Italy @ Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2026

Italy, autumn 1951. Heavy flooding causes the Po River to burst its banks, turning the Polesine area into a huge lake. People flee with no time to choose what to take with them, they flee so they can return, they return so they can start over. Autumn 2021. A woman is moving house for the umpteenth time. Searching through the rooms she decides to take EVERYTHING with her. Two tragedies intertwine in this monologue about deliberate and unintentional uprooting and the big and small events that change our lives, asking: could we ever really lose everything?

7 – 30 August | 14:40

Playground 3 at ZOO Playground (venue 186)

Berlin, April 1945. As the Red Army storms the city in WWII’s largest urban battle since Stalingrad, a young woman finds herself trapped in the wreckage of a collapsing society. Her testimony reveals the largely silenced story of the mass violence inflicted on German women in the final weeks of the war. Performed by Magda Pohl, this solo physical theatre piece weaves movement, Indian rhythm and dance into a formally bold, emotionally unflinching portrait of survival, dignity and historical memory.

6 – 16, 18 – 21 August | 13:50 

Studio at Teatro Fisico (venue 359a)

Join a real-life mother and daughter on a road trip from Donegal to southern Italy, as they weave their personal stories with those of Italian immigrants in Northern Ireland. Blending performance, video, archive testimony and live electronic music, the duo meet present-day migrants, activists and strangers along the route, asking who gets to draw the lines between us and them. Performed in English, French and Italian with integrated subtitles, Aliens is an ‘ambitious, memorable piece that treats familiar themes in new, even alien ways’ (Irish Times). A meditation on inheritance, migration and those who live in between: the aliens.

18 – 23, 25, 30 August | 16:20

Main House at ZOO Southside (venue 82)

Showcasing Philip Contini, singer and storyteller, and Anne Evans, piano. A heartfelt, exhilarating celebration of their unique interpretation of timeless classical and popular Neapolitan and Italian songs. ‘Contini’s rapport with his audience is consummate’ (Scotsman). With over 35 years of experience performing music and theatre on the Edinburgh Fringe, Edinburgh-born, Italian-Scot, Philip Contini, returns with his beloved singing and storytelling. He is joined by long-time fellow musician and collaborator, Anne Evans. Both are part of the famous, Be Happy Band, also appearing in Venue 67. ‘Passion flows from Contini’ (Scotsman).

11, 19, 27 August | various times

Caffè Bar & Restaurant at Valvona & Crolla (venue 67)

A hymn to life in the darkest moments – 26 April 1986: Chernobyl nuclear power plant explodes in Ukraine. This intimate performance explores the deeply human side of the tragedy – not a reconstruction of events, but of emotions through the memories of Lyudmila, the wife of a firefighter. Her words are drawn from Prayer for Chernobyl by Svetlana Alexievich. Performed by one of Italy’s most intense stage actresses, Elena Arvigo, ‘a powerhouse performer… a devastatingly beautiful account of love that can overcome everything’ ***** (BingeFringe.com). ‘An urgent, harrowing, stunningly performed piece for the present age’ ***** (BroadwayBaby.com).

7 – 16, 18-30 August | 15:15 

Playground 1 at ZOO Playground (venue 186)

Fringe favourites the Black Blues Brothers return with their electrifying, family-friendly show. Having wowed over 65,000 Fringe spectators, they are back at McEwan Hall, ready to amaze audiences once again. Set in a smoky train station and driven by an unforgettable rock’n’roll soundtrack, expect jaw-dropping acrobatics, towering human pyramids and gravity-defying stunts. Featuring iconic music by Glenn Miller, Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin, this is the ultimate experience for all ages. After five smash-hit Fringe seasons and appearances at the Royal Variety Show and the Moulin Rouge, this feel-good phenomenon is truly unmissable.

5-17, 19-31 August | 17:00

McEwan Hall at Underbelly, Bristo Square (venue 302)

Frank Wilkinson, an American professor of ancient history, is being treated in a psychiatric ward following a severe psychotic episode. In the grip of hallucinations, he is convinced he is the Emperor Caligula. Aided by a clown nurse and an autistic musician, Frank relives the rise and fall of Rome’s most notorious emperor: a man who began as a populist servant of the people and ended as a narcissistic tyrant. A tragicomedy blending physical theatre, clown and live music.

6 – 16, 18 -21 August | 16:40

Studio at Teatro Fisico (venue 359a)

It’s hard to free yourself from your childhood. Ce de Lu’ is a theatrical project exploring family memory, inherited trauma and emotional violence through a visual and symbolic language that moves fluidly between realism and vision. Set in a mountain house, a liminal space that is at once refuge and prison, nest and den, the play follows two siblings (played and directed by Paulette Rufin and Pietro Moser) who, through a series of returns, are forced to reckon with the material and psychological remains of a past they cannot lay to rest. Written by Annalisa Scopinich.

24 -30 August | 21:30

studio at C ARTS | C venues | C aquila (venue 21)

From the company behind The Italians in England comes an extraordinary tale about democracy and dictatorship, told through Balinese mask, music and physical theatre with Edoardo Vanoni and Denis Haugh. Cycling through the countryside of a tropical island, an Italian tourist loses his way when his phone battery dies. He enters the home of an old mask maker and from then on a remarkable political story unfolds. This play explores the lure of populism and the common traits shared by dictators, reflecting the political realities shaping our world today. The show is dedicated to Alexei Navalny.

7 – 15 August | 11:00

Haldane Theatre at theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall (venue 53)

You sit on your front porch at 3am, a gun in one hand, a guitar in the other: what song do you play? With original music, dark humour and heart, Down in Colorado is an exploration of the self-destructive impulses that follow us wherever we go. After tours in Brighton, Bologna, Geneva and more, the excellent writer, musician and performer Gabriel Bird is back in Edinburgh to bring you more honest and powerful storytelling.

7 – 16, 18 – 23, 25-30 August | 20:15

Playground 1 at ZOO Playground (venue 186)

Anna Vanosi’s mesmerizing trio serve up a jazz-infused feast of classic Italian popular song. You, the audience, choose the setlist from our menu of authentic, irresistible Italian flair. ‘Her voice is nectar’ **** (NorthWestEnd.com).

10, 12, 18, 24 August | various times

Caffè Bar & Restaurant at Valvona & Crolla (venue 67)

Two granddaughters find a notebook and an AI narrator who spills their nonna’s secrets. A cheeky tribute to Italian women through history, where artificial intelligence narrates natural femininity. Performed in Italian with English subtitles and bilingual laughs.

13, 14, 15 August | various times

Caffè Bar & Restaurant at Valvona & Crolla (venue 67)

On the motionless nights of the Karst summer, a call crosses the dark: keu… keu… The scops owl sings, hidden among branches, revealing itself only through its voice. From this image, Compagnia Bellanda shapes a visceral duet on love’s fragile threshold – between desire and control, tenderness and aggression, guidance and surrender. Rooted in breaking and evolving into intimate partnering, the choreography entwines bodies, breath and stripped language. Sound is amplified, fractured, returned as memory. Suspended between choice and destiny, the performers inhabit a space where empathy resists rupture and a single word may alter two lives.

18 – 23, 25 -30 August | 20:30 

DB1 at Assembly @ Dance Base (venue 22a)

An incendiary retelling of Homer’s Iliad, sung through the voice of Thetis, Achilles’ mother. Two performers fluidly shifting: god/mortal, mother/warrior, goddess/lover, masculine/feminine, collapsing the boundaries of gender, power and fate. Love – maternal, erotic, spiritual – collides with the brutal machinery of war. Developed through international residencies and informed by artistic exchange with Lebanese and Palestinian artists working amid ongoing conflict, the production refuses nostalgia. Olympus is not distant; it is political, volatile, human. Nearly three millennia later, the epic burns with the same question: who wages war, and who pays the price?

6 – 12, 14 – 18 August | various times

Netherbow Theatre at Scottish Storytelling Centre (venue 30)

‘The diagonal of the square is incommensurable with its side.’ Few words, but with unexpected implications: a number like this – neither whole nor fraction, thinkable but unknowable, wild, irrational – is a chaos element threatening the very order of things. The step from mathematics to heresy is short, and in Pythagoras’ time, mathematics could even cost you your life. A performance balancing mathematics and storytelling, where the story of Hippasus of Metapontum becomes an occasion to reflect on the role of mathematics in Western culture.

6 – 10, 12, 14, 16 August | 18:15 

George Mackay Brown Library at Scottish Storytelling Centre (venue 30)

Mister Jackpot lives in Lexington, Kentucky. By day he endures the grinding monotony of a gardening equipment company. By night he dreams of being a winner – money, women, luxury cars, the James Bond life. Then a chance encounter with a slot machine changes everything. What begins as harmless entertainment quickly spirals into a compulsion fed by his darkest inner demon. A tragicomic solo performance that blends physical theatre and dark comedy to explore the psychological spiral leading to pathological gambling.

6 – 16, 18 – 21 August | 15:15

Studio at Teatro Fisico (venue 359a)

Tino, an Italian surviving Britain, finds comedy in passive aggression, rainy days and polite lies. Expect tales of cultural clashes, awkward encounters and the absurdities of life abroad.

7 -31 August | 18:15 

Wee Container 1 at Hoots @ Potterrow (venue 243)

Puttana is a work that questions the boundary between body and commodity, between desire and power. In a society that normalises consumption, the buying and selling of bodies follows the same rules as any other market: I pay, therefore I can. A single actress gives voice to five characters, through music and words, to tell an uncomfortable and cruel story. Will you be the one who casts the first stone?

6 – 16, 18 – 23, 25, 31 August | 21:15

Red Lecture Theatre at Summerhall (venue 26)

A non-verbal physical comedy show. A Shaolin monk relives his childish and clownish soul in his Zen practice, discovering a world always full of surprises and finds its meaning in seemingly insignificant little things. Freely inspired by the book Shaolin: You Don’t Have to Fight to Win by Bernhard Moestl. Suitable for all ages, nationalities and members of the audience with hearing impairment. Avignon Off 2025, IAPAR (India) 2024, Prague Fringe 2024.

6 – 16, 18 -21 August | 11:00 

Studio at Teatro Fisico (venue 359a)

The most authentic Italian experience in town. After sold-out seasons at Edinburgh and Adelaide Fringes, award-winning comedian Stefania Licari returns with her hit show. Expat, ex-medic, and proudly Italian, she’s been hailed as ‘Sicily’s answer to Sarah Millican’ (FringeReview.co.uk) and praised for her ‘star quality’ (Latest TV). This is your unique chance to become Italian in under an hour.

Ten audience members are randomly chosen from the crowd and can decide whether to step on stage or remain seated. Those who accept begin a new life and receive flowers representing their energy: year after year, they decide how to spend it. Love, ambition, security, risk. Every decision creates connections, encounters and conflicts, while the rest of the audience shapes the world around them. When the flowers run out, their life ends. Can they find happiness before then? A participatory, funny and deeply human theatre experience – different every day.

6 – 17, 18 – 31 August | 13:55 

Cowbarn at Underbelly, Bristo Square (venue 302)

Theatre

It’s been ages since Pinocchio became a “real boy”. Now nearing life’s end, he faces his toughest quest: rescuing daughter Carla from the adventure-less modern world. Joined by old friends – greatly changed over decades – it’s a daunting task. Success demands one last clever lie. A poignant, magical twist on the classic tale, blending nostalgia, family bonds and timeless mischief for all ages. Directed by Francesco Angeloni.

25 – 30 August | 13:30

Just The Big Room at Just The Tonic at The Caves (venue 88)

The Seat of Me is a raw, intimate one-woman show about memory, identity and the moments that shape us. With just a chair, a few symbolic objects and fragments of Edith Piaf’s music, Giulia retraces a journey from Rome to New York to Los Angeles – through ballet, vanished mentors, an immigration scare at LAX and an unexpected love story – to ask: what happens when we finally sit with our past so we can stand in our life?

24 – 29 August | 15:05 

Theatre 3 at theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall (venue 53)

Drawing on Vincent’s letters, with live music and luminous imagery, this intimate portrait of a visionary artist who found light where others saw madness, takes us into his world shaped by intensity, tenderness and transcendent vision. Through layered voices and shifting landscapes, it reveals a man searching for truth and acceptance in an unforgiving world. What if he wasn’t broken, but simply saw and felt too intensely? Praised for its emotional power and haunting beauty, this production bridges Vincent’s century and our own, speaking to anyone who has ever felt out of place or misunderstood.

6 – 16, 18 – 30 August | 15:30 

Underground at Assembly George Square Studios (venue 17)