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.
29. A Ghost Among the Living
Inspired by the iconic Hammer Horror aesthetic, this new adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s classic works fuses haunting puppetry, original music and supernatural storytelling with a shape-shifting set. Weaving together several tales from the master of the macabre—the famously dark The Tell-Tale Heart, The Masque of the Red Death, Ligeia and The Cask of Amontillado as well as poems The Raven and Lenore — this two-hander follows a mysterious scholar who takes the stage to honour Poe’s masterpieces. But truth shall not be buried in fiction, and his ominous companion seems to have an agenda of her own. As lines blur and reason spirals, the stories twist into a dangerous confession. Returning for a thirteenth year, Fringe veterans Box Tale Soup have handcrafted the puppets, set, and props almost entirely from recycled and sustainable materials. Pleasance Dome, Queen Dome, 5-31 August (not 19), 12.25pm. | Mobius London
30. Adding Up America: Solving the Race Equation
Inspired by her own experiences as a mixed-race woman in the United States, Adding Up America: Solving the Race Equation sees award-winning singer, songwriter Monique DeBose explore what happens when identity is reduced to a simple equation. Based on the true events of when DeBose was stuck at a pivotal crossroads, choosing between a future with her Black Ghanaian lover or her White British husband, she did what any mathematician would do – she ran the numbers. Using mathematical formulas as a metaphor, DeBose examines society’s obsession with categorisation and dismantles the racial equations she has been calculating her entire life. This play speaks to being able to choose one’s own path and live outside the binary. Blending humour, storytelling, and original Jazz-inspired music sung live over a recorded underscore, Adding up America: Solving the Race Equation encourages audiences to think critically about how race is named, inherited, and lived – and what happens when the maths doesn’t add up. Assembly Roxy, Snug Bar, 5-30 August (not 12 –13, 17 – 20 & 25 – 27), 1.40pm. | Ki Price
31. Women of Will
Inspired by the seminal book by actress, director and founder of Shakespeare & Company Tina Packer, this new play by Siofra Dromgoole follows an aspiring drama school student Ava and an older actor Jack who meet during her pub shift. As they connect over subsequent pub visits, Shakespearean verse becomes the spark for an unlikely friendship and a shared exploration of his heroines. Jack, a recovering alcoholic, finds solace in the familiarity of the pub and discovers a new sense of purpose in debating and performing Shakespeare with Ava. With a crucial audition on the horizon, the pair bring some of his most famous and lesser-known characters to life, revealing how his writing evolved alongside his understanding of the female perspective. A celebration of the women at the heart of Shakespeare’s life and work, Women of Will is a joyful and inspiring reminder that they didn’t just populate his plays, they shaped his world. Summerhall, 18-31 August (not 24), 6pm. | James Frank
32. The Last Audition
Inspired by personal family experiences of dementia parallelled with themes of ageing in King Lear, writer and performer Paul Shearman confronts the devastating prospect of a Shakespearean actor losing the language that defines him. Following a once-celebrated actor as he prepares for what may be his final role, his rehearsal on an empty stage turns into a reckoning as his memory falters, words slip away, his grasp on time starts to blur and his past collides with the present. Created to represent dementia not as an isolated experience but as a shared journey, The Last Audition blends humour, vulnerability, and storytelling with classic Shakespeare, to examine identity and the quiet courage required to keep going when everything familiar begins to fade. At theSpace on the Mile, 3, August 7-29, (not 16 & 23), 7.25pm. | Eric Moore