Every August thousands of theatre-goers and artists descend upon Edinburgh for the Festival Fringe: the largest performing arts festival in the world and the one independent performing artists from around the world dream, scheme, and hustle their way into.
The aura of Edinburgh is immortal and undeniable, and it doesn't hurt that programers and presenters from around the planet also descend upon the Fringe – so-called because it takes place in off-beat venues while the Edinburgh International Festival, massive in its own right and the Festival that Fringe was originally in the shadow of, takes place.
This year the most famous Fringe on the planet is, once again, a major playground for immersive & interactive performance. Visitors to the Fringe will find the likes of established names like DARKFIELD and Ontroerend Goed alongside up and coming artists who have cut their teeth at smaller Fringe Festivals.
Edinburgh Fringe is the beating heart of performing arts, and works that can make a mark here are destined for tours, long runs, and other career opportunities for their makers.
What's particularly exciting is that while Edinburgh Fringe has always been the go-to place to find emerging performing artists, now it seems like its the spot with the biggest collection of guaranteed immersive hits in one place we've pretty much ever seen.
Below you'll find the events we're keeping tabs on at this year's Fringe, including a lot of NoPro favorites that are showing up at the Festival this year. (We'll flag those below.) Keep up to date with the latest events we've found by checking out the Edinburgh section of Everything Immersive.
Are you a member of our community and have something on your radar we haven't tagged? Let us know in the Discord!
DARKFIELD: ARCADE
DARKFIELD
Potterrow Plaza - Container 1 at Pleasance Dome
A NoPro Fave!
DARKFIELD are the masters of Spatial Audio, conjuring whole vivid dreamscapes from sound alone, and ARCADE is the company's most significant experiment with audience agency.
"This isn’t an ordinary arcade and these are not ordinary arcade machines. Every machine offers you the chance to enter the world of the game and choose your own unique journey." 16+, £15, Aug 6-Sep. 1
DARKFIELD: COMA
DARKFIELD
Assembly George Square
A NoPro Fave!
"You’re lying on a bunk bed inside a shipping container. Headphones on, lights out. 360-degree sound invites you to take part in a collective experiment: slip into a shared dream on the edge of consciousness." 13+, £15, Aug 6-Sep. 1
DARKFIELD: FLIGHT
DARKFIELD
Assembly George Square
A NoPro Fave!
"An exploration of the Many-Worlds Interpretation of quantum mechanics, taking audience members through two worlds, two realities and two possible outcomes to their journey. There are many worlds in which this plane lands safely.
"Neither Heaven nor Hell is assured.
"We’re not responsible for your final destination." 13+, £14, Aug 6-Sep. 1
DeepFake
404 Theatre
Top Belly at Underbelly, Cowgate
Deep Fake made a splash with its debut at the Denver Fringe in 2025, and multiple members of our team have been left discomfited (complimentary) by the experience and the questions it asks. The rapid pace of consumer AI development in the past year, however, had surpassed the tech used in the show by the time of this year's Without Walls Festival. The abyssal future the show asks one to contemplate, however, remains.
"In this immersive theatrical experience for an audience of one, you will have to argue for your perspective on the use of AI and generated images in art, using the materials you find in your assigned office. Part puzzle room, part quiet horror story." 18+, £12, Aug. 7 -31
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Hamlet (an experience)
Emily Carding
George Mackay Brown Library at Scottish Storytelling Centre
A NoPro fave!
This one person show finds Emily Carding's Hamlet taking on two roles – both protagonist of the story and director of the play as the audience steps into the supporting roles.
Here's a taste of our own Nicholas Fortugno's review of the Voidspace Live '25 run:
Emily Carding is one of the great immersive performers of our moment, and with Hamlet (an experience) Carding shows us that they are not just an exceptional actor, but a skilled interactive theatre maker as well. Hamlet (an experience) is an innovative take on Shakespeare’s masterpiece that lets the audience play in its world while losing none of its stunning language or complex power.
"A prince of Denmark needs your help. Take on the roles, journey through the play and resolve the great questions of life together, immersed in the story as never before." 13+, £14, Aug. 8 -18
Handle With Care
Ontroerend Goed
Studio at ZOO Southside
Belgian performance collective Ontroerend Goed is practically a fixture at the Edinburgh Fringe, with their highly interactive performances stretching the expectations of the audiences and approaching the work from unique angles with pretty much every show. To whit:
"Handle with Care is a theatre performance in a box. No actors, no technicians. Just a box. And you."
As our experience at the Without Walls Festival showed, this means the piece can vary wildly based on the audience in attendance. Which translates into a fascinating theatrical experiment. 13+, £18, Aug 25-31
How to Win a Game Show
Exit Strategy
Multiple Venues
This intriguing piece is getting a pre-Fringe run at NYC's CultureLab LIC, and this line in the blurb for the show is the one that gets our Spider-Senses tingling:
"Part performance art, part improv-show, part social experiment, Gameshow blurs the line between performer and audience-rendering everyone subject to scrutiny by an ever-present, controlling, overarching force."
That's some bold, swaggery talk. We love that. Especially if the show has the chops to back up the talk!
"Meet Graham! Graham has been the star contestant of a popular gameshow for either 3 or 327 days. At least that’s what they tell him." 13+ £12, Aug. 8 - 23
Mayflies
Grid Iron Theatre Company
Brown’s of Leith (Rear Warehouse)
A site-specific adaptation of Andrew O’Hagan’s best-selling novel, this production is taking place in a former metal works in Leith echoing "the iconic venues of Manchester’s music scene, providing an ideal setting for this love letter to friendship, and a pledge: go at life differently." 13+, £25, Leith, Aug. 8 -31
My Date with Pierce Brosnan
Alistair Aitcheson
Nineties at Laughing Horse @ City Cafe
Alistair Aitcheson is a truly delightful interactive performer whose work has been honored by IndieCade and who did us the honor of giving us the details on this show in a previous run for our Coming Soon series.
"Mademoiselle Cafetière is a lonely clown who meets the man of her dreams: Hollywood actor Pierce Brosnan. There's just one catch. Pierce Brosnan is a talking dummy piloted by you, the audience." 18+, Free, Aug. 17 - 31
(No) Refunds
Katy Murphy
Gilded Balloon Patter House
(No) Refunds has become a staple of NYC's interactive theatre scene and the show is returning to Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year.
"(No) Refunds is an interactive game show play hosted by Tiffany Gold (Katy Murphy), an old-school American host and model presenter all-in-one who quite literally depends on your entertainment." 13+, £12-30, Aug. 5 -31
Out There
Mark Vigeant
Downstairs at Assembly Roxy
Comedian Mark Vigeant's piece about "a burnt-out engineer on a mission to gain fame by livestreaming a survival adventure from the Alaskan wilderness" comes to us highly recommended from one of our most tapped in community members who caught it at the Orlando Fringe. We also caught some good buzz from the Hollywood Fringe run about this show that blends immersive tech and clowning. 14+, £15.50, Aug. 5-30
The Secret Society
The Chandeliers
Belly Laugh at Underbelly, Cowgate
From the creators of CSI: Crime Scene Improvisation, comes a new immersive comedy experience.
"Step into the world of a very serious, very secret, very important secret society. As a member of the society, you are privy to astonishing secrets and command powers beyond all imagination. But as you enter the chambers for the weekly meeting, all is not as it seems. Mysteries unravel, rifts form and the wrong choice could mean the end of the society itself. So you'd better make the right decision... no pressure!" 16+, £15, Aug. 8-16
Shakespeare Dice: As You Like It
Dacha
Venue 13
Seattle ensemble Dacha has been creating a fun collection of playable theatre over the years, and for Festival Fringe they're rolling out Shakespeare Dice: As You Like It.
"Cowboys, karaoke and a different cast every night. And it’s all determined by a roll of the dice! This immersive adaptation of Shakespeare’s romantic comedy celebrates the unpredictable ride of falling in love and finding yourself. Step into a karaoke bar full of crooning cowboys, line dancing jesters and lovesick shepherds. Grab a drink and hold onto your hats because no one knows what’s coming next: audience members roll dice to randomly cast the show, so no two performances are remotely alike. Hope you can keep up, partner!" 10+, PWYC - £15, Aug. 7 - 23
Transmission: Into the Dark
One Step At A Time Like This And Richard Jordan Productions
With Traverse Theatre
Secret Location
"It’s night-time. You receive an address to a secret location. A mysterious voice speaks to you, drawing you towards unknown destinations, through Edinburgh’s darkened streets and into the soul of the night."
Well, these folks certainly have our number.
"Interweaving site-specific radio, installation, night-walking, and the sky, Transmission: into the dark invites audiences to embark on a nocturnal journey where the strange is real and the real is strange."
Yup. We're in. 18+, £27.50, Aug. 8 -24
The Van Gogh Shogh
Donna Oblongata
Front Room at Assembly Rooms
"It’s a sip and paint. It’s Sotheby’s. It’s karaoke night. Strap in, because whatever it is, Van Gogh is back and he has a side hustle. This is the real Van Gogh Immersive Experience. Emphasis on immersive."
Performer Donna Oblongata brings their sold out in NYC kaledescopic take on what would happen if Van Gogh stumped into The Van Gogh Experience to the Festival Fringe. As experienced at The Brick Theater in New York and The Elysian Theater in Los Angeles.
Discover the latest immersive events, festivals, workshops, and more at our new site EVERYTHING IMMERSIVE, home of NoPro’s show listings.
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