Summerhall – Open Minds Open Doors

FK Alexander returns with her 2016 multi award-winning sell-out show. Channeling Judy Garland’s final performance in an intimate one-to-one, with repeated live singing and relentless noise music.

A thrilling and humane portrait of army life telling the stories of five men and women serving on the front line.

‘All you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun’ (Jean-Luc Godard). Witty, fun and unflinchingly provocative look at women and violence in the media, starring Orwin and an unprepared male performer.

A storytelling show about words and love and the word love. Set in the same universe as Team Viking.

After Edward Snowden’s revelations, from what might be a news desk, a bunker under a mountain or a theatre, two people speak up, speak out and blow the whistle on the insidious machine of surveillance.

Join us for a tour of Summerhall Distillery as we raise the curtain on how award-winning Pickering’s Gin is made.

The life changing adventure of space-obsessed Amira that mirrors her real life journey as a refugee. A non-verbal, physical show for all ages with puppetry and music from the maker of The Tap Dancing Mermaid.

Leah and Chris were raised on Harry Potter, New Labour and a belief they would be special. Gig theatre about when dreams don’t become reality, from the team behind the award-winning Weekend Rockstars.

Join Amy on a videogame adventure like no other in a quest for sparks of joy in the darkness. A powerful, moving and humorous show for anyone that has ever battled their own demons.

Join performance alchemists Binge Culture on an immersive audio experience to discover the city's hidden gems and meet authentic locals. 'One of the country’s most exciting, direct and original theatre companies' (NZ Herald).

These two new contemporary dance pieces from Palestine and Egypt question what it means to be Arab in today’s world. 'Mayhkomsh' tackles social judgement. 'Running Away' challenges cultural norms and burdens put on young Arabs' shoulders.

Gentle, poetic, cruel or comical; Mireille & Mathieu unpack their paraphernalia at a flea-market. Objects turn out to be bursting with stories where in this happy delirium of exploration and absurd experiments, nothing’s taken seriously.

The AAF invites you to meet some of the most exciting Arab theatre makers and choreographers working today in Cairo, Beirut, Paris and Marrakech.

Since 2006, Brian Shimkovitz's Awesome Tapes From Africa blog has been sheddinglight on obscure and wonderful sounds from across the continent.

This year again we welcome Balkanarama - Scotland's own riotous night of all things Balkan! OPA!

Welcome to Edinburgh’s longest established non-continuously operating brewery! Ever wondered what really goes on inside a brewery? You’re welcomed in to Barney’s Beer at Summerhall to do just that. You’ll be given samples of our most popular beers, shown the ins and outs of our small operation, and given a lesson on the history and science of our trade by one of our brewery professionals.

Magic and reality collide as one British Arab navigates the voyages of Sindbad and tries to make sense of his own family's relationship to their migration from Iraq to the UK.

A charismatic charmer and a smasher of pianos. A madman and an earnest poet. A strummer of delicate chords and a lover of bent and broken melodies. Ben Caplan is simply unforgettable.

The last Durham Light Infantryman, a veteran of Ypres and Somme. What does it mean to survive, to be a hero, when all he wanted was to work with horses? ‘A truly superb play’ (WalesArtsReview.com).

Travel beyond borders to the tranquil setting of Traquair House in the Scottish Borders to explore world cultures, new ideas, and peoples, at this eclectic international festival of debate, books, art, film, music, and nature.

Rebecca and Paul are running away. Away from memories and mistakes. They’re trying to save their relationship. They need time and space. An isolated house in the country is the perfect place to work things out. But you can’t run forever. Especially when you’re being followed.

BlackCatfishMusketeer isn’t about how the internet looks, it’s about how it feels. It’s about trust, doubt, closeness at a distance, worrying about your nudes being leaked and fearing that you'll die alone and your cats will eat you.

Electronic artist from the UK and one half of F*ck Buttons. Blanck Mass is a heavy, shimmering and orchestral work defined by manipulated field recordings, warm analogue synth, heavy sub and deep drone.

Old boyfriend photos, texts, poetry: struggling with her love life, Julie Cafmeyer experiences orgasms, despair, rejection and heaven. It's a coming of age story showing what theatre can be, and you're invited.

A satirical look at multicultural Britain, blending dance, dialogue and live music, this is a witty and poignant commentary on stereotypical thinking in post-Brexit Britain seen through the eyes of an international cast. ‘Superbly staged and performed’ (Telegraph).

Moving, truthful and darkly comic, Box Clever by nabokov’s associate-playwright Monsay Whitney, with music performed by Avi Simmons, is a new play about one woman’s experience of a refuge and a mother’s commitment to do the best for her daughter.

There’s no easy way to do this... An entire relationship lovingly created and destroyed over five hours. Come and go as you please and revel in the desperation, negotiation, devastation and emotional blackmail.

A contemporary triple-bill of adapted Greek mythology and new writing, written and devised by the company, exploring theatre performance through the physical, musical and poetic.

Up the dark, dark stairs, upon the bloody gallows of soft rock, through the oubliette of cheese, into the torture chamber of disco, you are welcomed to the Late Night Pop Dungeon.

A cabaret with the best performance the Arab World and Scotland have to offer! Expect words, music, comedy and otherness from new and established artists, including David Greig, Julia Taudevin and Karl Sharro.

Cockamamy comes to Edinburgh after a sell-out run at last year's London Camden Fringe. A heartbreaking, hilarious story about the companionship between Alice and her granddaughter Rosie. This compelling new play explores the reality of living with dementia.

A witty and touching new play about class, friendship and absence, set in the forgotten town of Skelmersdale by award-winning writer and comedian Jackie Hagan.

An interdisciplinary work from Turtle Island that takes shape around peoples and the land. Indigenous artists of Canada invite reputed artists of othered communities to collaborate in artful protest and celebrate the right to do so.

A sparkling comedy about first dates, followed by supersonic speed-dating to find that soulmate/casual partner/festival pal or bunch of unforeseen encounters (delete where applicable). All genders and ages (18+) welcome!

An ensemble performance that travels back through seventy years of Sri Lankan history; through the recollections of those born in the 1930s, who lived through independence, insurrection, modernization and war.

Can Arab performing artists use the stage to give different perceptions of their homes, struggles, and lives as human beings? Is it possible for a Syrian or Iraqi playwright to put on paper a simple love story? And isn’t a love story also an expression of time as experienced by its author?

Fancy getting dirty later? Come join the Dirty Protest gang as we celebrate 10 years of shaking up the theatre world with five new short plays from five of Wales' most exciting writing talent.

Following Doubting Thomas, Jeremy Weller (winner of six Fringe First awards) and Grassmarket Projects return with part two of the real-life trilogy with Thomas McCrudden: a former gangland enforcer struggling to change.

Oh look, 2016 Fringe First winners Sh!t Theatre again. What is it this time? Is it unemployment? Is there a crisis? Did the government do something wrong again? No, it’s a show about Dolly Parton. We f*cking love her.

What if your food started talking back? Meet Lionel the lion. He’s just eaten a human called Mamoru for lunch. Eaten invites children and grown-ups to the fascinating world of the food web. Eaten asks, what should we eat? And who should eat us?!

A show with lipstick on its teeth and Wotsits on its face. A rousing ode to friendship, kindness and belonging, set against the backdrop of a massive night out. Coming soon to BBC television!

Funny. Tender. Moving. Looking down the barrel of her final fertile years, an Irish woman goes on a comical quest to uncover the hows and whys of reproducing her genes.

Following last year's Fringe success and UK tour, Bertrand & Nasi's darkly comic look at the EU’s founding ideals returns for 4 performances. Total Theatre Award nominees in 2016,“constantly pits idealism against self-interest and pragmatism.” (****) The Guardian

The worldwide smash-hit is back. A play about depression and the lengths we go to for loved ones. 'Heart-wrenching, hilarious... possibly one of the funniest plays you will ever see' Guardian. 'Captivating' New York Times.

Artist and gardener Sarah Louise Marshall is creating an urban oasis in the front garden of Summerhall. A mini Eden, a slice of paradise, not lost but made entirely out of found materials. Curiosities and plants saved in order to see the real gold that can be found in what would otherwise be thrown away. The garden will host a variety of activities and games through community engagement.

Choice comedy line-ups from the country's most innovative and good new purveyor of live content, Fight in the Dog Ltd.

Thirty participants are invited into an intriguing theatrical game exploring security, profiling, freedom of expression and privacy in the age of cybersurveillance. Mobile throughout the performance, the participants collaborate, debate and spy on each other. Farsi, Arabic, English.

Discusses how notions of identity, nationality and politics influence the creations and reception of Arab theatre makers. As artists increasingly work internationally, does ‘being an Arab’ ease or complicate to get your works seen?

Frànçois & the Atlas Mountains are a French/British pop group, combining indie pop, folk pop, and African rhythms

Ex-soldier Zach has withdrawn into a cardboard box. When his friend Ieuan offers recovery in a capsule of MDMA, there follows a mind-warping exchange that will tickle, move and appal you in equal measure.

Kieran Hurley's 2016 Fringe First award-winning, total sell-out show returns for a limited run. A city. Just like this. Right now. A teenage girl boils up in rage in a toilet cubicle. A finance worker preaches doom in a busy train station. An absurd coke-addled celebrity races through town on a mission.

A reclusive children's writer becomes wildly successful. Her books are treasured across the country. But when a troubling narrative starts to unfold, we find ourselves asking: what matters more, the storyteller or the story?

What drives young people to join violent organizations? A show exploring the effects that constant propaganda has on young lives, focusing on war propaganda in particular. We follow eight youths through 10 difficult years, seeing how they change.

Since bursting onto the Madrid DIY scene, Hinds - Ana Perrote, Carlotta Cosials, Ade Martin and Amber Grimbergen - have mastered a raw and playful sound all their own.

Internationally renowned theatre director Anthony Nicholl has travelled the globe on a life-long quest to discover the true essence of theatre. Today he is giving a masterclass, working with a hand-picked actor to demonstrate his unique methods.

Can you help Molly learn how to be a kid again? A larger-than-life story of family, friends and fitting in from Sarah McDonald-Hughes. Warning: contains dancing, chocolate cake and an epic car chase.

The discussion on how to support Arab artists often focuses on the challenges of securing sustainable sources of funding for new productions.

Is the world out of joint? Who is torturing whom? How does it feel to be poor? Why is the water calling out? Where are you now, Woyzeck? Brand new from award-winning Finnish playwright/director Jari Juutinen.

Erupting into life in 2011 with the appropriately-named debut album New Brigade, recorded when the band were all in their teens, Danish punk quartet Iceage reinvigorated the idea of rock music as a primal, dangerous force for youthful expression.

The Arab region is witnessing the rise of several institutions dedicated to funding, developing, and promoting the work of confirmed and emerging independent artists from the Middle East and North Africa.

A twelve-year-old girl sneaks across the border into her own country. Her parents watch her on a computer screen. The works of a half-forgotten performance artist seem to hold the key to bringing down a brutal system operating on our behalf and under our noses.

Unique and radical reworking of Witold Gombrowicz's (the Shakespeare of Poland) classic play. Fusing language, physicality and comedy, one of Belgium's most exciting young companies creates a thrilling contemporary retelling of a lost masterpiece.

A singer, songwriter, novelist, journalist, former singer in a gothic metal band and nominee for the Norwegian version of the Brit Awards, Jenny Hval is a polymath creator with a strong track record.

Jihan is an ordinary child who woke up one day to discover she lost her smile. The sun set, the moon disappeared, everything lost its colour, cold spread throughout the town. Jihan needs to find her smile again.

A 60-minute theatre performance: Hanan Al-Haj, a woman in her 50s and a Lebanese citizen, follows her daily routine of jogging to keep herself safe from obesity, bone diseases and anxiety.

Celebrate five years of silly songs and satirical anthems from the multi award-nominated musical comedy stars. Six performances only – advance booking essential! Stars of Radio 4’s The Now Show and the BBC’s Live at Television Centre.

Following last year's show Something Better, which opened at the Fringe and later went on to enjoy a sell-out nationwide tour, plus shows in the West End, Australia and New York; Josie is coming to Edinburgh this year for three silly late night shows. She thinks you should come.

American wanderer Julie Byrne's second album, Not Even Happiness, vividly archives what would have otherwise been lost to the road (...)