Heading to Scotland for Edinburgh Festival Fringe? Here is your guide to the many Irish acts taking part.
Stand-up comedians
Vittorio Angelone: you can’t Say Nothing any more
Monkey Barrel Comedy Club and McEwan Hall; August 6th-11th and 13th-24th; £18; see more here
Italian-Irish comedian Vittorio Angelone is returning to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe for his third year with a new show the tagline for which is simply, “Vittorio Angelone has always denied any involvement in the Edinburgh Fringe”. Angelone has built a dedicated following with his seamless blend of social commentary and comedy, and from its early reviews this show seems to be no exception.
Rachel Galvo: Shite Feminist
Pleasance Dome; August 6th-24th; £14; see more here
Rachel Galvo is returning to the Edinburgh Fringe with Shite Feminist. The show is framed as an exposé of the “15 years she spent locked up in an all-girls catholic school run by nuns”. Last year a group of nuns did turn up to watch one of her performances – she felt the need to go to Confession after that.
Marise Gaughan: A Supposedly Fun Thing I’ll Never Do Again
Monkey Barrel Comedy Club; various August dates; £9; see more here
Comedian, Dubliner and bestselling author Marise Gaughan has brought a new show to the Fringe based on her acclaimed debut memoir Trouble in which details her struggles with addiction. While being a self-reflective show about the realities of addiction, Gaughan swears that her show is not “the serious Ted-talk kind”.
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Warren Martin: Proud Father, Exhausted Dad
Various venues; August 6th, 9th, and 11th-16th; £10; see more here
Kildare comedian Warren Martin has brought his solo show, first performed in Smock Alley in Dublin, to Edinburgh Fringe. Martin recounts his life story from birth to fatherhood, and reveals the funny side of life to all, except him apparently. Martin cofounded and runs Kildare’s longest running comedy club, Mór Laughs, at Maynooth’s O’Neills Bar.
Caroline McEvoy: Train Man
Assembly Roxy; August 6th-10th and 12th-25th; £10.50; see more here
Originally from Bangor, Caroline McEvoy brings a story of sibling rivalry in post-Troubles Northern Ireland to the Fringe. Directed by Ben Target, McEvoy’s show reckons with her lifelong battle against her younger brother, who loves trains and getting his way. Now based in London, McEvoy is the resident MC at the Comedy Bandits comedy club in south London.
Grace Mulvey: Did You Hear We’re All Going To Die?
George Aikman Theatre; August 6th-10th, 12th-24th; £12; see more here
Rathfarnham comedian Grace Mulvey returns to the Fringe after her acclaimed debut show, Tall Baby, was named one of Rolling Stone’s magazine’s 12 standout shows of the festival last year. She is back with a new show in which, after suffering a series of personal tragedies, she attempts to make the audience better at attending funerals as she claims “people are shit at funerals”.
Danny O’Brien: Adulting Hard!
The Beehive Inn; August 6th-25th; £15; see more here
Wicklow-based comedian Danny O’Brien is performing at the Fringe after having sold-out shows at the festival for the last three years. His show explores his life as a mortgage-approved childless millennial trying to figure it all out. O’Brien makes regular appearances on Irish TV and radio and is the owner of Drumhill Event Management, one of Ireland’s largest comedy event companies.
Rosie O’Donnell: Common Knowledge
Appleton Tower; 6th-10th August; £26; see more here
Having been recently been made an Irish citizen and moved to Sandymount in Dublin, Rosie O’Donnell is making her debut at the Fringe with a show focused on her decision to leave the US for Ireland. The eleven-time Emmy and Tony Award winner has billed this show as a mixture of heart, humour and honesty. Read our review here.
Roger O’Sullivan: Fekken
The Apex; August 6th-12th and 14th-23rd; £12.50; see more here
The BBC News Comedy Awards nominee Roger O’Sullivan is bringing his nostalgic trip through the 1990s to the Fringe. Expect surreal stories about rural Ireland, video games and optical illusions in his hour-long stand-up set.
Mike Rice: Cruel Little Man
Monkey Barrel Comedy; August 6th-16th, 18th-24th; £13; see more here
A Kilkenny comedian now living in London, Mike Rice returns to the Fringe after selling out shows there for the past six years. This year’s act is an exploration of some of his rotten adventures, such as his past entanglement with a Spanish Sausage Dog. Rice shares a successful podcast with fellow Irish comedian Angelone called Mike and Vittorio’s Guide to Parenting, despite either actually having a child.
Alison Spittle: BIG
Monkey Barrel Comedy; various August dates; £12; see more here
Alison Spittle originally wanted to call her show Fat Bitch, but was told that you can’t put that on a poster. The Westmeath comedian, now based in London, told Brendan O’Connor on RTÉ Radio 1 that her show is about, “being a fat bitch, basically Brendan”. A TV regular Spittle has appeared on House of Games, Celebrity Gogglebox and Pointless Celebrities.
Variety comedy shows
A bit of a character
Multiple venues; August 11th-13th; Free and non-ticketed; see more here
Irish comedians Seán Begley, Warren Martin, Oli Riordan, George Robinson and guests will perform widely different characters, it will be up to the audience to decide if they are playing themselves or characters. These shows are a collaboration between the Mór Laughs Comedy Club and PHB’s Free Fringe.
Irish Comedy Headliners
The Caves; August 7th-11th and 13th-24th; £7; see more here
Each day a few mystery Irish comedians will perform short sets. The comedians will not be announced before the show – they could be comedians who have a show at the Fringe or could be visitors there for a few days.
The Best of Irish Comedy
The Stand Comedy Club; August 6th-24th; £15; see more here
This Irish comedy showcase has put on shows at the Fringe for the past 25 years. They claim to get the hottest new acts and best headliners to perform. Past performers including Dara Ó Briain, Alison Spittle and Aisling Bea.
Suitable for the whole family
You’ll See...
Pleasance Courtyard; various August dates; £12; see more here
James Joyce’s Ulysses is brought to life in this inventive new show aimed at those aged eight and upwards. Combining live performance, intricate paper design and an original score, this is being billed as theatre which will excite both young and old.
Dance
Anatomy of a Night
Summerhall; August 13th-18th, 20th-25th; £17, see more here
Nick Nikolaou is bringing his one-man contemporary dance show to the Fringe. It will tell the story of the personal identity journey which many queer people experience in club spaces. Nikolaou co-runs Dublin Modular, an artist-run organisation which mainly hosts live electronic music and visual arts meetups, workshops, talks and performances.
Dancehall Blues
Dance Base 1; August 12th-17th and 19th-24th; £13.50; see more here
The acclaimed CoisCéim Dance Theatre Company takes its show, which was nominated for best production and design at Dublin Fringe 2024, to Edinburgh. This duet unfolds in a surreal dancehall at dusk, blurring the lines between reality and imagination. Read our review here.
Drama
Lost Lear
The Traverse Theatre; various August dates; £25; see more here
A darkly comedic retelling of Shakespeare’s King Lear from the perspective of Joy, a person with dementia who is living in an old memory of King Lear. Utilising puppetry, projection and live video effects, the audience is transported into the world of someone living with dementia. This show is a collaboration between Matt Smyth, the Riverbank Arts Centre and the Mermaid Arts Centre.
Genre-bending performances
Aoife Dunne: Good Grief
Gilded Balloon Patter House; August 13th-25th; £12; see more here
Aoife Dunne is bringing her critically acclaimed debut show, Good Grief, to Edinburgh after sold-out runs at the Brighton Fringe and Dublin Theatre Festival. While her mother’s death is a rather dark subject to base her one-woman show around, the reviews have all emphasised her ability to find the humour in moments of devastation.
BITCH
Pleasance Dome; various August dates; £16; see more here
BITCH is coming to the Fringe following its award-winning and sold-out run at Dublin Fringe Festival last year. Mary Breen’s one-woman show combines cabaret, stand-up and drag and tells the story of a drunk, broken hearted woman who has decided to declare war at an open mic.
Carpet Muncher
Scottish Storytelling Centre; August 6th-12th; £14; see more here
Jo Morrigan Black’s solo spoken-word drag performance brings to life the contemporary folklore of the Mothman to explore themes of queer alienation, metamorphosis, cross-Border solidarity and homoerotic hot-tub encounters. Previously performed at the Dublin Fringe and Galway Theatre Festival this show has been described as “spoken word at its best”.
This Sh*t Happens All the Time
Assembly George Square Studios; various August dates; £12.50; see more here
Amanda Verlaque’s darkly funny one-woman show tells the true story about how one woman’s ex-boyfriend turned murderous after she came out as queer. The show seeks to challenge the inequalities faced by the LGBTQ+ community by exposing the coercive control and homophobia experienced by so many.
