance is more your thing, there’s IV by the London-based artist and dancer Jamila Johnson-Small aka SERAFINE1369 (Assembly @ Dance Base, 19-24 Aug). Described as a show of “fractures" that "unfolds from stillness into moments of blissed out dancing”, IV is the fourth piece in a series of work by SERAFINE1369 that has emerged from a desire to create shows that are not perpetuating cycles of stress and burnout. The final public showcase is The Legends of Them by Sutara Gayle (Zoo Southside, 19-24 Aug), which promises a roof-raising show filled with musical numbers and a virtuoso performance. 

In terms of industry performances, there’s Andy Smith and Lynsey O’Sullivan’s A Citizens’ Assembly, a play asking what we’re doing about the climate emergency, and Jo Bannon’s Sleight of Hand, described as “a tactile installation for curious fingers and unbelieving eyes” that takes audiences on a tour of unknown objects, materials and matter.

Tickets for Last Rites, IV and The Legends of Them go on sale via edfringe.com and the venue box offices from 7 May; tickets for Nowhere will be on sale via Traverse from 21 May.

---

Here & Now runs from 18-24 Aug; for more information, visit hereandnowshowcase.uk