Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2024 invites audiences to #UnleashYourFringe as full programme revealed

12 June 2024

We are delighted to launch the official 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe programme. Once again, the programme celebrates the diverse selection of work at the Fringe, spanning genres and themes.

This year’s programme features work across 3,317 shows, with themes tackling some of the most topical issues in the world today. From politics and current affairs to the environment; AI and technology to sport; LGBTQ and neurodiverse-led work to capitalism and the female experience – this year's festival brings together performers from across the world, from homegrown Scottish talent to international artists travelling from near and far.

The Fringe is recognised as one of the most important cultural events on the planet, with performers from 58 countries appearing in Edinburgh this August.

Launching the 2024 Fringe programme, Shona McCarthy, Chief Executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, said: ‘Revealing the programme is such an exciting moment for everyone involved in the Fringe, and we encourage audiences to jump right in, book some things that you know you will love, and take a chance on something new.

'The Fringe programme is bursting with every kind of performance, so whether you’re excited for theatre or cabaret, or the best of comedy, music, dance, children’s shows, magic or circus, get ready to unleash your Fringe this August and experience the creativity, excitement and passion artists bring to Edinburgh every year.’

‘Thank you to everyone who has a hand in making the Fringe happen. To artists, venues, workers, producers, technicians, promoters and support staff, we appreciate you and hope you have a fantastic Fringe. Thank you to Edinburgh’s local business community for your support; to Scotland’s residents who come out in their thousands, and to all audiences who keep the Fringe buzz alive by coming to see work. Bring on August!’

Browse 2024 Fringe shows

Here are some of the headlines from this year's launch:

New show additions

Some new shows have been added to the programme since the most recent batch was revealed on 09 May.

Join Macbeth for Bairns (Scottish Storytelling Centre, p 38) for an ‘immersive, sensory, theatrical version of Macbeth complete with bubbles’, or Cyrano (Traverse Theatre, p 276) for ‘a big-hearted, irreverent rom-com for our times.’

Head to ... and Jazz was born in Scotland... (The Jazz Bar, p 198) to celebrate the ‘shared history between jazz and Scottish folk music’, or Ali Affleck presents: 1933 – Wild Women of the Prohibition (Argyle Cellar Bar, p 197) to toast '30 years of pioneering blues and hokum'. Made in Scotland Gigs presented by Wide Days (La Belle Angele, p 215) is the ‘perfect opportunity to connect with the Scottish music scene and get a snapshot of some of the best emerging talent'.

‘Where better to hear Robert Burns' famous poem Address to a Haggis than at the Haggis Box Café in the Scottish Storytelling Centre!’ Drop into the Scottish Storytelling Centre (p 242) ‘to hear a different surprise performer each day deliver a rousing rendition of Burns' ode to the Great Chieftain o’ the Puddin-race'.

New and interesting venues

As always, shows are popping up in unique and surprising spaces around Edinburgh and beyond during August. You’re Needy (sounds frustrating) (Buccleuch Terrace, p 341) takes place in a bathtub and is for an audience of one, exploring ‘a woman’s retreat from everyday life in pursuit of peace, solitude and "wellness"’. The Bookbinder (Buccleuch Terrace, p 341) ‘weaves shadow-play, paper-art, puppetry and music’ in an atmospheric bookshop.

As well as their new year-round home Hootanannies @ Home Street, Hootenannies @ Potterrow has yurts hosting over 30 shows including Suchandrika Chakrabarti: Doomscrolling (p 159) with Suchandrika trying to ‘explain chronically-online era to her niece (5); a ‘soothsaying laundry hag, a doe-eyed starlet and the mob's dry-cleaner' in Ozzy Algar: Speed Queen (Work in Progress) (p 136); and Femme Fatigue (p 87), one woman's story living with chronic fatigue.

C alto is a new venue for C Arts at the Quaker Meeting House. Pleasance have introduced a new space, Grotowski Institute at Pleasance at EICC for three shows including Nobody Meets Nobody, ‘a physical theatre of emotions’ (p 312).

The Hibernian Supporters Club, a local Edinburgh social club, joins the Fringe as a venue, hosting Athens of The North (p 263), ‘an episodic, interwoven monologue and love letter to the city of Edinburgh’. Mad Dogs and an Englishman, a comedy show about dog training (p 120), takes place in a new venue over in Portobello, The Wash House.

The two musicals – Deacon Brodie, a ‘real-life drama in a shadowy world’ (p 230), and FLESH, a Burke and Hare re-telling 'with a comic twist and original folk rock songs’ (p 232) – both take place in new venue The Mackenzie Building.

PBH’s Free Fringe @ Little Plaza is a new space for children’s shows in a year-round play café.

No. 11 Boutique Hotel & Brasserie is a new venue near Easter Road, offering both A Cup of Tea with George Eliot (p 275) and an exhibition on Pigeon Poo (p 192).

Thanks to our supporters and partners

The Fringe Society is grateful to our wonderful sponsors Johnnie Walker Princes Street, TikTok, Cirrus Logic, Innis & Gunn, Playbill, JetBlue, Indeed Flex and Edinburgh Gin.

We're grateful too to the UK Government and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport for their support of the Keep it Fringe Fund and their generous support of the new home for the Fringe Society.

We are grateful for funding through the PlaCE Programme, a partnership between the Scottish Government – through Creative Scotland – the City of Edinburgh Council and Festivals Edinburgh; and to the Scottish Government for Made in Scotland through the Festivals Expo Fund – managed through Creative Scotland.

Many thanks to EventScotland and City of Edinburgh Council for their support of Fringe street events, and to Crowdfunder for supporting artist and venue crowdfunding.

Thanks to Screen Scotland for their support of Screen Fringe, and Bloomberg Connects for their partnership in creating a new digital guide, sharing the history and stories of the festival.

We'd also like to thank accommodation partners who provide much needed affordable accommodation to artists – Queen Margaret University, the University of Edinburgh, Theatre Digs Booker, Heriot-Watt University and Napier University. Health in Mind are also returning in 2024 to support the delivery of mental health and wellbeing services within Fringe Central.

Thanks also to Fringe Patrons, Friends and supporters who help make the Fringe happen each year, and to those who provide support in many other ways, including Virgin Hotel Edinburgh and the Kimpton Hotel Edinburgh.

This year, we're delighted to welcome Edinburgh International Film Festival to the Fringe community, in a partnership that will showcase their world-class programme of cinema across the city – including in Fringe venues – and allow audiences to experience work from the Fringe and Film festivals side-by-side.

Keep it Fringe

Supported by £1 million from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) over two years (2024 and 2025), we are supporting 180 recipients of £2,500 bursaries this year. The fund received 749 applications, which were reviewed by 30 independent assessors.

This year’s recipients reflect the diversity and variety that makes up the Fringe. Work covers a range of subjects from immigration to fake news and imposter syndrome to séances, ADHD diagnoses to fortune cookies, and sibling dynamics to addiction, with companies and artists covering nearly every genre in the Fringe programme. Representing a mix of free and ticketed shows, 41% of the successful applicants identify as disabled or have a health condition, and more than one in three come from a working-class background. Read more about the Keep it Fringe recipients this year.

Fringe Central

Fringe Central this year is at the Grassmarket Centre, 86 Candlemaker Row, in partnership with the Grassmarket Community Project. Fringe Central is a fully accessible and inclusive space for Fringe artists, arts industry and media, open between 10:00 and 17:00, seven days a week. This space is for anyone and everyone involved with the festival.

Artists can access Fringe Society services and take advantage of local mental health charity Health in Mind's mental health and wellbeing support. Services will include one-hour person-centred support sessions, tailored to the artist's needs, providing an opportunity to explore any difficulties artists are having while performing at the Fringe.

Industry and media can access Fringe Society ticketing and accreditation services, and meet with Arts Industry and Media teams, while benefitting from a quiet place to work.

The Fringe Society will be hosting a programme of participant-focused events, including discussions of topics relevant to the sector and social / networking meetups, such as workshops on touring, networking, pitching, social media marketing. Check out the 2024 Fringe Central events programme (.pdf).

Street events

The world-famous Fringe street events will take place in their usual home of the High Street and the Mound, and feature international street performers and buskers, mingling with Fringe artists and other festival favourites to provide a fun and varied family-friendly experience. We'd like to thank Unique Events, who will manage the Mound street events area. The street events will run daily from 02–26 August – you can find out more about the Fringe street events.

Street performances interpreted in British Sign Language will take place on 11, 17 and 22 August in West Parliament Square. For a comprehensive list of BSL interpreted, captioned, audio described and relaxed performances on offer at the Fringe, please visit our accessible show listings.

Through the Community Stage, there will be performance opportunities for schools and community groups from Edinburgh and the Lothians on a Fringe stage on the High Street on 22 and 23 August. Contact: [email protected].

Community engagement and access

The Fringe Days Out programme continues for its sixth year with 37 community partners, including four new partnerships for 2024. The scheme provides Fringe vouchers, bus tickets and additional support to people in Edinburgh who may not otherwise have the opportunity to experience the festival. Since 2017, there have been 16,000 Fringe visits through Fringe Days Out. Find out more about Fringe Days Out.

Local communities will have the opportunity to enjoy Fringe at... events, running from July to August. Three events will take place with Broomhouse Street Party, Valley Park Community Centre and another to be announced.

Through our Community Ticketing Initiative (CTI), participating Fringe artists and companies generously donate free tickets for people in and around Edinburgh who might not otherwise have the opportunity to attend the festival. Each year, more than 50,000 tickets are donated – we are incredibly appreciative of these artists. Find out more about the Community Ticketing Initiative.

The Fringe Society remains committed to improving access to the Fringe. Through a number of projects, our ambition is to ensure the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is as accessible to as many people as possible.

  • The Communities and Schools resource guide highlights shows selected based on themes submitted by schools and community groups, as well as recommendations from third-party organisations. The guide has been designed by a graduate of Edinburgh College’s HND Design course and will be available on edfringe.com later this month. Contact [email protected] for more information.
  • Sensory resources will be available again for Fringe audiences and artists. They include a range of sensory tools, such as fidget tools, earplugs and sunglasses. Fringe Central will have a supply for artists, and they'll also be available at the Relaxed Meet the Media event. Resources can also be pre-ordered and delivered before the Fringe via a form on our website which goes live on 19 June.
  • The Fringe Society are hiring four captioning units, and giving to three venues: Summerhall, Scottish Storytelling Centre and Assembly. An additional unit is available to borrow from the Fringe Society for any Fringe artist. We have webinars on the basics of captioning, and we are providing 14 shows with a captioner. Captioning software is available to all artists. Find out more about the 2024 captioning offer.
  • Two audio description units are available to borrow from the Fringe Society, and we are hosting an audio description webinar in partnership with the Audio Description Association Scotland. Find out more about the 2024 audio description offer.

60% of Fringe shows in the 2024 programme are accessible to wheelchair users, with 158 Fringe venue spaces currently accessible to wheelchair users.

Find out more about accessibility at the Fringe.

Learning

Building on the success of previous years, the Fringe Society is supporting local schools and teachers to experience the Fringe. This includes our Fringe Days Out – Schools work, which supports three Edinburgh secondary schools: Gracemount High School, Tynecastle High School and St Augustine’s RC High School.

Eight young people from these Fringe Days Out schools have spent the past 18 months in the pilot project of the Young Fringe Ambassadors. They have been introduced to Fringe venues, learnt about programming, had a session with our Artist Services team, seen shows at the Fringe, met with creative professionals in a speed-networking session, and are now attending monthly workshops at Edinburgh College exploring various aspects of performing arts. Work-shadowing opportunities are taking place in Fringe venues and events during August.

Schools in North Edinburgh can apply for up to £400 to spend on seeing shows at the Fringe or inviting Fringe artists into their school through the Fringe Be Inspired fund. Find out more: Schools call-out: apply for the Fringe Be Inspired Fund.

Marketplace

Fringe Marketplace returns to help ensure that artists’ work has a life that extends long after the Fringe. Thousands of industry professionals from across the arts and screen sectors visit the festival to discover talent, book work and network with peers from across the globe at the world’s largest arts marketplace. The Fringe Arts Industry team provides year-round support and guidance for industry members who are looking to find talent, programme work and connect with other industry professionals. The Arts Industry Office facilitates the offer of more specialised programme recommendations and advice throughout the festival for incoming bookers.

Central to the Arts Industry Office, Fringe Marketplace offers an industry-facing online platform to connect accredited programmers, presenters and commissioners with professional artists and work that’s ready to be shared beyond the festival. Offering clips, images and detailed technical information to programmers, Fringe Marketplace helps support visiting bookers to discover talent and fuels the onward life of festival shows.

Screen Fringe

Screen Fringe is a dedicated concierge service for TV and film professionals attending the Edinburgh festivals, designed to help delegates discover the best theatre and comedy talent from Scotland, the UK and beyond.

With a decades-long list of now mythic Fringe success stories (Baby Reindeer, Fleabag, Taskmaster, The League of Gentlemen), the Edinburgh festivals offer an incomparable opportunity to discover original voices and IP rich with potential for screen development.

Funded by Screen Scotland and delivered in partnership together with the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Screen Fringe offers accredited screen delegates bespoke assistance in order to make the most of all available Fringe opportunities. Support includes:

  • one-to-one festival programme navigation, recommendations and day planning, built on expert industry commentary and advance research
  • contact information for key talent or their representatives, as well as other IP and development information not available to the general public
  • invitations to exclusive events and showcases, as well as the Screen Fringe programme of case studies, industry panels and networking sessions.

With so much happening at the festivals in such a short space of time, getting a head start on making the most of your visit is invaluable. If your priority is seeing the best new talent and ideas the festivals have to offer, our priority is to make that experience frictionless.

All Screen Fringe enquiries should be directed to [email protected].

Made in Scotland

Launched in 2009, the Made in Scotland programme is a collaboration between the Fringe Society, the Federation of Scottish Theatre, Scottish Music Centre and Creative Scotland, showcasing the best in homegrown dance, theatre and music with 14 shows this year across 10 venues. To date over 100 shows have gone on through the onward touring opportunities it offers, visiting over 40 countries, providing an unparalleled opportunity to showcase Scottish work around the world. Made in Scotland is made possible by support from the Scottish Government’s Festivals Expo Fund. For the full programme go to madeinscotlandshowcase.com.

International work

There are 13 showcases presenting work from abroad at the Fringe and work for international touring. Regions represented in 2024 are Scotland, England, Canada, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Denmark, Germany, Hong Kong, Australia, Korea, Luxembourg, Quebec, and Taiwan.

Fringe facts 2024

  • 3,317 total shows
  • 262 total venues
  • 51,446 performances
  • Work from Scotland: 849
  • Rest of UK: 1,521
  • Countries represented: 58 (including UK countries)
  • International countries: 54 (excluding UK countries)
  • There are 354 free shows and 577 Pay What You Can / Want shows
  • There are 849 Scottish shows, with 608 shows coming from Edinburgh.
  • Shows within each section:
    • Cabaret and variety – 156 shows (4.7%)
    • Children’s shows – 116 shows (3.5%)
    • Comedy – 1,310 shows (39.5%)
    • Dance, physical theatre and circus – 115 shows (3.5%)
    • Events – 54 shows (1.6%)
    • Exhibitions – 43 shows (1.3%)
    • Music – 343 shows (10.3%)
    • Musicals and opera – 137 shows (4.1%)
    • Spoken word – 160 shows (4.8%)
    • Theatre – 883 shows (26.6%)

Browse 2024 Fringe shows

Other projects happening this year

Fringe venues continue to offer support and interventions to enable artists' participation in the festival through various awards, programmes and partnerships. This includes the return of Underbelly's Untapped Award in collaboration with New Diorama Theatre and Concord Theatricals, Pleasance's Charlie Hartill Fund which was established in 2004, and Assembly's ART Award which recognises new Scottish writing. New for this year is a partnership between theSpaceUK and LMA which supports graduate young creatives from LMA Liverpool and LMA London in performing their work on the Fringe stage.

Venues across the Fringe are continuing to provide opportunities for Fringe artists to present their work to the global community of arts industry, including through new pitching platform Fringe Fragments at Dance Base, Table Reads at Monkey Barrel, with DLT Entertainment, where four selected new TV comedy scripts will be brought to life by comedians, and through the return of Summerhall Surgeries which this year sees 8 artists showcase excerpts of unfinished work. 

Thumbnail photo credit: Jess Shurte.