Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2022: line-up, venues and how to get tickets

Frankie Boyle, Stewart Lee, Sir Ian McKellan and Paul Sinha are among the big names to perform at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2022.

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival will return to the city of Edinburgh for its 75th anniversary this summer and there’s a huge line-up for 2022.

The festival is known for bringing an array of artists to Edinburgh throughout the month of August.

After a cancellation in 2020 and a reduced sized event in 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic, the 2022 festival is set to be the same scale as the pre-pandemic events with thousands of performances set to take place.

This time, the fringe festival will feature 49,827 artists from 58 nations performing in 3,171 shows in a full event schedule that will take place from August 5 through August 29.

Here’s everything you need to know about some of the line-up that is set to perform throughout the month.

EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND - AUGUST 03: Artists from Gravity and Other Myths, a renowned circus troupe from Australia, mark the opening of the Festival in its anniversary 75th season at BT Murrayfield where MACRO takes place on August 03, 2022 in Edinburgh, Scotland. The critically acclaimed Australian circus and physical theatre company is joined by First Nations dance company Djuki Mala, the National Youth Choir of Scotland and other Scottish musicians to produce MACRO. This large scale performance combines superhuman coordination, projections, drums and a spectacular light display with a fusion of Australian First Nations and Scottish traditional music to open the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. (Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images)

Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2022 line-up and venues

Comedy stage

Frankie Boyle: Lap of Shame

Assembly Rooms - Music Hall

August 5 to August 28

Paul Sinha: One Sinha Lifetime

The Stand’s New Town Theatre

August 5 to August 28

Comedian Paul Sinha to perform at Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2022

Liz Kingsman: One-Woman Show

Traverse Theatre

August 16 to August 28

Rosie Holt: The Woman’s Hour

Pleasance Courtyard

August 5 to August 28

Stewart Lee: Basic Lee

The Stand Comedy Club

August 5 to August 28

Catherine Cohen

Pleasance Courtyard

August 8 to August 21

Tim Key: Mulberry

Pleasance Dome

August 5 to August 28

Sophie Duker: Hag

Pleasance Courtyard

August 5 to August 28

Frankie Thompson: Catts

Pleasance Courtyard

August 5 to August 28

Sheeps: Ten Years, Ten Laughs

Pleasance Courtyard

August 5 to August 14

Patti Harrison

Pleasance Courtyard

August 5 to August 15

Theatre stage

Tim Crouch: Truth’s a Dog Must to Kennel

Royal Lyceum Theatre

August 6 to August 28

This is Memorial Device

Wee Red Bar

August 13 to August 28

Hamlet with Ian McKellen

Ashton Hall

August 5 to August 28

Ian McKellen will appear in Hamlet in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Pic: Devin de Vil

Every Word Was Once An Animal

Zoo Southside

August 5 to August 28

Burn

King’s Theatre

August 5 to August 10

A Little Life

Edinburgh Festival Theatre

August 20 to August 22

Fantastically Great Women who Changed the World

Pleasance Courtyard

August 5 to August 28

Half-Empty Glasses

Roundabout @ Summerhall

August 5 to August 28

Feeling Afraid as If Something Terrible is Going to Happen

Summerhall

August 5 to August 28

Head Set

Pleasance Courtyard

August 5 to August 28

Dance stage

Dance Body

Summerhall

Until August 27

Ballet Freedom

Pleasance @ EICC

Until August 28

August 5 to August 7

71Bodies 1Dance

Dance Base

August 5 to August 7

Amina Khayyam Dance: One

Dance Base

August 5 to August 10

The Pulse

Playhouse

August 8 to August 9

Scottish Ballet: Coppélia

Festival theatre

August 14 to August 16

The Rest of Our Lives

Summerhall

August 16 to August 28

Are You Guilty?

Dance Base

August 16 to August 28

Kyle Abraham: An Untitled Love

King’s theatre

August 20 to August 21

A Death Has Occurred

Greenside @ Nicolson Square

August 22 - August 27

Where are the Edinburgh Fringe Festival venues?

According to the Edinburgh Fringe official website, there are 239 different venues that will be hosting fringe performances across the city this year. From basement bars to libraries there is something for everyone.

The majority of Fringe locations are found in the Old Town, however there will be shows taking place on Princes Street, and Haymarket as well as areas further out of the city like Leith.

Street performer Paddy Potato gets ready for the Fringe to start this week.

As well as official venues, the Fringe festival is known for bringing some of the best street performers to the city too.

Simply take a walk around the picturesque streets of Edinburgh and you’re bound to come across some stellar entertainment.

You can find out more about the venues taking part in the fringe this year by heading to the official map on the Edinburgh Fringe website.

Tickets are still available for multiple shows across the festival.

You can find tickets for your preferred show via the Fringe website.

What is the Edinburgh Fringe programme for 2022?

You can find a full breakdown of performances taking place at the official programme on the Edinburgh Fringe website.

What is the Edinburgh Fringe Festival?

The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is the world’s largest arts festival which brings together an array of comedy, music and other performances from around the globe.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe has become a world-leading celebration of arts and culture, surpassed only by the Olympics and the World Cup in terms of global ticketed events.

The festival was first established in 1947 as an alternative to the Edinburgh International Festival.

In 2018, the festival spanned over 25 days and featured more than 55,000 performances of 3,548 shows in 317 venues.