Entertainment / Edinburgh Fringe
The Bristol-born shows going up to the Edinburgh Fringe
Although the costs of going are sadly prohibitive for many, the Edinburgh Fringe is still the pinnacle for many performers.
In 2024 overall ticket sales topped 2.6 million, with over 50,000 performances of nearly 3,750 different shows across the 25-day event.
Here are some of the Bristol-born shows heading up to the biggest arts festival in the world this August.
is needed now More than ever
Lindsey Cole’s The Mermaid, the Otter and the Big Poo
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In inimitable style, Bristol’s very own adventure mermaid brings her latest book to life; the true story of her 60km swim down the river Avon to campaign against sewage pollution on UK waterways. Audiences can expect “songs, dance, games, a splash of audience improv and a whole dump of fun”.
Gilded Balloon Patter House – Dram, July 30-August 17 (not 11) at 11.30am.
Murder, She Didn’t Write
The reliably fantastic show that also manages to be different every time, Degrees of Error are back at the Fringe with their audience-inspired whodunnit.
Photo from Murder, She Didn’t Write, Degrees of Error – photo: Pamela Raith
Gordon Aikman Theatre at Assembly George Square, July 30-August 24 at 3.25pm
How to Win Against History
Fresh from a storming summer run at Bristol Old Vic, Seiriol Davies’ musical based on Henry Cyril Paget, the 5th Marquess of Anglesey is back where it all began, 10 years ago.
Dylan Townley and Seiriol Davies in How To Win Against History – photo: Pamela Raith
Udderbelly at Underbelly, George Square, July 30-August 24 at 7.15pm
The Strongest Girl in the World
From a team of former Bristol Old Vic Theatre School students and current Redgrave Theatre employees comes an emotional tale of discovery, as Truly sets out to piece together memories of her father. “You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll yearn for the early 2000s”, say the company. “Come see this story of fear and bravery that examines how we remember those we’ve lost.”
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Snug at Gilded Balloon Patterhouse, July 30-August 25 (not 12 or 19) at 2.20pm
Amy Mason: Behold!
Mason’s viral videos of Bristol mums in the playground have brought her a legion of new fans in recent years. Her latest show is produced by Queenie Miller.
Amy Mason – photo: Lucy Ridges
Baby Grand at Pleasance Courtyard, July 30-August 25 (not 13) at 5.50pm
Adam Jones and Jess Lo: Daddy Issues
New comedians Jones and Lo will be making their Edinburgh Fringe debut this summer, with an hour of standup “about their lives and their (very different) dads”.
Upstairs at Laughing Horse @ Bar 50, July 31-August 12 at 2.45pm
June Tuesday: Comic Trans (plus Friend)
This Welsh New Act Finalist 2024 and Leicester Comedian of the Year nominee, 2025 is going places. For 2025, she presents a show about being “a toxic trans mess”, and “taking HRT from the gutter”.
June Tuesday – photo: courtesy of the artist
Nineties at Laughing Horse @ City Café, July 31-August 24 at 2.25pm
Wild Thing!
Tom Bailey’s award-winning Mechanimal present a sequel to the acclaimed show Vigil, described as “a wickedly feral duet between body, sound and species in this nature documentary on steroids”.
TechCube 0 at Summerhall, July 31-August 25 (not 12 or 19) at 1.30pm
Clean Slate
From theatremakers Louisa Marshall and Amber Charlie Conroy comes “a darkly comic, highly interactive one-woman piece exploring the effects of weaponised incompetence and unpaid domestic labour.
“It’s funny”, they say. “We promise”.
Former Gents Locker Room at Summerhall, July 31-August 24 at 5.50pm
Sally-Anne Hayward: Older. Bolder
A veteran of the UK standup scene, Hayward has toured internationally with Sarah Millican and is back at the Fringe for one week only.
Hive 1 at Monkey Barrel Comedy, August 1-7 at 4.15pm
Jayde Adams: How to Lose and Not Cry
The queen of Bristol comedy – and perhaps all of Bristol – is performing in Edinburgh for one night only, in a 100-seater Fringe venue that’s brand-new for 2025. She tells the semi-autobiographical and poignant story of Dawn, whose life is “stitched with sequins and steeped in legacy”.
Jayde Adams, How to Lose and Not Cry – photo: Shedinburgh
Shedinburgh at Shedinburgh, August 2 at 6pm
Scarlett Smith: Any Objections?
The electroacoustic harpist and comedian presents a genre-defying debut Fringe hour, in which audiences can expect “wedding industry musings, a fateful boat trip and an interactive gameshow in this whimsical world where chaos meets creativity”.
Scarlett Smith – photo: Gavin Jacob Power
Studio at C ARTS, C Venues, C Aquila, August 3-24 at 4.10pm
Marc Burrows’ Britpop Disco
Like it or not, we’re in a 90s revival, and for Britpop fans, that can only be a good thing. Writer-comedian is here and he’s partying like its 1995.
Belly Dancer at Underbelly, Cowgate, August 10, 17 and 24 at 11.30pm
10 Stories High: A New Musical
If you’ve ever wondered what might be the worst thing someone could do if you were stuck in a packed lift, Musical Theatre Bristol – the University of Bristol’s musical theatre society – are here to answer that question. Expect an “off-the-wall, laugh-a-minute musical where 10 lives intertwine”, and “secrets come out when the doors are jammed shut”.
10 Stories High – photo: Music Theatre Bristol
Lower Theatre at theSpace @ Niddry Street, August 11-16 at 3.15pm
Edward (In Memoriam)
Billed as a queer reimagining of Marlowe’s play, from The University of Bristol’s DramSoc.
“It’s 2000. The British military is changing. Marriage should be easy. But not when you’re the Prince of England. And not when you’re in the middle of a war with France. And certainly not when you love him – not her, the woman you’re supposed to be marrying.”
Jade Studio at Greenside @ George Street, August 11-16 at 5.20pm
Thirsty
From Bristol Spotlights comes a show in which every cast member will play every character, with the result that no two shows are ever the same. It’s described as “a bombastic in-yer-face comedy about four queer eccentrics who become entangled in each other’s sex lives, falling into absurd comic sequences and huge farcical set pieces”.
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Willow Studio at Greenside @ Riddles Court, August 11-16 at 9pm
Stuart Goldsmith: An Inconvenient Time
Goldsmith is up at the Fringe for one week only with a work-in-progress hour of all-new climate comedy.
Monkey Barrel 1 at Monkey Barrel Comedy, August 11-17 at 11.05am
The Bristol Suspensions: Ten Things I Sung About You
The international champions and ICCA finalists offer up 10 ways to overcome heartbreak, featuring incontrovertibly belting songs from Stevie Wonder, Olivia Rodrigo, Wicked the Musical and more.
Gilded Balloon at Appleton Tower – Braeburn, August 11-23 at 11.30am
Down to the Felt
From Two Birds Theatre Co comes a new play taking place in an alternate present where totalitarianism has left homosexuality criminalised. “Ailith, her husband Ethan, and his lover Gabriel live happily together, working to protect the two men’s relationship. Yet, as Ailith’s most recent defence case leaves their now-illegal relationships exposed, they are forced to choose between conformity and their love.”
Mint Studio at Greenside @ George Street, August 18-23 at 3.10pm
Pirates of the Aca-ribbean
AcadePitch is made up of the University of Bristol’s two a capella groups, Academy and Pitch Fight. Following a successful crowdfunder, they will be back at the Fringe for the seventh year running.
Lower Theatre at theSpace at Niddry Street, August 18-23 at 3.30pm.
Phil Wathern: Man of Few Words
A week-long Fringe showing from a Bristol comic who has been faring very well at new act competitions in recent times, with routines about “life, death and football”.
Laughing Horse at The Three Sisters – The Wee Room, August 18-24 at 3.45pm, and The Laughing Horse Box, August 24 at 8.15pm.
Venus 2.0
The award-winning Impermanence are reviving their “time-bending cabaret” inspired by the true story of Suffragette-turned fascist, Mary Richardson, asking: “Why did it start? How does it stop? Where does it end?”
Impermanence Dance, VENUS – photo: Jon Archdeacon
Main House at ZOO Southside, August 19-24 at 7.25pm
Hostage Part 2
Bristol artist Andrew Neil Hayes creates a challenging work for small audiences, using performance together with a mix of live and recorded projection to examine the boundaries between our inner and outer worlds. Content
Concrete Block Gallery – Gallery Space at 8pm
For further details and tickets to all shows at the Edinburgh Fringe 2025, visit www.edfringe.com. Please refer to individual show content warnings and age recommendations.
Main photo: Feast Creative (How to Win Against History)
Read next:
- Bristol Spotlights take reality show-inspired play up to the Edinburgh Fringe 2024
- A clutch of Edinburgh Fringe shows will transfer to a packed autumn 2024 season at Bristol Old Vic
- Bristol drag king Riss Obolensky brings ‘Healing King Herod’ to the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe
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