1. Amanda Dwyer: Better Than Revenge
The Stand Comedy Club – Stand 2 | 6–16 & 18–30 August | 18:00
Amanda Dwyer sets out to right some of the worst wrongs ever done to her in Better Than Revenge, turning grudges, misogyny, and a revenge porn story into an hour of dark, cathartic comedy.
Iris says: “Gisèle Pelicot said that ‘shame must change sides’, and Better Than Revenge takes that idea somewhere razor-sharp. With brilliantly deadpan delivery, Dwyer turns experiences where the shame was never hers to carry into a deeply satisfying stand-up set. Payback has rarely felt this hilarious.”
2. Brit Barron: CHURCH
Gilded Balloon Teviot – Nook | 5–9, 11–16, 18–23, 25–30 August | 12:40
What happens when the faith that formed you can no longer make space for who you are? Brit Barron traces her journey from evangelical pastor and purity culture poster child to falling in love with a woman and leaving the community that had once been her entire world.
Hannah says: “CHURCH isn’t simply about rejecting religion. Barron explores our very human need for ritual, belief and collective experience – whether we find it through prayer, horoscopes, wellness rituals or somewhere else entirely.
“Through songs, stories and shared laughter, the show slowly creates the very thing she has been searching for: a new kind of church, leaving us to wonder what our own might be.”
3. Maxx Eddy: Bi Meets World
Gilded Balloon Patter House – Blether | 5–31 August | 17:00
Maxx Eddy takes on bisexuality and masculinity in Bi Meets World, bringing together sharply observed stories with a distinctive comic voice.
Tabitha says: “I felt in safe hands with Maxx’s sleek performance. His stories were clever, funny and connected well over the arc of the show. Big laugh-out-loud moments that were really unique to his voice.
“A bi man figuring out masculinity in today’s world – what’s not to love? On at 5pm, so a perfect end to an afternoon or start to an evening out.”
4. Smut Slam
PBH’s Free Fringe @ Banshee Labyrinth – Banqueting Hall | 8–30 August (not 10–11 or 29) | 21:30
True stories, anonymous confessions and plenty of oversharing collide in Smut Slam, a high-energy dirty storytelling night hosted by performer, playwright and former phone sex operator Cameryn Moore. Audience members can submit their own questions and confessions, with stories of sex, desire and misadventure taking centre stage.
Sarah says: “Any time I’m greeted as part of a crowd with the honorific ‘perverts’, I know I’m in the right place. Smut Slam is like an ethical, sex-positive mash-up of Fesshole and The Moth, except with much more use of the phrase ‘pound town’.
“You will leave with a FetLife profile if you don’t already have one.”
5. boobytrapped
theSpace on the Mile – Space 2 | 7–15, 17–22 & 24–29 August | 21:30
The body-swap rom-com gets a queer theatrical revival in boobytrapped, taking a trope familiar from countless 2010s films somewhere far more unexpected.
Malu says: “Boobytrapped brings back the retired body-swap-rom-com trope from the depths of 2010s filmic hellscape into a contemporary, queer and theatrical territory, managing to derive from it fresh, insightful reflections and emotional poignancy.
“Warning: may prompt tears.”
6. Hot Flush – A Bold, We’re Old(ish) Burlesque Show
The Speakeasy at The Royal Scots Club | 13–15, 20–22, 27–29 August | 16:15
Menopause meets striptease in Hot Flush, a cabaret that puts women over 40 firmly in the spotlight.
Bringing together frank conversations about menopause with sultry burlesque, the show explores the realities of a changing body while making the case that eroticism and glamour never get old.
Evelyn says: “It’s so refreshing to have a show where, rather than expecting women over 40 to blend into a mixed-age cast, their age is brought into focus and celebrated! A changing roster of some absolute stars of classic striptease and comedy burlesque.”
7. Bottoming for Jesus
ZOO Southside – Studio | 7–30 August | 22:40
Faith, sexuality and belonging collide in Bottoming for Jesus, as Michael looks back at joining the Mormon Church at 15 – a community that offered certainty and purpose while asking him to deny his sexuality.
Hannah says: “Funny, touching and deeply confessional, Bottoming for Jesus blends cabaret, storytelling and audience participation into a surprisingly complex exploration of faith, sexuality, belonging and what it means to reckon with your own past.
“Rather than offering a simple story of escape, the show grapples with complicity, atonement and the strange contradictions of leaving: Michael felt more purpose then, but more alive now.
“Through confession, Judy Garland, torn-up diary entries and collective singing, religious ideas of repentance and atonement are reclaimed as returning to one another. A joyful and vulnerable exploration of how we make peace with who we were, while finding new ways to belong.”
8. Texas Annie: The Legend of the Moan Ranger
theSpace on the Mile – Space 3 | 7–15 August | 22:30
Texas Annie takes the absurdity of US obscenity laws and turns it into a high-camp musical about the dildo-slinging Moan Ranger and her quest to bring pleasure to the masses.
Tabitha says: “Texas Annie is a high-camp musical highlighting the absurdity of the 1973 US obscenity laws which still exist in Texas, where you can legally own more guns than sex toys.
“A fabulously thought-out story of the dildo-slinging Moan Ranger and her quest to bring pleasure to the masses. I absolutely adored this show, the songs are great and the writing superb. Congratulations to all involved – art as protest in the most incredible way.”
Stay tuned for our interview with co-writer Jenn Howd.
9. Trans People Are Awful
Pleasance Courtyard – Bunker One | 5–16, 18–23, 25–31 August | 15:20
Ros Watt brings an especially unhinged proposition to the Fringe in a one-person show about what may just be one of queer theatre’s most compellingly motivated serial killers.
Malu says: “Brilliant one-man show whose fully formed script, pitched perfectly at the edge of insanity, hits with full force through Ros Watt’s energetic, full-bodied performance, bringing to life what may well be the most compellingly motivated serial killer of our (queer) times.”
10. Roger Prick: Sexopolis
Underbelly Cowgate – Jelly Belly | 5–30 August, excluding 18 and 25 August | 18:55
What happens when you take a gloriously seedy 1970s pornographer and drop him into the feminist landscape of 2026? Han Whyte’s Roger Prick: Sexopolis uses drag, character comedy and plenty of filthy puns to put two very different sexual eras side by side.
Hannah says: “Roger’s outdated attitudes towards women and sex are easy to laugh – and squirm – at from a modern perspective, but the satire also invites us to consider how much has really changed, and what we might still have left to unlearn.
“Amidst all the sleaze, an unexpectedly touching love story between Roger and a feminist adds another dimension to a character who could easily have remained a caricature.”
11. Sex! with Becky Fury
Laughing Horse @ The Three Sisters – The Wee Room | 7–17, 19–30 August | 00:30
Former dominatrix, sex therapist and comedian Becky Fury has had a rather unique window into people’s private desires – and Sex! turns those experiences into an intimate, unfiltered hour of storytelling.
Hannah says: “There are plenty of outrageous and very blue stories, but some of the most interesting moments come from what they reveal about masculinity, submission, gender and power. A funny and fascinating reminder that human sexuality rarely fits neatly into the boxes we give it.”
13. Only Fans for Therapy
ZOO Playground – Playground 3 | 7–9, 11–16, 18–23, 25–30 August | 12:10
What happens when surviving trauma comes with a bill attached? In Only Fans for Therapy, Belgian performer Verona Verbakel takes the cost of long-term recovery quite literally, confronting the prospect of thousands of therapy sessions. Darkly comic and deeply personal, the solo show explores abuse, revenge, accountability and the non-linear journey of healing.
Iris says: “Only Fans for Therapy turns the brutal arithmetic of trauma into something darkly funny and deeply uncomfortable. If surviving abuse means a lifetime of therapy, why is the person who was harmed expected to pick up the bill?
“It’s a brave and vulnerable piece, definitely one of my top picks from this year’s Fringe.”
13. Tell Me
Summerhall – The Dissection Room | 6–9, 12-16, 19-23, 26-31 August | 19:00
Queer history and belonging are explored through movement in Tell Me, a physical performance balancing reflection with joy.
Sarah says: “An impressively choreographed movement piece that balances queer joy, belonging and history.”
14. The Cut of Her Jib
Not every show on our list is strictly about sex. The Cut of Her Jib earns its place for its wicked exploration of marriage, menopause, class and female rage.
Set around the disappearance of Belinda Crabbs’ husband, the dark comedy brings two women together as decades of resentment begin to unravel. It’s sharp, Scottish and particularly interested in what can happen when women stop defining themselves through the men in their lives.
Tabitha says: “This is a belter of a show with fantastic writing and a brilliant cast with a flawless back and forth. It’s so good, and a study in raw female midlife rage. I was looking for a Scottish production and this was perfect. Outstanding.”
