It's difficult enough to know what isn't political anymore: identity, shopping, aesthetic and dramaturgical choices have all been implicated in the contemporary expansion of the conflict between power and oppression. There are, however, certain shows that are almost comforting for their insistence on exploring ideas that fit easily into a more traditional political frame, even as the UK seems intent on recreating foreign policy strategies for a 1970s-era stand-up comedian.

It'll Be Alt-Right on the Night
Wound Up Theatre
Pleasance Courtyard, 31 Jul–26 Aug (not 12), 2pm
A couple of old punks find themselves on opposite sides of the political spectrum. In the post-Trump world, one's a soy-boy social justice warrior, the other's gone alt-right. Set to a jazz-punk score, two men try to work out the right answers, leading to the inevitable ruck in a Lidl car park.

Bystanders
Cardboard Citizens
Summerhall, 31 Jul–25 Aug (not 12,19), 11.30am
Britain's leading homeless theatre company doesn't mess about: not allowing the audience be bystanders, they discuss the excessive number of homeless deaths (800 between October 2017 and March 2019) and use true stories to get at the reality behind the statistics.

The Populars
Volcano Theatre
Summerhall, 31 Jul–25 Aug (not 1, 12, 19), 9.20pm
Volcano like to make theatre for people who aren't typical audiences: forceful, dynamic and visually impressive. After having a crack at Chekhov, they are going for the toughest nut to crack in a dance party about Brexit. In all of the uncertainty, this is a chance to dance away the chaos and imagine another way to be together and leap across the divides that are hemming humans into their imaginative and ideological cages.

Bystanders

Unicorn Party
Nick Field
ZOO Playground, 11–26 Aug (not 18), 6.50pm
Nick Field has noticed that both unicorns and fascism are increasingly popular. Is there a connection between them? Escapism may seem like an innocent response to the hardening of political hearts, but Field worries for a future UK in which two very different things have come together to crush the human spirit.

The Claim
By Tim Crowbury, directed by Mark Maughan, produced by James Quaife
Roundabout @ Summerhall, 31 Jul–25 Aug (not 6, 13, 20), 12.50pm
While political parties claim that it isn't about racism, the treatment of migrants is getting worse. The Claim responds to the Home Office interview, as one man discovers that he has to put on the performance of his life to prove the truth of his request for asylum, as absurdism meets political satire.

How Not To Drown
ThickSkin
Traverse Theatre, 3–25 Aug (not 5, 12, 19), various times
The true story of Dritan, who escaped the Kosovan War at the age of eleven only to be plunged into the challenges of the British care system. With Dritan on stage, this true story brings a cutting element of reality to the pain of dislocation and forced migration.

Before the Revolution

Fulfilment
SharkLegs
Underbelly Cowgate, 1–25 Aug (not 12), 3.40pm
It might have a comic visual theatre look, but Fulfilment dives into the home of modern-day consumerism: the Amazon Fulfilment Centre (a euphemism for warehouse). In order to make sure that everyone gets their next day delivery, Amazon have imagined some sharp practices and harsh rules for their workers: a reminder that exploitation is always going to be part of that consumerist dream.

Murder on the Dancefloor
Spies Like Us
Pleasance Courtyard, 31 Jul–26 Aug (not 13), 2.15pm
Last year, Spies Like Us rocked the Fringe with a physical theatre reinvention of the classic Woyzeck: for 2019, they introduce their first original work. Millennials have it hard when it comes to getting on the housing ladder, and Murder asks how far one woman would go to get into the market, and what happens as a result to those minor concerns, like friendship and trust.

Before the Revolution
Temple Independent Theatre Company
Summerhall, 13–25 Aug (not 19), 9.50pm
From Egypt to Edinburgh, director and writer Ahmed El Attar looks at the moment before Mubarak was overthrown. Expressing a sense of stagnation – but also potential – through a static cast surrounded by an 'audio-visual environment', Before was censored in its home country and examines one of the key moments in contemporary politics.

Solitary
Dutch Kills
Assembly Rooms, 1–24 Aug (not 12), 9.35pm
A silent physical meditation on the impact of solitary confinement, a situation all too common in North American prisons. Mime is a perfect analogy for the silencing of voices, and Duane Cooper and Blake Haberman question solitary confinement's efficacy and ethics.