Events & Festivals

One of the largest arts festivals in the world, the Edinburgh Fringe Festival takes place in the Scottish capital from 6 to 30 August, 2021. Details of this year’s festival are yet to be finalised, and it is not yet sure whether the festival will be live, digital or a mix-adn-match.

The world’s oldest fringe festival runs alongside the Edinburgh Festival 2019.

Edinburgh Fringe 2021

Phoebe Waller-Bridge has been appointed President of the Fringe.

Expect theatre, cabaret, musicals, circus, comedy, dance, spoken words and more than 700 free performances (as well as 404 pay-as-you-like shows), with just over 2,000 premieres, as the world takes to the streets of Auld Reekie.

This year’s headline acts and performers are as diverse as Frances Barber, Kathy Burke, Akala, Nish Kumar, Christopher Biggins, Nicola Sturgon and Basil Brush.

From the world of drama, Frances Barber will perform her one-woman show including Pet Shop Boys songs, Musik, at the Assembly Rooms; Kathy Burke will direct Honest Amy at the Pleasance Dome; while hip hop artist and author Akala will bring his spoken-word show to the Gilded Ballroom, Teviot.

Edinburgh Fringe Comedy

Comedians Eddie Izzard, Nish Kumar, Reginald D Hunter, Shappi Khorsandi and Omid Djalili are set to appear at the year’s Fringe. Izzard performing his own version of the Dickens classic Great Expectations.

The Edinburgh Fringe is famous for launching the career of many a young pretender and this year will no doubt be no different. Watch out for Yuriko Kotani, Naomi McDonald and Konstantin Kisin. As always The Edinburgh Comedy Awards, formerly the Perrier Award, will be presented to the best comedy performances at the Edinburgh Fringe.

Iain Dale (CNN) will be interviewing politicians from the divide, including Scotland’s First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon; former co-Chair of the Conservative Party, Baroness Warsi; and London Mayor Sadiq Khan. While perhaps the star of the show will be Basil Brush, who will star in two shows at the Underbelly.

In total, there will be 59,600 performances at 322 venues with artist from 63 countries appearing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2019, in what promises to be the highlight of the Festival season. This year’s themes include climate change, migration, indigenous work, true crime and exploring sex, so expect a veritable mixed bag of entertainment.

For a full list of Events and Festivals in the UK and elsewhere in August and beyond, click here.

Edinburgh Fringe 2021 Dates

Edinburgh Fringe 2019 will run from 6 to 30 August.

Edinburgh Fringe Tickets

You can purchase tickets online at edfringe.com or from the Fringe Box Office (see address below). The Virgin Half Price Hut on the Mound Precinct also sells half-price tickets each day of the Fringe from 10am to 9pm. For full details about how you can buy your tickets and where to collect them, visit here.

Edinburgh Fringe Programme

The full programme for Edinburgh Fringe 2021 can either be downloaded here, alternatively you can view the shows here.

Edinburgh Free Fringe

In total, there will be 706 free performances, as well as a further 404 where you can choose to pay what you want.

Edinburgh Fringe Venues

For Edinburgh Fringe 2019, some 323 venues are putting on performances. A full list of the venues can be found here.

Edinburgh Fringe Box Office

Edinburgh Fringe Box Office is at 180 High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1QS. The box office can be contacted at edfringe.com or at +44 (0)131 226 000.

Edinburgh Fringe Accommodation and Flights to Edinburgh

Accommodation for the Edinburgh Fringe tends to fill up quickly, find the best deals on hotels and guest houses, as well as flights to Edinburgh, using our comparison engine, which scans all the major booking sites so you don’t have to.

Cover photo: MakeYourFringe by Laurence Winram. All photos, © Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society.