The official 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe programme has been launched. featuring theatre, dance, circus, physical theatre, comedy, music, musicals, opera, cabaret, variety, children’s shows, spoken word, exhibitions and events.
This year’s programme features work across 3,171 shows, from 58 countries, with themes tackling some of the most topical issues in the world. From migration, refugees and displaced people, to race and identity, women’s safety, disability, mental health and climate change, as well as an exploration into gender, queer identity and drag, true crime and more along the way. As might be expected, lockdown and wider isolation are prominent themes, as well as a focus on parent and child relationships through various generations. Joyously, this year’s Fringe brings together many well-known names, as well as emerging talent, in work both homegrown and international.
New for 2022 is an extension of the popular Fringe Street Events, which will invite audiences to enjoy performances in new locations, including St Andrew Square and St James Quarter.
In addition, Fringe Central – the festival’s home from home for Fringe artists, journalists, venue operators, creative industries, and visiting curators – is moving to St James Quarter for the first time. In previous years this dedicated participants’ hub has played host to over 1,000 national and international media representatives, alongside 1,200 arts industry professionals looking for shows to book as well as co-commissioning and touring opportunities, making the Fringe one of the world’s foremost places for performing artists to do business, and to find opportunities to share their work in other festivals and on stage and screen.
Launching the 2022 Fringe Programme, Shona McCarthy, Chief Executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, said: “As we celebrate the festival’s 75th anniversary year, the launch of today’s programme reflects the regenerative nature of a cultural icon that has weathered many storms since its inception. Featuring 3,171 shows from 58 countries, this year’s programme represents a glorious return to fully live shows in theatres, venues and public spaces across Edinburgh, in one of the greatest annual celebrations of culture and creativity in the world.
“As a festival which offers anyone a stage and everyone a seat, we can’t wait to welcome artists, writers, staff, crew, venues, producers, creatives, residents and audience members together this August, after two years of uncertainty and reinvention. We are hugely thankful to all our sponsors and supporters – those who have backed us through the tough times and those who have come on board to ensure the Fringe returns to its full stature in its celebratory 75th year.
“Venues, producers and artists have created an amazing array of performances and events which dig into some of the most topical themes being discussed in the world today. This is an opportunity for us all to laugh, cry, celebrate and be entertained together, living in this one incredible moment and looking ahead to the future of the Fringe and the many momentous moments yet to come.”
KEY THEMES IN 2022
Gender and gender identity
A hot topic for many artists this year, gender and gender identity take centre stage for ALOK, an acclaimed writer, performer and public speaker who brings their new comedy and poetry show to the Fringe this year (Traverse, p.49). Jeena Bloom the Homecoming Queen is a show about a transgender woman’s journey through America (Gilded Balloon Teviot, p.97) and Will Hodgson: Barbicidal Tendencies brings “Chippenham’s cult-favourite, genderqueer, punk storyteller" back to the Fringe (Just The Tonic @ the Caves, p.154). Aidan Sadler: Tropicana (Assembly George Square, p.12) explores the gender-binary with “80's synth-pop nostalgia punctuated with world class stand-up comedy”, while in Some Other Mirror (Pianodrome at the Old Royal High, p.317) a “performer fights to come to terms with being a trans man and is visited by alternative versions of himself who offer advice”. In A Boxing, Crossdressing, Commando Show (Laughing Horse @ City Café, p.60), identity is the question for three characters, “from three different perspectives and comedy styles”
LGBTQ+
Blood, Sweat and Vaginas is at Pleasance Courtyard with "hypnotic melodies, searing honesty and humour” as Carolann “stumbles out of her super-woman bubble to discover her sexuality is fluid, soul music is the language of her soul and menopause has definitely arrived” (p.254); at the same venue, Chloe Petts, “one of the most exciting acts on the UK scene” brings her new show Transience (p.65); Rob Madge: My Son’s a Queer (But What Can You Do) is an attempt to recreate a full-scale Disney parade from their youth, a “joyous, chaotic, autobiographical story” (Underbelly George Square, p.311); at Laughing Horse @ City Café Eliott Simpson: (A)Sexy and I Know It (p.78) explores “the bizarre life of an asexual man trying to survive in a sex-obsessed world”. Queenz – The Show with Balls! Returns to the Fringe, “featuring mind blowing live vocals, and not a lip-sync in sight” at Assembly Halls (p.23).
Mental health
Ali Woods: Best Friend Ever sees the award-winning Scottish comedian cover “Scottish mothers, sex parties, karate teachers, and mental breakdowns” at Underbelly Bristo Square (p.47), while What Mental Health Crisis? at The Stand’s New Town Theatre (p.241) sees Professor Stephen Lawrie argue for funding of mental health services while in A Depression-Cure Show, Jonathan Winfield looks at family trauma with a comedic twist involving “therapy puppets, silly dancing, the royal family and Lycra” (theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, p.74). Tom tracks a father’s search for meaning in his son’s suicide (Assembly Rooms, p.323) and I Was Naked, Smelling of Rain is a “life-affirming” story of “absence, presence, loneliness and dis/connectedness through the lens of weather, climate change and wellbeing”, part of the Horizon showcase and at ZOO Playground (p.283). Alfie Brown: Sensitive Man asks “does emotion help us make moral judgments?” at Monkey Barrel Comedy (p.47), and at Summerhall, He’s Dead is a “dark fantasy choreography” which discusses whether Tupac was depressed to “unearth the unspoken dehumanisation of marginalised people and Black experience of mental health” (p.163) Looking at mental health in a more comedic way, Moni Zhang: Child from Wuhan takes on “trauma, love and diarrhoea” (Laughing Horse @ The Three Sisters, p.117) and Jacob Hawley: Bump (Monkey Barrel Comedy (The Hive), p.95) asks “if he’s finally graduated from drugs to antipasti”. Caroline McEvoy and Farah Sharp: 60 Minutes to Self-Destruct is a split-bill show from two comedians who are “used to conflict”, though their greatest enemies are themselves (Just the Tonic at The Mash House, p.62).
Neurodiversity
The Rainbow – A Rehearsed Reading of a New Adaptation is at ZOO Southside (p.309), a show from award-winning neurodivergent playwright Nicola Werenowska “focusing on three Polish women”. Buzzing Anonymous (Arthur Conan Doyle Centre, p.258) explores the friendships made in an ADHD support group in a dramatic comedy, while The Changeling Girl tells the story of “Agnes, an autistic girl living in medieval England who is accused of being a fairy changeling” (theSpace on North Bridge, p.260). In comedy, Ian Lynam: Autistic License covers “diagnosis, relationships, sexuality, creativity and the history of autism” (Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, p.92); Clare Harrison McCartney: Box Ticker chats about her Britain’s Got Talent performance and lockdown while “having to mask her neurological disorders” (PBH's Free Fringe @ Brewdog Doghouse, p.67); in Alice Brine’s show Brinestorm at Gilded Balloon Teviot “the award-winning, sell-out New Zealand comedian rips the lid off the reality of life with ADHD” (p.47) and Sean Logan: Full Spectrum at the Pianodrome at the Old Royal High brings “funky and furious keyboard acrobatics” with thoughts on life as a neurodiverse musician (p.215).
Race and racial identity
Blood and Gold at Royal Lyceum Theatre is a contemporary exploration of the legacy of colonialism and slavery by award-winning Scottish/Kenyan storyteller Mara Menzies. At Pleasance Dome, Brown Boys Swim is a new writing piece on coming of age and swimming where “Karim Khan examines the pressures faced by young Muslim men in this exhilarating new play about fitting in and striking out” (p.257), and at the same venue Kai Samra: Native will discuss “race, class, immigration, youth homelessness, India and, more importantly, 2010 indie-rock bands” in a new hour of stand-up (p.102). Aliya Kanani: Where You From, From “takes us on a turbulent journey around the world with tales of fitting in, sticking out and standing up” in an internationally sold-out show at Just the Tonic at The Tron (p.48).From Paines Plough and Rose Theatre Kingston, Half-Empty Glasses explores the lack of Black British history in Toye’s school curriculum as he prepares “to enter a prestigious music school” (Roundabout @ Summerhall, p.277). Delving into “the challenges a Black woman faces when daring to move into her power”, Black Sheep is at Assembly Rooms and showcases “one of the UK's up-and-coming Black voices”, Livia Kojo Alour (p.253), while Isto é um Negro? (This is a Black?) is at Summerhall, and investigates what it is “to be a black artist in Brazil today” (p.287). At Underbelly, award-winning Sudanese-Aussie comedian Emo Majok “will be digging into his experiences of culture clashes, with side-splitting stories of adjusting from a refugee camp in East Africa to gifting out jokes globally” in his Edinburgh debut with African Aussie (p.79).
Disability
Blindingly Obvious comes to C venues from “Britain’s friendliest blind physicist”, award-winning broadcaster Richard Wheatley (p.60). Aaron Simmonds: Hot Wheels talks about being in a wheelchair, his “really cool nickname” and more at Pleasance Courtyard (p.43), and from the award-winning writer of Rust, Blue & Pip is a “modern-day folktale about endometriosis, the patriarchal healthcare system and the ebbing of the tides” at theSpace on North Bridge (p.255). Earwig is at Assembly Rooms, the story of a deaf entomologist in 1927, fighting to be heard “amidst flappers, jazz and an overbearing husband” (p.268); Deaf Action have a host of shows including Spill Your Drink: A Deaf Cabaret, “rude, riotous celebration of Scottish deaf talent” (p.24), and part of the CODI showcase is The Sign Language Myth, where Annelies Kusters “asks if the global deaf community need to be multilingual or could there be a single sign language understood world-wide" at The Stand’s New Town Theatre (p.239). At Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, Tinted is a monologue by Amy Bethan Evans about “a visually-impaired, hot nerd” called Laura and the intersections between consent and disability (p.323), and at PBH's Free Fringe @ The Street, The Azure Sky in Oz, Yellow and Special “follows two women whose lives are profoundly changed by their immersion in the world of the other-abled" (p.250).
Feminism
Deborah Frances-White and guests are back with The Guilty Feminist at Gilded Balloon Teviot (p.88), proving that “you don't have to be perfect to smash the patriarchy”, and Eme Essien: Flat Shoes In The Club (Underbelly, Bristo Square, p.78) looks at the “internal conflict of a woman trying to achieve modern ideals” in Underbelly, Bristo Square. More comedy includes The LOL Word (Monkey Barrel Comedy, p.108), back with “queer women, trans and non-binary stand-up" and in cabaret, The Sian Clarke Experience (Underbelly Cowgate, p.315) is “an ode to every man who has belittled her, made her feel unsafe, objectified her, told her she can't be funny, called her a slut, told her to smile more”. Part of The Cabaret of Dangerous Ideas selection is Can the Police Be Feminist? (The Stand’s New Town Theatre, p.232), where Emily Mann questions whether policing and feminism are compatible. Apradhini – Women Without Men (Laughing Horse @ The Counting House, p.247) has two actors performing five stories from incarcerated women in India, while, at Dance Base, Nutcrusher looks at “sexual objectification and power” as part of the Horizon showcase (p.166), and The Grandmothers Grimm at Greenside @ Riddles Court (p.276) explores the women’s voices lost in the editing of the dark fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm.
Lockdown
In Antennae (C venues, p.246) a “gender non-conforming praying mantis named E” prompts a Zoom confessional, and Lag: A Zoomsical Comedy (p.224) shows the musical side of a self-care and meditation class moving online at the beginning of the pandemic (Fringe Online). Love in the Time of Lockdown (The New Variant) returns with a story which goes from “harrowing to hilarious” (theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, p.293) and Nancy Clench: If Your Symptoms Aren't Life-Threatening, Please Hold! (Just the Tonic Nucleus, p.118) returns with the drag queen’s thoughts on “life in the pandemic, her own medical woes and some advice for you”. Exploring loneliness and isolation, Pernille Haaland: Resting Confused Face sees the comedian sign up for online therapy after moving back home to rural Norway (Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, p.126); Box'd (Greenside @ Infirmary Street, p.255) portrays the “intricacies of a toxic relationship and domestic imprisonment”, and Ice Age presents the collaboration between visually impaired choreographer Chung An-Chang and disabled choreographer Maylis Arrabit, “evoking lockdown coexistence between parallel realities” (Dance Base, p.264).
Experiences of migration
Paines Plough returns to the Fringe with A Sudden Violent Burst of Rain; from award-winning playwright Sami Ibrahim, it presents a “poetic fable of an impenetrable immigration system” (ROUNDABOUT @ Summerhall, p.318). Admiral details the story of Admiral; invited to Britain as part of the Windrush Generation, he faces being sent back to a land he doesn’t know at the age of 71 (theSpaceTriplex, p.243). Silkworm asks how two women seeking asylum in the UK based on their sexual orientation will prove their claim (Assembly Roxy, p.315). Migrant Shakespeare sees migrant actors deliver some of the Shakespeare’s best-loved speeches to explore what happens when the bard “is migrated to an alien environment” (C venues, p.297), and Daddy Issues is a dark comedy delving into “sex work, taboos, feminism, immigration and trauma” at Pleasance Courtyard (p.264. In comedy, Vidura Bandara Rajapaksa: Monsoon Season (Monkey Barrel Comedy (The Hive), p.153) traces the story of how the comedian and his family left “left war-ridden Sri Lanka in search of a better life” and ended up in a Scottish nightclub; and Abigoliah Schamaun: Legally Cheeky (Just the Tonic at The Tron, p.43) ridicules bureaucracy as she tells of fighting for her right to remain.
Politics
From award-winning Chalk Line Theatre, Blanket Ban dissects Malta’s abortion laws in a show “propelled by three years of interviews with anonymous contributors and their own lived experience, actors and activists Marta and Davinia interrogate Malta’s restrictions on the freedom of women” (Underbelly – Cowgate, p.253). Some specifically British political shows include Bloody Difficult Women at Assembly Rooms, inspired by the court case brought by Gina Miller against Theresa May’s government, “revealing – often hilarious – theatre, but ultimately it's a tragedy” (p.254). Independence at Hill Street Theatre (p. 286) deals with the matter of Scottish independence, going from 2014 to the present day “with wit and humour as two families decide how to vote”. Boris the Third (Pleasance Courtyard, p.255) imagines how Boris Johnson might have played Richard III in his school play, “A possible origin story for one of the most colourful and divisive figures in modern British politics”. Broadcaster Iain Dale is back with his “incisive insight on current affairs” and interviewees including Keir Starmer, Nadine Dorries, Ash Sakar and Ruth Davidson at Pleasance at EICC (p.234-4), and Edinburgh-born supermodel Eunice Olumide brings her show AfroPolitiCool to The Stand’s New Town Theatre (p.45) to deep-dive into “mind-boggling conundrum of narcissists, sociopaths and psychopathic leaders and HR Karen's running and ruining the planet worldwide”. Party sees “small minds tackling big issues” as five idealists form a political party “to save the world from itself” and eat cake (Greenside @ Infirmary Street, p.304). One Empire, Under God is an “epic dystopian drama about the threat of religious extremism and right-wing populism” that’s available at Fringe Online (p.302), and The Seed of the Holyman (theSpace on North Bridge, p. 313) is a layered political satire, a “bizarre, immersive play-within-a-play set in a 17th-century playhouse”.
Work for Children
Beware the Beasts by Shona Cowie at the Scottish Storytelling Centre (p. 27) will protect young audiences from being “squashed or turned into a nugget”, while Dan Colley and Riverbank Arts Centre bring their magical realism to the stage with A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings (p. 39). Deaf Action present Once Upon a Raindrop at their venue Braidwood Centre (p. 36), a “raindrop in a round the world journey as part of their inaugural Edinburgh Deaf Festival, and Manual Cinema bring their unique live cinema style to Leonardo! A Wonderful Show About a Terrible Monster at Underbelly (p. 35). For those who enjoy taking part, ComedySportz UK at Laughing Horse @ The Counting House (p. 30) will let the audience decide who wins in a series of competitive improv games, and Captain Zak and the Space Pirates at Pleasance Courtyard (p. 29) s looking for new Space Pirate recruits to help him solves puzzles and sing songs to survive the bubble attack. If politics is your thing, then Den of Enquiry from Miranda Duffy (theSpace @Surgeons Hall, p.30) gets kids to the heart of democracy and “kickstarts the big questions, while the scientists in your family can enjoy a wealth of science-based shows, including Covid for Kids at Pleasance Courtyard (p. 30), Inside the Robot: Quick I Need Your Help at Just the Tonic at The Caves (p. 34), and Mark Thompson’s Spectacular Science Show at Gilded Balloon (p. 35). Dancebase present WhirlyGig as part of the Made in Scotland Showcase (p. 39), while Circa bring their Carnival of the Animals to the House of Oz (p.28).
FAMOUS FACES
This year’s programme features a wealth of famous names from stage, film, TV, comedy and beyond.
Legendary star of stage and screen Sir Ian McKellen brings Hamlet to Ashton Hall, St Stephens Stockbridge in collaboration with Peter Schaufuss (p.277), and Fringe veteran Stewart Lee has two shows: the final run of Snowflake at the Stand’s New Town Theatre and his Work in Progress, Basic Lee, at The Stand Comedy Club (p.147).
Francesca Moody Productions bring two shows to Roundabout @ Summerhall: Feeling Afraid as If Something Terrible is Going to Happen (p.271), in which a “permanently single, professionally neurotic stand-up finally meets Mr Right and then does everything wrong”, and Kathy and Stella Solve a Murder (p.224), which sees a pair of true-crime podcasters become investigators in real life. At theSpace @ Surgeon's Hall, Sylvester McCoy and Linda Marlowe star in Apartness with Eleanor May Blackburn, “a multimedia hybrid, part live stand-up, part film” in a “tale of two isolated souls and their devilish comedian saviour” (p.246).
Fringe favourites from the world of comedy include Frankie Boyle with his show Lap of Shame (Assembly Rooms – Music Hall, p.83); American comedian Janeane Garofalo stars in Pardon My Tangent at Gilded Balloon Teviot (p.96); Omid Djalili brings The Good Times on stage at The Stand’s New Town Theatre (p.123); Frank Skinner explores 30 Years of Dirt (Assembly Roxy, p.83) and Al Murray is back with a Gig for Victory (Assembly George Square Gardens, p.46). Josie Long: Re-Enchantment presents an hour “infused with humanity, compassion and probably some brief political rants” (Monkey Barrell Comedy, p.101), Catherine Bohart gives out some “horrendous life advice” at Monkey Barrell Comedy with her show This Isn’t For You (p.64) and Phil Wang: The Real Hero in All This brings his “British-Malaysian variant of comedy” to the Fringe at Assembly George Square Gardens (p.127). Reginald D. Hunter comes to Edinburgh with his show Bombe Shuffleur (Assembly Rooms, p.130) and Jerry Sadowitz presents Not for Anyone, featuring “whacky impressions of Greta Thunberg, Frankie Boyle and deep vein thrombosis” (Pleasance at EICC, p.97).
Drag Race star Bianca Del Rio brings Unsanitised: “She's vaxxed, she's waxed and she has more attitude than ever” (Pleasance at EICC, p.58), and Jinkx Monsoon is at Assembly, with her “bawdy stories, unique covers and original music from the powerhouse queen and her acclaimed partner pianist Major Scales”. Rachel Parris: All Change Please will perform “stand-up and songs about sudden love, the highs and lows of relationships, family, weddings, kids, going viral, going mental” at Underbelly George Square (p.128). Shazia Mirza presents Coconut, based on the dawning realisation that “maybe my parents were right” (Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose, p. 141) and Daniel Sloss brings his New Work in Progress to Just the Tonic Nucleus (p.70). Nish Kumar presents Your Power, Your Control at Assembly George Square (p.121), in which he takes the COVID pandemic and political upheaval personally; Fern Brady tackles “death, shagging, marriage and ageing” in her show Autistic Bikini Queen (Assembly Hall, p. 82); and Paul Sinha comes to the Fringe with One Sinha Lifetime, at The Stand’s New Town Theatre (p.125).
In music and cabaret, the “Queen of the Fringe”, Camille O'Sullivan presents Dreaming, with the music of Bowie, Cohen, Pulp, Radiohead and Rufus Wainwright (Underbelly, Bristo Square, p.190), while Blood Harmony at Traverse features new music from The Staves(p. 254). Reuben Kaye returns with The Butch is Back (Assembly Checkpoint, p.131), attempting “to tear the world apart and put it back together”.
A whole host of famous faces come to chat for the In Conversation with... series at The Stand’s New Town Theatre: guests include politicians such as Jeremy Corbyn (p.236) and Andy Burnham (p.237), journalists such as Hugo Rifkind (p.236) and Alex Thomson (p.235), Professor and Chair of Global Public Health at The University of Edinburgh, Devi Sridhar (p.236), and businesswoman and TV personality Deborah Meaden (p.236).
EMERGING TALENT
The Fringe once again provides an unparalleled platform for new and emerging talent in 2022. Australian drag queen Karen from Finance presents her debut one woman show Out of Office at Underbelly Bristo Square (p.20), while TikTok favourites Sugarcoated Sisters take to the physical stage for the first time in cabaret show Bittersweet at Just the Tonic at the Caves (p.24). The Acoustic Music Centre @ UCC presents a trio duo of Scotland-based female artists – Ellyn Oliver and, Amy Papiranksy and Unoma Okudo – are at Hope City (p.185).
New York’s Thrapp Theatrics present their world debut Lighthouse: An Immersive Drinking Musical at Greenside @ Infirmary Street (p. 225), while fellow American Sarah Sherman takes a break from appearances on Saturday Night Live to make her Edinburgh debut at Gilded Balloon (p.137). Joseph Parsons is at Just the Tonic at The Mash House with Equaliser, “his hotly anticipated debut hour of comedy about being a gay sports fan” (p.101). At Laughing Horse @ Cabaret Voltaire, rising comics Allyson June Smith and Daisy Earl are Working Out their latest material in a split bill, and at Paradise in Augustines (p.49), Andy Casper and Héctor Ayala “make light of their experiences of living as immigrants in Barcelona” in Brexico (p.61). The Scottish Comedy Festival is also hosting a few splits between up-and-coming comedians: I'm Not a Girlboss, Not Yet a Womanboss (The Chrisroads Redux) features Edinburgh locals Chris Weir and Chris Iskander (p.92), while Talking Heids boasts Paul McDaniel, Mick McNeill and Fearghas Kelly (p.148).
At Greenside @ Riddles Court, Agnieszka Kazimierska makes her Fringe debut with Katie's Tales, exploring themes of love and desire (p.288), while One of Two at Summerhall is Jack Hunter's debut comedy about disability and social isolation, presented in association with Birds of Paradise Theatre (p.124). At Pleasance Dome, Charlotte Johnson presents My Dad and Other Lies, an irreverent debut hour tackling politics in the fake news era (p.261).
FREE AND PAY WHAT YOU CAN SHOWS
There are 355 free shows, 217 Pay What You Can and 234 Pay What You Want shows in this year’s programme. The Lock-In Cabaret comes to PBH’s Free Fringe @ Voodoo Rooms (p.21) with hosts Griffin and Jones for “late-night chaos, decadence and mischief”, and Ageing Folks Telling Jokes are “the finest comics over 40” at Laughing Horse @ The Three Sisters (p.45). Go to Greenside @ Infirmary Street to watch Down to Earth, a story of Gene Christ, park ranger and son of God, from an award-winning theatrical duo, and to Laughing Horse @ 32 Below (p.268) to explore whether Julia’s version of a nuclear apocalypse comes true in Helena Coggan’s Daylight (p.264). Free Fringe Music from Laughing Horse will be on Fridays and weekends at locations such as The Granary, The Murrayfield Hotel and The Golf Tavern (p.198), while Jew-O-Rama brings “the best in neurotic comedy” to PBH's Free Fringe @ Whistlebinkies (p.97), and The Fourth Annual Black Comedy Showcase returns with “four top Black international comedy acts and a token straight white male” (PBH's Free Fringe @ Bannermans, p.83).
Fringe facts 2022
- Total shows: 3,171
- Total venues: 255
- Performances: 49,827
- Rest of UK 1,663
- Countries represented: 58• International countries: 54
- There are 355 free shows, 234 Pay What You Can shows, and 217 Pay As You Go shows
- There are 843 Scottish shows, with 533 shows coming from Edinburgh.
- Shows within each section:
- Cabaret & Variety 144
- Children's 120
- Comedy 1,130
- Dance 138
- Events 45
- Exhibitions 36
- Music 415
- Musicals and Operas 100
- Spoken Word 140
- Theatre 903
The 2022 Edinburgh Festival Fringe will run from 05 – 29 August. Tickets and information here.