Edinburgh Fringe ‘24 just passed mid-way point, so it’s time for us to follow up from our pre-Fringe recommendations with even MORE shows by women and trans+ artists that have caught our attention since the festival began (we haven't seen most of these yet, they're on our to-watch list!).
ICYMI - we’ve got a WhatsApp group: Dykes To Watch Shows With, for queer folks to see shows together, support each other, share discount codes, etc.
We’ll also keep sharing shows on our socials throughout the festival. If you have anything you want re-posting, tag @bechdeltheatre. And give us a shout if you still need to get some stickers for your posters.
The Space @ Surgeon’s Hall 09:20
A Fire Ignites tells the story of a brave teenage girl, Parisa, in modern-day Iran who sets her hijab on fire in public. Attacked by the morality police for her rebellion, she desires nothing more than to free her country from oppression. Her best friend, who shelters her, is exhausted from fighting and lives in fear. She and Parisa are opposites, as Parisa still believes that human beings are good despite all she has endured. Parisa's mother fears for her daughter's life, and conflict emerges.
Summerhall 10:30
DEATH. It's coming for us all, so why don't we talk about it? Well, OIive is bloody well going to. Via an earth-shattering piece of serious journalism that'll be her ticket off the entertainment desk and into a Pulitzer Prize. But when Olive starts recruiting dying people to interview for her hot take on mortality... the last thing she expects is to become one of them. Based on real events, OUTPATIENT is an interrogation of invincibility that will make you laugh... and so live longer.
Underbelly George Sq 11:50
Birdy is 19. She's too old to beat boys up in the playground or skip maths. But she wishes she wasn't. Until, by chance, she unearths a family secret. One that's been buried since 1930s Cairo. One that her grandfather would rather stay hidden. But for Birdy this might be her chance to right the wrongs of the past, and prove maybe she isn't so useless after all? Lost Girl is an exploration into Jewish-Arab heritage, the expectations of womanhood and family.
Summerhall 12:25
'In the beginning, Katie and Body were best friends. In the beginning, Katie and Body were infinite with possibilities...' Katie's taken up synchronised swimming. She's buoyant and beautiful, but it's a lot harder than they thought. When the promise of campy fun and liberation fails to materialise, Katie feels further from her body than ever before. Join Katie and Body on their quest traversing forgiveness, beauty and whales as they ask: what does care look like for a fat body?
Just The Tonic @ Cabaret Voltaire 12:30
Lifelong goody-two-shoes Titi Lee is breaking all the rules, and you are invited. With heartfelt humor and incisive wit, they confront their experience growing up as a first-gen Taiwanese American in the heart of Silicon Valley during the tech boom including coming out to their immigrant parents as bisexual, and then non-binary, getting pandemic boobs, and renouncing their good girl ways. Good Girl Gone Baddie is an endearing take on trading in a desperate need to be good for the freedom of being yourself.
Assembly Roxy 13:45
Do you mind if we tell you some stories? Remythed takes the myths and legends from the backgrounds of its performers and reshapes, reforms, and retells them. From Sheherazade, to Anansi, by way of Lady Godiva – see our stories in ways you've never seen them before, in a show full of insight, dreams and wisdom that'll leave you joyful, a bit tearful and questioning every story you've ever been told. LGBTQIA+ people have always been here; it's time our collective myths reflected that fact.
Monkey Barrel @ The Hive 13:55
Join BBC New Comedy Award winner, UK-based Japanese comedian Yuriko Kotani. Seen on: Russell Howard’s Stand Up Central, Pointless Celebrities (BBC One), Mandy (BBC Two), Pls Like (BBC Three), Paul Hollywood Eats Japan (Channel 4), Sorry, I Didn’t Know (ITV) and Comedy Central Live. 'Kotani has a magical way of telling a story... her imagination transforms everyday battles into something extraordinary' (Scotsman). 'Uplifting story that will leave your heart filled and a smile on your face. I urge you to go and see this show' (Entertainment-Now.com).
Summerhall Roundabout 14:40
Abigail’s mum is dead. But it turns out she can’t afford her to be. It’s £4000 for the funeral. Extra for flowers. Even more if you want sausage rolls. Then, when a theatre suddenly pulls out of Abigail’s new project, she is asked to write about something else. Something more raw, from her "unique working class lens". Yep. To afford the funeral, she has to write about her mum. With power and playfulness, Kelly Jones’s new play tackles the inequalities around death, and the cost of turning your loved ones into art.
Pleasance Dome 14:50
This feral equine fantasia follows 11-year-old Audrey who is telepathically linked to all the other horse-girls in the world. After an attempt to liberate a police horse goes haywire, we are thrust from suburban Sydney to harsh desert Mexico for an unrelenting equestrian odyssey. Michael Louis Kennedy’s colt-hit, music-filled saga of loser-on-loser violence arrives in Edinburgh after taking the East London queer performance scene by storm! 'An absurd and affectionate pastiche about queerness and girlhood' (WestEndBestFriend.co.uk).
Gilded Balloon Patter House 15:00
Njambi McGrath returns to Edinburgh Fringe with a hilarious hour. Everyone wants to give Africans aid. Water, food, vision, sanitary towels, indeed everything except visas. We need a charity for Africans to get visas, they are bl**dy difficult to get. Njambi McGrath muses over the concept of giving. Especially to Africa. Poverty porn, white saviours, kids on a gap year, missionaries, volunteers, IMF, World Bank, international development and 3,000 charities, it seems there's a new scramble for Africa. What's it about?
Assembly George Sq 16:00
One Black woman's exploration of what is birthed at the collision of grief, ambition and sex. After bailing on a trip home, former actor Kacie is confronted with the unexpected death of a loved one – propelling her into an existential voyage back to her tried and true trade of selling windows. As the days leading up to the funeral become fewer and fewer, she grapples with questions of identity, purpose and forgiveness, ultimately asking herself what she can, or even deserves to, become.
Summerhall 16:15
Being different is a complicated business. It can be exciting, distressing, temporary, permanent, liberating, dangerous, painful, a cause for celebration. It's about bodies and language, memories and labels, perceptions and assumptions, acceptance and resistance. Join DAR, a queer, neurodivergent, curious, middle-aged Talking Heads fanatic, to consider some tricky questions around the subjects of difference, identity, positioning, labelling and belonging. A Brief History of Difference is an interactive theatre piece rooted in conversation, knowledge sharing, questioning, personal narrative and performance.
Laughing Horse @ City Cafe 16:15
A brand new show from award-winning, working-class queer comedian Sian Davies. As seen on Comedy Central Live, ITVX and NextUp. Nominated for NextUp Biggest Prize in Comedy Edinburgh Fringe 2023. Winner of Edinburgh Comedy Awards Panel Prize 2022 for Best in Class. Winner of Best Debut Show Leicester Comedy Festival 2020. Funny Women Stage Award 2019 runner up. Winner of Hilarity Bites Best New Act 2018. And she doesn't regret a thing. Or does she? 'Compelling and distinctive' (Scotsman). 'Life affirming and celebratory' (Wee Review).
Pleasance Courtyard 16:30
She's here! She's queer! Her parents are sort-of used to it! Fresh, exciting and overall just happy to be here, Dee is the greatest transgender comedian her small village has ever produced. This debut stand-up show is about reconciling with the past, coming out and going through two puberties (frankly, two too many). As seen on the BBC New Comedy Awards Final and Comedy Central Live. 'You could well be furious about not getting a ticket to one of their sold-out shows very soon' (Guardian).
Underbelly Cowgate 17:20
Skins actress Megan Prescott – aka Katie F*cking Fitch – in her debut solo show. Molly was a child star. Now she's considering getting into porn. What would you do if your acting career peaked in 2009 (well before the Me Too movement) and you hadn't booked another role in years? Exposed for working as a stripper, dumped by her agent (and her boyfriend), Molly's giving mainstream success one last shot.
Paradise In The Vault 18:40
Get ready for laughter, tears, and rock'n'roll in rising star Charlene Kaye's hit solo show, Tiger Daughter or: How I Brought My Immigrant Mother Ultimate Shame, about defying your Tiger Mom's dreams of you playing Carnegie Hall, and becoming her worst nightmare: a slutty shredder in all-girl Guns N' Roses cover band, Guns N' Hoses (Welcome To The Vajungle!), amongst other mishaps.
C ARTS 19:20
A mad dash through 10,000 years of history from the perspective of a sex worker. Through historical canonized characters, Whore's Eye View traces the evolution of the sacred whore from deified, to demonized, to diseased. Weaving comedic storytelling with the wisdom of her own lived experience and contemporary observations, Kaytlin Bailey artfully unpacks the complex, age-old stigma underpinning a status quo designed to keep women in their place.
Summerhall 19:25
A cocky gay clown in therapy. A clueless detective. An X-Factor sob story. Pop culture and queer drama drama drama collide against a rainbow backdrop. A surreal, fast-paced and darkly funny exploration of a queer relationship gone bad. Blending clowning, drag and a subversive take on the trauma-parading solo show, plewds is about the lengths we’ll go to avoid what’s right in front of us, in a story where the villains don’t look like villains. Being queer is the best, right?
Hoots Yurt 19:55
An outrageous queer comedy from Ella Evans. Femme Fatigue presents one woman's story of living with chronic fatigue. In the era of long Covid and widespread exhaustion, this off-beat show is an absurd tale of profound tiredness. When the rebellious Sascha falls ill, she moves back home to recover. Back to deepest rural Devon. Cue eccentric villagers, bonkers family dynamics and feral sexual yearning. A surreal story of hope in the face of despair, Femme Fatigue is a tribute to illness, recovery and queer love.
Pleasance Courtyard 20:00
After an encounter with a wildlife enthusiast, the Funny Women Award finalist explores what it means to be a human animal (nightmare, tbh). Expect coming out in your 30s, rinsing homophobes and forming a coven with your kids. The debut stand-up hour from the 'brilliant' (Bridget Christie) comedian and writer. 11 million views on TikTok. Heard on BBC Radio 1, Radio 5, Radio 4. 'Mason is so good; I was laughing before she said anything' (Bridget Christie)
Underbelly Cowgate 20:25
In 2024, trans girl Alex (me) started HRT. Now she (me) feels the most alive she's (me's) ever felt; and she wants to make you feel alive too, or die trying. A ludicrous, musical, chaotic, joyful show about the colours of the world becoming slowly brighter and giving people furniture via the tube. Also being trans. 'Undeniably ludicrous comedy gold' (Entertainment-Now.com). 'Eclectic, risk-taking and inventive' (Scotsman). 'Winningly weird... this young comic is on the way up' (Telegraph).
Zoo Southside 20:30
in TESTO by Wet Mess, Wet Messifies transitions, testosterone and the edges of drag. Expect dykey desires, moustache meals and choreography of guttural sexuality pinching at the dull flesh of life where the magical is in the mundane and made up shit becomes real.
Pleasance Dome 21:30
Step inside Club Fragilé for a cabaret-show-cum-wellness-journey all about loneliness. In a dusty dreamscape you’ll encounter washed-up cabaret acts, filthy lip-syncs and a joyous celebration of queer culture, as these camp clowns try – and possibly fail – to connect with you (I know, how embarrassing). You might be lonely, but you're definitely not alone. Devised by emerging queer theatre collective Sweet Beef, who work to explore socio-political issues with a healthy dose of audience interaction and comedy.
Underbelly Cowgate 22:10
Ellis wakes up in a turbulent fever dream created by the Gods of Sapphic Desire. Mia and Finlay, self-proclaimed expert angel dykes, say she's expected to "reflect" on her life or some crap like that. One magic diary and twelve comical tunes later, these three hot queers learn something important: being a disaster is not a unique talent, it's just embarrassing. Oh well, at least there are sexy togas!
Pleasance Courtyard 22:20
In 2023, Lou Wall was the first ever lesbian* to go through a breakup. In 2024 Lou Wall will be the first EVER** comedian to write a show about heartbreak. A journey from the pits of personal hell to comic stardom***. Featuring musical comedy, deranged Powerpoints and mentally ill hot takes, this show will make you 100% gayer (derogatory) and cure your depression or your money back. Eat my ass. *No srlsly ... eat it. ***The open-mic circuit.
Paradise In Augustines 22:45
Frankie is on the District Line, drunk, with a pair of scissors in their coat pocket. Meanwhile, their past self is in a club struggling to find a hair tie, their future self is in therapy insisting they’re not insane and their imaginary self is having a passionate love affair with Andrew Garfield. As these four realities come together, Frankie learns who they are and who they want to be, and ultimately decides whether or not to put those scissors to good use.
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