Edinburgh festival 2024: 20 theatre shows making a scene this summer

Hamlet

“To be or not to be” … that Shakespearean soliloquy inspired what sounds like an innovative production by Peruvian company Teatro La Plaza. Writer-director Chela De Ferrari’s adaptation is a free version of the text placing the stories of people with Down’s syndrome centre stage. It promises to turn the tragedy into a joyful experience too, complete with rap, performed by eight actors who have Down’s.
Lyceum, 15-17 August

The Fifth Step

David Ireland’s black comedy Ulster American recently drew Woody Harrelson back to the London stage. Ireland’s latest work, in collaboration with the National Theatre of Scotland, stars Jack Lowden and dramatises the road from addiction to sobriety. Its story pivots around a friendship between Luka, who has recently joined Alcoholics Anonymous, and James, a stalwart of the 12-step programme. Expect typically grim humour.
Lyceum, 21-25 August

Mary, Queen of Rock!

Mary, Queen of Scots becomes a rock renegade and thorn in the side of the Reformation which has banned rock’n’roll. Mary gets under the wigs of Scottish nobility and a certain English cousin who is also keen to see her off in this rock opera written by Cal Ferguson, Mhairi McCall and Lewis Lauder, with a live band and a twist of Footloose-style censoriousness.
Assembly Rooms, 1-25 August

In the Sick of It

In Our Own Words, a previous verbatim show by Northern Irish theatre company Wake the Beast, drew on four years of research into the struggles of NHS workers. It was staged in care homes, hospital wards and even the Houses of Parliament. Now comes this follow-up piece, a dark A&E satire featuring two characters who set out to cure the NHS through the power of theatre.
Assembly George Square Studios, 1-26 August

Weather Girl

All-American weather girl Stacey becomes a harbinger for a dying planet in this dark comedy. Then she discovers a secret that can save us all from scorched earth catastrophe. Billed as a “dizzying rampage into the soul of American strangeness”, it is written by Brian Watkins, creator of the hit Amazon series Outer Range, and produced by Francesca Moody, the force behind mega hits, Baby Reindeer and Fleabag.
Summerhall, 1-26 August

Cyrano

Australian writer-actor Virginia Gay impressed Melbourne audiences with her musical version of Cyrano de Bergerac. Now she brings this queered, apparently joyous spin on Edmond Rostand’s 19th-century romance to the fringe in a new production, taking the lead role as the seducing wordsmith and accompanied by David Tarkenter, fresh from The Motive and the Cue in London.
Traverse, 1-25 August

The Last Laugh

In a concept not dissimilar from a fantasy dinner party with dead icons, Eric Morecambe, Tommy Cooper and Bob Monkhouse are brought together in a dressing room to discuss the essence of comedy. Written and directed by the award-winning Paul Hendy, it stars Bob Golding as Morecambe, Damian Williams as Cooper and Simon Cartwright as Monkhouse.
Assembly George Square Studios, 31 July-25 August

The Shroud Maker

A drama about a woman who sells shrouds for the dead in Gaza. The subject matter may seem gravely close to the bone but Palestinian writer-director Ahmed Masoud gives it a twist of black comedy. Julia Tarnoky plays a character inspired by real life and takes us on a 70-year journey of war, displacement and oppression. It promises to be one of the most urgent shows of the fringe.
Pleasance Dome, 31 July-25 August

House of Cleopatra

Another monarch gets her freak on, this time the ancient queen of the Ptolemaic kingdom in Egypt. This immersive new musical co-produced by Alchemation and Nathaniel Hill dramatises one of history’s most powerful women. It comes with a pop score by Jeff Daye and Laura Kleinbaum, and takes us from the height of Cleopatra’s reign to its careering turns into near destruction.
Assembly Checkpoint, 31 July-25 August

I Wish You Well – The Gwyneth Paltrow Ski Trial Musical

Remember the “stranger than fiction” drama around Gwyneth Paltrow’s 2016 ski crash and ensuing court case? Perhaps it was only a matter of time before the musical spinoff came along. In fact, there are two slaloming to town: Gwyneth Goes Skiing is one, while this one comes with such deliciously titled songs as I’m Gwynnocent. It stars Diana Vickers, with choreography by Arlene Phillips and direction by Shiv Rabheru (resident director on Hamilton).
Underbelly George Square, 31 July-26 August

Through the Mud

Fringe First award-winner Apphia Campbell brings a larger-scale, reimagined version of her previous show Woke. It captures two generations of female activists fighting for Black liberation in the US: the first is the famous Black Panther Assata Shakur, the second a college student involved in the Black Lives Matter movement at Ferguson in 2014, with the story set to a soundtrack of gospel and blues. Part of the Made in Scotland showcase.
Summerhall, 1-25 August

James Rowland Dies at the End of the Show

It’s a title that promises a lot, but James Rowland has not disappointed with his previous two shows, Learning to Fly and Piece of Work. The first was a personal story of childhood, the second an ode to middle age and Shakespeare. This is the last in the trilogy and will aim to come to terms with the end of life and its surprising joys. Expect a well-crafted tussle with the grim reaper.
Summerhall, 1-26 August

Who Do Ya Love?

Inspired by the early years of singer-songwriter Harry Wayne Casey (AKA KC), this feelgood musical follows his beginnings in Miami to global superstardom with KC and the Sunshine Band. The show will reprise such 1970s classics as Give It Up, That’s The Way (I Like It) and Get Down Tonight. Developed with Casey and written by JF Lawton, who penned the musical Pretty Woman.
Assembly George Square Studios, 31 July-25 August

The Sound Inside

Nominated for six Tony awards during its 2019 Broadway run, Adam Rapp’s play features an Ivy League creative writing professor who becomes enthralled by a rebellious freshman. A story of these two outsiders who apparently stand “on the threshold of breaking an indelible taboo”, this UK premiere stars Madeleine Potter and Eric Sirakian.
Traverse, 3-25 August

My English Persian Kitchen

A true story based on an Iranian woman who left her homeland to start again in Britain, this drama is written by Hannah Khalil and told partly through live cooking on stage, with all its sights and smells. Isabella Nefar plays Atoosa Sepehr, who has written a Persian cookery book in real life and, as protagonist here, remembers her childhood through its culinary delights. It promises to be a life-affirming quest which may leave mouths watering.
Traverse, 1-25 August

Come Dine with Me: The Musical

The dark underbelly of reality TV is a running theme across the festival this year but this show is pitched at the lighter end of the spectrum. It is based on the long-running TV series that sets up a cooking competition among strangers, and both the camaraderie and clashes that ensue are put to music. Written by Sam Norman and Aaron King.
Underbelly, 31 July-25 August

Famehungry

Performance artist Louise Orwin takes a deep dive into the world of TikTok and what it means to be part of its economy. Orwin collaborates with a real-life celebrity TikTokker, the Almighty Algorithm, while cosplaying as one herself in what is billed as an on-stage experiment in finding online fame and fortune.
Summerhall, 1-26 August

Related: Edinburgh festival 2024: the best comedy, theatre and dance already reviewed

A Letter to Lyndon B Johnson or God: Whoever Reads This First

Double Fringe First award-winners Xhloe and Natasha deliver an absurdist two-hander about gender, boyhood, military service and war, exploring how modern American masculinity has been formed. They tell stories through clowning and physicality, speak to the audience and draw on their own upbringings in military families.
theSpace @ Niddry St, 2–24 August

Non-Player Character: Live Virtual Reality Musical

At the cutting-edge of fringe fare is this VR musical in which no two performances are apparently the same. A fusion of immersive theatre and video game, and based on the death of its hero, the story processes the five stages of grief with the help of audiences, who influence the narrative alongside actor and creator Brendan Bradley. Those watching through a livestream can assist the story as well through an app.
Imaginex, 2–26 August

Playfight

Writer Julia Grogan, from the company Dirty Hare, won plaudits for the witchcraft drama Gunter, which straddled alternative history and family drama. This piece, presented by Theatre Uncut and Grace Dickson Productions, revolves around teenage passion and the search for love involving three friends, and is directed by Emma Callander.
Roundabout @Summerhall, 1-26 August