Pleasance Expands Fringe 2025 Line-Up

More shows have been announced to join the Pleasance Theatre Trust’s unmissable Edinburgh Fringe line-up. An additional 83 exciting new shows have gone on sale today across the comedy and theatre programmes, spanning the Pleasance’s 25 performance spaces. Here are some of our top picks from the programme.

Comedy 

The Pleasance’s comedy programme boasts a stellar lineup of internationally renowned American comedians, who will bring their world-class talent to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Incredible acts from across the pond include the world premiere of Edinburgh Comedy Award Winner Cat Cohen’s new show, Broad Strokes.Primetime Emmy nominee Michelle Wolf will perform new material, following a series of international headline performances, including her infamous appearance at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. Patti Harrison returns with an hour of category-defying comedy, joined by some of her friends, while host of A24 late-night variety sketch show Ziwe presents her signature candour, wit and salient commentary on race and politics.

Jamie Lee conducts an investigation while processing her feelings around the mysterious circumstances of her best friend’s death in a true crime stand-up hour. Following her hit  special Hijabs Off(Amazon Prime), Zainab Johnson explores toxic optimism, while Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee Emily Wilson returns with a brand-new hour of jokes, stories and songs.

Sam Jay examines the certain demise of the USA through contemplation, analysis and harsh critique in We The People, while OG YouTube star and NYTimes bestseller Grace Helbig deftly blends awkward charm and heartfelt storytelling. Business Casual tell the story of a gunslinging hero seeking revenge on the gang who killed his family in COWBOYS. Lady Magicis an exposé on the cr*p magician’s assistants deal with, created by Natalie Palamides. And, sell-out sensation Stamptown returns to Pleasance in all its raunchy, anarchic glory.

Fringe favourites returning to the Pleasance in the comedy programme include award-winning comedian Tim Key who boasts some ‘decent’ reviews for previous shows. Crybabies will bring a highly anticipated show, jam-packed with old sketches, new sketches, powerful vocal performances and sound cues.

BAFTA-nominee Rosie Jones will present a work-in-progress hour as a warm-up for her national tour.  Marcus Brigstocke muses upon what men are for while leading political comedian Matt Forde finds positivity in life despite all the evidence to the contrary.  Rachel Galvo returns to the Pleasance, ready to tell the truth about spending 15 years locked up in an all-girls Irish catholic school run by nuns, Rajiv Karia presents a stand-up show about love, change, fear and fate, and tippy tap tap queen Alice Cockayne is back with an hour of intellectual prophecy.

A poignant exploration of comedy intertwined with the essence of life’s ups and downs encapsulates Justin Moorhouse’s greatest show, and the renowned Cambridge Footlights will embark on their annual tour, featuring their funniest sketches.

Other highlights from the comedy programme include David Elms, with his cult hit, David Elms Describes A Room,fresh from its sell-out Soho Theatre run. Aussie neuro-spicy besties, Jessica Bigg and Eliza Dickson bring their award-winning, cabaret-comedy, Late to the party: The ADHD Hour, while Fin Taylor and Horatio Gould present Fin vs History: Live, a show for people who like history but don’t care what actually happened.

They will be joined by critically acclaimed returning shows from 2024; Edinburgh Comedy Awards’ Best Newcomer Nominee, Abby Wambaugh presents their debut show, The First 3 Minutes of 17 Shows, before its Off-Broadway transfer later this year. Lil Wenker’s one-woman clown western, BANGTAIL,returns in a tour-de-force of character comedy and BAFTA nominee and Disney Prince heartthrob of Extraordinary (Disney+), Luke Rollason, descends from his ivory (Fairtrade) tower to glisten audience’s eyes with this monument to creativity, fantasy and the wishes you wish you never wished.

Theatre

Highlights from the Pleasance’s theatre programme include multi award-winning collaborators Ad Infinitum and Ramesh Meyyappan, who will return with Last Ritesas part of the Here & Now showcase. With electrifying storytelling, movement and immersive sound, this boundary-breaking show for deaf and hearing audiences follows Arjun’s journey to honouring his father who never learnt sign language.

The theatre programme offers the best of international talent.  Marcel Cole and Gaulier-trained performer Chase Brantley present physical theatre and clown masterclasses fresh from Adelaide Fringe, with Smile: The Story of Charlie Chaplinand Don Toberman: Ping Pong Champrespectively.

Acts direct from Dublin Fringe Festival will dazzle Pleasance audiences including  BITCHan explosion of theatrical chaos centred around a crazy ex. A Version Of Lifefollows an artist trapped in his studio in an auto fictional exploration of creative chaos directed by Olivier Award winner Donnacadh O’Briain, and sell-out hit Shame Showexamines Adam and Stevie’s conflicting hopes of hibernation and big city dreams of holding hands in public, as Storm Seamus sweeps Northern Ireland.

Straight from its sell-out world premiere season in Washington DC, Priyanka Shetty’s gripping docudrama, #CHARLOTTESVILLE, captures the aftermath of the 2017 “Unite the Right” rally. The unflinching show is constructed from first-hand accounts, court transcripts, and news reports to chronicle the violent clashes over the removal of a Confederate monument.

And in case you missed them, now you can catch some amazing returning Fringe hits. The award-winning Dear Annie, I Hate You tells the true story of writer and performer Sam Ipema’s diagnosis with a brain aneurysm. With sound design from Olivier-nominated Dan Balfour, the heartfelt and darkly funny show is a visceral multi-media exploration of coming to terms with the possibility of death at the age of 20.

The Scotsman Fringe First award-winning The Insider explores greed and large-scale financial fraud based on a real scandal, with acting, visuals and a binaural soundscape guaranteed to send chills down the spine of every audience. Using the nostalgic aesthetic of 1980’s video games, pioneering producers of immersive experiences DARKFIELDwill present ARCADE,an interactive narrative that explores the evolving relationship between players and avatars.

Bob Kingdom reprises his critically acclaimed, iconic performance in Truman Capote Talk Show as the brilliant, adorable and infamous writer of In Cold Blood and Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Truman Capote. Andreas Constantinou challenges himself to do nothing in front of a live audience for a half-an-hour-long performance in Champions,as part of a Danish showcase.Gradually, a poignant, deeply personal story emerges, of a strained relationship between a gay man, his homophobic father, a stern mother, and a lonely individual facing his deepest vulnerabilities.

Further highlights in the theatre programme include OUT OF MY HEAD – Alan Watts is Alive And Well…Deadand The Horse Of Jenin,both hot off the back of smash-hit London runs. The former offers audiences an opportunity to join Alan Watts, hippie, philosopher and pioneer of the counterculture, for his last night on Earth. Written and performed by Jeremy Stockwell and directed by Terry Johnson, this epic solo show is a wild ride through an eccentric landscape of love, sex, vodka, and mortality. Horse of Jenin is a universal story of resilience and imagination that blends storytelling, mask and stand-up from Palestinian comedian and actor Alaa Shehada. Brimming with humour and heart, the show follows the daily life of a boy growing up in Jenin, Occupied Palestine, with a simple desire to play.

The Offie award-winning Giselle: Remixcombines ballet, contemporary dance and lip-sync cabaret. Jack Sears’ radical, queer remix of the classic ballet, centres on hopeless romantic Giselle, who comes to realise the real world of hookups and heartbreak is far from Hollywood’s happily-ever-after.

The Pleasance will present an enviable host of LGBTQIA+ work, with highlights from lesbian artists including Lesbian Space Crime, Count Dykula and DYKE Systems Ltd. In the musical comedy Lesbian Space Crime,Astronaut Albright is accused of criminal activity against her ex-wife, heralding the dawn of space-crime and a new era for queer representation. Butch loner Count Dykula loves her life, even though she’s technically dead, while DYKE Systems Ltd is a very special business venture that helps the audience find their inner Dynamic, Young, Knowledgeable Entrepreneur.

With more shows to be announced over the coming weeks there will be comedy, theatre, circus, magic, dance, kids’ shows and much more, alongside support for some of the most innovative newcomers through artist development strand Pleasance Futures. There’s nowhere quite like the Pleasance at Fringe!

Main Image: Courtesy of Pleasance’s

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