No crystal ball needed: The EdFringe 2026 shows we’d back without hesitation
Plus: Princes Street could reopen in three weeks and historic memorial survived blaze
Welcome to your midweek edition of The Inquirer.
We have good news and bad news… to start with the bad, the imminent arrival of the Fringe has forced Will Quinn to abandon his usual picks of the best of Edinburgh’s cultural life for the week ahead. The good news is that instead he is sharing his insider tips on the shows you really shouldn’t miss when the Festivals explode into life.
You can read all of Will’s tips - covering comedy, musicals, theatre, family shows, cabaret and entertainment that simply defies being put in any pigeonhole - after your regular midweek news roundup.
Your Edinburgh Briefing
OPEN UP, OPEN UP: Princes Street could reopen in three weeks time, raising the possibility of buses and trams returning to normal - or as close to normal as you can get in August in Edinburgh - for the final week and a bit of the Festivals. Nothing is yet guaranteed, with the city council saying the remaining work on the fire-hit former Debenhams building will take “at least three weeks”. Windy weather will mean slower progress.
Boots back: In the meantime, you’ll soon be able to get your ‘meal deals’ and skin care essentials again, with the cordon around the fire site set to shrink. It is hoped that will allow Boots - the last remaining shop forced to close surrounding the fire site - to reopen at the weekend.
Disraeli memorial saved: It has emerged that the building’s beautiful Victorian wooden staircase (pictured below) escaped the flames relatively unscathed, along with the stained glass window memorial to former Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli. That means more detailed conservation assessments will need to be carried out.
Pain goes on: While an end to the worst disruption is in sight, the sensitive nature of the ongoing work on the fire site means there will be at least three more weeks of diverted buses and a stunted tram services. That is particular bad news for some businesses in Leith, where chef Dean Banks has said taking at businesses on The Shore, including his own, have taken a 60% hit since the trams east of the city centre were suspended.
Open up, open up (again): Support for businesses affected by the disruption will depend on the Scottish Government loosening its purse strings, as it did to set up a £10m recovery fund after Glasgow’s Union Street fire. With no signs of help being forthcoming from Holyrood, pressure is growing for a government response, including from Mile Briggs MSP and Chris Murray MP.
Meanwhile, North Bridge is set to fully reopen this week after eight years of roadworks and restoration work.
IN THE SWIM: A grandfather is aiming to follow in the slipstream of record-breaking swimmer Mercedes Gleitze by swimming the Firth of Forth from Dysart in Fife to Gullane in East Lothian. Gordon Watt, 61, intends to use the trip to visit his grandchildren Millie and Miles. Gleitze completed Gordon’s planned route in reverse nearly 100 years ago in 11 hours and 22 minutes.
TRAMS BEAT TARGET: The £9.3m loss and record 12.5m passenger journeys (up 3.3% on the previous year) reported by Edinburgh Trams for last year were roughly in line with expectations and ahead of target. The trams are expected to record recurring losses for many years due to £8.5m annual payments to clear the debt run up building the original line. The underlying performance saw a continuing rise in annual revenues, up £2.2m (7.6%) to £33.1m, and £3.1m ahead of its target for 2025. Revenues have doubled in six years following the expansion of the line to Granton.
‘NO RELEASE’: A man has been told he may never be released from prison after pleading guilty to the knife-point abduction and rape of a 15-year-old girl in the New Town. Aaron Strachan, 21, forced the teenager into a basement in York Place, after first approaching her at a bus stop, on May 25 last year. Judge Michael O’Grady KC imposed an order for lifelong restriction, with a minimum five years in custody, warning Strachan he may never be released.
FOREIGN ASSIGNMENT: Edinburgh East and Musselburgh MP Chris Murray has been appointed as a ministerial aide to Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband. He will be a parliamentary private secretary (PPS), acting as a link between the Ministers at the Foreign Office and backbenchers, in a role often seen as a first step towards a ministerial career.
SUPER SATURDAY: Josh Kerr and Jake Wightman cruised through yesterday’s heats to confirm their places in Saturday’s Commonwealth Games mile showdown. If you haven’t already, it’s worth hunting through your TV package to see if you have TNT Sport (try the HBO Max app, if you have it) so you can tune in live on Saturday evening. No pressure lads.
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No crystal ball needed: The EdFringe 2026 shows we’d back without hesitation
Will Quinn on the returning favourites and insider picks you can trust
It is, once more, the final countdown to the Edinburgh International Festival Fringe. With less than a fortnight until house lights dim and basement doors swing open on the first previews of 2026, it’s time I laid out where to place your bets this August.
“But, Will,” I hear you ask, “having failed to secure a time machine last year, have you at least acquired a crystal ball?”
No, dear reader. Having yet to develop psychic talents, I’m still relying on years of bruised heels, variable-quality cider, and a little too much street food. What I’ve developed is the next best thing: experience. So stick with me as I share my recommendations for the returning acts, standout talents, and proven creative teams I’ve loved at past Fringes (and elsewhere) who are back in town for 2026 (plus a couple I’ve heard BIG whispers about)...
Comedy
Let’s start in the basements where you’ll find a legion of funny men & women packing in rooms full of folks looking to laugh themselves to death…
First up is Ayo Adenekan, who left a real mark during his debut season last summer. He returns to the Fringe at CabVol 2 at Monkey Barrel Comedy (Cabaret Voltaire) with Homeland Insecurity, a narrative hour tackling summer romance, personal ambition, and the true cost of chasing your goals. Disarmingly charming and equipped with sharp comic timing, Adenekan possesses that rare, magnetic ease on stage that signals an act firmly on the rise.
If you like observational stand-up served with a mischievous satirical songbook, Northern Irish force Teresa Livingstone’s Nice Lady will make essential viewing at Just the Tonic. Having earned the seal of approval from the late Janey Godley to her 2025 show Delighted, before I added mine, Livingstone delivers sharp, wickedly honest comedy disguised as catchy piano tunes. Anyone capable of writing a hilarious, earworm musical number about deceased pets is precisely the kind of cult talent the Fringe was built for.
Of course, if you’re searching for pure visual audacity, Elf Lyons remains in a league of her own. Mrs QR caught her physical comedy hour Horses in 2024 and hasn’t stopped raving about it since - drawing comparisons to David Bowie that aren’t handed out lightly in our household. Lyons returns to Beyond at Pleasance Courtyard with The Woman on the Edge, promising an equally unhinged breakdown of Hitchcock’s Vertigo, Apollo 13, and the opera Pagliacci. Expect nothing less than fearlessly hilarious work.
Fresh off supporting Paul Chowdhry at the London O2 and spending twelve months touring the globe - getting engaged while steadily convincing himself he was on the brink of death - George Zacharopoulos is back in town at Just the Tonic at The Hive. The Greek Comedian of the Year for 2026 (there’s a story behind that), Zacharopoulos has an uncanny knack for wandering into bizarre, self-inflicted scrapes, making his stand-up feel as dangerously spontaneous as it is genuinely hilarious.
For intellect wrapped in accessible, sunny charm, Chelsea Birkby’s follow-up hour at Bunker Three at Pleasance Courtyard sits high on my watchlist. Her 2025 offering opened with a surprisingly poignant ode to the Cheeky Girls before dismantling modern anxieties with self-effacing wit. With her new show, Is In Full Control The Entire Time, Birkby’s disarming stage presence will continue to put a velvet glove on one of the sharpest satirical minds on the circuit.
Rounding out my comedy picks, Alastair Clark brings On the Record back for a victory lap at Back Room at PBH’s Free Fringe @ Slow Progress Cafe and Records. I caught the show towards the end of its 2025 run before it went on to a successful national tour, and I wasn’t in the least surprised to see this heartfelt, yet merciless look at life in vinyl retail find audiences nationwide. Drawing on a decade spent behind the counter of a Liverpool record shop, Clark blends rich storytelling with dry, warm-hearted observations that speak to music obsessives and casual listeners alike.
Musicals
If you prefer your entertainment tuneful, harmonised and/or backed by a live band, this year’s musical theatre offerings range from grassroots powerhouses to heavy-hitting commercial contenders.
