Get in, losers. This is award-winning circus, comedy and chaos disguised as a house party, featuring world-leading performers from Cirque du Soleil, La Clique, The 7 Fingers and more. Sophie’s Surprise 29th is stumbling back to Circus Hub after a smash-hit season in 2024. Expect Twilight fan fiction, death-defying circus feats and a pumping soundtrack at the craziest party of your life. Get your Walkmans, scrunchies and halter tops ready, and remember... don’t tell Sophie. 

Edinburgh, are you ready? Warriors, are you ready? Created in New York and Chicago, BATSU! returns to the Fringe after a wildly successful, sold-out 2024 run. This high-energy, spectacle pits fearless comedians against each other as they compete to avoid hilarious, jaw-dropping punishments.  Inspired by Japanese-style game shows, expect the unexpected in this late-night Fringe hit. With visits from Sake Ninjas to shocking twists like paintball guns, electric shocks, and even a giant chicken - don’t miss the chaos, the laughter and the unforgettable madness that is BATSU! - The wildest show at the Fringe! CLICK HERE  for more BATSU! shows in Cowgate! 

Ages 8 to 8,000: the thrills of bingo, robot frogs and low-cost prizes for the whole family. The UK's #1 IT consultants, Pete and Lloyd, present the perfect all-ages, interactive quirky bingo-based experience. Play using your (charged!) phone, but in a fun way! From the comfort of your seat, control the show, steer a robotic shopping bag and attempt to draw a perfect circle. Just bring your phone. There's no app to install, it works in your normal browser. No technical skill required; we'll get everyone connected before it starts.

In this family-friendly show created by Parlapatões, a renowned Brazilian theatre and circus company, four clowns, called 'Dias' (Portuguese for 'days'), embark on a journey through the day, filled with laughter and surprises. They break the rules of everyday life, discovering endless possibilities. Inspired by Edward Lear, the poet and illustrator who coined the term 'nonsense'. This show blends pantomime and clowning, featuring a performance rich in visuals and sound effects. The Parlapatões Group is an incredibly successful and long-standing theatre group with an impressive history of 34 years. Over the years, they have produced no less than 70 shows, including plays, street theatre, circus and children's shows, always with an original and unmistakable language. The group operates from its base at Espaço Parlapatões, a significant cultural venue situated in the heart of São Paulo. Since it opening its doors in 2006, this venue has produced and hosted a huge number of annual shows, festivals and events, and has become a real icon in the city of São Paulo. It's a place where theatre and circus artists from all over the country come together. As well as premiering new shows and running seasons, the group also tours its repertoire of shows throughout Brazil, bringing its vibrant energy and originality to audiences across the country.

Summer 2022. Ngofeen gets his first big assignment at The New Yorker. It’s about the global mpox outbreak (known at the time as “monkeypox”), and he’s the ideal reporter: his family comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo (the virus’s origin), and infections are spreading through sexual contact within New York’s queer community, including his own social circle. With two million people preparing to attend NYC Pride in a few weeks, getting the word out is critical. But writing publicly about queerness terrifies Ngofeen. He only recently broke a lifelong vow of celibacy and began going on dates. Now, by writing the article, Ngofeen is risking a confrontation with his religious community while fearing the gay man he’s becoming. Combining behind-the-scenes reporting, real audio interviews, flights of fantasy, nerdy tangents, and cameos from John Oliver, Anthony Fauci and more, THE MONKEYPOX GOSPEL testifies to the truth about viruses – they reveal the crises we ignore, the ones waiting to be faced. written by Ngofeen Mputubwele directed by Alex Hare performed by Ngofeen Mputubwele and Alex Hare Adapted from the new podcast. Artwork: @danieleldibujo

Vittorio Angelone has always denied any involvement in the Edinburgh Fringe.

A knockout solo show about one woman's love of pro wrestling. Part confessional, part exuberant oral history of sports entertainment's greatest matches and most loved characters. Acclaimed comedian Tegan Verheul leaves no Stone (Cold) unturned in her unflinchingly raw autobiographical debut that grapples with heartbreak, friendship and the healing power of bloodsport. Riotously funny, unexpectedly touching, brilliantly human. You will leave a wrestling fan. 

Tall Child is an hour on the impossibilities of being alive right now. In this age of insecurity, in a cost-of-living crisis, we're all stuck in the shit so let's wade through it together. Armed with nothing but a little red loop pedal and her ever-growing rage, Holly Spillar is looking for the catharsis only art (made by low-income people, working two bad jobs on minimum wage) can provide. 

Musical mayhem abounds in a show that has to be seen to be believed. You suggest a title and seconds later the curtains open on a brand-new musical for the first, last and only time. Everything is made up on the spot. You'll be on the edge of your seat throughout as Australia's finest improvisers create a musical full of hijinks, harmonies and hilarity. It's unrehearsed. It's unpredictable. It's Impromptunes.

Glynis Traill-Nash lives a double life: fashion writer by day, jazz singer by night. Now the two collide in this soirée of chic! Dressed to thrill and accessorised with a set list of stylish chansons, Glynis will take you from the suburbs of Perth to the front rows of Paris to unpick the world of fashion in alarmingly relatable fashion. Adelaide Fringe Weekly Award Winner 2025.

Award-winning Stefania Licari, expat and medic-turned-comic, promises to make the audience a little bit more Italian, 10% sexier and 100% happier in her new show. After sell-out runs of her previous work at Edinburgh Fringe 2022, 2023 and 2024, Stefania has established herself as a rising star and one of the most exciting international acts in the circuit. This is your unique chance for comedy, pizza and endless love all rolled into an authentic Italian drama. 

Ted Hill is a multimedia comedian who has just found out that he is weird. Come and watch him work out some new material about what sort of weirdo he wants to be. Nominated for Best Show – 2024 ISH Edinburgh Comedy Awards. British Comedy Guide Recommended Show 2022 and 2024.  

Dive into a magical world where dreams and reality blur in a breathtaking fusion of bubble magic and aerial flight. Maxwell the Bubbleologist soars above the stage, creating millions of shimmering bubbles with every leap and twirl. This dazzling spectacle captivates children and adults alike, with interactive moments, joyous laughter and awe-inspiring visuals. It's the perfect family outing – playful, poetic and filled with wonder. After the show, the enchantment continues as children chase and pop bubbles outside, carrying the magic into the air. A heart-opening experience that will leave audiences smiling long after.

In Nose Dive Assembly we meet Pierrot, the distracted mistress of ceremonies, who is meant to be running the show – but she can’t focus. The circus swirls around her, yet something’s holding her back. While the troupe take to the skies, she’s stuck on the ground. She yearns to fly. Featuring a range of large-scale contemporary circus disciplines including teeterboard, highwire and the Wheel of Death – a huge rotating apparatus described as 'hypnotic to watch... when momentum builds, it’s as if the person reaching the summit has a moment of zero gravity' (Guardian).

Nancy, new to town and catastrophically behind schedule, is too busy blasting Celine Dion to notice her guests are due to arrive… any minute now! Played by acclaimed acrobatic clown Arielle Lauzon, Nancy scrambles to pull off the perfect party with the assistance of her wildly talented (yet largely unhelpful) friends, and the pressure is on for everything to be perfect! What follows is a riot of high heels on treadmills, human-sized balloons, extravagant costume changes, and astonishing physical feats - all soundtracked by the spirit of a certain legendary French-Canadian diva. With a cast of all elite female and non-binary performers, The Ruckus is a fierce, funny, glitter-soaked explosion of skill.    

It was a bright and sunny day at the circus when the Ugly Duckling waddled up to their trapeze... Wait. Are we really still using the word 'ugly'? Aren't we rewriting this story to be about belonging and celebrating difference? A reimagining of the classic coming-of-age tale with an acrobatic twist! Bringing together the best of circus and storytelling to produce an energetic and hilarious yet heartwarming family-friendly experience focusing on celebrating difference and finding your tribe.

DESPERATE WEE GAY BOY dives headfirst into the whirlwind life of Ollie, a chaotic but lovable Scot navigating London's queer nightlife. From tequila-fuelled dance floors to messy encounters with geezers on Grindr, to the high school crush he ached to get with, to Phil Mitchell in a sauna? How iconic can one gay boy be! Join Ollie on a sexy-ass odyssey of a night out in this not-so one-man show exploring what it means to crave connection in a world of fleeting thrills.

A new collection of smart, funny and deeply moving story-songs inspired by current affairs, family affairs and affairs of the heart. A perfect way to start your day at the Fringe. Celebrating 20 years at Edinburgh. 'His songs make you laugh, bring you to tears, warm your heart and break your heart' (FringeReview.co.uk). From the creator of the award-winning Fringe and Off-Broadway show Jewish Chronicles. 

Pear are 6 foot 7 identical twin comedians Hugo and Patrick McPherson. In 2024, their show was named in the Top Ten Best Reviewed Shows of the Edinburgh Fringe, garnering ten five-star reviews while selling out a third consecutive year at the festival. Now, they add Late With Pear: a riotous, out-of-control, late-night extravaganza which promises mayhem, comedy guests and all the jokes they can only tell under the cover of night. 

It is 1984.  Tess and Riley have let the world bend them over a table for all of their lives.  A series of unfortunate events sends the girls spiralling straight to rock bottom, forcing them face to face with reality for the first time in their lives. From deep in the pits of being in terrible, terrible debt to the tax man, a stroke of grace leads them to the office of Rabbi Adelstein, a wise Bostonian lesbian, who asks the girls to consider whether they’d like to remain asleep at the wheel. No, say the girls. We’d like to fuck the world back. Thus begins their journey to rally the gay, horny youths to take over New York City, so they can save the world. This is the story of the Horniest Girls in New York City, and their quest for world domination. THGINYC.com

During a long summer in a stifling Midlands town, local student Ivan goes missing. Questions and anxieties build, but Ivan's friend – a CCTV operator – is convinced he'll find him. Meanwhile, a skilfully crafted conspiracy surrounding the disappearance proliferates on the web. Hanging over the town is a new star, burning brighter than the rest... bringing with it a haunting sense of unease and uncertainty. Through fragmented footage and reflections on a lost friendship, our surveillance operator is forced to peer into dark places to uncover the truth about what happened to his friend.