Shedinburgh was one of the most striking artistic initiatives of the pandemic. With live events closed down, along with the Edinburgh Fringe in its entirety in 2020, its online pop-up programme throughout August of that year provided a lifeline for a world that had been forced to shut up shop. Initiated by Fleabag and Baby Reindeer producer Francesca Moody alongside Harriet Bolwell and writer/performer Gary McNair, Shedinburgh live-streamed 25 performances from two sheds set up in the Traverse Theatre and London’s Soho Theatre, reaching over 5000 people worldwide. 

As the world slowly reopened in 2021, Shedinburgh offered up a mixed Edinburgh programme of live and digital presentations. It was 2025, however, when the venue came into its own as a full-on live programme showcasing 36 shows by more than 100 artists. With Francesca Moody Productions at the helm, this year’s Shedinburgh is bursting at the seams with 150 performances of work, both old and new, by a who’s who of off-kilter mavericks. In the worlds of theatre and spoken word, this list includes Lucy McCormick, Inua Ellams, Bryony Kimmings, Josie Dale-Jones and Tim Crouch, while a series of works-in-progress from the likes of Bourgeois & Maurice, Sabrina Mahfouz and Nick Helm will also be in town.   

While such regular Fringe names are a treat, Shedinburgh is also laying some groundwork for the future. Part of this is represented by Shed Originals, a series of new works that have emerged through Shedinburgh’s script development programme, run this year in partnership with Theatre Clwyd in Mold, Dublin’s Abbey Theatre and the Traverse. Also planting seeds is the Shedload-Of-Future Fund, which has awarded bursaries to five Edinburgh productions.

A major draw this year is the return of Forest Fringe, the team who arguably set a template for the sort of short-run, ad hoc, genre-fluid happenings that Shedinburgh now champions. Forest Fringe’s prodigal return to Edinburgh after a decade away will see the ultimate DIY outfit host work by Tim Etchells of longstanding performance auteurs Forced Entertainment, Forest Fringe co-founder Deborah Pearson and Action Hero.

Key to Shedinburgh’s raison d’être is what Moody calls an ‘artist first’ model. This means that travel and accommodation for all performers is paid for, while each show comes with a box-office guarantee; for audiences, there is a pay what you can option available. If all of the above sounds like a crazy ideal of what the Fringe is supposed to be about in the face of ongoing outpricing, that’s because it probably is. Seeking sanctuary in a shed has rarely sounded so in season.

Shedinburgh, Assembly Checkpoint, 7–30 August; main picture: Alex Brenner.

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