The Best of the Fest | BOV highlights from Edinburgh Fringe past, present and future

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.