Edinburgh Festival 2026: 10 scary shows we’ve already reviewed | Edinburgh Festival 2026

Bog Witch

It may have had a tree-hugging moment but Bryony Kimmings’ solo show finds fresh and thought-provoking perspectives on our world’s most familiar problems. In the summer, she recalls the tumultuous year after moving into a permaculture-style house with her son, partner and daughter. It’s great to see Kimmings back, reckoning with the seasons of the universe and the quotidian – and a time capsule of how we live now. Chris Wiegand Read the reviews. Travel, 8-30 August

David Elms Explains The Room

“Shall we give ourselves a night to stop laughing?” There are extreme styles, then there is David Elms. At a festival that features spectacular performances, it’s rare to see Elms deliver an hour-long performance without microphones, props, sets or anything else planned. We have to lean in, which is useful for a show that relies on the audience’s imagination to break things down. A beautiful, artistic and timeless hour of extempore comedy. Brian Logan Read the reviews. Court of Pleasance, 5-30 August

Woodhill

HMP Woodhill houses the boys outside Milton Keynes – “a box of lives on our doorstep”, says a local. Even within British prisons, it has a poor record of care. Following vulnerable men who committed suicide in prison, writer Matt Woodhead and choreographer Alexzandra Sarmiento have created a documentary that takes on a terrifying dimension. It honors the dead and those who fought for change. The theater is also thought of as an extraordinary power. David Jays Read the reviews. Southside Zoo, 7-30 August

The horse of Jenin

The writer and humorist Alaa Shehada takes us back to a difficult childhood in the Palestinian city of Jenin, moving for several decades in a picaresque style, from his inseparable relationship with Ahmed, who was born on the same day as him, to grow up in the ruins of repeated attacks, a dangerous love, and a small horse that gives him a small example. It packs a punch in the gut, even if there is no self-pity or self-pity. This is a production that chooses to find happiness in the midst of danger. Arifa Akbar Read the reviews. Court of Pleasance, 18-30 August

Ten Thousand Hours

This could be a suitable festival show – it has great talent and humor and audience participation. There are tantrums and laughs and Pictionary exercises. The Australian circus company Gravity and Other Myths has already received several accolades for 10,000 Hours, an ode to the countless hours spent building the muscles, mind and precision skills that allow you to survive flying in space. Lyndsey Winship Read the reviews. Assembly Hall, 6-30 August

One Man Musical

“Is this show an official bomb shelter? Yes it is. But we’re going.” So does Flo & Joan’s fringier-than-fringe comedy music to put Andrew Lloyd Webber center stage in his autobiography. The duo acknowledges the cynicism that is driven by his music, and the frustration of being left out of cultural change, and they carry the show with absurd humor, often destroying ALW and its “musicools.” BL Read the reviews. Court of Pleasance, 5-30 August

Scary Boys: Slugs

If the end of the world is a party, I want these two slugs to be the hosts. Dreamed up by fellow Canadians the Creepy Boys, this crazy rave is both brilliant and insane. Sam Kruger and SE Grummett insist, with increasing desperation, that this is an empty show. No difficult topic will be addressed here. What begins as an attempt to debunk the logic of the doom scroll settles into a critical examination of the absurdities we accept as normal. Kate Wyver Read the reviews. Summerhall, 6-17 August

Furniture boys

Emily Weitzman explores our intimate relationship with furniture by turning her old boyfriends into a locked cupboard that won’t open, a rug that everyone walks through and a fridge (so, super cold). It’s a smart idea but, like a clever storage method, Weitzman’s show goes on to reveal hidden depths. He creates everything from the most familiar things: an unpleasant idea, memories from the heart, many movie scenes, the story of the show he created and the final closure of the artistic activity. CW Read the reviews. Underbelly, Bristo Square, 5-30 August

Tell me

Sadiq Ali says 2025 was the year he was expected to die of AIDS-related complications, had it not been for advances in medicine. Instead, here he is, muscular and strong, circling a Chinese tree, suspending himself in mid-air. Her show follows a woman living with HIV, which is still stigmatized and misunderstood, especially outside of the LGBTQ+ community. Tell me in the end it is not a story of victory or success but of love, support and acceptance, and sometimes painful, intimate. LW Read the reviews. Summerhall, 6-31 August

Sam Nicoresti: Baby Doomer

Even the most important interactions can be difficult when you’re transgender, and Sam Nicoresti creates this show around one of those situations. Ignored by the store assistant, we find Sam in the changing room of a supermarket, squeezing into a dress she can’t seem to get off. It’s a beautiful and vivid picture, delivered with such self-deprecating joy by Nicoresti that you almost forget the emotional impact of its subject. BL Read the reviews. Court of Pleasance, 15-19 August