🎭 Edinburgh Festival Minute: 17 & 18 August 2026

👋 Good morning festival fans. Today is traditionally a rest day for many Fringe acts. However there are still 2629 performances on the Fringe schedule, a jam-packed Book Festival line-up and much more in today's round-up. Oh and next Monday (24th) I'll be on the 'First Edition' panel at the Book Festival. More details here. Hope to see some of you there!

📆  Links to the programmes:

🎭 Fringe  🟨 International Festival  📚 Book Fringe  🎬 Film Festival 🎨 Art Festival  📚 Edinburgh International Book Festival  👍 Free Fringe 👍  PBS Free Fringe.

👀 The most-visited links from the last newsletter:

1. 🧖🏻‍♀️ Take a friend to Summerhall's Sauna Theatre for free. (Discount details below)
2. 🪩 Five stars in The List for Slay at Gilded Balloon Teviot. (Discount details below)
3. 🎟️ Vogue picks 5 (other) one-woman Fringe shows worth seeing.
4. 🍿 The BFI's 10 picks from Edinburgh International Film Festival.
5. 🍽️ Events with a foodie theme at the Book Festival.

🗞️ Talk of the town: Festival news

🏆 Twenty comedians have been longlisted for the Biggest Award In Comedy at the Fringe. The prize is a two-meter-high inflatable trophy and £500. The nominees are: Alfie Dundas, Amelia Hamilton, Bebe Cave, Ben McCarthy, Brit Barron, Connor Burns, Dane Buckley, Daniel Maseda, Dom McGovern, Frankie McNair, Freddie Meredith, Harriet Richardson, Jess Fuchs, Jonathan Oldfield, Lil Wenker, Madeleine Brettingham, Maia Tassalini, Omar Badawy, Sam Eley and Scout Boxall. - More details via Chortle and you can vote on the Next Up Comedy website.

📚 Among today's Book Festival highlights:

• 'What does it mean to be young in Britain today?' Children’s Laureate, Frank Cottrell-Boyce - 11am.
• 'How Can We Build a Feminist Scotland?' featuring Talat Yaqoob, Helen O’Shea, Kim Barker, Muminah Koleoso, Catherine Murphy and Esa Aldegheri - 12.15pm.
• Baroness Brenda Hale - 12.45pm.
• Cory Doctorow and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, chaired by Gabriel Gatehouse - 1pm.
• Crime novelist Val McDermid and Geographer Royal for Scotland Jo Sharp, chaired by Allan Little - 3pm.
• Simon Armitage, Hanan Issa & Peter Mackay: 'Poetry of the People', chaired by Hannah Lavery - 3.15pm.
• Ash Sarkar & Douglas Fraser: 'Who Runs the News?' Chaired by Sarah Manavis - 7.15pm.
• Sara Pascoe and Cariad Lloyd Weirdos Book Club — Live, with Amy Annette. - 8.30pm in the Spiegeltent.

The Front List: Cory Doctorow and Jimmy Wales | Edinburgh International Book Festival

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Edinburgh International Book FestivalSpeaking at this event Gabriel Gatehouse Cory Doctorow Jimmy Wales

📙 Leith writer Irvine Welsh says he hopes his cancelled Trainspotting touring musical stage show can be revived if the economy improves, saying that meantime "no working-class people are going to pay £100 a ticket for a theatre ticket". - Brian Ferguson, The Herald.

Inside the ‘Trainspotting’ live event at Edinburgh film festival

Bucket hats, beer cans, and shouting “shite being Scottish”: an evening that resembled a rock gig.

ScreenBen Dalton

😱 The rise of extreme theatre at the Fringe is covered by Holly O'Mahony in The i Paper.

‘I drink my own urine every night’: The rise of extreme theatre at the Fringe

A conspicuous number of this year’s Edinburgh shows feature punishing physical feats. Are they a desperate attempt to stand out in an oversaturated market - or a way for artists to express themselves?

The i PaperHolly O’Mahony

⮑ The Scotsman's Arts Correspondent Jane Bradley investigates 'where the line lies', with all of the Fringe's major venue leaders having their say.

How far should freedom of speech go at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe?

The festival always brings controversy, and this year has been no exception. Arts Correspondent Jane Bradley investigates where the line lies

The ScotsmanJane Bradley

⭐️ Four & five star reviews

• There are a lot of 'good' reviews from people who don't normally review. The Minute avoids these and only sources from reliable regular reviewers you can trust.

🏆 Elf Lyons, Eva Peroni and Xhloe & Natasha are among six first-week winners of The Skinny's festival awards. - Peter Simpson, The Skinny.

The Besties 2026: Week One winners - The Skinny

Elf Lyons, Eva Peroni and Xhloe and Natasha are among the first-week winners at our Edinburgh Festivals awards.

The SkinnyFeature by Peter Simpson

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Hypochondriac. Until 28 Aug. Space 3 at theSpace on the Mile. - Tickets.
⮑ "What makes this so special is the fact that, while some of the comedy is so gleefully OTT, it always knows when to hold back. There are a couple of understated, almost throwaway moments ... that make you hug your knees in joy." - Hugh Simpson, All Edinburgh Theatre.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Angels in America. Until 20 Aug. King's Theatre. - Tickets.
⮑ "Dreamlike... There are no doors, beds, tables or phones; just a fluid movement of people and ideas as scenes wash over each other." - Mark Fisher, The Guardian.

Angels in America review – Tony Kushner’s five-hour fever dream predicts and reflects the US at 250

People, ideas and scenes wash over each other in Ivo van Hove’s masterly staging at the Edinburgh international festival

The GuardianMark Fisher

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Sh!t Theatre: Evita Too. Until 30 Aug. ZOO Southside. - Tickets (some dates have sold out).
⮑ "Don’t be fooled by the naked roller-skating that opens this rad-fem riot of a show ... likely to be one of the most incisive political histories to grace the Edinburgh stage this month." - Neil Cooper in The Herald.

Naked roller-skaters in search of a fallen idol. It’s a rad-fem riot. Five stars

Fringe review: Sh!t Theatre: Evita Too, Zoo Southside, five stars: rad-fem riot of a show

The HeraldNeil Cooper

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Jason Byrne: 30 Years Byrning. Until 30 Aug. Assembly Hall. - Tickets (some dates sold out).
⮑ "There is always something else catching his eye. He is both a master of misrule and the naughty boy wanting everyone else to join in with his latest wheeze." - Teddy Jamieson, The Herald.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ The Secret Room at Lauriston Castle. Until 23 Aug. - Tickets.
⮑ "Lauriston Castle opens its doors to Fringe-goers in partnership with the Edinburgh International Magic Festival for The Secret Room at Lauriston Castle, an immersive magic experience featuring three expert illusionists." - Rebecca Mahar, All Edinburgh Theatre.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Bronwyn Farkas and Sophie Jean: She/They. Until 28 Aug. Main Space at Venue 13. - Tickets.
⮑ "The lasting impression is that She/They is hilarious, clever and definitely one to watch." - Suzy Pope, The List.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Camelton. Until 31 Aug. Wine Bar at Gilded Balloon Teviot. - Tickets.
⮑ "A fast-moving, delightfully eccentric hour that turns an extraordinary story into an utter treat. For anyone who appreciates sharp lyrics, great storytelling, and classic cabaret flair." - Will Quinn, The QR.

EdFringe Review: Camelton

From a dubious Qatari royal commission to the Fringe, lyricist Stephen Cole turns theatrical chaos into an impeccably witty cabaret.

The Quinntessential ReviewWill Quinn

🧖🏻‍♀️ "One of the more insane things I’ve seen at the Fringe" - Time Out's Theatre Editor Andrzej Lukowski is not a fan of saunas. But he gave the Sauna Theatre at Summerhall a go, and reports: "Made me think ‘wow, this is a perfect artistic marriage of sauna and theatre’. But I think if you love to sauna then the Sauna Theatre adds a pretty astonishing series of bells of whistles to your experience. And if you don’t love to sauna but do love interesting and unusual experiences - well honestly if I can make myself do it (and I have zero regrets) then you have no excuse."

Sauna Theatre, Summerhall review: Here’s our verdict (of sorts) on the Edinburgh Fringe’s most eccentric new attraction

This whimsical endeavour is perhaps unsurprisingly the UK’s first arts centre-slash-sauna

Time OutAndrzej Lukowski

🎟️  Minute readers’ ticket discounts

🎧 Discounts on three immersive audio-led theatre experiences, thanks to the producers of Darkfield: ARCADE, FLIGHT, COMA: 'Strange worlds unfold. Immersive experiences using binaural sound, darkness, sensory effects & striking sets across the Ed Fringe at Assembly and Pleasance Dome'.

Discount details: Users can have 10% off tickets using code DARKFIELD10 (valid until the end of the show run) at these links: ARCADE, FLIGHT, COMA.

Venues: Assembly, Assembly George Square (FLIGHT and COMA). Pleasance Dome, Potterrow Plaza (ARCADE)

Show Times: First shows at 12pm, then throughout the day until 9:45pm for ARCADE and 10pm for FLIGHT and COMA - all daily until 31 August.

FLIGHT

FLIGHT is an immersive audio experience in complete darkness, inside a shipping container with an interior exactly resembling a full-scale plane cabin. Exploring the Many-Worlds Interpretation of quantum mechanics, the experience unfolds across two parallel realities and two possible outcomes to the same journey. FLIGHT explores the unsettling idea that more than one version of the present may exist simultaneously: there are many worlds in which this plane lands safely.

Assembly Festival

COMA

COMA is an immersive audio experience in complete darkness. You’re lying on a bunk bed inside a shipping container. Headphones on, lights out. 360-degree sound invites you to take part in a collective experiment: slip into a shared dream on the edge of consciousness. The most surrender-driven of the DARKFIELD shows, and the one that asks you to let go completely. Please remember when you leave to take your body with you.

Assembly Festival

ARCADE | Pleasance Theatre Trust

Pleasance

🧖🏻‍♀️ Take a friend for free to the Summerhall Sauna Theatre. 'Sauna Theatre is open every day from 9am - 11pm with an eclectic programme encompassing everything from a morning sauna rave to ancient rituals, a literary salon to our evening Arts Club – the hottest club in town.  Plus, we'll be showcasing some of the world's best Aufguss artists.'

Discount details: 2 for 1 tickets from Friday 14 August to Monday 17 August. Click here to get the deal and remember to use the code: 'minute'.

🎱 Here are exclusive half-price ticket deals for eight of Gilded Balloon's biggest shows. To get the deal, you must use the code GBMINUTE26 at checkout.

• SLAY (Recent 5* review in The List). Until 31 Aug (not 17), daily at 3pm.
  
• Mariella Frostrup: Cracking the Menopause. Until 17 Aug, daily at 2.30pm.
  
• Late'n'Live. - Until 31 Aug, nightly at 11.55pm.
  
• Jamie Kilstein: Can't Tie Knots. 5 - 31 Aug (not 18, 25), nightly at 9.50pm.
  
• Best of So You Think You're Funny? - Nightly until 31 Aug, 7.40pm.
  
• Comedy Night at the Museum - 14-15, 20-21, 28-29 Aug at 10.30pm.
  
• Doris, Dolly and the Dressing Room Divas - Until 31 Aug (not 11, 18, 25) at 8pm.
  
• So You Think You're Funny? Heats - 19 - 26 Aug at 9.45pm.

⏰ Reminder: GBMINUTE26 must be applied as the promo code at checkout.

🎭  Exclusive discount for Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Lanford Wilson.
Codes: 2-for-1 tickets: MINUTE241 or for 20% off: MINUTE20.
Venue: theSpaceUK @ Surgeons' Hall, Haldane Theatre, 2:05pm, until 29 Aug (not 23).

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 Local interest

✊ 19 Fringe shows launch Solidarity Scheme for striking PCS workers - 'A collective of 19 Fringe shows (and growing!) have launched a Solidarity Scheme to offer free tickets to striking National Galleries Public and Commercial Services Union workers. View shows and request tickets: https://bit.ly/fringe-solidarity' - More details here, shared by Jess Ducey, Duces Wild.

🎉 40 years of Festival Exhibitions for Galerie Mirages - 'Galerie Mirages has reached a significant milestone, taking part in its 40th Festival. To mark this event they have two exhibitions running together A Merchants Journey and Jewellery Of The World' - More details here, shared by Jill Russell.

💌 Thanks for reading edition 8 of the 2026 Edinburgh Festival Minute! See all the editions here. Back tomorrow around midday.