The Edinburgh Festival Fringe enters an exciting new phase this week with a compelling selection of original theatre, physical performances, and international showcases launching across key venues in the city.
Shooting Fish Theatre Company presents The Spy Network at Greenside Riddles Court. Set on the morning of Mary, Queen of Scots' execution on February 8, 1587, the new historical play follows the imprisoned monarch as she stages her story alongside an enigmatic actor, revisiting the codes, secrets, and betrayals that sealed her fate. Meanwhile, Aliens at ZOO Southside brings real-life mother and daughter Marta McIlduff and Alessandra Celesia together for a cross-cultural road trip from Donegal to southern Italy. Blending live electronic music, video archive testimony, and performance, the production explores the stories of Italian immigrants in Northern Ireland and questions modern borders.
The international spotlight also turns to the #DANISH Showcase, featuring five distinct contemporary works across Summerhall and ZOO Southside. OPE-N presents Laughing Out Lonely (LOL) at Summerhall’s Dissection Room, transforming anonymous social media posts into a live opera performed by countertenor Morten Grove Frandsen. Also at Summerhall, HIMHERANDIT Production returns with Good Enough?, a boisterous physical theatre piece celebrating queer joy and imperfection, while artist Boaz Barkan presents Our Other Organ in the Anatomy Lecture Theatre, offering a provocative anatomical dissection of identity and prejudice.
Physical comedy fans can catch Don Gnu’s M.I.S. All Night Long at ZOO Southside, an energetic exploration of male friendship, rivalry, and vulnerabilities.
All productions run through the end of August across Edinburgh, with tickets and performance times available directly through venue box offices.
