Edinburgh Festival reviews from locals, including but not limited to Edinburgh Fringe Festival reviews, are found here for easy access. A few tips on planning an Edinburgh festival visit are at the bottom of the page, and before that, you’ll find links to curated festival news.
We’ve built a Free PHB Fringe show finder, too.
Days until the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Edinburgh Festival 2027
The Edinburgh International Festival and the Festival Fringe both return on 6th August 2027, running through until 30th and 31st August respectively, as part of the city’s wider summer festival season.
The latest Festival reviews
A witty, neurodivergent, poetic and multimedia millennial crisis about chasing chaos, fearing boredom and slowly figuring out what you actually need.
A playful, visceral multimedia exploration of nervous system dysregulation that turns an everyday meltdown into something physical, poetic and deeply human.
Join the Rave-olution with House of Life, where you’ll participate on a masterclass of happiness led by Rave-rand and his trusty sidekick Trev. My favourite show of Fringe 2026!
A banter-driven but playful magician with plenty of tricks up his sleeve and a talent for reading minds and crowdwork, David Alnwick clearly has a love not just of magic tricks, but also the story, the history, and an awareness of the innate creepiness and discomfort created by doing the impossible.
Read more A review of David Alnwick: The Haunted Magician, Fringe 2026
Hell hath no fury like a Scottish woman on her hen do scorned. Nor the three witches running the bar where the evening’s events unfold. Come to Bedlam Theatre for a raucous, celebratory, and fiercely queer night in Limbo (Bar and Kitchen) as our shot boy, drag queen, and DJ prepare for the coming of McBride!
Going against her own advice, Kate Butch, metaphorically naked, trapses around her glass house of comedy. Kate Butch: A Kate In The Hand Is Worth Two In The Butch is a surprisingly candid look at the life and musings of one of the country’s most loved performers. She’s ready to make you laugh, think, question, and delight in all things human and deeply petty.
Read more A review of Kate Butch: A Kate In The Hand Is Worth Two In The Butch, Fringe 2026
If you love a good story, want to be swept away into a vivid and heartfelt romance, and have a healthy understanding of Lancashire culture(not essential, but definitely helpful), this is absolutely a performance not to be missed. I enjoyed every aspect of Our Martin In The Background, and look forward to seeing where and how this work may grow next.
Step into the 80th Annual Tupperware Convention with Jill and Jill, as Coral Bevan and Ricky Hunt delight and horrify with the show they’ve cooked up. Jill’s Tupperware Party is an interactive and immersive glimpse into the camp and cutthroat cult of Tupperware sales. I had the best time, and I hope I’ll see you at the next one, Jill!
Coming into the Udderbelly (my first show inside the big cow this Fringe), I had an idea of what to expect both from parody musicals as a genre and Heated Rivalry as the source material. While this show is absolutely a combination of those two things, and it serves both mostly faithfully, its sum is…
Read more A review of Heated Rivalry: The Unauthorized Musical Parody, Fringe 2026
Comedy and conflict careen toward each other alongside high energy music and dance in Fantasy World Adventures Mega Park! The Musical.
Read more Review: Fantasy World Adventures Mega Park! The Musical, Fringe 2026
You can find all the Edinburgh Fringe and festival reviews on this tag page.
Edinburgh Festivals news
In addition to Edinburgh Fringe Festival reviews and festival reviews, this page is occasionally updated by hand with EdFest news that provides context or might be interesting. Well, that’s the hope!
| Link to Story | Summary | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Artists 'let down' by Edinburgh Fringe forced to cancel shows | (The Scotsman) The Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society has "let down" artists who have been left with empty rooms and cancelled shows due to the later dates of this year's festival, Scottish comedian Susie McCabe has warned. | 2026/08/29 |
| Edinburgh festivals set for 25 per cent visitor levy funding boost | (The Herald) Edinburgh’s festivals are set to secure a 25 per cent funding boost from the capital's new tourist tax after the city’s Labour administration suffered a defeat in a crucial vote. | 2026/08/28 |
| Why is Amanda Knox's upcoming Edinburgh Fringe comedy show causing controversy? | (BBC) Amanda Knox, a woman involved in one of the world's most famous murder cases, is set to perform a comedy show at The Edinburgh Festival Fringe. | 2026/08/06 |
| Are the Edinburgh festivals doing enough to protect free speech? | (BBC) Cultural festivals reflect the times we live in, so it's natural that Edinburgh, home to the world's largest arts festival, should be a noisy mix of opinions. | 2025/08/24 |
| 'Serious failure' in communication between venues and Fringe Society, Assembly founder warns | (The Scotsman) A“lack of communication” between the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society and venues at the festival is a “serious failure”, the head of Assembly has warned. | 2025/08/23 |
| New Edinburgh Fringe award to honour ‘unplatformed’ creatives | (The Stage) A new writing prize celebrating previously unplatformed artists has been unveiled at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, promising to find a "new voice in theatre" | 2025/08/12 |
| US performers seek safety and risk at the Edinburgh Fringe | (Reuters) Eddie Jen, a drag queen from San Francisco, wants to show that "America still fights for kindness", while Abby Govindan, a U.S. stand-up comic of Indian heritage, aims to convince audiences Texas is not what they think. | 2025/08/08 |
| Edinburgh Spiegeltent given permission despite accusations of 'cynical' behaviour | (Edinburgh Evening News) A planning application for an Edinburgh Fringe venue has been branded ‘cynical’ by Edinburgh councillors after it began construction well before permission was granted. | 2025/08/06 |
| Edinburgh festivals diary: Edinburgh, I am ashamed of you after experiencing anti-Fringe aggression | (The Scotsman) An experience of anti-English prejudice results in our diarist Jane Bradley feeling unwelcome in her own home town. | 2025/08/06 |
| Jewish comedian says shows cancelled as Gaza in the spotlight at Edinburgh Fringe | (Sky News) The comedian says she and another Jewish performer were allegedly given three reasons for the cancellation, but that it comes down to "what we bring to that venue by being ourselves". | 2025/08/02 |
| 'Strong concerns' after Edinburgh Fringe venue built in city centre without planning permission | (Edinburgh Evening News) The Famous Spiegeltent in St Andrew Square is returning to the festival after an almost decade long hiatus – and is already up and running after construction started in June. | 2025/07/31 |
| Unions to decide whether to call off bin strike | (BBC) Unions will meet on Monday morning to decide whether to suspend planned strike action by waste workers. | 2024/08/11 |
| Hundreds of cabins still available as FringeShip arrives in Leith Docks for week-long festival stay | (The Scotsman) The venture has failed to take off despite the prospect of festival acts being brought on board to perform for exclusive performances and a free shuttle bus service being laid on to transport festivalgoers to and from the city centre. | 2024/08/11 |
| Liz Truss heckled and booed by audience at Edinburgh Fringe event | (Daily Mirror) Ex-PM Liz Truss appeared at an event at the Edinburgh Fringe festival where was booed and heckled by the audience as she tried to defend her disastrous mini-budget | 2024/08/05 |
| Can Edinburgh survive this tsunami of visitors? | (The Herald) Every summer, Edinburgh residents can be heard bemoaning the number of visitors in the city centre. “It can’t get any busier!” has become an annual refrain, as reliable as the swallows’ return, uttered as locals queue fruitlessly for a bus or circle for an hour in search – the fools – of a parking space. | 2024/08/03 |
| Edinburgh Fringe comedian has 'boycott' graffiti etched on £300 poster | (Edinburgh Evening News) Another Edinburgh Fringe comedian has had a poster defaced with graffiti urging a ‘boycott’ - appearing to show a trend of vandalism in protest against the festival. | 2024/08/02 |
| I caught malaria in a medical trial to fund my Edinburgh Fringe show | (BBC) When comedian John Tothill set his sights on performing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, he knew he would have to take radical action to afford the eye-watering upfront costs. | 2024/08/02 |
| Edinburgh power cut: Festival Fringe hit by massive outage as 'shows stopped' | (Edinburgh Live) There were reports of multiple shows being stopped in the Old Town with much of Newington also affected by the power cut shortly after 5pm. | 2024/08/02 |
| ScotRail announces changes to temporary timetable ahead of Edinburgh Festival | (STV) ScotRail will be adding additional services and carriages for those travelling to Edinburgh in August. | 2024/08/01 |
| Bin collectors confirm Edinburgh Festival strike | (BBC) Waste and refuse workers in Scotland's capital have announced they will go on strike for eight days during the Edinburgh Festival. | 2024/07/31 |
| Edinburgh Fringe comedian 'living in fear' after act only sells three tickets | (Daily Record) Nicole Nadler enjoyed five-star reviews and sell-out shows in 2023, this year could be a flop after spending around £5,000 on her latest gig at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. | 2024/07/27 |
| Former Edinburgh Festival workers tie the knot after 'sliding doors moment' | (Edinburgh Live) Jonny Coe and Jess Menon, 31, met when they both worked at a pop-up bar at St Andrew Square during the Festival Fringe back in 2015. The pair tied the knot on Saturday - but things could have been very different. | 2024/07/24 |
| Preparations for Edinburgh Festival Fringe under way with one week to go | (Edinburgh Live) With just over a week to go until over 3,300 shows will play across Edinburgh, the construction and assembly of the Fringe hot spots is well under way. | 2024/07/24 |
| Tram workers to vote on strike action over 'lack of breaks' | (STV) Edinburgh workers claim they are being prevented from taking comfort breaks due to trams running late. | 2024/07/23 |
| Bin collectors to go on strike during Edinburgh Festival | (BBC) Waste and recycling staff in Edinburgh have voted to strike during the Festival over a pay dispute. | 2024/07/01 |
| New figurehead hired to lead revival of Edinburgh’s ‘fragile’ festivals | (The Scotsman) Edinburgh’s festivals have unveiled a new figurehead to leading efforts to secure the future of the Scottish capital’s “irreplaceable cultural assets.” | 2024/07/09 |
| Edinburgh festival to feature opening event with 10,000 people | (STV) The festival’s full programme will be unveiled on March 7, with tickets going on sale on March 21. | 2024/01/18 |
| EIF's open partnership with The Macallan | (EIF) Central to our 2024 theme, Rituals That Unite Us, the event will be held outdoors, welcoming 10,000+ people to create a new ritual together for the International Festival and the city of Edinburgh. | 2024/01/18 |
| Edinburgh tourist tax: Festival cast and crews should be exempt from tourist tax say festival bosses | (Edinburgh News) Call for Festival casts and crews to be exempt from proposed Visitor Levy in view of poor wages and big boost they bring to Edinburgh economy | 2023/08/27 |
| Edinburgh Fringe digs cost us more than our £10,000 prize | (BBC) The sky-rocketing costs of performing at the Fringe – and the slim chance of breaking even. | 2023/08/09 |
| Assembly Festival ‘could collapse’ over £1.5m City of Culture debt | (BBC) The boss of one of the Edinburgh Fringe’s biggest venue operators has warned the company may not survive another year due to a £1.5m debt. | 2023/08/07 |
| Is this the future of comedy? The AI acts taking to the stage at the Edinburgh Fringe | (Sky) From Courtney Pauroso’s invention, Vanessa 5000, which pokes fun at the emerging technology, to improv led by AI, artificial intelligence is having an impact at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe. | 2023/08/07 |
| ‘You absolutely can’t make money’: can the Edinburgh Fringe survive? | (Independent) Isobel Lewis speaks to performers, producers, food stall owners and community organisers about the problems facing the festival and whether it can be saved. | 2023/08/06 |
| Edinburgh’s festivals urged to spread out of city centre and become less reliant on public funding | (Scotsman) Culture minister suggests new ways of working may be needed. | 2023/08/02 |
| Edinburgh Festival Fringe chiefs defend plan for new multi-million pound HQ | (Scotsman) Organisers of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe defend plans for a multi-million pound new headquarters after the UK Government agreed to help bankroll the idea. | 2023/04/16 |
| Edinburgh Festival Fringe chief warns of ‘existential threat’ due to culture of complacency in Scotland | (Scotsman) The head of the Festival Fringe has warned it is being put at growing risk due to a culture of “complacency”. | 2023/04/11 |
| Transphobia at the Fringe | (Twitter) Yiannis Cove tweets about the abuse Jen Ives has faced. | 2022/08/23 |
| UK’s Summer of Discontent Hits Streets at Edinburgh Fringe | (Bloomberg) It’s horrid out there on the streets, with filth everywhere but doesn’t that show how much we need the hardworking refuse collectors? | 2022/08/22 |
| Raging Edinburgh business owners say Fringe pop-ups are taking their customers | (Edinburgh Live) John Gillespie reports that Underbelly’s offered pop-ups aren’t helping regular shops. | 2022/08/20 |
Planning an Edinburgh Festival visit
This section is a cop-out as I’m not confident in even suggesting to someone travelling to Edinburgh how to plan or manage their festival visit. I’ve never had to. We book time off work, leave enough gaps for food between shows and charge around town.
So, to help answer reasonable questions about planning a visit to the Edinburgh festival, here are some links. Be mindful that hospitality gets expensive.
- Getting to Edinburgh: For most festivals and most of any event, you can walk, taxi or bus everywhere. However, we have Avis, Budget, Enterprize, Europcar, National and Sixt, if you want to hire a car. Several train stations in the city have tickets available from rail providers and trainline.
- Places to stay: Edinburgh has a tense relationship with Airbnb, and the council is actively changing how/if it operates. Therefore, consider Hostel World, Hilton, Apex, Hotel du Vin, Britannia, Malmasion,
- Guides and events: It’s easy to arrange these on the fly, but you can also use Get Your Guide or City Sightseeing.
- One-stop shots: There are the usual big sites to see how much you can arrange in one go (but not tickets for shows), such as TripAvisor, Booking.com, or Last Minute.