19th Jul, 2024
Fringe 2024 – The Real Mary King’s Close’s Actors’ shows
Did you know that many of the guides who lead The Real Mary King’s Close tour are also working actors? And many of them are taking part in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe!
So, without further ado, here’s what we have to recommend for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2024. Keep your eyes peeled for the actors from The Real Mary King’s Close tour…
And They Played Shang-A-Lang
- Featured team members: Ryan (playing Gary)
- Date: 2nd to 25th August
- Location: Venue 41 – Hill Street Theatre
- Duration: 1-hour
- What: Musicals and Opera
- Suitability: 12+
- Book here
Jukebox musical about what life was like growing up in 70s Edinburgh. With laughs, tears and memories from this fantastic cast and loved production. After 11 years, following years of sell-out shows alas, this production comes to an end at the Fringe.
Avenue Q
- Featured team members: Hannah ( playing Bad Idea Bear / Mrs Thistletwat) and Andrew G
- Date: 2nd to 25th August
- Location: Venue 166 – Saint Stephen’s Theatre
- Duration: 2 hours 15 minutes
- What: Musicals and Opera (musical theatre, theatre)
- Suitability: 16+
- Book here
Avenue Q is a puppet-based musical following the characters that live on the worst street in the world. This brilliantly funny musical is brought to life by its enthusiastic and talented cast. (Not for the easily offended)
Carmen
- Featured team member: Amber
- Date: 14th to 17th August
- Location: Venue 317 – Stockbridge Church
- Duration: 3 hours
- What: Musicals and Opera (classical, opera)
- Suitability: 8+
- Book here
Carmen, a fiery, magnetic seductress, draws the soldier Don José into a turbulent love affair. As their relationship unfolds, Carmen’s free spirit clashes with Don José’s dutiful sense of honour, leading them along a perilous path into a life of crime and eventual disaster. Bizet’s much-loved, timeless music takes centre stage in this intimate community opera production, which gives a platform to singers from the UK and beyond. Directed by Jacob Zualski, this production is inspired by “poor theatre”, which seeks to strip down performances and highlight the actors’ physicality and direct connection with the audience.
Dunsinane
- Featured team member: Amber
- Date: 2nd to 15th August
- Location: Venue 41 – Hill Street Theatre
- Duration: 2 hours 45 minutes
- What: Theatre (drama)
- Suitability: 12+
- Book here
David Greig’s 2010 sequel to Macbeth. The tyrant is dead. Siward and the English army arrive to install the rightful king in Dunsinane and bring peace to Scotland. But Scotland is more complex than anticipated, and it’s so cold. Seduced by Macbeth’s powerful widow, Siward’s attempts to restore order and his vision of sense and justice to a war-ravaged land prove futile; he finds himself increasingly isolated in this contradictory country. Will the grieving ever be finished? This amateur production of Dunsinane is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd. on behalf of Samuel French Ltd.
Godfather Death: A Grimms’ Musical
- Featured team member: Andrew L
- Date: August: 2nd-10th / 12th-17th
- Location: Venue 53 – TheSpace, Surgeon’s Hall
- Duration: 1 hour
- What: Musicals and Opera (musical theatre, new writing)
- Suitability: 14+
- Book here
Based on a little-known Grimms’ fairytale, Godfather Death is an award-winning and gleefully macabre new musical exploring mortality, healthcare and class. When, in desperation, a mother seeks a godfather for her 13th child, Death takes her boy under their wing and offers him a gift – the power to tell whether someone will live or die. Eager to keep those he loves alive but tempted by the accompanying fortune, we follow the boy’s encounters with the ill, the dying and death itself.
Legally Blond
- Featured team members: James (playing Kyle, Dewie AND Professor Lowell)
- Date: 2nd-25th August
- Location: Venue 166 – Saint Stephen’s Theatre
- Duration: 2 hours 25 minutes
- What: Musicals and Opera (musical theatre, theatre)
- Suitability: 12+
- Book here
They tell the story of Elle Woods, a sorority girl who enrols in Harvard Law School to win back her ex-boyfriend Warner. The 2023 hit show returns for 2024. A must-see, funny, and entertaining show. With rave reviews from last year’s audience, Sound Events Scotland returns in a new, bigger venue for this year’s Fringe. Full of fantastic singing and performances, this talented cast brings this classic musical to life.
Regina Vagina
- Featured team members: Beth, Euan, Katie L and Stephen
- Date: August: 17-25
- Location: Venue 171: PHB’s Free Fringe, CC Blooms
- Duration: 1 hour
- What: Musicals and Opera (comedy, historical)
- Suitability: 18+
- Book here
Was Queen Elizabeth I really a virgin? Was the Spanish Armada led by a giant inflatable penis? How good was Mary Queen of Scots’ head game? Find out in this surprisingly accurate (horrible histories-inspired) musical comedy. Join them on an in-depth exploration of the folds of a woman who’s been documented as much for her body and sexuality as her actual achievements and success. Through scandal, conspiracy and raunchy musical comedy, delve into the life of Queen Elizabeth I.
Shakespeare for Breakfast
- Featured team member: Katie G
- Date: 31st July; August: 1st-11th / 13th-25th
- Location: Venue 6 – C ARTS
- Duration: 50 minutes
- What: Theatre (comedy, family-friendly)
- Suitability: 0+
- Book here
The Bardic Breakfasters are back for their 33rd Fringe with a brand-new show, breakfast included! The Tempest meets 10 Things I Hate About You and High School Musical in a teen rom-com-romp. A pleasing plethora of pentameter, puns and pastry. Sensational Shakespearience, perfect for hardened fans and blank verse virgins alike. Free coffee and croissants!
Tartan Tabletop in a Dungeons & Dragon Comedy: The Never-Ending Quest – The Return
- Featured team member: Alex
- Date: July: 31, August: 1-6 / 8-13 / 15-20 / 22-26
- Location: Venue 24: Gilded Balloon Patter House
- Duration: 1 hour
- What: Comedy (dark comedy)
- Suitability: 14+
- Book here
A quest that began at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2023, and completed a sold-out run, returns for a sequel – the popular Dungeons & Dragons podcast team lands at the Fringe with the Never-Ending Quest – The Return! Improvised comedy at the roll of a dice, expect teamwork, nerdy jokes and guest-star comedians playing Noblin the Goblin. Don’t worry about the plot, we don’t! Expect laughs, adventure and random acts of sorcery from the Tartan Tabletop gang of misfit adventurers.
Tartan Tat
- Featured team members: Freya (playing Millie) and Robyn (playing Orla)
- Date: 2nd-20th August
- Location: Shark Bait Theatre
- Duration: 50 minutes
- What: Theatre
- Suitability: 14+
- Book here
Meet the staff of Tartan Treasures, a tourist-trap gift shop on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile selling Jimmy Hats, Highland cows and knock-off wands. They’re all just trying to get by while waiting for life to truly begin. But when the staff find themselves at the centre of online controversy their problems become bigger than their little store can handle. Harris, Orla, Kayley, Arran and Millie must band together to keep both the shop and themselves above water. Tartan Tat is a new Scottish comedy from Shark Bait Theatre about community, camaraderie and novelty key rings.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
- Featured team members: Andrew G, Andrew L and Ash!
- Date: August: 12th- 17th / 19th-24th
- Location: Venue 9 – The Space, Niddry Street
- Duration: 1 hour 50 minutes
- What: Musicals and Opera (comedy, musical theatre)
- Suitability: 12+
- Book here
Rachel Sheinkin and William Finn’s musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee tells the story of six middle-schoolers growing up and of the relationships they form with each other, with their families and with the three adults running the Bee. With audience participation and improv elements, it is a heartwarming and hilarious tale of childhood motivations, friendship, making yourself proud and juiceboxes!
The Freemartin
- Featured team member: Isaac
- Date: August: 2nd-10th / 12th-17th
- Location: Venue 38 – TheSpaceTriplex, Studio
- Duration: 50 minutes
- What: Theatre (new writing, lgbtq+)
- Suitability: 14+
- Book here
Speakbeast are doing an agricultural conference, and it’s got all the things we think agricultural conferences usually have. We’ve got sleazy salesmen with very fast cars, we’ve got escaped cows, we’ve got two mice in a cardboard box and we’ve got a terrible feeling that, no matter how hard we try, this show is going to be about transphobia. The Freemartin is a puppet-filled, hormone-fuelled, absurd attempt by three queers to understand why the world is cruel to trans people, and why you should be worried about it. It’s also about fences, tractors and terrible dancing.
The Steamie
- Featured team member: Hannah (playing Dolly)
- Date: 31st July; August: 1st-11th / 13th-18th / 20th-25th
- Location: Venue 24 – Gilded Balloon Patter House
- Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes
- What: Theatre (comedy, musical theatre)
- Suitability: 12+
- Book here
Through everyday conversation, hilarious comedy, and music-hall-style songs, we learn from four working-class women about their lives, husbands, technology and the approaching New Year in this time capsule of Glasgow in the 1950s. The show pays tribute to the unsung domestic labour of women and the importance of female friendships – both of which keep it relevant today – along with the iconic comedy lines recited throughout Scotland. Laugh and cry along with Tony Roper’s loveable characters in this nostalgic show, steeped in Scottish culture and social history, which continues to entertain local audiences and tourists alike.
Continuum Attractions is committed to achieving the highest standards of Health & Safety to all its visitors and employees. We are proud of the processes, systems and procedures we have in place across our business. Health & Safety is much a part of our company culture as our dedication to delivering unique experiences in memorable locations.