Whether it’s radical poetry, intimate one-on-one theatre, or myth retold in dialect, storytelling at the Edinburgh Festivals is bold, personal, and political this year. These are the shows that go beyond the stage to offer connection, truth, and transformation. From Haiti to Doric farmsteads, Martian job interviews to panto secrets, here are SNACK’s favourite storytelling gems for 2025.
I’M READY TO TALK NOW
Traverse Theatre 1st–24th August (excluding 4th, 7th, 11th, 14th, 18th, 21st)
Arriving in Edinburgh after its phenomenal success at the Melbourne Fringe 2023, Oliver Ayres brings his story from Australia. Each performance is delivered to a single audience member at a time as Ayres shares his experience of being diagnosed with a rare and severe chronic condition.
IS THERE WORK ON MARS?
ZOO Playground, Playground 1 1st–24th August (excluding 6th, 13th, 20th)
Is There Work On Mars? returns after its success at last year’s Fringe. Faye Yan’s semiautobiographical solo focuses on an Asian woman with a maths learning disability attempting to pass a ‘Martian Worker’s Immigration Exam’ conducted by Nylon Musk’s Space Y programme.
instagram.com/isthereworkonmars
SHE’S BEHIND YOU
Traverse 1, Traverse Theatre 1st–24th August (excluding 4th, 11th, 18th)
Who doesn’t love a panto? And if you’ve been to one in Scotland in the last decade or so, chances are Johnny McKnight had a hand in it as writer or its star – Johnny’s turn as Stinkerbell in last year’s Tron panto was better than brilliant (sorry for you if you missed out). Presented in association with the National Theatre of Scotland, under the directorial gaze of awardwinning John Tiffany, this show promises to be a riot as it unearths the wild world of panto, smacks its bum, and celebrates the heck out of it – oh yes it does!
KANPUR: 1857
Pleasance Courtyard, Beneath 30th July–24th August (excluding 12th and 13th August)
Recipient of the 2025 Charlie Hartill Fund, Niall Moorjani brings Kanpur:1857 to Edinburgh. Strapped to a cannon, an Indian rebel answers to a British officer for the crimes of Kanpur as Moorjani explores power, gender, and colonial violence through the lens of careful satire and a trans love story.
http://edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/kanpur-1857
UNCLE TOM’S WAR: HAITI AND THE WHIPPING MACHINE
theSpace @ Surgeon’s Hall 11th–16th August
The Haitian revolution (1791–1804) did something more than force the French to abandon slavery: it created a legacy under which Haitians continue to suffer. David Lee Morgan is a force of slam poetry, a champion of the artform, and a passionate advocate known for his fiery poetry and performance. You are clearly not meant to leave a performance of this feeling indifferent.
https://www.thespaceuk.com/shows/2025/uncle-toms-war-haiti-and-the-whipping-machine
MA NAME IS ISABELLE
George Mackay Brown Library, Scottish Storytelling Centre Various dates between 31st July–24th August
Performer Lucy Beth brings her own slant to a Doric spoken-word retelling of bothy ballad ‘Bogie’s Bonnie Belle’. Ma Name is Isabelle is a story of farming, class struggle, and love, relating the experience of Belle, a young woman shunned by her community as an unmarried mother and separated from her child. Isabelle’s tale is a triumph of strength and resilience in the face of hardship.
http://edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/ma-name-is-isabelle
CARPET MUNCHER
George Mackay Brown Library, Scottish Storytelling Centre 1st–12th August
To classify, to label, is ostensibly to help us understand, to categorise and make sense of the world. But pinning moths on a board, containing specimens in a box, drawing lines on a map, creates thick suffocating walls and puts an end to any kind of flight. Jo Morrigan Black celebrates queer resistance to taxonomy, and weaves together textiles and poetry to invite audiences into considering more deeply the crossing of genders and crossing of borders. This show is part of the Culture Ireland Edinburgh Showcase.
http://edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/carpet-muncher
GAY, DISABLED, VEGAN: A SPOKEN WORD SHOW
Whistlebinkies 2nd–9th August
You might know him as a poet and cosy host extraordinaire – join Ross Wilcock for his first ever full-length show! Wilcock shows us life from his perspective and delves deep into the living and loving and laughing behind the labels. Connecting and embracing, you’ll leave this show with a newfound sense of self-worth and fresh view of society around us. Free.
http://freefringe.org.uk/shows/gay-disabled-vegan-a-spoken-word-show/
Main image credit Amy Lauffer Neff
