The 2025 Edinburgh Fringe festival opens on Friday, with the organisers calling on audiences to “dare to discover” the thousands of shows on offer over the next four weeks.
This year’s edition of the world-famous festival runs from August 1 to 25, and will feature 54,474 performances and 3,853 shows – including 1,118 shows from Scotland, and 829 from Edinburgh itself.
The festival will see artists from 63 countries taking to the stage at venues across the capital, in a programme that includes comedy, theatre, dance, musicals and children’s shows.
The Fringe street events programme begins at 11am on Friday and will run every day until August 24, with performers putting on shows on the Royal Mile and the Mound.
The Fringe will run alongside the Edinburgh International Festival (EIF), which runs until August 24 and will see more than 2,000 internationally renowned artists from across 42 countries putting on more than 133 performances across the city.
With its theme of The Truth We Seek, the organisers of the EIF say it offers “the possibility of truly transformational encounters” across its richly varied programme of music, theatre, opera and dance.
The organisers of both festivals have said ticket prices have been set to make them accessible to as many people as possible.
The Fringe has an average ticket price of just over £13, while half the tickets for the EIF will be sold at £30 or less, and £10 tickets have been made available for every performance.
Tony Lankester, chief executive of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society, thanked all those who are helping make this year’s festival happen.
“This is my first Fringe as the Fringe Society’s chief executive, so this is an incredibly exciting moment – I’ve attended the Edinburgh Fringe before, but never in such a front-row seat,” he said.
“It’s taken a lot of people a lot of work to get us to this moment, so I’d like to thank everyone who has a hand in making it happen.
“That includes the venues around the city; the local businesses, stakeholders and officials; the wonderfully warm and welcoming people of Edinburgh; the members of the media and the arts industry who make this festival such an important part of the calendar for participating artists; and of course the indefatigable and undefeatable artists themselves, without whom there wouldn’t be a Fringe at all.
“We’re so grateful that you’ve chosen to be here this year, and I encourage any and all prospective audience members to go out, enjoy the festival and dare to discover the amazing work on offer.”
Meanwhile, EIF director Nicola Benedetti said this year’s International Festival is a “bold invitation to question the world around us”.
“We’re honoured to welcome artists and audiences from across the globe to Edinburgh, and we remain deeply committed to making that experience more accessible than ever”, she said.
“Whether you’re here for an intimate recital, a powerful play, a mass sing-along or an eight-hour choral epic, you’ll encounter connection, curiosity, and the power of great art to shift perspectives.
“This year’s Festival offers the possibility of truly transformational encounters and I look forward to sharing this with you.”
The Fringe festival line-up includes 501 more shows than are included in the printed programme, due to some having been registered since the programme launch on June 3.
The full Fringe programme can be found at edfringe.com and the official Fringe app.
The EIF programme can be found at www.eif.co.uk.
