Whether you’re going to Edinburgh this year or not, it’s hard to miss the fact it’s happening. AYT will be there covering as much as humanly possible and we cannot wait. Here’s what we’re most excited about.

Samuel Sims, Managing Editor 

Whilst I won’t be there (too busy enjoying life on excrutiatingly hot London transport), I have received and scanned millions of press releases and there’s definitely been some standouts. Katie Greenall’s Fatty Fat Fat looks set to be a massive fuck you to a society that loves to mock, censor and make assumptions based on a person’s size. A spoken word performer involved with Royal Court, Soho and Roundhouse, Greenall explores fat acceptance, the history of fat activism (consistently forgotten about in face of white thin feminism) and how it feels to live in a body that everyone feels like they can have an opinion on. The now cancelled Dietland (travesty) was a standout TV show for me last year and I want to see more narratives like this please.

The Greenhouse venue will be taken over by Boxed In theatre with a series of shows by students and alumni of the University of St Andrews. Their mission is to promote a sustainable and eco-centred approach to the arts, pioneering a holistic zero-waste, sustainable theatrical practice. There’s a real danger that the climate change emergency is not being taken seriously so hopefully companies like Boxed In who are practising what they preach will send out a mass reminder and influence others.

Fatty Fat Fat will run from July 31 to August 26 (exc 13)

The Greenhouse Theatre’s shows will run from August 2 to 26.

Josephine Balfour Oatts, Reviews Co-ordinator

Wil Greenway, the Australian wordsmith returns to the Fringe with his unique blend of storytelling and comedy. Greenway’s performances have sold-out for four consecutive years, and rightly so. Never have I experienced an artist who displays such a mastery of language. Whole worlds are built from words, fashioned by flashes of poetry and the strumming of a guitar – an hour in his company will be one that you are unlikely to forget. 

The Ocean After All will run from August 1 to 25 (exc 12)

Emma Bentley, Features and Opinion Writer

Canadian born Carmina Bernhardt is a lady with an awful lot of integrity, gusto and creativity, as can be seen from her constant film making, photography, new writing, directing and instagraming on https://www.stolencactus.com/. R’n’J: The Untold Story of Shakespeare’s Roz and Jules will be her first full length production and as per usual, she won’t be doing it lightly. Expect DRAMA, jokes and a whole lot of stunning visuals.

Since U Been Gone has been running about Teddy Lamb’s head since Writer’s Lab 2017 at Soho Theatre and now we finally will get to see them perform what will probably be a beautiful, enriching and tear jerking performance. Of course, there will be queer outfits, some real bangers playing and glitter, in keeping with their previous wonderful productions as part of theatre collective Holly&Ted; Pond Wife and Polaris.

R’n’J: The Untold Story of Shakespeare’s Roz and Jules will run from July 31 to August 28 (exc 13)

Since U Been Gone will run from July 31 to August 24 (with the odd exception)

Theo Summers, South-East Reviewer

I’ve been following the Sleeping Trees for a while now and every show they produce is full of fantastic physical comedy. The trio’s new show is still currently under construction but I have no doubt that whatever it is they create will have the audience in hysterics. 

This year I’m taking a show up as part of Red Biscuit Theatre, a company I formed during my time at the University of Chichester. We’ve devised an hour of very silly, very sweaty physical comedy. The show is called The Very Well-Fed Caterpillar and it follows the story of a lonely caterpillar whose preposterous eating habits have made it impossible for him to turn into a butterfly and as a result he turns carnivorous and overthrows a village. That’s where it starts. Weird, we know. If you like your comedy ‘fast paced, very silly and packed with exceptional examples of physical theatre’ then this is the show for you!

Sleeping Trees: Silly Funny Boys will run from July 31 to August 25.

The Very Well-Fed Caterpillar will run from August 12 to 24 (exc 18)

Emma Robinson, South-East Reviewer

I would like to The Last of the Pelican Daughters because of the companies that have collaborated to create it: Complicite (who I have never seen live but I am aware that they always create innovative, physical ensemble theatre) and The Wardrobe Ensemble (who I have seen often in Bristol and are always brilliant). 

How Not to Drown is rumoured to be one of the best political shows at fringe this year. It’s a piece of new-writing following an 11 year old asylum-seeker’s journey to the UK and in the care system, inspired by true events. I think it will be thoroughly emotive and have an influential and important message.

The Last of the Pelican Daughters will run from July 31 to August 25 (exc 17)

How Not to Drown will run from July 30 to August 25 (exc 5, 12 and 17)

Hannah Hobson, North (Hull and Scarborough) Reviewer

I’d really like to see Drowning because I adore female-led theatre and because the company themselves have been doing a lot to support other women at the Edinburgh Fringe, including providing bursaries and compiling a list of other female-led theatre for this year’s fringe.

The Canary and the Crow is a play that’s really facing issues head on and because it’s produced by Middle Child who hail from my home town of Hull and are producing truly groundbreaking theatre that needs more recognition.

Drowning will run from July 31 to August 26.

The Canary and the Crow will run from July 31 to August 25 (exc 1, 6, 13 and 20)