Scottish stories being told at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

The Herald Scotland

02-06-2025

With new shows and events being added every week to the line-up, here are just a few highlights from the ever-expanding programme that is taking shape.
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When Billy Met Alasdair, Scottish Storytelling Centre: Award-winning writer Alan Bissett's show is inspired by an encounter between Sir Billy Connolly and Alasdair Gray when the comic met the writer at the launch of his novel Lanark in 1981.
Bissett, who is best known at the Fringe for The Moira Monologues, will be exploring the 'origins stories,' struggles and triumphs of Connolly and Gray in a show given a sneak preview at this year's Glasgow Comedy Festival.
The birdlife of Shetland has inspired Kathryn Gordon's Fringe show A Journey of Flight. (Image: Supplied)
A Journey of Flight, Dace Base: Choreographer Kathryn Gordon has created immersive experience inspired by the birdlife of Shetland, where she lives.
Dance, live music and visual projects will be combined to explore themes of arrivals, departures, place and flight. The piece, which was created in Shetland is aimed at encouraging audiences to 'reflect on the delicate balance between 'nature, movement and our emotional ties to place and each other.'
River City and Shetland star Gail Watson will be appearing in Faye's Red Lines at the Fringe.
Windblown, Queen's Hall: A palm tree removed from Edinburgh's Royal Botanic Garden after more than 200 years has inspired a new stage from award-winning singer-songwriter Karine Polwart.
The Sabel bemudana palm was removed last year from the tropical palm house after outgrowing the building, which is currently closed for refurbishment. The tree, which had been transported to the attraction in the 1820s from its previous home on Leith Walk, had 'outgrow' the building and was said to be too frail to be relocated again.
Johnny McKnight will be performing his pantomime-inspired stage show She's Behind You at this year's Fringe. (Image: Traverse Theatre)
Polwart's show will imagine the poetic and musical voice of the tree in what she describes as 'an exploration of historical legacies, ecological loss, collective ritual and the multi-generational promise of gardens.'
She's Behind You, Traverse Theatre: Scottish theatre-maker Johnny McKnight will be reflecting on 'a lifetime spent in pantomimes' in the one-man show he is creating with award-winning director John Tiffany, who was at the helm of the recent Edinburgh stage hit Wild Rose.
McKnight, who has written more than 30 pantos and played 18 dames himself, will be looking back at his personal experiences across 20 years of Scottish production.
The show, which is being adapted from a lecture McKnight delivered in full custom for the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, is expected to be exploration of identity, courage and acceptance.
The Traverse has billed She's Behind You as 'a celebration of shifting traditions and the unexpected beauty found in the anarchy of pantomime.'
Faye's Red Lines, Gilded Balloon: River City and Shetland actress Gail Watson portray a woman with a paralysing fear of intimacy in Rab C Nesbitt creator Ian Pattison's play.
The character played by Watson, who starred alongside Andy Gray and Jordan Young in last year's Gilded Balloon hit Chemo Savvy, will confront her long buried past and her solitary life.
Skye: A Thriller, Summerhall: The Isle of Skye provides the backdrop to best-selling author and theatre producer Ellie Keel's debut play.
It explores the events which unfold when four siblings on holiday believe they saw their their father on a beach four years after he passed away.
The show is billed as 'a relentless search for the truth, on a rugged island where real people and ghosts seem to walk hand in hand among the mountains and lochs.'
24 Weeks, Gilded Balloon: The debate over reproduction rights in Scotland has inspired a play set in a not-so-distant future Scotland where abortion has been made illegal.
The show focuses on the relationships between three friends who are divided on what to do when one of them falls pregnant.