#EdFringe Made in Edinburgh

All Edinburgh’s Theatre at the Fringe

Edinburgh is once again hosting the greatest cultural event on earth. People from all over the world who work in and love the performing arts arrive here over three weeks of brilliant drama, dance, comedy and art.

Few appreciate that Edinburgh is not just the host the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Of course people think of the city as packed with venues and backdrops, but not many realise the scale of work being staged at the Fringe which is actively made in the city.

The cast of EPT’s production of Whisky Galore. Pic: Graham Bell.

It has always been so. Edinburgh companies were prominent in the first ever fringe in 1947 – and one of those, Edinburgh People’s Theatre, is still performing in this, its 80th anniversary year, with a production of Whisky Galore.

So, faced with the option of choosing which part of the ever-expanding fringe to cover here on All Edinburgh Theatre, it seemed only right to concentrate on theatre Made in Edinburgh.

Of course that means all theatre that is Made In Edinburgh. Theatre staged by Edinburgh’s strong amateur scene and by the young companies made up of recent graduates from the universities as much as the companies packed with established, world-class actors.

There are grassroots companies which stage brilliant invigorating and engaging work throughout the year, professional companies which work without subsidy in the commercial sector and long-established companies which are recognised by Creative Scotland subsidy.

169 shows Made in Edinburgh

The numbers are higher than ever. A total of 169 productions made in Edinburgh are listed in the Theatre, the Children’s and the Musicals & Opera and few of the more theatrical offerings from the Comedy; Dance, Physical Theatre & Circus; and Spoken Word sections of the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe programme.

Breaking these down there are fully 89 in the theatre section alone. That is over 10% of the whole EdFRinge theatre programme. For ease of listing, we have broken this down by amateur companies (16 productions), grassroots companies (40 productions), professional & funded companies (16 productions) and youth & student companies (17 productions).

The 19 shows for children get their own listing, as do the 25 shows in the Musicals and Opera section. Offerings in the Dance, Physical Theatre and Circus section of the Fringe programme are included with a choice of the more theatrical Comedy shows, some shows from the Spoken Word section and a strong showing from the Cabaret and Variety section.

Together, these shows cover all aspects of the fringe’s vibrant scene.

The classics are there, there is a lot of new writing, there are great modern Scottish writers and little known ones. There are productions by companies which are self-assured and focussed, there will – I don’t doubt – be those productions which are well-meaning, or by companies who think they have invented the wheel and even, although I hope not, those who really should have put more effort in.

What they will have in common is that they will be made in Edinburgh and, it is without doubt, several of them will have Edinburgh – in all its wonderful facets – on the stage itself.

Reviews and coverage

Our intention is to review as many theatre and musical productions as is possible – while keeping up our reputation for criticism thatY is high quality, engaged and honest.

We are also publishing full listings of all those Made in Edinburgh shows. You can follow our coverage through the Made In Edinburgh and EdFringe 2023 tags, and the #MadeInEdinburgh hashtag on our Facebook and Twitter social media pages.

Thom Dibdin, Editor

Links

Here are the links to all our listings pages:

Theatre by Edinburgh’s Amateur companies.
Theatre by Edinburgh’s Grassroots companies.
Theatre by Edinburgh’s Youth and Student companies.
Theatre by Edinburgh’s Professional & Funded companies.
Theatre for children and young people.
Edinburgh-made Musical Theatre & Opera.
Edinburgh-made Dance, Cabaret & Spoken Word.

We are also proud to work with EPAD to produce and publish their annual listing of shows “created, performed or produced by Edinburgh’s theatre professionals” which is  here.

NB: If you are staging a show that has been Made in Edinburgh and have not sent us a press release, are not featured in these listings or are listed in the wrong sections, please contact us through the contact page.

ENDS