Edinburgh Fringe 2025: Theatre Highlights

Kicking off our theatre picks, Fringe darlings Xhloe and Natasha bring a triple bill of their consecutive Fringe First-winning shows And Then the Rodeo Burned Down, What If They Ate the Baby, and A Letter to Lyndon B Johnson or God: Whoever Reads This First to theSpace. After taking their work as far as South Korea in the past year, the duo (along with lighting designer Angelo Sagnelli) have garnered international acclaim for their incisive physical theatre (1-23 August). 

Here & Now, a programme of new work originating in England, is bringing up another slate of ambitious work. In IV, SERAFINE1369 enfolds the political project of dance into a quartet of movement and stillness (Assembly @ Dance Base, 19-24 Aug). Hackney Showroom (with Brixton House and Royal Court Theatre) presents The Legends of Them, a raucously funny chronicle of the life and memories of Sutara Gayle AKA Lorna Gee (ZOO Southside, 19-24 Aug). Khalid Abdalla brings his solo show, Nowhere, to Travfest. The piece is inspired by Abdalla's experience in the Egyptian revolution of 2011 and the counterrevolution that followed (Traverse 1, 12-24 Aug). 

Edinburgh itself hosts many artists presenting their own work this festival season. Edinburgh-based Irish playwright and performer Conor O'Dwyer and Emma Ruse Productions present Homo(sapien), O'Dwyer's debut play. The solo show tackles Catholic guilt, internalised homophobia and the pressures of coming of age (Assembly Roxy Snug Bar, 30 Jul-24 Aug).

At Bedlam Theatre, Intrepid Fools perform Eelmageddon (12-17 Aug), which the company calls a "freakishly fanciful" devised show about, well, eels. A disgraced eel scientist and his assistant set out to reverse the eelpocalypse against all odds. 

In a similar ecological vein, Heads on Crooked presents Mushroomification: Legs, Legs, Legs, a story about a talking mushroom desperate to be an individual and a (presumably talking) human desperate to be anything but an individual. After a sold-out run in May, this emerging Edinburgh company is dedicated to taking big swings in experimental theatre (The Mash House, 31 Jul-5 Aug).

Edinburgh-based feminist company F-Bomb Theatre brings their new show, Float, to Gilded Balloon. The multimedia piece is a work of autobiography by Indra Wilson, co-directed by legendary Scottish artists Cora Bissett and Niloo-Far Khan, revolving around the experience of pregnancy loss as a young, queer person (Gilded Balloon Other Yin, 30 Jul-25 Aug).

After a series of acclaimed shows for all ages, Edinburgh-based storyteller Niall Moorjani presents Kanpur: 1857, a thrilling drama about the titular uprising against British colonial forces in India. The show wryly satirises contemporary conversations about colonisation, gender and resistance (Beneath @ Pleasance Courtyard, 30 Jul-24 Aug). For younger audiences, Moorjani brings an adaptation of their children's book, Rajiv's Starry Feelings, to the Scottish Storytelling Centre with Astraea Theatre Company and Discover Children's Story Centre. In it, Rajiv learns to accept and express his anger with the help of this father (George Mackay Brown Library @ Scottish Storytelling Centre, 31 Jul-10 Aug).

Also at Gilded Balloon is Alexis Sakellaris's solo show A Stan Is Born, which features original songs performed live. Described as a 'queer Bo Burnham', Sakellaris tells the story of growing up in the closet and finding queerness through fandom, specifically through the stanning of iconic pop divas (Gilded Balloon Blether, 30 Jul-25 Aug).

At Summerhall, Ruxandra Cantir presents Pickled Republic, described as a 'surreal theatrical cabaret for adults' (Anatomy Lecture Theatre, 31 Jul-25 Aug). In Imprints, The Palimpsest Project combines live cinema, puppetry and soundscape to explore the less well-trodden paths of queerness and memory loss (Anatomy Lecture Theatre, 31 Jul-25 Aug). Jo Tan presents King, a solo show about a woman on track to a completely normal, successful life, which is upended by the invention of her drag king alter ego (Former Gent's Locker Room, 12-25 Aug). Following their 2023 hit CREEPY BOYS, Sam Kruger and S E Grummett perform SLUGS, a 'technocolour acid trip' about partying at the end of the world (Red Lecture Theatre, 31 Jul-25 Aug). 

At Underbelly, Ngofeen Mputubwele and Alex Hare perform The Monkeypox Gospel, a two-hander about a journalist's big break reporting on the global monkeypox outbreak of 2022. Grappling with his own queerness and identity, the journalist must sift through layers of cultural material to uncover the truth about viruses (Underbelly Cowgate, 31 Jul-24 Aug). Also at Underbelly is Untapped Award-winning JEEZUS!, an irreverent musical tackling Catholic guilt, queerness and colonialism (Underbelly Cowgate, 31 Jul-24 Aug). At Underbelly's Circus Hub, The Mythological Theatre presents Mythos: Ragnarök, a high-octane wrestling adaptation of Norse mythology (1-23 Aug). And in Bristo Square, Breaking the Binary and Elliot Page's production company, PAGEGOY, present Cecilia Gentili's Red Ink, an autobiographical work by the late activist, artist and icon Cecilia Gentili. 

At ZOO Playground, Blind Theatre presents Another Sight, a play staged in complete darkness by a cast of blind and sighted actors. The show follows a maid and her employer as they undergo cancer treatment simultaneously (1-24 Aug). 

Edinburgh International Festival offers a wide array of performance, including The Dan Daw Show, the acclaimed dance piece fusing sexy choreo and a touching interrogation of ableism (Lyceum Theatre, 2-4 Aug). Canadian Indigenous playwright Cliff Cardinal brings his adaptation, As You Like It: A Radical Retelling, to the Church Hill Theatre. The show uses Shakespeare's classic text to confront our own realities (20-23 Aug).