47 h. ago ‘It’s a brigade of old gits!’ Miriam Margolyes, Andy Linden and the older performers storming Edinburgh

At a festival so often dominated by bold young talent, it’s veteran performers stealing the spotlight this year. We meet them – from household names to octogenarian newcomersMiriam Margolyes is ensconced in the garden room of a fancy Edinburgh hotel, framed by tasteful greenery and smiling for a fan who wants a selfie. Apple-cheeked and foul-mouthed, she is gracious with the passing stranger, though she warns me later: “If somebody pisses me off, I’ll say: ‘Now listen to me, I’m 84!’” She pauses. “But I don’t see why they should!” she adds with a laugh.Margolyes is returning to Edinburgh for the second year running with an upgraded version of her acclaimed showcase based on the characters of Charles Dickens, her favourite author. “Same old cunt, even older,” reads the flyer. “It could be the last time, but don’t bank on it!” Continue reading...

Events

5 d. ago Edinburgh Fringe 2025: Watch the surprise moment performer proposes live on stage at the Edinburgh Fringe

The couple’s award-winning musical comedy is the first show they’ve put on together

Politics

6 d. ago Edinburgh Fringe performer in tears after 'third of audience walk out'

Nicole Nadler was performing her one woman show, Exposure Therapy, when she says "a third of her audience walked out 15 minutes early".

Events

8 d. ago Five Edinburgh Fringe performers on the true life stories behind their shows

Each year the Fringe is full of powerful and deeply personal true life tales. We asked five performers to share theirs.

Politics

8 d. ago Four Edinburgh Fringe performers on the incredible true life stories behind their shows

Each year the Fringe is full of powerful and deeply personal true life tales. We asked four performers to share theirs.

Politics

8 d. ago Edinburgh Festival Fringe to revive childcare for performers

The scheme last ran at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2019.

Politics

9 d. ago Moment man 'knocked out' on packed Royal Mile as tourists looked on

Footage shows the brawl erupting beside a performance at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Politics

9 d. ago A new start after 60: I became a dancer at 68 – and will perform my first solo show at 82

Christine Thynne was nervous about going to her first dance class. But at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe she will be on stage alone, doing all the ‘things I shouldn’t be doing’At 82, Christine Thynne is an emerging artist. “Risk! There’s a colossal amount of risk,” Thynne says. She is about to perform her show, These Mechanisms, over three weeks at the Edinburgh fringe. While “emerging” isn’t a word often applied to artists in their 80s, Thynne says the description is appropriate. “I wasn’t there before,” she says. “I wasn’t a solo performer.”Thynne’s show melds aspects of her life – she trained as a physiotherapist in the 1960s – along with other passions. Among her props are planks, stepladders and water. “Things I shouldn’t be doing,” she says. “Moving scaffolding planks. Changing the shape of stepladders. Carrying water.” Continue reading...

Culture

1 week ago Voices: I won a game show, but even that wasn’t enough to cover performing at the Edinburgh Fringe

I had to use my Weakest Link winnings to put on my Edinburgh play, writes Kat Brown. Twenty years on, I don't know how today’s performers can afford to do it

Sport

3 w. ago Standup Susie McCabe looks back: ‘I knew very early on that I was different from other girls. Everyone else did, too’’

The Glaswegian comic on her close bond with her nana, coming out in a conservative, Catholic society, and how a friend’s choice comment kickstarted her careerBorn in Glasgow in 1980, Susie McCabe began her career in standup comedy in the early 2010s, quickly gaining recognition on the Scottish comedy circuit. The 2024 winner of the Sir Billy Connolly Spirit of Glasgow award, McCabe has supported Kevin Bridges and John Bishop on tour and, along with Frankie Boyle and Christopher Macarthur-Boyd, hosts the podcast Here Comes the Guillotine. Her show, Femme Fatality, is on iPlayer now. She performs her new show Best Behaviour at Edinburgh fringe from 30 July to 24 August.I’m three years old and in my late nana’s ground-floor tenement Glasgow flat. She would have knitted that tank top, and the toy in my hand was a little monkey that my mum bought me as a present. Apparently I used to be obsessed with putting its feet in its mouth – I’m sure a therapist could have a fi...

Politics

3 w. ago Edfringe comedian Ali Brice wins Dabbers Bingo Comedy Caller Contest 2025

In a wild, hilarious and high energy Grand Final, Edinburgh Fringe comedian Ali Brice (performing as his happy-go-lucky, gameshow enthusiast alter-ego Eric Meat) wowed a packed audience of bingo-lovers and industry judges to be named Dabbers Bingo Comedy Caller 2025.

Culture

4 w. ago When Tech Fails Drama Begins! New play to be debuted by Scottish writer at Edinburgh Fringe

Frustrated with an unfulfilling job, upcoming Scottish Writer, Director and Performer George Grant turned his negative situation into a positive and used his experience of modern online working to write his debut show, Operation Blank, which is to be performed at the Edinburgh Fringe this summer.

Events

4 w. ago Six unique Fringe shows by or starring women coming to Edinburgh this August

Including a martial arts and dance work choreographed by acclaimed dancer-choreographer Jennifer Gohier, darkly comedic meditations on childhood kidnap by actor, writer, and comedian Samia Rida, and a satirical commentary on colonising Mars by eclectic performance artist Faye Yan, this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe is set to see a brilliant selection of unique top-picks starring, created, and co-created by leading female theatre makers, performers, and creatives play at popular Edinburgh venues this August.

Politics