Underbelly at the Edinburgh Fringe

Underbelly’s full Edinburgh Fringe season of over 150 shows is

now on sale, with over 40 shows announced 11 May including

exciting theatre, comedy, circus, musicals and children’s shows.

Part of a stellar line-up in comedy for 2017, Jason Manford performs 7 shows

in the infamous upside down purple cow, Ruby Wax brings her new show

Frazzled for 3 nights only and Al Porter and Alexei Sayle both grace the stage

of the Cowbarn.

Alexei says ‘I am truly delighted to be returning to Edinburgh for the first time

since 2013, I lost my glasses down the back of a sofa in a pub and I’m planning

to look for them. Like so many others, Edinburgh was where it all began for me

and I’m coming back with a new hour that shows that I am still growing and

changing as a performer. That is the challenge of Edinburgh, to be fresh and

original even though I’m 85’.

Anne Edmonds and Tom Walker bring their Barry Award nominated shows to

the Fringe fresh from Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Neal Portenza

returns with a brand new show and Demi Lardner Melbourne Comedy’s

Director’s Choice winner, brings her wonderfully off-the-wall show to Underbelly

Cowgate as Underbelly’s Adelaide Award winner for 2017. Plus, award-winning

Italian comedian Francesco De Carlo returns with a brand-new show about life

outside your comfort zone.

Theatre highlights include the return of Fleabag, Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s

hilarious and critically acclaimed play that began its life in the depths of the

Underbelly Cowgate and has since been seen across the globe on our TV

screens. Stellar Quines Theatre Company, National Theatre of Scotland and

Dundee Rep bring a brand new play, The Last Queen of Scotland, a story

performed to live music about a woman from Dundee returning to Uganda,

haunted by Idi Amin’s impact on her life. (Part of the Made in Scotland

Showcase). Luke Wright follows up the success of 2015’s Fringe First Awardwinning

What I Learned From Johnny Bevan with the new play Frankie Vah,

as well as bringing What I Learned From Johnny Bevan back for a week-long

run. Theatre N16 bring Your Ever Loving, a critically acclaimed play about Paul

Hill and the Guildford Four. Nicole Henriksen, selected for Underbelly

Untapped in 2016, also returns with a new play A Robot in Human Skin,

examining mental health and the ways we treat and understand it.

For children, The Tales of Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddle-Duck takes to

the stage in The Beauty (Spiegeltent), featuring a live orchestra and stories

narrated by Michelle Todd. The hugely popular CBeebies series Sarah and

Duck make their Edinburgh debut, and Attached from Tiger Circus promises a

funny, fast-paced, mischievous show for all the family.

Other highlights include Australian drag superstar Courtney Act, fresh from

RuPaul’s Drag Race and Australian Idol, in The Beauty. Thumpasaurus, a funk

band straight out of LA, bring the late night party vibes to the Cowgate. Dance

show OUT, challenges homophobia and transphobia within Caribbean

communities, and two recordings of the hugely popular podcast The Guilty

Feminist hosted by Deborah Frances-White, where special guests discuss

noble feminist goals and the hypocrisies and insecurities which undermine them.