The Fringe shows we'd bet the house will be your favourites this summer
Will Quinn on the returning shows and artists which you shouldn't miss
It’s the final countdown… to the Edinburgh International Festival Fringe 2025. With less than a fortnight till the curtains rise and basement doors open on the first shows, it’s about time I told you what to see.
“But, Will,” I hear you cry, “how could you possibly know what will be good or not? Do you have a time machine?”
No, dear reader, I do not, but I am happy to share my recommendations for artists and shows I’ve loved at Fringes (and elsewhere) in the past who are returning in 2025.
Comedy
We’ll start with comedy, the trickiest category due to successful runs at the Fringe tending to breed return visits. My long list for inclusion here would fill the article, but with no little ruthlessness, I’ve settled on four:
First up, Pierre Novellie, my hands-down favourite stand-up of 2024, who returns to the Monkey Barrel. If you like your comedy smart, flawlessly delivered, and hilarious, Pierre’s your man. Whether taking us down the rabbit hole of Melanesian cargo cults or explaining the rationality of madness, his 2024 triumph, ‘Must We’, was pitch-perfect and devilishly eloquent. I’ll be catching You Sit There, I’ll Stand Here early. I recommend you do too.
Over at the National Museum, something completely different is making a surprise (at least to me) return to Gilded Balloon, Eden Sher: I Was On A Sitcom. Do not miss this stunning hour of autobiographical comedy. I cannot overstate just how good Sher and her deeply personal, and ridiculously funny, tales are. True to life, there’s trauma to negotiate, but if there’s a performer more gifted at turning lemons into lemonade, I haven’t seen them.
However, if it’s more stand-up you want, then Daniel Muggleton will be on stage minutes away at the Pear Tree. One of Australia’s finest exports, this laid-back comedy assassin takes no prisoners, be it society’s most sacred cows or the folks in the room. Occasionally, you’ll wonder if it’s ok to laugh so hard at some of the ethically grey areas he so fearlessly navigates, and that’s part of the fun.
Of course, if it’s something completely different you’re after, then (waves hand mysteriously) Elf Lyons is the clown you’re looking for. I sent my culturally dialled-in, and hard-to-please, wife to review Elf’s 2024 show, Horses, last year. Blown away by Lyon’s unique blend of clowning, mime, comedy, and theatre, she returned home and insisted we watch a recorded set so I could see just how good she and her ‘Bowie-like presence’ were. Reader, my wife hates internet videos the same way sensible kids hate Brussels sprouts. I rest my case.
Musicals
From comedy, let’s turn our minds to all things musical. Now, this genre offers slimmer pickings when it comes to returns: the breakout shows or their makers swiftly graduate to bigger things, be they productions like SIX, or…Lin-Manuel Miranda. That said, there are four tuneful revenants I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend
Up first, Little Big Stack’s utterly adorable, and quite bonkers, Potty the Plant. I finally caught it last year, after its successful 2023 debut, and my wife wears her Potty the Plant T-shirt to this day. Hilarious, heart-warmingly dark, a little subversive, and riddled with catchy songs, Potty is a puppet-led musical to put a smile on anyone’s face. Hosts, Gilded Balloon clearly agree, and that’s why you have another chance to catch it.
A brisk stroll from the festival’s heart leads to the Pleasance Courtyard, where Gigglemug’s A Jaffa Cake Musical makes a triumphant return after its debut last year. Inspired by the whimsical 1991 tribunal that debated whether the beloved Jaffa Cake was cake or biscuit, this sharp-witted musical drama weaves a tapestry of cleverly reimagined familiar songs, brought to life by a remarkably talented ensemble. Compact yet brimming with charm, the hour-long production delivers laugh-out-loud, family-friendly delight that’s as satisfying as the treat itself. (I love Jaffa Cakes!)
Of course, maybe you’re looking for a full-length, full-on production of an established musical behemoth. If so, then look no further than BARE Productions’ production of Rock of Ages, running at Paradise in Augustines from the 1st to the 9th. Their 2024 take on Sondheim’s ‘Into the Woods’ and 2023 rendition of Jonathan Larson’s beloved ‘RENT’ were sensational, utterly belying their amateur credentials. Expect a bravura presentation of this classic rock song-fuelled musical, which will leave you wondering what lucrative careers have kept the BARE cast and crew from the professional stage.
My last pick, you may not be surprised to find, is something a little ‘out there’. Ruxy Cantir’s absurdist cabaret Pickled Republic isn’t a musical per se, but a drama with songs performed and created by a talented, ingeniously-minded individual. Expect memorably punny tunes from a glamorous potato and a doom-laden encounter with a prodigious baby carrot. Outré costuming, transformative physical theatre and a funny, thought-provoking script make this mortality play set in the depths of a pickle jar a true Fringe experience.
Theatre
This tuneful diversion at an end, it’s time to dive into the Fringe’s rich theatrical offerings. Top of my list of returnees: Alan Bissett. Scotland’s master of the dramatic monologue, and creator of the powerfully funny Moira Monologues, is bringing When Billy Met Alasdair to the Scottish Storytelling Centre. Expect this imaginary meeting between Scottish icons Billy Connolly and Lanark author Alasdair Gray, at the latter’s book launch in 1981, to be a hot ticket. Expect big heart, big characters, and big laughs.
In contrast, you have only one chance to catch the multi-talented James Rowland and his Songs of the Heart trilogy, presented together for the first time at Shedinburgh on 18 August. A superbly personable performer, James’s autobiographically inspired tales blend storytelling, philosophy, and verbatim theatre. His works are wholesome but unvarnished, uplifting but unafraid of reality. You’ll have to strap in for four hours to see them all in a row, however, so bring (quiet) snacks.
For something altogether different, and a whole lot sillier, you could do worse than march over to the Pleasance Dome. AwkwardProds, otherwise known as Linus Karp and Joseph Martin, have set the Fringe heather on fire two years in a row, first with Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story, then Gwyneth Goes Skiing. Masters of sublimating curious histories into joyously queer farces, they take audience participation seriously. If you’ve ever wanted to be in a Fringe show but didn’t fancy devoting a year to making yourself poorer, look no further. For 2025, they are setting their targets on…Hallmark Christmas movies. Look for The Fit Prince’to complete a trilogy of sell-outs for this good-hearted, chaotic theatrical duo.
My last theatrical returnees to point at (encouragingly), is Emma Howlett’s award-winning company of whippernappers, TheatreGoose. I discovered them back in 2023, when I wandered into the depths of Summerhall’s Red Lecture Theatre for Her Green Hell. It turned out to be the perfect venue for an immersive journey into despair and unlikely, traumatic survival. Above ground in the Anatomy Lecture Theatre this year, Aether promises to be, “part-science lab on the cusp of discovery, part-Victorian seance, part-unauthorised Nobel Prize Ceremony”. You can’t accuse them of a lack of ambition… expect triumph or glorious failure in their most ambitious production yet.
Storytelling
We turn our attention now to a discipline akin to theatre, but utterly different. Storytelling is an art form I hold immense affection for, as is Edinburgh’s invaluable home for the craft, the Scottish Storytelling Centre. I’d happily send you there for their entire programme, but there are three returns I’d recommend without hesitation. At 3:15pm most days, you’ll find superlative tale-teller Dougie Mackay and singer-songwriter and puppeteer Jemima Thewes on a deep dive into the myths and natural history with A Wolf Shall Devour the Sun.
However, if it’s something a little less arcane you’re seeking, then Rick Conte’s An American Love Letter to Edinburgh is available from the 18 August onwards. A tale of parallel lives, Rick’s and Benjamin Franklin’s, Conte’s show is a most amiable live documentary, delivered by a wonderfully genial raconteur.
For something wilder, but no less splendid, you might return later in the day for one of three Fringe editions of Turan Ali’s Queer Folks Tales. Ali, whom I christened a “splendid human being” years ago, is a host with the most outrageous and heartfelt tales of (true) queer adventure. You can rely on him to assemble a line-up of talented storytellers, and to coax from them their most fabulous memoirs.
For my last storytelling pick, I give you Rob Auton, poet, comedian, and unique individual. I first encountered Rob at the Edinburgh Book Festival pre-lockdown, and his peculiar world-view and bewildered brand of deadpan humour never fails to tickle. This year, he’s opting for something a little different with CAN (An Hour-Long Story), once the world’s no.1 motivational speaker before… things happened. Expect warm-hearted, thought-tickling mirth, and fetching verse.
Kids
I love children’s shows; theatre in particular. No audience gives such immediate, crystal clear feedback. It makes a critic’s life very easy, to say the least. I have only three returning recommendations here, beginning with Dic Dic Chang Chang Playground, a charming, interactive, and funny (it made me laugh!) Cantonese Opera for those aged three and over. Gorgeous costuming, a cute story, and some ambitious choreography for a small stage make this learning experience genuinely fun. Find it at Surgeons Hall until the 9 August.
If it’s kid-centred stand-up you’re looking for, however, then check out Juan Solo's Excellent Adventures in Space!, created and performed by one of the most accomplished, assured, and distinctive comedians working today, Ignacio Lopez. I’ve never seen it. However, I have seen Ignacio in action and do not doubt that his space-based comedy for those aged five and over is a cracker.
Keeping in the aged five-plus zone, my last tip here is Welsh comedian Robin Morgan’s new show, Storytime. Debuted at the Leicester Comedy Festival earlier this year, it almost won the prize for best kids' show. Now, as with Juan Solo, I’ve never seen Robin around children, but he’s been a Fringe fixture in the Quinn household schedule for a good few years. Urbane, erudite and self-effacing, expect him to bring ‘cool teacher’ energy to the room. Comedians rarely come as quite so likeable as Robin Morgan.
My final returning recommendees fall under what I can only consider as ‘Other’. Yes, I know, what a way with words.
Other
Darkfield, maestros of immersive theatre, return with their hallmark pitch-black shipping containers, each a vessel for disquieting sensory theatrical worlds. Among this year’s four offerings, I’ve experienced Arcade, and having ventured into Darkfield’s unsettling voids before, the others beckon with equal intrigue. Eternal, in particular, sounds pretty wild: lying in darkness, immersed in a binaural soundscape, it invites contemplation of immortality’s cost - a premise as provocative as it is eerie. Darkfield’s meticulous production values ensure these encounters will resonate, leaving indelible impressions well beyond the festival’s close.
For another show that blurs the line between performer and audience, cutting-edge Belgian troupe, Ontroerend Goed, is following last year’s deeply contemplative Funeral with the more celebratory-titled Thanks For Being Here. Artistic Director Alexander Devriendt has been creating some of Europe’s most innovative theatre for decades, and the Edinburgh Fringe is lucky they make a habit of stopping by each August.
My final returning recommendation falls to Dynamic Earth for an August-long run of Planetarium Lates: Dark Side Of The Moon. There are two 45-minute shows every day, and there’s nothing quite like diving head-first into the cosmos on Scotland’s largest 6K screen, whilst Pink Floyd’s masterpiece bathes you in surround sound. Those in need of adult beverages needn’t worry, there’s a cocktail/mocktail bar on hand for these singular nights at the museum. Amidst the bright lights and wonderful chaos of the Edinburgh International Festival Fringe, 45 minutes of cosmic psychedelia may be just what this critic ordered.
Will Quinn is editor of The Quinntessential Review