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We're thrilled to announce our 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe portfolio. Take a look at the fantastic shows that SFTW are presenting from the UK, Spain, France and the USA! This year is a truly international delight of comedy, musical extravaganzas, new writing, physical theatre, family shows and of course, Showstopper! The Improvised Musical.
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2023 runs from the 2nd - 28th August. Shows are listed in order of start time.
DOKTOR KABOOM! AND THE WHEEL OF EVEN MORE SCIENCE!
The Doktor is back! With even more science! More laughs! More Kaboom!
After a spectacular debut in 2022, Doktor Kaboom returns to the Pleasance with all your favourite science demos plus brand new experiments and powerful life lessons for 2023. Giant chemical reactions! Fly on a homemade hovercraft! Shrink-wrap your teenager! Every show is different. This hilariously fun, empowering and wholly original show is a 'must-see' (Entertainment Now) for all ages.
'Nothing short of perfect family entertainment' ★★★★★ (POW Showbiz)
'uniquely stylish with a razor sharp wit that could split an atom.. enjoyable for both adults and children alike. A delight to watch.' ★★★★★ (Theatre Weekly)
"Excellent, fun and clearly explained science demos...really passionately exhorting, encouraging and, dare I say, inspiring. A foolproof formula for success."★★★★ (ThreeWeeks)
'An explosive show for kids which encourages a fascination for science.'★★★★ (The List)
2nd - 28th August - 12pm - Pleasance
THE ICE HOLE: A Cardboard Comedy
A great actor is recounting an epic journey he took from the fjords of Iceland to the dust of the Spanish desert. Cursed by the mermaid he once accidentally caught, he is aided by one fellow performer, a language no-one quite understands and a thousand pieces of cardboard.
In the spirit of Monty Python with a twist of Laurel and Hardy, the theatrical acrobatics from these virtuoso performers will make you howl with laughter. Pure theatrical joy. From the creators of Edinburgh 2019's smash-hit physical comedy, Fishbowl.
Molière Theatre Award Winner, 2022 - Best Show In a Public Theatre
Best Theatre In Europe 2022 (New York Times)
'Cartoonesque and delirious....We laugh. We are seduced... and conquered'
(Le Monde)
'Incredibly funny and inventive' (Le Parisien)
'Left me speechless with mirth... highly charged comic physical dexterity... Excellent stuff' (Scottish Daily Mail (for Fishbowl) ★★★★★
'An incredible piece of theatre and one I would urge you to go and see' (British Theatre Guide (for Fishbowl) ★★★★★
2nd - 28th August - 1.00pm Pleasance
DOUGH
A fast-paced, darkly comic drama from internationally acclaimed Moliere award-winner, David Lescot.
Exploring a lifetime through one person’s daily interactions with money, three actors portray over forty characters, examining the transactions we engage in to build a life. 'You can’t keep accumulating all the time, you see... You can’t always be gaining, earning, winning; you need to lose as well. We need loss.'
Written and directed by Lescot - an associate artist of the renowned Théâtre de la Ville in Paris - who makes his Edinburgh Fringe debut.
"A swift, humorous and sometimes bittersweet tale" Manhattan Digest
"[A] mesmerising, nearly perfect production" StageBuddy
2nd - 27th August, 1.30pm, Pleasance King Dome
WATSON: THE FINAL PROBLEM
Watson is alone. His beloved wife, Mary, and the great Sherlock Holmes are gone. London seethes with false reports. It is time to set the record straight. So Watson tells his tale of long-buried secrets, betrayal and death; a journey across Europe pursued by Moriarty, the Napoleon of Crime, and a deathly embrace at the Reichenbach Falls. Based on the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Watson is written with Bert Coules (BBC's Sherlock Holmes), performed by Tim Marriott (BBC's Brittas Empire).
'Superb, authentic, excellent' (BroadwayWorld.com)
'A grippingly fine display – outstanding.' **** (BroadwayBaby.com)
3rd - 28th August, 3.15pm, Assembly George Square
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BOWJANGLES: DRACULA IN SPACE
Forget everything you think you know about string quartets, Bowjangles are an irreverent, anarchic group of genrespanners, bringing music, theatre and comedy together in a way you've never seen before. Now, the award-winning foursome are blasting into outer space to meet a mysterious benefactor whose proposition seems a little too good to be true...
'Completely original... the music would be entertaining enough without all the other incredible action and comedy going on' ★★★★★ (BroadwayBaby.com).
'Full of zest, action and charisma... unfailingly entertaining' ★★★★ (Chortle.co.uk).
Warning: Contains scenes of graphic violins.
2nd - 28th August - 4.30pm - Gilded Balloon
A COMEDY OF OPERAS
The multi award-winning international sell-out show arrives in Edinburgh!
Featuring the world’s favourite arias - including many that you didn’t realise you already knew! - five exceptional singers perform opera’s greatest hits mixed with rock, pop and their own signature style of physical comedy. This is opera for everyone. Highly original, sublimely talented, utterly hilarious.
Max Award, Best Musical Show (Spain)
Jose Estruch Award, Best Show (Spain)
"A show that will make you beam with joy. Is there anything better?" ★★★★★ (Time Out Madrid)
"An awesome 'opera masterclass'... their powerful voices are amazing" ★★★★★ (Le Parisien)
"Impossible not to be seduced" ★★★★★ (Paris Match)
"An extraordinary musical comedy" ★★★★★ (Platea)
"Opera for all audiences... the perfect show" ★★★★★ (ABC)
2nd - 27th August, Various Times, Pleasance at the EICC
A PORTRAIT OF LUDMILLA AS NINA SIMONE
Ludmilla Dabo, accompanied by Moliere award-winning writer, director and musician David Lescot, sings a moving, intimate and dazzling portrait of the iconic ‘High Priestess of
Soul’, Nina Simone. Through the legendary singer’s music and life story, intertwined with personal stories from Dabo’s own life, Dabo charts Simone’s journey from young musical
prodigy to her role as a major figure in the civil rights movement.
A unique performance fusing jazz, soul and storytelling. Dabo is ‘Nina Simone reincarnated... A talent that explodes’ (Le Monde).
4th - 14th August, 8pm, French Institute in Scotland (Salle Emilienne Moreau-Evrard)
The must-see, Olivier Award-winning West End hit is back!
Watch the masters of musical improv create a brand-new musical comedy from scratch at every single performance of this multi award-winning show. Audience suggestions are transformed on the spot into an all-singing, all-dancing show with hilarious results.
A Fringe favourite and sell-out phenomenon; your Edinburgh festival experience is simply incomplete without it!
'The top musical improvisers in the business... Compulsory Fringe viewing... Just book in time' ★★★★★ BroadwayBaby.com
'Achingly funny... Worth seeing again and again' ★★★★★ Time Out
'Had me weeping with laughter' ★★★★★ Mail on Sunday
2nd - 28th August - 9.10pm - Pleasance
