The original Fringe venue, a quite fabulous and unique atmosphere known in Fringe folklore. It's worth a visit just for that! Here we present new and established work from across the globe. Mid to large-scale theatre, dance, musicals, opera and music make a daily programme of quality to enjoy. Sell out shows a regular event at this very special theatre. 

A jaw-dropping story set on the Coral Sea, Australia. An Irish backpacker blags his way onto a prawn trawler. There he discovers a rarely-seen world of hard labour and harder fishermen, where drinking, fighting, storms and hungry sharks are part of everyday life. His raw, exuberant story of adventure twists dramatically into survival, culminating in an unforgettable moment of redemptive grace. Trawled is a one-man biographical drama. The actor plays himself 26 years younger! Classic storytelling that plays out like a movie. 'Trawled is a play that cannot be missed' ***** (TheatreThoughtsAus.online).

Trawled – When Adventure Becomes Survival CANCELLED

In 200 AD, Emperor Septimius Severus decreed that women could no longer compete in the Gladiator Games. What happens when an empire mandates how women use their bodies? Gladiatrix brings this untold story to life through passionate vocals and gripping stage combat. Inspired by true events, this electrifying production explores the strength, sacrifice and resilience of the women left behind. Her story, lost in history.

Gladiatrix

Lauren, Nat and Chloe are young adults. They are going through big changes in their lives. And they are autistic. Lauren is a uni student who discovers she may be autistic when researching for an essay. Nat has been unlucky in love, until he meets the neurotypical Sophie who is everything he wants in a girl. Chloe is struggling with bullying at school, and the strain on her relationship with her best friend Liv, because of Liv’s sudden rise in popularity. We encounter love, loss, friendships, mental health and more in this new musical.

I'm Autistic – A New Musical

It is what it is, the course of true love never did run smooth... In this summer’s Athenian villa, a bombshell has been dropped: the public have voted to split up the hottest couple in the game. Behind the scenes there’s dissent amongst the crew with the presenters’ stormy relationship on the rocks and the producers picking sides. Into this firepit of feelings and factions, the producers break their boundaries and introduce their own brand of magic that will see more sparks fly than your typical return from Casa Amor. 


A Midsummer Night's Dream

The Rock pub has seen better days, more recently, it has seen damp. Tucked away in Lochhaven, a group of misfits find themselves trapped during a storm with no escape. Tensions are high and the walls are talking. They’re stuck. With tales, stories, a strange black slime, songs of spooky ghosts and supernatural goings-on, a fair bit of drinking, some insults for good measure, a spot of Monopoly, the odd jump scare and a sacrificial death. Will this unlikely group of idiots work out the antidote to control... the damp?

Damp

The flickering flames wake spectral shadows of the past. Is the mind playing tricks or do these shapes come with a sinister purpose? It’s almost the witching hour, dare to come into the candlelight. The late-night sensation that revived a time-honoured tradition, according to the New York Times. ArtsGroupie blends classic frights for modern nights. Following three years of sold-out performances in the North West of England, don’t miss this spine chilling spectacle.

Ghost Stories By Candlelight

Rose and Taylor narrate their sensations and memories in an attempt to come to terms with their relationship to one another, their past and the world at large. Set in a future dystopia where genetic predispositions to chronic illness have been triggered by a worldwide technological phenomenon, this immersive installation fuses emerging technologies and dance theatre to question the importance of personal care and connection in a world of increasing isolation. We invite you to experience this new world as they do, embody and play with the boundaries of separation in performance.

Tethered

A Play About Feet is a dark comedy about love, ambition and terrible decisions. Meet a young woman stuck in a dead-end job, dating a useless boyfriend and spiraling into chaos after an impulsive OnlyFans venture. Between disastrous relationships, drunken karaoke and foot-themed online fame, she struggles to find direction – while everyone around her tries (and fails) to help. Hilarious, sharp and painfully relatable, this play explores modern life’s absurdities with biting humor and unexpected heart. Will she finally find her footing or will everything come crashing down?

A Play About Feet

A brand-new, bite-sized absurdist comedy that you can really sink your teeth into! Small-time Scottish criminals, Cammy and Lee are no strangers to running into a spot of bother in their escapades – in fact, they seem to attract it. So when a lucrative opportunity involving the kidnap of the reclusive Lord Armstrong presents itself, a quick trip to the bonny Highlands has never seemed so straight-forward. However, their target harbours an ancient secret that raises the stakes of the mission and leaves the duo wondering if they have bitten off more than they can chew.

This Play Sucks!

A powerful exploration of how stepdance, Scotland’s percussive dance, was lost... and how its revival became woven into a lifelong friendship. Experience a compelling journey across centuries of tradition told through fiddle, feet, Gaelic song and story, in an immersive performance which draws you in to the heart of our heritage. Deiseil means ready in Scottish Gaelic: be ready for a mesmerising reflection on how issues of culture, identity and connection still resonate through society today. Groundbreaking new work from award-winning director Gerry Mulgrew (six Fringe Firsts), dancer Alison Carlyle and musician Amy Geddes.

Deiseil: Dancing in Time

The Invisible Spirit is award-winning journalist Kenneth Roy's searing yet witty dramatisation of Scotland – its people, places and politics – from 1945 to 1975. We open on VE night in Glasgow’s George Square, celebrating the end of one of the darkest chapters in British history. But the conclusion of WW2 marks the beginning of a 30-year hangover for Scotland during which its people fight off poverty and disease in tenement slums, watch scandal engulf the powers that be and live in fear of serial killers. Starring Chris Alexander, Fergus John McCann and Elaine Stirrat. 

The Invisible Spirit

On what should be the happiest day of her life, a bride mysteriously disappears, leaving chaos in her wake. Her best friend and wedding planner struggle to keep things together, the mothers of the bride and groom clash over blame, the groom spirals into doubt and the bride’s best friend, who hides a deeper connection, knows more than they’re saying. As the search intensifies, secrets come to light, forcing everyone to confront uncomfortable truths. But when the reason for her disappearance is revealed, will they be able to handle the fallout—or was this wedding doomed from the start?

Something Blue

When viewership tanks for the latest season of a survival TV game show, the producers realise they must go to extreme lengths to make sure the show doesn’t get cancelled – no matter the cost. After all, the contestants signed a contract, they can’t back out now… Follow the final five contestants, guided by the show’s eerily vivacious host, as they slowly realise that this reality show just got a whole lot more "real" than they bargained for. Crocodile Tears is a new satirical comedy play about surveillance, authenticity and the ethics of reality TV.

Crocodile Tears

Acts of Kindness is a docudrama inspired by interviews in El Paso, Texas USA, after a mass shooting that claimed the lives of twenty-three innocent people. Told through a multitude of different characters, the play grapples with gun control, the divided USA political landscape and the ongoing issue of immigration in America. Heartfelt, engrossing and intimate, the play is a tribute to the victims and survivors of the event and a cautionary tale about gun violence in America. A community rises to reach collective healing and an understanding of our shared humanity.

Acts of Kindness

You don't have to be afraid of the dark. That's just a story people tell to make themselves feel safe. But what if the dark isn't hunting you? What if it's calling? I don't chase. I don't have to. Because fear doesn't push you away, it pulls you closer. You feel it, don't you? That whisper. That pull. The question that won't leave you alone. You could scroll by, pick another show, pretend this wasn't meant for you. Or admit it, you were never not coming. So go on. Be A Wolf.

Be A Wolf

A group of Earth's survivors rush onto the last vessel escaping from AI bots that have left the planet a wasteland. They board with only the promise that there will be a future for them in a utopian civilisation. On the ship, they learn that subsistence packages and messages arrive in a dropbox. When the vessel's medical officer is found murdered, the hunt for the killer leads them to question every choice they have made: who they are, what surrounds them, how they are connected and who they will become in their new world.

The Dropbox

Take a trip back to Hawkins, Indiana in 1983 – when times were simpler, hair was bigger and unsupervised children were getting snatched by inter-dimensional creatures. Stranger Sings! The Parody Musical is a hilarious upside down take on the hit Netflix series and all its campy, 1980s glory. Join Mike, Eleven, Lucas, Dustin and the whole Hawkins gang for a night of adventure, thrills, pubescent angst, heavy synth, poor parenting, convoluted love triangles, cheap effects, dancing monsters and maybe, just maybe... justice for everyone's favourite missing ginger, Barb Holland.

Stranger Sings! The Parody Musical

A re-imagining of the beloved Andrew Lloyd Webber musical.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat

A new work from the award-winning playwright, P Shane Mitchell. In early America, Goodman Briar is accused of a crime he didn't commit and today is the day he is to be hanged until dead. Tried and found guilty of practicing the horrible crime of witchcraft on the persons of Goodman and Goodwife Shallow, he must now pay for his crimes. There is but one way to save his life. All he must do is betray his fundamental beliefs and commit a mortal sin. And for her part, all his faithful wife must do is convince him.

Hexed

Evacuated from a war-torn world and marooned on an island when their airplane crashes, a group of pre-adolescent boys find themselves battling for survival with no adults to help them.

Lord of the Flies

Carnaby House is an eight-storey tower block. On the day our story enfolds, the lift is "out of order". The residents of Carnaby house come together to create a community carry to enable octogenarians, Harry and Mabel, to reach their top floor flat. Each resident has their own story which is told through the mesmerizing words of Paul Heaton and The Beautiful South.

Eight Storeys of Love and Heartbreak

The old man has kept his post as the sole caretaker of the moon for as long as he or his wife, the old woman, can remember. When she is drawn away by a mysterious melody that sparks memories of their shared past, the old man must decide between duty and routine, and love and adventure. Luckily for audiences everywhere he chooses the latter and what follows is an imaginative sea-faring epic, encompassing apocalyptic storms, civil wars, leviathans of the deep and cantankerous ghosts, as well as the fiercest obstacle of all: change.

The Old Man and the Old Moon

Nunsense: The Mega-Musical version is here! This riotous show is a fundraiser put on by the Little Sisters of Hoboken to raise money to bury sisters accidently poisoned by the convent cook, Sister Julia (child of God). Updated with new jokes, additional lyrics, two new arrangements and a brand-new song, this madcap musical was recorded for television starring Rue McClanahan as the Mother Superior.

Nunsense: The Mega-Musical

A happy couple on their anniversary. An unwelcome visitor. A bombshell that changes everything. An original Fringe premiere written by James Cumming, Intrusion is all about the past catching up with us and dealing with the consequences. The debut play of Scottish emerging theatre company, Locked In Thought.

Intrusion

When the rain stopped falling, we returned to the beginning. A drought has been plaguing the crops of Tobias's farm for five years. He believes that the answer to where the water went lies in the soil. Katherine believes the answer lies in the desert and canyons surrounding the farm. One night, Katherine goes into the canyon in search of the missing water, but what happens when a flash flood comes and washes everything away? 

The Sound of Water

Five strangers find themselves under scrutiny for abandoning a suspicious bag at Kings Cross. As the narrative unfolds, it becomes apparent that each person is fleeing their own troubles, and the confines of the waiting room and interrogation process compel them to confront their emotions and the very issues they're evading. Through explorations of love, loss and accountability, this production chronicles the journey of discovering fleeting community among strangers.

See It. Say It. Sorted.

The Black Hole by Vkinn Vats is a searing psychological drama that delves into the dynamics of cohabiting relationship and complexities of human connection. Set in a shared space, two souls are forced to coexist, but the emotional distance between them reveals deeper wounds. As desire and trauma collide, quiet moments erupt into explosive confrontations. With raw vulnerability and twisted intimacy, it unearths what it truly means to be seen – and what we risk when we expose ourselves. Can two broken souls bridge the invisible gap, or will the space between them tear them apart forever?

The Black Hole

Set 12 days after Christmas, perhaps the party has gone on just a little too long? Perhaps the guests are a tad hungover? Perhaps they’ve left it almost too late to find true love? Queen’s College is proud to premiere this sparkling new production, which is so full of comic energy and fizz that you’ll be celebrating all the way to the Christmas season!

Twelfth Night

In a school music club, a group of students wrestles with the frustrations of youth. But, when they’re asked to perform alongside a divisive political commentator, they’re forced to confront their own beliefs. Featuring live music, youth theatre company Lund presents this energetic and sharp exploration of youth, politics and moral dilemmas.

Dissonance

Aliens, incels, robots... in wigs? Join this top-secret mission to save the world! This musical comedy meets interactive video game (scheduled late enough to make sure Bezos' lawyers are asleep) is unlike any live theatre you’ve seen before. This wild choose-your-own adventure show transports you through time and space, where you’ll play along on your phone to help our heroes survive every twist and turn. Are you ready? It may be up to you!

Operation: Destroy Beff Jezos

Ruoye, Ruoye is a graceful female dance inspired by the ancient Chinese legend of Xishi washing silk at Ruoye Creek. Blending classical Jiangnan music and poetic movement, it evokes the elegance, strength and spirit of women from China’s water towns. Flowing sleeves, gentle rhythms and expressive gestures reflect the romantic legacy of Wu-Yue culture. A cultural gem told through fluid choreography and timeless tradition, this 5-minute piece invites audiences into a dreamlike world where history, myth and beauty intertwine.

Essence of China

A bold, fresh take on Macbeth as a pagan ritual, in which three immortal witches enchant an unsuspecting man to become the bloody Thane. This innovative production mashes Shakespeare’s glorious text with a 4000-year-old Sumerian epic poem, recasting Macbeth as a sacrificial king. You’ll be on the edge of your seat as the immortals lead Macbeth to the heights of power and then use his own dark impulses to destroy him. The ensemble of four actors brings all the roles to life in this fast-paced, spellbinding show. An age-old drama made startlingly new.

The Witches of Macbeth

Nearlyweds is a brand-new musical comedy that will have you laughing, crying and singing along! We follow Lily, a people-pleasing Scottish bride as she runs away from her wedding, and Jake, a confused fiancé-to-be whose life isn’t as glamorous as he thinks. Along the way they meet an array of relatably quirky and vibrant characters, who have hilarious scenarios to overcome. Will Lily learn to stand up for herself and will Jake finally stop spouting awful puns? This relatable musical comedy by Jasmine Alice has extremely lovable characters and way too many dad jokes!

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