Edinburgh Fringe 2026 top picks – day two

With The Odyssey making mega buck and The Oresteia proving a hot ticket in London, on day two of our Fringe highlights, we examine three radically different productions taking the classics and proving they are very much made for the present day.

While we wait to start dishing out the stars (there’ll be some lovely reviews very soon!), we’re also producing daily recommendations for this year’s Edinburgh Festival Fringe… come back tomorrow for three more!

Supposing:

 Written and directed by acclaimed Scottish playwright Zinnie Harris (This Restless House, Further Than The Furthest Thing), this eerie world-premiere production at Traverse 2 is rooted in Greek mythology while remaining fiercely modern. When an unexpected curse falls on Sally’s house that no one else believes, the lines between certainty and doubt blur, forcing her to confront truth, destiny, and whether we hold the power to change our future. Traverse Theatre, various times

Penelope

Winner of the prestigious Richard Rodgers Award for Musical Theatre, this brilliant new folk-pop musical finally gives Odysseus’ waiting wife her own microphone. Starring Broadway’s Grace McLean, Alex Bechtel’s intimate chamber musical flips Homer’s Odyssey on its head. The perfect tonic after three hours of Nolan’s Imax-fest. Underbelly, Cowgate, 3.45pm 

A Microscopic Odyssey

And now for something completely different! Mycelium Theatre Company takes Homeric themes of epic travel and survival and shrinks them down to a cellular scale. Blending live overhead projection, movement, and physical theatre, the production follows a man dealing with personal trauma by discovering an entire cinematic universe inside a single drop of pond water – inspired by a true story. Pleasance Courtyard, 11.35am