Extant to Lead Major Accessibility Shift at Edinburgh Fringe 2026

Extant, the UK’s leading professional performing arts company of blind and visually impaired artists, will return to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this summer building on the success of its landmark 2025 programme.  The company will present three ‘Enhance’ shows alongside a new showcase, in partnership with Underbelly as principal venue partner. Through this programme, Extant marks a significant step forward in embedding accessibility across the festival while raising the profile and visibility of visually impaired-led work. 

In its second year, the programme signals a sustained shift across the sector.  Extant is driving change by championing accessibility not as an add-on, but as an integral part of creative practice. This momentum is reflected in rapid year-on-year growth: from an estimated 30–50 visually impaired-accessible shows in 2024, representing less than 1% of the Fringe, Extant’s first year of activity increased that proportion to around 2% in 2025, and projections indicate that as much as 10–12% of the programme for 2026 will now be accessible to visually impaired audiences. Thanks to this scheme, Underbelly and ZOO have committed to ensuring every show in their programme is 100% visually impaired accessible by including at least one accessible performance. On top of this, ‘Big Four’ venues Pleasance and Assembly, alongside The Space, have also pledged to significantly increase their provisions.

Supported by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, Enhance shows at Underbelly (17th August) will demonstrate Extant’s unique ‘Enhance post-production’ offer, featuring work from visually impaired artists and collaborators across theatre and comedy, acts will includeJellyfish byBlah Blah Productions directed byLillith Freeman (And Then There Were None, Lyric Arts;Only Ugly Guys, Open Eye Theatre) and written byJess Coppen-Gardner (What’s Wrong With Me?-The Musical, The Lion and Unicorn Theatre;Red Flag,Feature Film) and features performerTeddy Walker (Three Sisters and Them, theSpace) andAarian Mehrabani’s (What’s the F**king Point, FlawBored;Hunting Alice Bell, Channel 4) debut stand-up showHow’s Your Head. Immersive and tailored Touch Tours provide the principal access tool, including presentation of succinct programme notes which get to the essence of the show, and description of any relevant visual elements.

New for 2026, Extant will host a one-off showcase at Underbelly (18th August) to celebrate the breadth of visually impaired-led performance, supported by funding from the Postcode Society Trust, raised by players of People’s Postcode Lottery. The programme will feature some of the UK’s most exciting visually impaired artists working across stand-up, cabaret, dance, theatre and new writing, includingGrowing Nostalgia byEbony Rose Dark (Out There, In Here, The Place; Perspective on Visibility:Outside Inside, Control Shift Network),VIP (Visually Impaired Papa) by Tom Skelton (Adventures of the Improvised Sherlock Holmes,Just the Big Room;Aaaand Now For Something Completely Improvised, Pleasance Dome) and work fromNeil Skene (Breakneck!, Aberdeen Comedy Festival,Cabaret in the Dark, C ARTS), alongsideAll There Is To See byShashank Sharma (The Bloody Wedding, TIA Theatre Company;A Winter Tale at Shimla, Agastaya Cine Dreams LLP),Half Lights Project  byHolly Thomas (Half Light, The Place;CRUNCH!, Velcro Collective) andAn Evening with Tito Bone byAmelia Cavallo (Into The Woods, Royal Exchange Manchester;Beauty and the Beast, Theatre Royal Stratford), serving as both a platform for artists and a focal point for wider engagement with accessibility at the Fringe.

Alongside its performances, the company is working with the Fringe Society to deliver targeted workshops on low-cost access interventions. It will also share new guidance through venues and networks to help hundreds of artists embed accessibility into their practice.

Extant will be working with partners Sight Scotland and Visually Impaired Creators Scotland to connect with local visually impaired communities and audiences. 

Artistic Director Extant, Dr. Maria Oshodi comments,Extant has always been a force driving industry change towards higher standards and access for visually impaired people. We’re delighted to continue disrupting the status quo at Edinburgh Fringe in 2026, by increasing the number of accessible shows tenfold over the past two years, providing bespoke training and ‘Enhanced’ access options, and not least in platforming the very best of visually impaired talent at our showcase event!

Underbelly’s Head of Programming, Marina Dixon, addsWe’re delighted to be working alongside Extant at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe to make Underbelly’s programme more accessible for visually impaired audiences. Extant do vital work in this field, and this partnership marks an important step in strengthening how Underbelly supports both artists and audiences.

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