The 10 stand-out shows of the Edinburgh Fringe 2025
As the Edinburgh Fringe comes to a close, here's the top shows we saw this year
Another year, another Edinburgh Festival Fringe done. As ever, Scotland’s capital city has been witness to a veritable cornucopia of artistic expression by performers from every corner of the globe. But which shows have stood out amongst the thousands on offer? Here are our ten favourites – each one a five star smash…
Christopher Macarthur-Boyd: Howling at the Moon
There is not a comic on the circuit who seems as comfortable in their own skin as Christopher Macarthur-Boyd. It immediately puts you at ease to enjoy a natural showman at the top of his game. Even when revelling in trademark ‘wee speccy guy’ self-depreciation, Macarthur-Boyd does it with such swagger and self-assuredness that it makes dining alone while a passer-by calls you a wanker feel almost aspirational. Who else could get a laugh out of crooning the word ‘Mounjaro’ like Alex Turner insisting on a mirrorball? CMB jokingly refers to himself as a ‘post-punk Ronnie Corbett’; an Irn-Bru Dave Allen might be closer to the mark these days.
Don’t Tell Dad About Diana
Conor Murray and Hannah Power are a revelation together in this celebration of fandom, friendship and being fabulous in your own skin. The People’s Princess™ may pervade every corner of this Dublin-based tale, but it’s really about chosen family, coming out (as loving a Royal) and being who you want to be. The script is drum tight and deadly, with hilarious set pieces, sparkling repartee and meaningful stakes. That said, the real star is the chemistry between the two leads. You can already imagine DTDAD finding its way onto the big or small screen, such is the clear potential of its acute characterisation and deliciously camp performances. Diana would be proud.
Alison Spittle: BIG
First things first: Alison Spittle is fucking hilarious. She drops killer lines at will, with one spicy gag involving Philip Schofield a particular highlight. But what truly elevates BIG to one of the finest hours of comedy at the festival is the naked honesty and blazing soul with which she imbues her work. There is physically less of Spittle than there was before, and she is treated differently because of it. But she refuses to let that diminish or belittle the person she was very proud and happy to be. This is Spittle reaching into the past to give her former self a tight embrace and tell her: you will always have value and you will always be loved – no matter what these c***s may think.
Consumed
For such a wrought and powerful examination of familial bonds, generational trauma and the lies we tell ourselves and others to get through the day, Consumed is so often genuinely hilarious. There are more laugh-out-loud moments than in most straight-up comedies. It’s a testament to Karis Kelly’s phenomenal writing that you are constantly changing your mind about who is being cruel, kind, unreasonable, justified, fragile or unbelievably strong. As the facade begins to crumble – both figuratively and literally – you start to wonder which of keeping things buried and releasing them into the world is more damaging.
Ordinary Decent Criminal
Such is the authenticity and deftness of Ed Edwards’ writing and the utter conviction of Mark Thomas’ performance that Ordinary Decent Criminal feels less like a fiction based on first-hand experience and more like actual testimonies of real people and events. Each character is so fully realised that you want to search their names afterwards to find out more about them. As for Thomas he is a masterful, shape-shifting tour de force who somehow manages to play off himself to perfection. In lesser hands ODC could have devolved into a set of broadly painted archetypes of virtuous, evil and damned. Instead everything is complicated and everyone is compromised.
PALESTINE: PEACE DE RESISTANCE
You get the impression that this is the performance of Sami Abu Wardeh’s life. Every artistic endeavour, each chaotic life experience has led to this hour-long opus. It is a virtuoso display in every sense of the word; a one-man collage of tonal shifts and interwoven strands with the fight for liberation at its heart. Of course the urgency of the Palestinian struggle looms large over everything, but Abu Wardeh very much frames it as part of a bigger picture. His contention is thus: you can kid yourself and distract yourself and run from it all you like – your mere existence is political. And the choice is clear: resist injustice with all your might or succumb to the jack boot. Perhaps the growing movement for a free Palestine could be the catalyst to realising that; perhaps one man’s art could be the catalyst to realising that.
Rob Auton: CAN (An Hour-Long Story)
Upon learning that Auton’s new show is centred around a motivational speaker, you’d be forgiven for assuming it involves the skewering of online grifters who sell you empty lies for clicks. That couldn’t be further from the case. Instead it affords the protagonist true motives and real empathy. It shouldn’t be a surprise. Auton’s greatest strength has always been his empathy. This is a man who can look at an apple and mourn its descent to its mother ground being interrupted by an orchard picker. CAN is very very funny, but time and again it hits you in the gut with a truth so profound that it winds you for a moment. The way Auton says two words – “You’re it” – makes you want to cry. Long-form narrative storytelling is where he must focus his attention now. Whether it’s more ‘hour-long stories’, plays or film one thing is for sure – Auton can.
My Name is Rachel Corrie
Telling the story of Rachel Corrie, an American peace activist who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer in 2003 while protecting the Palestinian home from being demolished, this production is one of the most intimate, moving and quietly devastating shows of the whole Fringe. Performed unerringly by Jewish actor Sascha Shinder and produced by a predominantly Jewish team, it is an urgent clarion call to pick up Corrie’s baton – now more than ever. Special praise must of course go to Shinder. So much of her deeply moving performance is in the eyes. They sparkle with youthful exuberance, flash with righteous anger, grow steely with resolve, and ultimately go dull as a light is turned out. It is truly spellbinding stuff.
Sikisa: Serving Justice
We often talk about diversity in the arts in terms of very distinct categories – race, gender, sexual orientation, class – as if people are just one thing and that’s how they must always be defined. Sikisa resolutely defies any such convention and rallies against fitting neatly into any one box. She contains multitudes – comedian, immigration lawyer, South Londoner, wrestler – and each is explored with irresistible flair in this raucous hour. Importantly she also affords those seeking refuge and a new life in the UK with their agency too: they are not perfect victims, they are imperfect human beings just like us. Diversity may be about opportunity for the performer but it is just as much a benefit to the audience. And Sikisa is the perfect advert for a comic with actual life experience and something real to say.
The Horse of Jenin
The Horse of Jenin is less a play as it is a rousing, laughter-filled testament to the indomitable spirit and undying resilience of the Palestinian people. It refuses to depict those living in occupied Palestine as down-trodden victims and instead shows them to be the most passionate, alive and fun-loving people you could hope to meet – if only you could meet them. Here you do, thanks to their finest ambassador, the ebullient and remarkable Alaa Shehada.
In a world that so often fails to acknowledge Palestinians as actual human beings, sharing their stories in such a vibrant, joyous and poignant way feels like a revolutionary act in itself. The Horse of Jenin cannot be dismantled. It is impossible to bulldoze. Thanks to Shehada’s masterful storytelling and the blinding power of his art, it lives on in everyone who experiences this heart-swelling show.
Notable mentions…
United is such an acutely observed and affectionate parody of fly-on-the-wall football documentaries that you can imagine it on Apple TV+ aside Ted Lasso and the very source material it spoofs. Ted Milligan is a star. The impassioned and vibrant House Party announces Chakira Alin as an exciting and urgent new voice in UK theatre. Rohan Sharma’s Mad Dog is gloriously irreverent, showing him to be at the very forefront of an exciting new generation of British comedy. Dom McGovern is endlessly entertaining, outrageously funny and a genuine triple threat – he can act, dance and slay.