Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025: Award-winning shows to see

As August fast approaches, we’re gearing up toward another season at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe!

We’ve already outlined the top musicals and the most eye-catching titles, but now is the turn for award-winning shows.

The Fringe can be a fantastic place to catch a new show on its rise to stardom, and the following are among the many to have already received a seal of approval.

Dear Annie, I Hate You

Writer and performer Sam Ipema’s diagnosis with a brain aneurysm at the age of 20 led to her writing this award-winning play. Having already enjoyed a stint at London’s Riverside Studios, Dear Annie, I Hate You uses multi-media to pay homage to different types of disabilities.

Pleasance Courtyard (Pleasance Two) from 30 July to 25 August (not 1, 2, 3, 12) at 12:00

The Butterfly Who Flew Into the Rave

Nocturbulous Behaviour by Suburban Knight is the soundtrack of this three-day rave that is condensed into an hour show by Oli Mathiesen, Lucy Lynch and Sharvon Mortimer. The non-stop dance production has been awarded at the Australian and New Zealand Fringe festivals.

Main Hall at Summerhall from 31 July to 25 August (not 6, 12, 19) at 18:05

Jeezus!

This new musical sees a good South American boy preparing for his first communion, before feeling something unholy when he falls head over heels for Jesus! Catholic guilt collides with unrepentant queerness in a hot new musical, which happens to be the winner of the Edinburgh Untapped Award 2025.

Belly Button at Underbelly, Cowgate from 31 July to 24 August (not 11, 18) at 18:50

Kanpur: 1857

Niall Moorjani’s gut-punch comedy is the winner of this year’s Charlie Hartill Fund. Set during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, it offers a satirical interrogation of colonial history and boasts an electrifying live soundtrack.

Pleasance Courtyard (Beneath) from 30 July to 24 August (not 12, 13) at 15:40

Kinder

Hot off its award-winning streak at Adelaide Fringe, Kinder arrives in Edinburgh. Blending drag, theatre and storytelling to examine censorship and queer joy, the piece centres on a drag artist, a library and a misunderstanding of ‘reading hour’!

Underbelly Cowgate (Big Belly) from 31 July to 24 August (not 6, 13, 20) at 18:40

The list continues below… 

Lady Macbeth Played Wing Defence

We’ve already premiered this new musical’s EP – think high-energy, electric pop-synth tunes – and are really excited about the fun, feminist, fiery retelling of Shakespeare’s classic after its award-winning streak in Adelaide.

Assembly George Square (Studio One) from 30 July to 25 August (not 6, 13, 20) at 16:15

Odds Are

Smita Russell picked up the Grand Prize at New York’s United Solo Festival for her one-woman show, which is based on true events, including a rare diagnosis of “bad luck.” The dark comedy chronicles a search for meaning in the face of impossible odds.

Assembly Roxy (Roxy Boxy) from 30 July to 25 August (not 11) at 14:55

Pigs Fly Easy Ryan

Described as “an aviation bimbofication transubstantiation ritual for big-boy audiences 18 and over,” this comedy is another recipient of the Untapped Award! It follows two plane crash fetishists who illegally pose as flight attendants to sneak aboard a plane and live out their ultimate fantasy. Brace brace!

Iron Belly at Underbelly Cowgate from 31 July to 24 August (not 11, 18) at 20:10

The Unstoppable Rise of Ben Manager

Bunkum Ensemble use a series of live-scored PowerPoint Presentations to examine why we seek meaning through work. An absurdist satire around office culture, it received the Charlie Hartill Theatre Fund this year!

Pleasance Courtyard (Above) from 31 July to 25 August (not 11, 12, 13) at 17:20

Ways of Knowing

Clara Potter-Sweet and Ben Kulvichit, also known as performance duo Emergency Chorus, present a dance-theatre piece that explores the impossibility of predicting the future. With two distinct halves, the show moves from deadpan humour and synchronised dance to an apocalyptic soundscape and chilling descent. It also picked up the Untapped Award this year.

Big Belly at Underbelly Cowgate from 31 July to 24 August (not 11, 18) at 15:30