#UnleashYourFringe as full 2024 programme revealed

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).

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: communities@edfringe.com.

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 screen@edfringe.com.

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.

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.

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%)

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 learning@edfringe.com 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.