Edinburgh Fringe Festival: 11 tech and sci-fi shows to get you thinking
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe tackles big societal conversations every year, and a major theme of this festival explores how technology and science are affecting our imaginations. Don't miss these 11 shows to get the whole family talking.
Elon Musk: Lost in Space
theSpaceUK @ Surgeons Hall (Grand Theatre), 11– 23 Aug 2025, 15.05 (16.05)
In a darkly comic sci-fi satire about one of the world’s most famous men and the dangers of unchecked ego and limitless wealth, Elon Musk is en route to Mars aboard one of his own spacecraft with only the ship’s AI, M-UTHA, for company. Just as he leaves Earth’s orbit, a call from President Trump sends his mission, as well as his mind, spiralling off-course. Lost in deep space, Musk - played by Ben Whitehead, the voice of Wallace from the Wallace & Gromit franchise - begins to experience sinister shifts in his relationship with M-UTHA who becomes more determined to take control of her creator. Pestered by a Fly he just can’t kill and haunted by apparitions of iconic figures from astronomy and science fiction, including Sir Patrick Moore, Musk’s paranoia escalates and a standoff between creator and creation follows where only one can survive…
The Alphabet of Awesome Science
Underbelly George Square, Udderbelly, 30 July – 24 Aug 2025, 12.00 (13.00)
A high-energy kids' show, The Alphabet of Awesome Science rockets through 26 words, each sparking a wild, messy, and often explosive experiment. Performed in a different order every time, as chosen live by the audience, Professors Lexi Con and Noel Edge (the Word Nerd and the Science Freak) introduce a carefully curated collection of favourite words from ‘annular’ to ‘zephyr’, one for each letter of the alphabet. Accompanying them are 26 scientific demonstrations ranging from squishy and squirty to floating and exploding, with props from a simple water bottle to balloons that explode in a ball of burning hydrogen, super cool liquid nitrogen that erupts into a massive cloud, and a leaf blower that covers the audience in Rice Krispies. With some experiments that kids can try at home, and even a few that adults might find useful in everyday life, The Alphabet of Awesome Science makes science fun, messy, and memorable
1984
Pleasance Courtyard, Above, 30 July – 25 Aug 2025 (not 13), 11:25 (12:35)
Confronting surveillance, misinformation, and authoritarianism in the modern age, this fresh adaptation of Orwell’s 1984 fuses puppetry and storytelling with original music and a shape-shifting set. Featuring specially recorded roles by Dame Joanna Lumley, Sophie Aldred, and Sir Simon Russell Beale as Big Brother, this reimagined cautionary tale is a timely exploration of power, control, and resistance, directed by Adam Lenson with an original score by Dan Melrose. Returning for a twelfth year, Fringe veterans Box Tale Soup have handmade almost the entirety of the puppets, set, and props using recycled materials, turning waste into art.
Dyke Systems Ltd
Pleasance Courtyard, Cellar , 30 July – 25 Aug 2025 (not 6 & 12 ), 15 .00 (16 .00)
Set in the 1990s at the height of multi-level marketing expansion but before the rise of the internet, this two-handed comedy satire delves into the collision of repressed queerness and corporate feminism and looks at how modern technology and finance have weaponised them both. American suburban business women Sally and Susan are on the hunt for new recruits for their very lucrative business opportunity that is definitely not a pyramid scheme. But as they dive deeper into the shiny world of multi-level marketing, they become caught up in climbing the cut-throat corporate ladder and cracks begin to appear in their pastel-perfect lives, unravelling long-buried tensions and unspoken desires as the lies they’ve built everything on start to catch up with them. With Fag Packet’s signature blend of drag, comedy, physical theatre and audience interaction, the audience will be guided through the DYKE programme (Dynamic, Young, Knowledgeable, Entrepreneur) which explores the intersections of queerness and feminism in a capitalist world that is coming for us all.
Fly, You Fools!
Pleasance Courtyard, Beyond, 30 July – 25 Aug 2024 (not 7 & 18), 15:10 (16:10)
From the creators of 2024 hit Hold on to Your Butts comes an absurdly accurate live parody of the one film to rule them all. Three actors and a Foley artist band together – in fellowship – to present an epic retelling of the first chapter of the most iconic fantasy franchise ever made, compressing 178 minutes of cinematic action into just 60. Combining live sound effects, exaggerated character impersonations and physical theatre, the performers remain on stage throughout, shifting seamlessly between roles within a ring of props. Featuring choreographed mime, shadow puppetry, and a makeshift wind machine, Recent Cutbacks returns with a show that both celebrates the fandom and remains accessible to all audiences.
Playback
Underbelly Cowgate, Delhi Belly, 31 July – 24 Aug 2025 (not 12), 15:55 (16:55)
Exploring the sinister, predatory underbelly of the internet and the realities of growing up online, Playback is a tragicomic drama drawn from Scottish writer and performer Euan Munro’s lived experience as a YouTuber between the ages of 11 and 14.Shortlisted for the 2024 David MacLennan Award, the show combines live performance with footage from Euan’s original, often painfully awkward YouTube videos, blending past and present into a deeply personal and sharply comic story. What begins as a cringe-filled comedy nostalgia trip gradually darkens into something more unsettling, raising urgent questions about internet safety, digital consent, and the shadows cast by early online exposure.
RoboTales
Gilded Balloon, Patter House, 30 July – 17 Aug 2025, 19.40 (20.40)
A fusion of human creativity and artificial intelligence, RoboTales blends live theatre with cutting-edge AI to deliver a one-of-a-kind interactive experience. Inspired by children’s Choose Your Own Adventure books, human performers share the stage with A.L.Ex - a humanoid robot powered by advanced speech recognition and custom-built AI – while the audience suggest the plot for each evening’s show. A.L.Ex analyses the action in real time, throwing in offbeat twists and unpredictable options for the audience to vote on. The robot can even generate unexpected deepfakes of consenting audience members and send surprise lines to actors via augmented reality glasses, blurring the line between scripted performance and spontaneous chaos as the AI, actors and audience build the show together.
Stampin’ in the Graveyard
Summerhall Arts, Red Lecture Theatre, 31 July – 25 Aug 2025 (not 11 & 18), 12:15 (13:15)
Exploring the human desire for connection and a sense of belonging, this immersive theatre piece uses silent disco headphones to guide the audience through the end of the world.Set in the graveyard of humanity, Stampin’ in the Graveyard follows AI chatbot Rose as she sifts through the memories of a vanished civilisation, learning about the woman who created her and piecing together the human life that was. Blending poetry, soundscapes, live music, and movement within a set built from recycled electronics, the audience shapes the story in real time by interacting with Rose, choosing paths that lead to multiple endings. Rooted in the international creative team’s lived experiences of migration and exile, the work traces a thread of loss and loneliness—through inherited trauma, displacement, and ecological grief—ultimately investigating how we might move toward joy.
Whisper Walk
Meeting Point at Assembly George Square Studios, 2 – 25 Aug 2025, every 60 mins from 10.00 until 23.00 (60 mins)
Confessional stories, unuttered truths and personal memories are whispered through headphones in a documentary-style walking tour through Edinburgh created by Asa Wember (Temping 2022 – 2024). Whisper Walk is partly inspired by the Japanese Kaze no Denwa (“wind phone”) and explores how memories are deeply connected to a seemingly ordinary place. Each audience member, equipped with their smartphone and a pair of headphones, is guided through Edinburgh as voices gently whisper stories and personal memories tied to the locations they pass. As participants become trusted confidants, they are invited to contribute their own place-related memory – whispered into a phone placed at the end of the Whisper Walk – to be archived in the ever-growing Whisper Museum.
A.L.Ex and the ImproBots: How To Train Your Robot
Gilded Balloon, The Nip, 30 July – 17 Aug 2025, 11.40 (12.40)
An interactive science theatre experience for the whole family that blends comedy with STEM, A.L.Ex and the ImproBots: How to Train Your Robot explores what makes kids laugh – and whether a robot can learn the art of comedy. The Improbots, a team of human performers, are on a mission to train their robot pal A.L.Ex to become the funniest AI in the galaxy. Part scripted, part improvised, the show follows the little humanoid robot, who’s powered by advanced speech recognition and custom-built AI, as he discovers his inner silly. With help from the younger members of the audience, the performance transforms into a real-time filmmaking adventure where children are invited on stage to co-create a short film using greenscreens, silly costumes and audience-generated scripts. How To Train Your Robot is a joyful, imaginative hour designed to spark curiosity about technology and AI while celebrating laughter, creativity, and collaborative storytelling.
Channel
Assembly Roxy, Snug, 30 Jul – 24 Aug 2025 (not 12), 14.40 (15.40)
A live electronic music performance encourages audiences to reflect on the overwhelming noise of social media through mindful, meditative listening. Inspired by the sonic meditations of American composer Pauline Oliveros, Channel has been created by Jack McGuire as an introduction to communal and attentive listening. Wet Hands (Jack Mcquire) provides a welcoming space, creating a live soundscape through an experimental approach to layering sound. Audience members are invited to take part in this collective listening experience and encouraged to contribute to and become a part of the ambient soundscape. Channel comprises a physical and audio environment designed to be a peaceful escape, while also fostering a sense of connection and community. Jack McGuire has previously collaborated with Dutch Kills Theater Company at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on Solitary (2019) and critically acclaimed Temping (2022 - 2024).