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.
Days until the Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Edinburgh Festival 2024
The Edinburgh International Festival begins again on the 2nd of August, and the Festival Fringe on the same day, then run to about the 26th and is just one of many in the city.
The latest Festival reviews
A Review of How to Live a Jellicle Life: Life Lessons from the 2019 Hit Musical ‘Cats’
Having seen Linus Karp in Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story and it being my absolute favourite thing I’d seen at the Fringe this year, I swiftly booked myself into this, his other show.
Read more A Review of How to Live a Jellicle Life: Life Lessons from the 2019 Hit Musical ‘Cats’
Review: Lose Yourself in La Clique, Fringe 2023
Admittedly, I’m not new to La Clique – it’s been going for two decades now and first started at the Edinburgh Fringe all those years ago – so a) its reputation proceeds it, and even if it didn’t, b) I know from experience it’s previously produced some of the best circus and variety on the circuit (circus circuit?).
Review: CCTV, Fringe 2023
Fiona Walker is a drama school graduate who needs to choose a path in life – and teaching really doesn’t suit her, neither does becoming a lawyer (apparently the only two main choices) so… corporate world here she comes!
A review of Paddy Young: Hungry, Horny, Scared, Fringe 2023
Paddy starts weak but finds his pace with witty commentary on living with strangers, property, trauma, Hitler, and more. He has the energy, confidence, and skills to entertain crowds.
Read more A review of Paddy Young: Hungry, Horny, Scared, Fringe 2023
Divine, joyful, gloriousness: A review of Tutu, Fringe 2023
Tutu is a therapeutic experience for anyone who feels confined by expectations. The show seamlessly blends slapstick comedy and philosophical insights, achieving its ambitious goals with flying colours.
Read more Divine, joyful, gloriousness: A review of Tutu, Fringe 2023
Review of Shamilton! The Improvised Hip Hop Musical, Fringe 2023
I didn’t really know what to expect from Shamilton! but being a fan of the musical it’s (loosely) inspired by, I knew that I had a media pass and I was not going to waste my shot to go and see this thing.
Read more Review of Shamilton! The Improvised Hip Hop Musical, Fringe 2023
Why You’ll be Able to Find Edinburgh Reviews in PBH’s Wee Blue Book this Year
If you’ve been following Edinburgh Reviews during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival this year, you’ll have noticed we’ve been publishing a lot of coverage. It’s not only the first year we’ve been media accredited, it’s also the first year we’ve had a fancy new logo (designed by Birdy) to show off, and the first year we’ve…
Read more Why You’ll be Able to Find Edinburgh Reviews in PBH’s Wee Blue Book this Year
Edinburgh Reviews on the Fringe: Laxatives, head-butting vans and the day job
Disruptive football chants escalated to laxatives in my tea and being mildly electrocuted with a piece of copper pipe.
Read more Edinburgh Reviews on the Fringe: Laxatives, head-butting vans and the day job
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!
| 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 an Edinburgh festival visit, 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.