IF YOU LIKE: Durham Fringe Festival

Image: Rubbish Puppets

From Wednesday 23rd-Sunday 27th July, Durham Fringe Festival takes over the city with its most exciting edition yet. Across five packed days, nine venues will host over 110 acts and 270 shows spanning theatre, music, stand-up, magic, circus, spoken word, cabaret and more.

This year’s festival spreads across Gala Theatre’s Studio, The City Theatre, Assembly Rooms Theatre, Durham University’s Department of Music, Fonteyn Ballroom, Vane Tempest at Durham SU, Cafedral, Fabio’s Bar, and the Palace Green Stretch Tent.

In this day and age of outpricing the average person from enjoying cultural events, Durham Fringe are bucking the trend. Tickets are kept budget-friendly and are just £10 (£7 concessions) or less. For true Fringe explorers, the Discover Offer lets audiences book three shows for £24 and family tickets (two adults and two under 16s, or one adult and three under 16s) are available for just £24 – so you can your gang can check out the 42 acts suitable for families and the 14 shows specifically aimed at children.

IF YOU LIKE…

Comedy

Let’s start with the obvious. Durham Fringe has 19 stand-up acts ready to bring big laughs across five days. Discover rising stars like BBC New Comedy Award finalist Jake Donaldson (Friday 25th-Sunday 27th) and Phil Green (Saturday 26th), fresh from sell-out runs at Edinburgh Fringe, plus Cal Halbert, one half of The Mimic Men (Britain’s Got Talent), brings razor-sharp impressions throughout the festival. There’s also local loveliness from the likes of Felt Nowt comedy and Silly Billies Comedy (both Wednesday 23rd-Thursday 24th), and Kelly Rickard (Friday 25th-Sunday 27th) to name a few, and you’ll also find plenty of comedy theatre including the legendary Durham Revue, the group that brought you Ed Gamble, Stevie Martin, Nish Kumar and other greats (Friday 25th-Sunday 27^th).

 Image: Queen of the Quack

Theatre For All

Durham Fringe’s 26 productions deliver something for everyone. A modern-verse translation of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew hits Palace Green (throughout), while shows such as The Bodysnatcher (Wednesday 23rd-Friday 25th) and Whispers (Saturday 26th-Sunday 27th) brings Gothic chills to the festival. For fresh stories, there are exciting titles such as unhinged dark comedy Queen of the Quack (Saturday 26th-Sunday 27th), sex-focused exploration VANILLA (Friday 25th), and the dark musical The Rubbish Puppets (Wednesday 23rd-Thursday 24th), all of which push theatre in exciting new directions.

Image: Tom Bolton

Music and Magic

Sound and spell makers from the North East and further afield are set to captivate audiences. Entertaining the ears are BBC Introducing’s One to Watch for 2025 Isabel Maria (Saturday 26th-Sunday 27^th); indie rockers Jam Tub (Thursday 24th-Friday 25^th); Sam Slatcher and his Stockton and Darlington railway-inspired folk songs (Wednesday 23rd and Friday 25^th); pop punk driven post-hardcore band OCHISIA (Sunday 27^th); and multi-award winning singer-songwriter Amity from (throughout), plus and loads more.

On the magic side of things Durham-based magician Tom Bolton blends illusions and music for something truly original (throughout); Tim Lichfield tells the tale of how he was introduced to the wonderful world of magic in his family friendly show, The Wonder Years (Wednesday 23^rd); Tim will also be joining forces with Andy Larmouth for their brand new show Wonderstorm (Wednesday 23rd and Sunday 27^th); Kane & Abel take you inside the mystical, magical and hilarious world of life as a twin (Thursday 24th-Friday 25^th); teenage trickster Brooklyn-Ellis Carr wows audiences with his Box Of Tricks (Friday 25th-Sunday 27^th); and Neil Smith performs his comedy magic show Trickhead (Saturday 26th-Sunday 27^th).