Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Edinburgh, Scotland, GB

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Every summer, Edinburgh is home to the largest arts festival in the world and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe takes over the city with performers from near and far popping in to entertain.

With 300+ venues around the city, you can catch a show in all kinds of unusual places from underground caves and churches to a police boxes and buses. Impossible to miss, the festival spills out onto the streets with pop-up bars, food trucks, street theatre and performers handing out flyers.

Whether you're a fan of stand up, circus, poetry, music or dance, there's something for everyone with over 300,000 shows to pick from. And, with so much choice, we wanted to share a couple of our highlights from this year's line-up:

Katherine Ryan

Convinced that her boyfriend dumped her and moved away to Japan to catch Pokemon, Katherine Ryan is working out her feelings the only way she knows how, by talking it through in front of a sold-out crowd. Combining celebrity insults with adorable impressions of her 8-year-old daughter, it's impossible not to love her down-to-earth witty take on being a single mum, panel shows and growing up in small-town Canada.

2 Become 1

Combining speed dating with classic pop tunes, 2 Become 1 is a nostalgic whirlwind trip through the 90's. Join four girls as they prepare for a night out, cringe through their uncomfortable speed dates and sing along as they perform their own unique takes on hits from the Spice Girls, All Saints, B*Witches, Shania Twain and many more. Fun-filled and full of heart, watch as the girls fit a drunken drama-filled night out into one hour.

John Hastings

John Hastings returns for another festival show, but this year, there's been a murder! You can't help but be taken in by his chatty, friendly style, as he works the cosy room into fits of giggles and laughs. Every time we've seen John, the show has been completely different and there's nothing he loves more than a heckler, so fingers crossed you'll get a rowdy crowd.

Mark Thomas

The Red Shed is comedian, activist and storyteller Mark Thomas' latest show, taking him back to the place where he first started to perform - a labour club in Wakefield, West Yorkshire. Mark recalls his memories from the time of miners strikes, Margaret Thatcher, and the fight for workers rights - and then goes on a journey to find out the truth behind the stories, as he organises the clubs 50th anniversary. It's a fun ride along, meeting characters, hearing the memories, but always with a focus on the struggle of the community he cares so deeply about.

It's impossible to describe just how much fun a visit to the festival is - every show, every venue and every performance is different, there's something for everyone, and so much to explore and expand your own tastes with something new.