Traverse Theatre unveils 2025 Edinburgh Fringe programme

The Traverse Theatre has announced its full line-up of shows running across Edinburgh’s August festivals.

Returning to the Traverse is A Gambler’s Guide to Dying, Gary McNair’s solo show that debuted a decade ago. Directed by Traverse artistic director Gareth Nicholls, the play will be performed again in Traverse 2. It tells the story of a boy and his grandfather and has toured widely since its first appearance in 2015.

Also making a return is director John Tiffany, who joins Johnny McKnight for She’s Behind You, a new Traverse Theatre and National Theatre of Scotland co-production. Written and performed by McKnight, the play offers a personal look at the role of the panto dame and draws from McKnight’s own career in pantomime.

Musician and writer Lucie Barât makes her stage debut with Standing in the Shadows of Giants, an autobiographical musical exploring her life growing up with a famous sibling. The show is directed by Bryony Shanahan and co-produced with The Hale.

In partnership with Bristol Old Vic, the Traverse presents The Beautiful Future is Coming, written by Flora Wilson Brown and directed by Nancy Medina. The play spans 250 years, following three couples across different time periods as they grapple with environmental crisis. It received a solid four-star write-up from WhatsOnStage earlier this month.

The Traverse 1 stage also hosts Consumed, a new play by Karis Kelly. Winner of the Women’s Prize for Playwriting, the production is a collaboration with Paines Plough and several UK theatres. Set during a family gathering in Northern Ireland, the story explores trauma, memory and family ties.

Two UK premieres include Lost Lear, which reimagines King Lear through the lens of dementia care, and Rift, a brotherhood drama written by Gabriel Jason Dean, inspired by his personal experience with ideological division within his family. Rift is produced by Luna Stage and Richard Jordan Productions and directed by Ari Laura Kreith.

Khalid Abdalla’s solo piece Nowhere also appears in the festival. Co-produced by Fuel Theatre and directed by Omar Elerian, it reflects on Abdalla’s experience of activism and history, weaving personal memories with wider political events including the Egyptian revolution and recent conflict in Gaza.

Traverse 2 will also feature the European premiere of Red Like Fruit, a post-#MeToo play by Canadian writer Hannah Moscovitch. The production, from 2b Theatre, is directed by Christian Barry and centres on a woman navigating memory, reporting, and mental health.

Lucky Tonight!, an interactive theatre-pub quiz hybrid, sees Afreena Islam-Wright lead audiences through trivia, storytelling and identity. The Scottish premiere is directed by Julia Samuels.

Two more intimate shows are also part of the line-up. I’m Ready to Talk Now, by Oliver Ayres and presented by Skint in association with Quiet Riot, invites individual audience members into a hospital room to hear a personal story. Deliverance, by Kolbrún Björt Sigfúsdóttir and produced by Brite Theatre and Vanishing Point, takes place in the participant’s home, offering a solo experience with a script delivered to their door.

The season of shows takes place from 25 July to 24 August.