The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is the biggest arts festival in the world, with over 3,000 shows. This year, Playbill will be going to Edinburgh in August for the festival and we’re taking you with us. Follow along this summer as we cover every single aspect of the Fringe, aka our real-life Brigadoon!

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe can be intimidating to newcomers and returnees alike. With thousands of different shows on offer, Playbill has sifted through programming from many of the different venue operators at the festival to offer you a handy guide to some of the best at the Fringe.

Begun by Karen Koren in the mid 1980’s, Gilded Balloon is comedy central, with solo shows and stand-up acts dominating their lineup. In recent years, they have expanded to also offer richly dramatic and family friendly offerings as well. While the venue operates year-round, they leap into action during the Fringe, operating as the unofficial home of Australian artists at the Fringe. The following 11 shows will be staged at their Patter Hoose location this year.

SPIN
Pedalling headfirst into the toxic world of fitness, SPIN starts out as an ordinary spin class, and slowly evolves to question how complicit we may or may not be in fatphobia, toxic fitness culture, and a society that jumps on trends to make money, no matter the emotional cost. SPIN explores the dark underbelly of the fitness world that pressures many of us to strive for an unattainable & unhealthy ‘ideal’.

Alba
Fans of new Scottish writing are in for a Fringe feast this year, with the premiere of Alba, an original play by Jack Byrne and Jordan Howat. The performance examines a group of S4 classmates battling with the biggest decision of their young lives so far—the 2014 independence referendum. Navigating history lessons and teenage life in working class Glasgow, Alba explores their national identity as the main character contemplates his country’s future, and his own.

The Collie’s Shed
A tale of love and loss set in a Men’s Shed in East Lothian, The Collie’s Shed follows four retired miners as they journey through time to revisit an unforgettable and violent day during the 1980s mining strikes. With industrial action never far from the headlines in 2023, The Collie’s Shed is an intricate look at friendship as characters wrestle with right, wrong and where they stand on the picket line.

Not Our Crime, Still Our Sentence
A new comedy play by Glaswegian playwright Mikael Philippos, Not Our Crime, Still Our Sentence is inspired by Mikael’s real life, examining how the incarceration of a parent changes an entire family’s lives. Four years into her husband's 16-year prison sentence, Dawn struggles to navigate her family through their new "normal." With two teenage kids, a comical best friend, puberty, washings, sex, Universal Credit, and the price of fabric softener going through the roof—who's really serving time?

Upstart! Shakespeare’s Rebel Daughter Judith
Upstart! Shakespeare’s Rebel Daughter Judith makes its UK premiere at Gilded Balloon, based on the real life daughter of the world’s most celebrated playwright, William Shakespeare, and written by American writer Mary Jan Schaefer. Following the journey of his daughter Judith, a feminist born before her time and a woman refusing to conform to societal expectations of her gender, the show is a powerful retelling of Judith Shakespeare’s extraordinary life, taking a closer look at the sacrifices artists make to bring their work to fruition.

The Beatles Were A Boyband
Fringe First 2022 winners The Beatles Were A Boyband return for 2023, with award-winning playwright Rachel O’Regan and feminist theatre company F-Bomb’s urgent and unapologetically feminine response to misogyny. The play follows three flatmates as their cosy, safe world is rocked by a local woman's murder. Violet loses the confidence to walk home from her late shift, influencer Daisy becomes an accidental activist, and Heather is haunted by past trauma. Celebrating the friendship of the trio, the show is filled with charm and laughter as it depicts the contradictions and compromises its characters face on a daily basis in a world filled with misogyny.

Blossoming (You Undo Me)
Blossoming (You Undo Me) is a stunning one-person musical and coming-of-age tale, following a young Chinese man growing into his queerness. A cross-cultural representation of queer characters across seven roles played by one actor, the performance combines traditional Chinese opera with modern performance techniques. Taking the audience on a journey of family dynamics, sexual and personal awakening, and self-discovery, the show encompasses an immigrant’s journey and a chronicle of one family’s changing dynamics.

Potty the Plant
First created as an award-winning short film, Potty the Plant is a dark-comedy musical starring a singing, talking, tap-dancing pot plant which explores themes of friendship, self-worth, and loyalty, all wrapped up as a truly twisted comedy musical. When mysterious things start happening at Little Boo Boo's General hospital, a ragtag bunch of dysfunctional nurses must pull together to save the day. Inspired by classics such as Little Shop of Horrors, Rocky Horror Picture Show, and The Book of Mormon, it's a musical that will have you grinning from ear to ear.

Junk Monkey
Australian actor and writer Olivia McLeod returns to Edinburgh with the dark comedy Junk Monkey, a rapid-fire monologue and shameless account of 12 hours of sheer desperation following a chance meeting on a train. A solo performance about missed connections, crushing obsession, and the power of a single day, Junk Monkey centers on Olivia, who just met the love of her life on a train. If only she can find her again. And if only her own stupid boyfriend would stop calling her.

Almost Adult
A boisterous coming-of-age comedy and brave confrontation of workplace sexual harassment, Almost Adult is inspired by playwright Charlotte Anne-Tilley’s own experience as a young woman in London. Deploying quick-witted character comedy with a fissure of fury, Anne-Tilley stands up to unacceptable workplace investigation practices surrounding sexual harassment and assault, following an appalling experience at a large immersive entertainment company in London. A big-hearted, honest play which depicts the ways in which we fail ourselves and others, and the internal strength we can call upon in times of hardship.

A Mountain for Elodie
Lastly, Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose will host the world premiere of A Mountain For Elodie, a solo musical from internationally renowned songwriter Benjamin Scheur. An exploration of parenthood, love and loss from the creator of the Drama Desk Award-winning show The Lion, A Mountain For Elodie is a show for anyone who is, or has, a parent. Directed by Olivier Award-winner Polly Findlay, the funny, heartbreaking new show is a tenderly beautiful piece about parenting and life, written as Scheur realises the closure he thought he’d found with his own long-dead father comes to the forefront following the birth of his daughter Elodie.

Hungry for more Fringe recommendations? Check out Playbill Goes Fringe to keep up with our coverage before, during, and after the festival! For more information about Gilded Balloon's Fringe programming, visit https://tickets.gildedballoon.co.uk/