Ready for more Fringe artists?
Tickets for this year’s festival, taking place on 28 August until 6 September, launch tomorrow, on Friday 19 June. Once again, we’ll be giving a lovely early-bird discount to our newletter subsribers, so sign up here if you want to take advantage of the offer and be among the first people to get your hands on tickets.
Over the course of the next five weeks, we’ll be giving you an insight into all of the shows coming your way at this year’s festival. With artists from 28 countries performing shows across the city in a plethora of genres, we can’t wait to share this year’s lineup with you. Here’s Artist reveal #2 of 10!
Welcome to the Meatlife
by The Meatbaby / Sam Message (Sweden)
This one creature show stars the mischievously bizarre drag character The Meatbaby. With psychedelic visual art, cutting stand up and lively lipsyncs, the show traces the absurd experiences of The Meatbaby’s human form as they stumble through real life.
This performance weaves together the glory of freaky comrades, unlikely human connections and finding everyday joy with the rage and despair of someone limited by chronic mental illness, banal scandi-admin and a society hostile to trans people. Politics meets play in this astute critique of life in Gothenburg as a queer trans foreigner whose just trying to balance being the proud owner of a fully stocked fruit bowl with the longing for a simpler past sucking up a spilt vodka redbull off the floor of a grimy back ally gay club.
Come see what it’s like to be in charge of this meat-machine. Who knows, maybe it’ll change how you operate yours…
Who will love this show?
LGBTQ+ people, new Swedes and non-Swedes, normative Scandinavians who dare to be curious.
Los Monroe
by Gastón Yurcho & Pablo Lechuga (Spain & Uruguay)
Did Marilyn Monroe have two secret sons? Mario and Mariano think so. Two grown men met online, bonded over this impossible conviction, and now they’re in Barcelona to prove it to the world.
DNA tests, talk shows, supermarket heists and a birthday cake. A comedy about two men who will do anything to be believed. It’s very funny. Until it isn’t. Then it’s funny again. Then things get weird. Come meet Los Monroe, will ya?
Who will love this show?
Adults who enjoy experimental theatre, absurd comedy and sharp social critique. Created for audiences interested in feminist perspectives on masculinity, internet culture and conspiracy thinking: those who appreciate humour that challenges and discomforts.
Harold and Armando are Dead
by Three Birds One Stone Theater (Sweden/USA)
What is ‘fun’ about making art? What is fun? Where is fun? Why is fun, fun? Does art make fun, fun? Does fun make art fun? Gosh, the word has lost all meaning.
Harold and Armando are Dead is a play inspired by the philosophical tragicomedy of Tom Stoppard’s absurdist classic, ‘Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern are Dead’. This 3-actor, 1-hour staged performance explores the human need to create art, starting from the arena of improvisational comedy but quickly flinging itself widely into the world of creativity and art production, asking questions that have, perhaps, too many answers to be any fun to deal with at all.
Harold and Armando are two performers who are waiting for their chance to get back on stage, passing the time in a purgatorial backstage by questioning the reality of fiction: Who decides what makes art artistic? Why do we continue to create in the face of a world that both loves and dismisses entertainment in the same breath? Will Harold and Armando ever shut up and just get back to their improv show? Like, honestly, the audience is still out there waiting.
Often silly, sometimes deep, and occasionally existential, Harold and Armando are Dead is a comedic meditation on the nature of improvisational creativity that itself is, of course, completely scripted.
Fun, right?
Who will love this show?
Adults, dreamers, creatives, theater goers, theater performers, patrons of the arts, and artists of all levels and walks of life.
Made of Magic – poetry of rage & (be)longing
by Fabulous Phoenix Boy (Scotland)
A powerful love letter to fellow misfits and outcasts everywhere, delivered with a backdrop of original art made out of a moment of utter darkness.
A spoken word rollercoaster about surviving a 10yr nervous breakdown while carrying the weight of being trans, queer, disabled in a hostile world.
‘[M]esmerising, I adored… the clear thought and love… poured into [Jude’s] poems and the engaging way in which he delivers them… Made of Magic deserves so many more eyes and ears. These words must be heard and these stories must be told. I walked out… with a renewed sense of appreciation for life’ – BingeFringe, 4 stars
‘Such clear, truthful poetry, beautifully sequenced… enriching, honest and will stay with me for a long time’ (Audience Review).
[P]oems you will want to discover again and again’ (Audience Review).
This is the international debut of Made of Magic following a 3yrs run at the Edinburgh Festival/Free Fringe.
Who will love this show?
As a (gender)queer polyamorous man and a neurodivergent, mad, disabled survivor, I aim to provide representation, healing, and hope for myself and my communities.: LGBTQIA+, disabled, neurodivergent, multicultural/lingual and immigrant communities; those struggling with mental health; lovers of poetry, visual art, multimedia work; socially-conscious Fringe goers.
Slåss på låtsas – improvised comedy competition
by Dorky Comedy Club (Sweden)
One Night. One Stage. Six Comedians. Only One Winner.
Welcome to Fake Fighting – a fast-paced and completely improvised comedy competition.
Comedy duos face off in a series of hilarious challenges where everything is created on the spot. No scripts. No preparation. Just quick thinking, bold choices, and scenes that will never be performed again.
Expect the unexpected. It’s charming, chaotic, brilliant, and utterly unpredictable.
The audience and the guest judge decide who takes home the victory. In other words, the outcome is in your hands.
This isn’t your typical improv show – it’s a competition.
A playful battle. A night where anything can happen.
Created by Martin Rositzka, inspired by the Toronto format Catch23.
Welcome!
Who will love this show?
Fans of the chaos of competitive improv comedy. Quick-thinking performances and experiencing something that will never be performed again.
