Our photographer Murdo MacLeod was at the Edinburgh festival 2026 to capture a wild ride through the event, from a succubus and a cycling champion to Sir Elton Scone.
A packed programme of comedy and theatre
Julian Clary, whose set Fully Dilated is at Assembly Rooms, was among the performers photographed. Scottish Opera’s The Galloping Cure tackles the opioid crisis with direct but sophisticated musical language and some black comedy.
Freddie Meredith’s debut hour Need a Light? unpacks masculinity and more with his smoking-area-philosopher alter ego. Georgina Collins stars in Succubus, a one-woman horror show with social commentary as sharp-fanged as the female killer at its centre.
From the Haçienda to a monster hit
Manchester’s Haçienda roars back to life in Mayflies, an adaptation of Andrew O’Hagan’s novel from site-specific theatre specialists Grid Iron. Amanda Knox uses new motherhood as a framework to tell the story of her acquittal in comedy show Cartwheel.
‘I think pole [dancing] really contains multitudes,’ says Gina Alm, who performs in Dusk/Night/Dawn alongside Donna Carnow. Connor Delves turns the story of an Australian cycling champion into a study of endurance and obsession in Cadel: Lungs on Legs.
Audience participation and visual trickery
Audience members become a jury in Christiane Jatahy’s A Trial: After An Enemy of the People, starring Wagner Moura. Clown duo Xhloe and Natasha create a monster hit with Bigfoot Ripped My Dog in Half I Saw It. Clowning, mime and visual trickery come together in Hostile, Olivier Rannou’s surreal spaghetti western.
‘It blew my mind,’ says Poles co-creator Guilherme Miotto of the first time he saw Yvonne Smink perform the show, which is about Smink’s relationship with the pole.
Music, food and more
Katie Pritchard’s character Sir Elton Scone began life as a doodle of Elton John as, you guessed it, a scone. Jaha Koo shares the delights of Korean cuisine and the difficulties of cultural assimilation in Haribo Kimchi at the international festival.
Can sexual empowerment survive its commodification? That’s the question asked by Roleplay, from performer-writer Hannah Reilly. Saturday Night Live: UK writer Jonno brings big laughs in Here Comes Mr Funny. Anna Leong Brophy appears as a ‘sexy alien’ in Born Sexy Yesterday.
Salty Brine emerges as ‘one of today’s most powerful stage voices’ in How Strange It Is (The Neutral Milk Hotel Show). Ihsane, from Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, combines the real-life story of a homophobic killing with a remembrance for the choreographer’s father.
For our comedy critic Brian Logan: Man Sings the Same Song Over and Over Again for an Hour, from Connor Dariol, AKA Australian clown Conk, was ‘the most ecstatic communal experience I’ve shared at this year’s fringe’. The Real Kyle McCarren is a new musical paying tribute to a lost bandmate. RhéAna Kamalu and Henry Calcutt star in Target Audience, a zingy satire of the TV industry. Kirsty Mann appears in the comedy horror Corpse.
