The Grandmothers Grimm

An absolute favourite of ours returns.

With multiple critically successful runs, off the back of a tour around the UK, and a debut performance in America, The Grandmothers Grimm goes from strength to strength in its divulgence of the lives of the women whose tales shaped our cultural history.

It’s a dark evening, and we find Marie Hassenpflug and the Brothers Grimm revising the darkness and less tasteful elements out of old stories for a general release to the public. Gradually, as these more gruesome elements are left by the wayside, so too are the names of the women and voices of the storytellers who crafted these tales of princesses, wolves and curses.

A bold and moving piece – this marvellously moving storytelling production returns to darken the doorstep of the Fringe. You’ve had plenty of chances, so if you haven’t seen it by now – there are no excuses left for the Big Bad Wolf and the other creatures dwelling in the Paradise Vault…

21.30pm (60 minutes), 14th – 19th, Aug 2023
Venue 29: Paradise in The Vault – The Vault
11 Merchant Street, EH1 2QD
Tickets: £12.00 (Con. available)

What Girls Are Made Of

The biggest smash-hit, gig-theatre event returns to eager audiences, as What Girls Are Made Of charts the true story of Cora Bissett’s rollercoaster journey from a 90s indie kid to a wised-up woman.

Celebrating life’s ecstatic highs and catastrophic lows Bissett’s show asks us what wisdom we should impart to future generations, and which magnificent mistake we should allow them to stumble through.

A co-production from the Traverse Theatre and Raw Material, directed by CATS award-winning director Orla O’Loughlin, this exhilarating and high-on-life musical blow-out has wowed audiences on tours. Don’t miss the opportunity to catch this beauty once more. A show so powerfully nostalgic, it’ll make you miss Kirkcaldy.

Read our thoughts on the show here.

13.00pm (85 minutes), 4th-8th, 10th-13th, 15th-20th, 22nd-27th, Aug 2023
Venue 20: Assembly Rooms – Music Hall
54 George Street, EH2 2LR
Tickets: £27.50 (Con. available)

The Beatles Were A Boyband

Champions of the FemFringe are back, as F-Bomb Theatre grace the Edinburgh Festival Theatre once more with their critically acclaimed The Beatles Were A Boyband, as a fun-loving trio of flatmates find their safe space violated by the threat of male violence.

With their world rocked by a woman’s murder, Violet is too scared to walk home, Daisy has stumbled into being an activist (drawing unwanted ire and attention from the manosphere), and Heather just wants to get on with life.

Previous Scotsman Fringe First Award, this limited run at the Gilded Balloon is likely to be a sell-out. So don’t delay, grab your tickets, and learn why Rachel O’Regan’s feminist theatre piece is a much-loved return.

19.30pm (60 minutes) 18th-27th, Aug 2023
Venue 24: Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose
3 Chambers St, EH1 1HT
Tickets: £14.00 (Con. available)

Kathy and Stella Solve A Murder

Last year an explosion of murder-serial and podcast themes production scattered the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and one stood out above the rest – Kathy and Stella Solve A Murder.

That’s right, Hull’s least successful true crime podcasters are back at a new home at the Udderbelly for this year’s Fringe. Following the death of their favourite author, Felicia Taylor, the pair are thrust into an exhilarating whodunnit of their own. It’s time to solve a crime. Are they up to it? Or is the job they were born to do going to turn out a touch ‘messier’ than they had initially hoped?

Presented by Fleabag producer Francesca Moody, this murder-mystery-musical extravaganza is sure to be just as popular as it was last year. So don’t fall victim to the crime of missing out.

19.30pm (90 minutes) 2nd-8th, 10th-13th, 15th-20th, 22nd-27th Aug 2023
Venue 300: Underbelly, George Square – Udderbelly
George Square, EH8 9LH
Tickets: £16.00 (Con. available)

Bloody Elle

Blisteringly magnificent, if there’s one returning show at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe you must make time for – it’s Lauryn Redding’s, Bloody Elle.

Returning for a strictly limited run after an award-winning, sell-out TravFest22, this heart-warmingly and side-splittingly humorous gig musical is crammed full of time-stopping moments, stomach-flipping, stolen moments, glances, and plenty of tunes.

With an original live score that builds and loops in on itself, Bloody Elle conjures the environment of a full band on stage and transforms the Traverse 1 into a packed-out arena tour. This love tale with a difference, as Elle finds herself lost in the beauty of a disrobed night sky, trundling through life with her mother, everything. Absolutely everything changes when Elle meets Eve.

Fringe first award winner of 2022 and one of our absolute top picks of last year, and this year’s, Fringe.

Various times (85minutes) 8th – 13th, Aug 2023
Venue 15: Traverse Theatre
10 Cambridge Street, EH1 2ED
Tickets: £22.00 (Con. available)

Sean and Daro Flake It ‘Til They Make It

This heat means one thing, there’s money to be made from an ice cream van.

And these two lads are on the case once again, returning to the Traverse Theatre this Edinburgh Festival Fringe after a hugely successful run earlier this year.

Seeking an escape from the humdrum and limited options in their lives in the outskirts of Glasgow, Sean, freshly dropping out of uni, teams up with the gallus Daro, oozing with natural charisma and business “acumen”, take all they have and place it into the dream team of frosty treats as they buy an ice cream van.

Join the pair on an adventure of friendship, finances, flakes, and fuds around Glasgow. An intimate production which tackles the cold world of confectionary – have a look at our thoughts on this frozen treat of a show here.

Various times (75 minutes) 5th-6th, 8th-13th, 15th-20th Aug 2023
Venue 15: Traverse Theatre
10 Cambridge Street, EH1 2ED
Tickets: £22.00 (Con. available)

How to Live a Jellicle Life: Life Lessons from the 2019 Hit Musical Cats

If you’re not quite finished with Awkward Productions and Linus Karp just yet, why not follow up from Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story and be tempted into catching the award-winning returning show: *deep breath*

How to Live a Jellicle Life: Life Lessons from the 2019 Hit Musical Cats.

A mouthful of a title, and we’re here for it.

Providing a Jellicle discussion surrounding the Jellicle aspects of the Jellicle cats of Cats, and just how you might be able to apply these to your own life and make it more, well, Jellicle.

With plenty of laughs, dancing, and one killer PowerPoint presentation, this evening of Queer chaos is back and ready to present itself to audiences again.

21.40pm (60 minutes) 17th – 20th, 22nd – 27th, Aug 2023
Venue 23: Pleasance Domw – AceDome
1 Bristo Square, EH8 9AL
Tickets: £12.00 (Con. available)

DARKFIELD

Master’s and innovators of immersive experiences, pushing the forefront of theatre into the realms of ever more short-length intimate production, DARKFIELD return to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe with a mix of returning favourites and a newly crafted piece.

First established in 2022, DARKFIELD returns with their converted shipping containers to the outside of the Pleasance Dome, first with the spectacular SÉANCE. It’s an atmospheric and manipulative miniature piece of theatrical performance which confronts your securities in your senses. A richly immersive experience of the supernatural right in the heart of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, have a look at our thoughts on the show from last year.

Joining its sister production outside Pleasance Dome is EULOGY; a surreal and otherworldly journey through a dreamscape, a labyrinthine hotel in our mind. Equally as intense and exhilarating as any piece DARKFIELD have done before, binaural sound and speech deceive audiences into voyaging down corridors and into the bowels of this strange hotel. Just make sure you don’t volunteer to become the subject of today’s eulogy.

They’re also bringing an entirely new show, in another shipping container, which premieres as part of the Summerhall festival programme: ARCADE. This interactive narrative utilises the nostalgic joy of 8-bit aesthetic and 80s video game culture. This choose-your-own-adventure with deep, existential questions, is sure to be another successful entry into the DARKFIELD library.

SEANCE – Various times (20 minutes) 2nd – 28th, Aug 2023
EULOGY – Various times (35 minutes) 2nd – 28th Aug 2023
ARCADE – Various times (30 minutes) 2nd – 28th Aug 2023
SEANCE & EULOGY – Venue 16: Pleasance Dome (1 Bristo Square, EH8 9AL)
ARCADE – Venue 26: Summerhall – The Terrace (1 Summerhall, EH9 1PL)

Black Is The Color Of My Voice

Unquestionably one of the most impressive and lasting performances in previous years, Fringe First and Spirit of the Fringe award winner Apphia Campbell’s remarkable solo show, inspired by the life of Nina Simone, Black Is the Colour of My Voice, is back at this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Going beyond a mere performance, Campbell embodies the essence of Simone, while retaining a sense of self. A powerful and memorable production, celebrating ten years at the Fringe, Black Is The Color Of My Voice will leave audiences smiling through streams of tears. If you haven’t already seen it, or quite rightly want to see it again, book your tickets now.

15.00pm (70 minutes) 14th-15th, 17th-19 Aug 2023
Venue 150: Pleasance at EICC – Pentland Theatre
150 Morrison Street, EH3 8EE
Tickets: £17.00 (Con. available)