Published: Wed 23 Jun 21

Shedinburgh Fringe Festival and Fundraiser returns in August

With even more world class theatre, comedy, music, cabaret, spoken word, new special event strands and new co-producers.

SHEDINBURGH Fringe Festival, the global shed-sation of 2020 is back for another packed edition of the best Fringe theatre, comedy, music, spoken word plus exciting new strands including a brand new Originals script series and SHEDx talks from famous faces, renowned writers and experts from the world of culture. SHEDINBURGH also sees new partners VAULT Creative Arts, producers of VAULT Festival, come on board as festival co-producers alongside Francesca Moody Productions and Popcorn Group.

This year SHEDINBURGH will host a four-strand programme of world-class entertainment: 

SHEDINBURGH MAIN PROGRAMME: A stellar programme of shed-based versions of seminal fringe favourites from the last decade plus old, new and unseen work from Fringe stars and comedians whose careers were launched at the Fringe.

SHEDINBURGH NEWCOMERS: The Edinburgh Fringe Festival has historically been the launch pad of as yet unknown artists who go on to become global superstars like Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Trevor Noah and Flight of the Conchords. The Newcomers programme will feature work from some of the most exciting up and coming artists who you might have discovered at the Fringe, except this time, audiences will be discovering them in the shed. Artists have been handpicked in partnership with co-producers VAULT Creative Arts who have long been at the vanguard of emerging talent through their annual London Festival – VAULT Festival.

SHEDINBURGH ORIGINALS: A series of special one-off short pieces and original work created for the shed by some of the most exciting and high profile talent to come out of Edfringe.

SHEDx: The festival nod to TEDx, a series of free to watch 10 minutes talks from key industry stakeholders and talent around the theme of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. SHEDx will inspire, educate, reminisce and advocate for change.

All shows and events will be performed live and streamed globally for one night only from two sheds at the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh and Soho Theatre in London from Tuesday 3rd August to Monday 30th August.

The full Shed-ule of shows and events will be announced in July.

Producers Francesca Moody and Harriet Bolwell and writer/performer Gary McNair conceived the inaugural SHEDINBURGH FRINGE FESTIVAL in 2020, an online festival of the best of the Fringe greats of theatre, music and comedy, as a direct response to the uncertain future facing both venues and artists in 2020. SHEDINBURGH’s objective is to shout loud about the Fringe’s vital role in global culture, celebrate its past successes and breakthrough artists and provide a platform for Fringe talent and to raise money for artists through their SHED LOAD OF FUTURE fund.

SHEDINBURGH producers Francesca Moody, Harriet Bolwell and Gary McNair said:
“We are thrilled that SHEDINBURGH is going to be returning this year. SHEDINBURGH was founded in order to support artists now and in the future. We will continue to use the festival as a vehicle to raise money for SHED LOAD OF FUTURE, our fund which will support the next generation of artists to make it to Edinburgh Festival Fringe and we are hugely grateful to the incredible programme of artists and co-producers Vault Creative Arts and Popcorn Group and partners Traverse Theatre, Soho Theatre and NSDF and DMLK Video and sponsors Mighty Small who are helping to make that a possibility. We are also delighted to be offering a platform for more emerging talent through our newcomers programme and a space for conversation, reflection and inspiration through SHEDx. We’re looking forward to sharing our fantastic programme of shed shows across the world this August and celebrating the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and it’s vital role in global culture once again.”

Andy George, VAULT Creative Arts Director & Co-Founder said: “We‘re delighted to be on board as co-producers for this year’s Shedinburgh. Shedinburgh puts artists and audiences right at its heart in such a unique, wonderful, and delightfully intimate celebration of fringe artists and their work. All that as well as meaningfully supporting artists now and in the future through the Shed Load of Future Fund. It was a no-brainer for us to jump at the chance of joining the team and taking Shedinburgh on into the future alongside Francesca Moody Productions.”

Linda Crooks, Executive Producer of the Traverse Theatre said: “We are thrilled to present SHEDINBURGH again as part of our Festival programme. We are looking forward to hosting another exciting line up bursting with top talent, groundbreaking work, emerging artists and interesting conversations.”

David Luff, Soho Theatre’s Creative Director said: “We are delighted to host SHEDINBURGH this summer working once again with such fantastic partners and supporting some of the nation’s finest comedians, theatre-makers and cabaret artists.”

SHEDINBURGH has already captured the hearts of Fringe fans from across the world from Edinburgh to Adelaide to Tokyo and Texas, selling over 4,500 tickets to 25 events in 2020, with all proceeds going into the SHED LOAD OF FUTURE fund to support new artists who want to bring their work to the Edinburgh Fringe. This year’s edition aims to raise even more money for the fund to help the future talent of the Fringe thrive.