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Ian McKellen, 2022
Photo by Devin de Vil

What to see at Edinburgh Fringe and EIF 2022: 15 of the best theatre shows

These are the shows we’re looking forward to the most at the 2022 Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Andrzej Lukowski
Written by
Andrzej Lukowski
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After two years largely out of action due to the pandemic, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe will finally bounce back to full strength this summer. For three weeks (August 5–August 29 2022), the Scottish capital becomes home to comedy giants, serious thespians, hilarious first-timers – and a bunch of genuine weirdos – all putting on shows left, right and centre. So where to start? Cut to the chase with our pick of tickets to fight for at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2022, plus the Edinburgh International Festival which runs alongside. 

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Top shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe

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  • Theatre
  • Shakespeare

Possibly the most famous person to ever bring a show to the Edinburgh Fringe for a full stint while actually famous, Sir Ian McKellen will indeed be bringing his ‘Hamlet’ to the 2022 festival. Or, at least, a version of it…

  • Theatre
  • Experimental

Visionary Belgium theatre company Ontroerend Goed no longer make the headlines they did with the overtly provocative work of their breakthrough era. But the graceful, eco-minded shows they’ve produced over the last few fringes have been some of the best work of their career…

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  • Theatre
  • Experimental

The great Belgian director Ivo van Hove’s version of Hanya Yanagihara’s epic novel of trauma follows four university friends’ struggles in the decades after graduation. Brace yourself for a  brilliant but also doubtless gruelling evening: that running time alone is enough to make a grown man wince.

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  • Theatre
  • Drama

Rising star Dipo Baruwa-Etti’s new play concerns a young Black student who auditions for a prestigious music school, but becomes disenchanted by the lack of Black names on the curriculum…

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  • Theatre
  • Comedy

Victoria Melody follows her whimsical docu-theatre investigations into the likes of Northern Soul dancing, beauty pageants and dog competitions for new show ‘Head Set’, for which she embedded herself in the world of amateur stand-up comedy. 

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  • Theatre
  • Musicals

Three fractious grown-up sisters have lost their mum, and with her passing the bonds that held the siblings together seem to fray. But can they find common ground via music? This new plays about sisterhood features songs by IRL sibling trio The Staves.

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  • Theatre
  • Drama

Although it’s a relatively low-key production, ‘How I Learned What I Learned’ is a quietly significant show, being the European premiere of the late, great Black American playwright August Wilson’s autobiographical monologue. Originally performed by Wilson himself back in 2003, it’s US actor Lester Purry who’ll be stepping into those big shoes for the Edinburgh Fringe production from Saints & Poets Theater, a company located in Wilson’s beloved Pittsburgh.

  • Theatre
  • Immersive

Binaural theatre company Darkfield have become a staple on the international fringe festival circuit with its trippy, often disturbing headphones-based works that take place inside totally blacked-out shipping containers. It can be quite hard to say what Darkfield shows are about even after you’ve experienced one, but for what it’s worth, ‘Eulogy’ is described as being set in a 'dreamlike, labyrinthine hotel’.

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