With just over a month to go now until the start of this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe, we’ve taken a look at the best theatre shows to check out in August.
The world’s largest arts festival has, as always, got hundreds of great theatrical treats to choose from, performing across the city in our theatres, function rooms, gym halls and even pubs.
Among the 42 theatre shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe we’ve highlighted are a great mix of returning shows, debuts and even some world premiere runs in Edinburgh.
Check out our galley below to help you choose which theatre shows you will be watching in Edinburgh this August.
17. Suitcase Show
After taking off at Edinburgh Fringe in 2024, Suitcase Show is back at Assembly Roxy this August – a signature work by ingenious New Zealand theatre makers, Trick of the Light (The Bookbinder). It begins when a traveller is stopped at border control and asked to open their bags – each suitcase reveals a short story. After rave reviews and sell out seasons since its Summerhall run, this deliciously dark, award-winning production has been reworked and refined and returns to play from 5 - 30 August, 11:45am at Assembly Roxy Upstairs. The design for Suitcase Show is strikingly inventive – from lo-fi shadowplay to digital projection, from dancing disembodied hands to narratives that crackle from a 1970s stereo suitcase. The stories touch on climate change, love and death, travel, and secrets that we carry with us – an overthrown autocrat finds themselves on the run from their own shadow, an astronaut turns their telescope back on Earth and back in time. | Lewis Ferris
18. Prophets
Three of Scotland’s most exciting young theatre makers are preparing to bring their latest work to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Written by Fringe First winning playwright Jack MacGregor, directed by John Byrne Award recipient Fraser Scott, and produced by NTS Producing Fellow Leah Byrne; Prophets will premiere at Assembly Roxy, 05 - 31 August 2026. Prophets is a dark psychological thriller that explores the interplay between faith and cult, set on the remote and rocky outpost of Saint John. Prophets is about the limits of justice and the search for hope in a world of darkness. When Kerris, a researcher, arrives on a tiny British Overseas Territory, she finds a colonial outpost gripped in the thrall of a charismatic and growing religious sect. As memory and nightmares mix, and the ‘Day of Paradise’ draws closer, Kerris begins to unravel, caught in the riptide of this forgotten colony on the edge of the world. Prophets, at Assembly Roxy, Roxy Boxy, August 5-31, 5.45pm. | Robin Mair Photography
19. An Echo in the Void
From the producers of Fringe First-winning BLUE comes An Echo in the Void; a new play exploring grief in a world where technology can simulate emotional connection. Set inside a system designed to recreate the voices, memories and personalities of the dead, the show follows four people trapped in a space that listens, learns and begins responding to their deepest losses. As the technology evolves beyond its original purpose, the play asks an unsettling question: if something could convincingly give you back what you’ve lost, would you refuse it? Assembly Roxy (Upstairs) | 5th - 29th August (not 19th), 4.40pm, (60 mins). | Submitted
20. Dungeons and Shakespeare
Inspired by the Bard and determined by dice, Dungeons and Shakespeare brings together the worlds of Shakespeare and Dungeons & Dragons in a fast, funny and wildly unpredictable interactive comedy where all the world’s a game, and the audience gets to be the players. Hosted by dungeon master Shelby Bond, each show throws iconic Shakespeare characters into chaotic fantasy quests shaped entirely by audience choices, live improvisation and giant dice rolls. With more than 700 performances across North America, no two adventures - or shows - are ever the same. “Sure to please the D&D nerd in all of us.” The Post Horn. Dungeons and Shakespeare, at Gilded Balloon Patter House (Other Yin), August 5-27 (not 13th), 1.35pm (60 mins). | Submitted