The Best of the Fest | BOV highlights from Edinburgh Fringe past, present and future
1 Aug 2025
This month marks the Edinburgh Fringe Festival - a time to head north of the border for some of theatre's best and brightest.
Founded in 1947 - just one year after Bristol Old Vic company opened its doors - its ethos is to "give anyone a stage and everyone a seat" - which feels like something we will always agree with! That's probably why so many of the shows at the Festival this year will be part of our programme too.
But what if you can't get there? It can be a bit pricey to hot-foot it up to Scotland, so if you can hold your nerve for a couple of weeks, we've got you covered. Bristol Old Vic's autumn season has some of this year's (and last year's) best of the fest.
And what about the South West's contribution to this year's Festival? Funny you should ask...
Coming soon to Bristol....
OHIO
We're thrilled to be able to welcome OHIO to The Weston Studio at the start of Sep (2-13) after it's run at Edinburgh's Assembly Roxy Upstairs space.
OHIO is an exhilarating and celebratory true story about losing faith and finding hope in the darkest of places from Obie-winning Indie-folk duo and married couple The Bengsons.
When Shaun turned his back on the church, he found a new home in music. Confronted now with acute degenerative hearing loss, he’s making the choice to live joyfully in the face of life’s many unanswerable questions.
Featuring creative captions, Ohio is a new musical experience, from the Olivier Award-winning producers of Fleabag, Baby Reindeer, Kathy and Stella Solve a Murder! and How to Win Against History.
LOVETT
Yup, this one's coming on down to Bristol too.
Mrs Lovett famously suggested cannibalism to Sweeney Todd as a solution to the problem of how to dispose of a body. But butchers are not born, they are made.
An origin story set before those events, discover what led her to turn his victims into pies: the brutal choices of a life in poverty.
If you can't get up to see this one in Aug at the Festival, it's with us 16 - 20 Sep in the Weston Studio. This five-star his is written by and stars Lucy Roslyn.
DRUM
One from the 2024 Fringe now - Winner of the 2024 Edinburgh Untapped Award, if you missed it, Drum is Bristol-bound
As the afternoon sun hits BBC Broadcasting House in London, photographer James Barnor meets broadcaster Mike Eghan for the very first time. Thrown together by lives built far from home, the two rising Ghanaian creatives must manoeuvre through their perception of identity, success, assimilation and home.
This joyful and poignant fiction fuses storytelling, music and dance with archival material to capture a unique snapshot of London in the swinging sixties.
South West winners to see at the Fringe - break a leg everyone!
HOW TO WIN AGAINST HISTORY
Currently running at Underbelly until 25 Aug, How to Win Against History is still ringing in our ears after a joyous run at BOV last month.
A BOV co-pro wit Francesca Moody Productions, we're thrilled this one is back in Edinburgh where it all began over a decade ago.
THE BEAUTIFUL FUTURE IS COMING
This poignant play about the humanity of the climate crisis was written by Flora Wilson Brown and directed by BOVs own Nancy Medina.
In co-production with the Traverse in Edinburgh, the show runs there until 24 Aug.
It also welcomes a new cast member in Jyuddah Jaymes who you may know from Choir Boy in 2023 and last month's DELAY in the Weston Studio.
LAST RITES
The south west's brilliant company Ad Infinitum opens Last Rites on the theatre stage last month to stunning reviews. It's running at the Pleasance Courtyard from 18 - 24 Aug
Traveling from the UK to India in Last Rites, a stunning fusion of visual storytelling, electrifying movement, and an immersive soundscape you can feel as well as hear. This is theatre like you’ve never experienced it before, rich with emotion, beauty, and innovation,
Created by internationally acclaimed theatre-makers Ramesh Meyyappan and George Mann, multi-award-winning Ad Infinitum’s (Translunar Paradise ★★★★★ The Observer, Light ★★★★★ The Times), Last Rites redefines what theatre can be.
MARIO THE MAKER MAGICIAN
We were thrilled to welcome the Magical Mario to BOV for the first time last month, with his family show Mario the Maker Magician.
Bringing his robot magic live from New York, Mario returns to Edinburgh with a show full of original magic, handmade robots and modern slapstick. Fast-paced, interactive and full of heart, Mario leads you through a romping explosion of contagious energy and belly laughs. For kids, adults, families, everyone! As seen on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Sesame Street, Universal Kids and live on tour with David Blaine.
He's at Udderbelly Edinburgh for 1 - 17 Aug
JAYDE ADAMS
And as a bonus...the legendary Jayde Adams (who is about to jump onboard our Christmas show Treasure Island) will be at Shedinburgh for one night only on Sat 2 August with How to Lose and Not Cry- a story stitched with sequins and steeped in legacy—of freestyle disco, ferocious dance mums, and the resilience it takes to keep picking yourself up and dancing when you fall.
