Willkommen! And bienvenue! Welcome!
Everyone is welcome here, as we Have A Gander at the bright lights, sequins, gooey gowns, and smiles of the fantastical world of cabaret, drag, and burlesque-styled entertainment coming to this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Below is a tiny slice of what delights are on offer for this year’s sensual festival; an embracement of queerness, and continued dismantling of the binary. Here, all are encouraged to unwind and learn something about themselves, others, or the subtle art of cabaret.
From now until August kicks off, we’ll be releasing our recommendations of the top theatre, comedy, spoken word, film, music, children’s theatre, dance, and visual arts available to audiences across all the city’s festivals. But this time, rather than focus solely on genre or performance method, we’ll be looking at some of the terrific emerging topics from Fringe Tasties to Sporting, Grassroots Producers to Women Who Made Headlines and Scottish-produced. Come along with us and Have a Gander.
If you have a show coming and would like to chat with us about a Q&A or a review, please do get in touch through the ‘contact’ page where one of the team will get back to you!
Brace yourselves, as a winner of Drag Race UK, Ginger Johnson takes to the Pleasance, switching out her stilettos for safety goggles as they plunge head-first from the runway and into the real world.
With big hair, a bigger heart, and the biggest of laughs, Britain’s ditsiest daredevil drag artists push their limits in just what they will do to get a round of applause. A show bursting with stunts, serving plenty of looks – this isn’t a drag show for the faint of heart.
Venue 33 – Pleasance Courtyard: Beyond
Running time – Sixty minutes
July 31st, August 1st-4th, 6th-11th, 13th-18th, 20th-24th (18:30)
Villains: A Dizney in Drag Parody
Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the evilest of them all? Well, Edinburgh, you’re about to find out…
A hysterical take on the darkest divas of them all, The Hairy Godmothers’ new sinful sequel brings all the delight and creativity of their original Dizney parody back, now with a twisted and vivacious vaudeville with Villains.
Who would want to see a princess, when audiences can get down and nasty with the deliciously devilish likes of the more scandalous, fabulous, and darkest miscreants and reprobates from the ‘other’ side of the Magic Kingdom.
Not enough for you? Too dark and spooky? Well, The Hairy Godmothers‘ original masterpiece, Dizney in Drag: Once Upon a Parody will be on alternating nights at the same venue!
Venue 8 – Assembly George Square: George Aikman Theatre
Running time – Sixty minutes
Villains: August 2nd, 4th-5th, 9th, 11th, 14th, 16th, 18th, 21st, 23rd, 25th (22:35)
Once Upon a Parody: Aug 1st, 3rd, 6th, 8th, 10th, 13th, 15th, 17th, 20th, 22nd, 24th (22:35)
From lands Far, Far, Away (Australia), everyone’s favourite ogre-inspired burlesque tribute and drag parody finally turn Edinburgh into the swamp they’ve longed for.
Award-winning, critically acclaimed, beloved, and raucous, Swamplesque offers audiences an intense smorgasbord of various drag and cabaret goodies – all with a bit of that green-theming.
Venue 35- Assembly Hall: Main Hall
Running time – Sixty minutes
August 1st-11th, 13th-18th, 20th-25th
Ask A Stripper: No Holes Barred
So, just what do strippers do on a day off?
Why do they wear clear plastic shoes? What do strippers wear for Halloween? And what really happens beyond the VIP door in the club? These are just some of the answers Stacey Clare (author of The Ethical Stripper), Gypsy Charms (creator of The Illicit Thrill) plus some special guests bring in the flesh with their raucous, and hilarious feminist show.
Back to answer your deeper questions, and giving harder answers – the G-string is off, and the mysteries surrounding the industry and their work are all laid bare.
Venue 414- Laughing Horse @ The Dragonfly
Running time – Fifty-five minutes
August 1st-4th, 6th-11th, 13th-18th, 20th-25th
Ellie MacPherson: Babe Lincoln
There’s only one person left who can save the Union now. And that person is comedic historian Ellie MacPherson, inspired by their historical hall-pass, as they bring the 16th President of the United States of America to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
A solo cabaret show starring Abraham Lincoln is exactly what he would have wanted; being an enormous fan of the theatre with an all-singing show, sharing stories of America’s past, stories which sound concerningly like its present.
Venue 33 – Pleasance Courtyard: Attic
Running time – Sixty minutes
July 31st, Aug 1st-6th, 8th-11th, 13th-18th, 20th-25th (16:35)
Fresh from a highly acclaimed Australian tour, witness the splendour of outrageous drag, mesmerising visuals, captivating choreography, and breathtaking burlesque from masters of the craft!
Get to know them all intimately – both on and off stage – with some revealing documentary-style interviews and eclectic performances, as Edinburgh welcomes Messy Friends.
Venue 3 – Assembly George Studio Gardens: Piccolo
Running time – Sixty minutes
August 1st-12th, 14th-25th (20:55)
Four fierce women.
Scotland’s very own local witches weave a spellbinding tale of Robert Burns, unlike anything we’ve seen before.
Comedy; poetry; music; and untold stories come together to summon the essence of Scotland’s National Bard. Experience and empowering show, filled with laughter and rebellion, in this new writing complete with contemporary takes on classics like Ae Fond Kiss and Auld Lang Syne as the coven summon Rabbie.
Venue 24 – The Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose
Running time – Sixty minutes
August 12th -26th (13:40)
This planet needs one hell of a pep talk.
And who better to give it what-for, than the woman who started it all? Rife with hot flushes, plenty of unresolved asteroid trauma, and still carrying a torch for those dead sexy dinos, Mother Nature is here to (re)assure us that just because we’re on the way out, that doesn’t mean we can’t feel good about it.
A genre-busting rock-comedy that finds Seattle musician and award-winning comedian Bhama Roget bringing the original earth-mother to life with all her brutal charm.
Venue 236 – Greenside @ George Street: Mint Studio
Running time – Fifty minutes
August 2nd-4th, 6th-10th, 12th-17th, 19th-24th (12:50)
Bi-Curious George: Queer Planet
You’re all invited to a celebration of queerness and the animal kingdom, hosted by award-winning drag king and London’s nature boy Bi-Curious Goerge as they bring the comedy, cabaret, and facts to Edinburgh.
Looking to breakdown the heteronormative binaries through a gaze at the natural world, this love letter to nature combines humour, parody, and drag into the guise of a nature documentary. Attenborough, eat your heart out.
Venue 23 – Pleasance Dome: 10 Dome
Running time – Sixty minutes
July 31st, August 1st-11th, 13th-26th (16:15)
Exploring sexuality and sex work in a deeply vulnerable, raw, and bareback fashion, Sex, Camp, Rock’n’Roll is a musical cabaret fantasy with plenty of humour.
An evening of story, sensuality, and song, Ryan Patrick Welsh, aka the 8th-Best Legs in San Francisco, bares it all about their journey as a queer, non-binary horndog. Featuring diva duo The K*ntz! and rock band The Gruntz! buckle up for an evening of refreshing honesty, great music and dazzling entertainment.
Venue 9 – The Space @ Niddry Street
Running time- Sixty-five minutes
August 2nd-10th, 12th-17th, 19th-24th (various times)
Interested in being featured? With many previews and Q&As lined up, we’re always happy to chat about including your show in future articles. Please do get in touch through the contact page to feature in an upcoming ‘Have A Gander’