Last week we traversed dense rainforests of Edinburgh Festival news, clambering over thickets of announcements, machete-smashing our way through A-list acts and climbing vines over new venues (Is this a laboured metaphor? Yes, yes it is. I'll put a stop to it immediately). This week we’ve reached a more manageable section of the road to the Festival, still verdant with rich pickings but a mite less congested, giving us the chance to dig into the weeds for fruitful arts and culture greenery (I promise, that's the laboured metaphor finished now. I'm not enjoying it either).    

In this week’s edition, the estimable Danish season is heading to these shores, a highlight from the City Art Festival makes itself known, a gang of Glasgow comics is going up against Oasis, and a woke jellyfish has washed up at The Stand. 

The List Festival Awards returns…

… for a second year of gong-giving fun. This iteration will celebrate the incredible diversity of the Edinburgh Festivals with more award categories for best dance, comedy, and kids shows, as well as a new accolade for LGBTQIA+ Fringe artists. 

Our editing overlord Brian Donaldson said, 'Another Edinburgh Festival is on the horizon with world-class artistic endeavours set to enrich the city and all those who converge upon it. There are various ways in which critics and audiences can show appreciation for those endeavours, and lavishing prizes on people is one important way to do it. Having covered the Festival across five decades, The List has built a reputation for knowing what we're talking and writing about. Our second year of Festival Awards will honour even more brilliant shows and artists, and we can't wait to get stuck into another season of amazing culture.'

Read more about our Festival Awards here. 

The Danes have arrived…

… for another season of the Danish Showcase, which promises a suite of six new shows from the world’s happiest country. First on the programme is The Insider (Pleasance, Friday 30 July – Monday 23 August), a Fringe First award winner which describes itself as ‘a contemporary Wolf Of Wall Street on stage.’ It’ll be joined by Greenlandic-inspired dance piece SOIL (Dance Base,  Friday 1 – Sunday 17 August) based on writer/performer Sarah Aviaja Hammeken’s joint Greenlandic Inuit and Danish heritage; Women In Socks And Sandals (ZOO Southside, Friday 1 – Sunday 10 August), an irreverent look at women entering a ‘world created by men’; Champions (Pleasance, Wednesday 30 July – Saturday 16 August), an emotional portrait of parent-child relationships, homophobia, grief, loneliness and personal resilience; Late Night Lehrer: With Caspar Phillipson (Green Side, Friday 1 – Saturday 23 August), a trek through the celebrated songwriter’s witty tunes; and family-friendly circus act The Genesis (Assembly Hall, Thursday 31 July – Monday 25 August), featuring 17 circus acts from 13 countries. 

The Danish showcase has spent years positioning itself as a space where audiences can expect a formidable roster of talent; its 2025 edition looks to be no different. 

Collective presents the first solo exhibition in Scotland of Mercedes Azpilicueta…

… at the City Dome Gallery as part of the Edinburgh Art Festival (Friday 20 June – Sunday 7 September). The visual and performance artist will present an exhibition titled Fire On The Mountain, Light On The Hill, which will showcase Azpilicueta's commitment to an exploration of care and resistance, revealing lesser-known stories from history.

Director of Collective Sorcha Carey said: ‘We are delighted to welcome Mercedes Azpilicueta to Collective and introduce her extraordinary work to audiences in Scotland for her first solo exhibition here. We are committed to sharing the work of artists from beyond Scotland, and we are very excited connect her with choreographer and artist Janice Parker for a special new performance in response to our location on Calton Hill.’  Find out more on Collective’s site. 

Glasgow comics mount alternative to Edinburgh’s Oasis chaos…

… with a comedy all-dayer in Glasgow taking place on the same weekend as the Gallagher lads roll into Murrayfield. Titled Alternative Comedy In Good Faith, there’s an element of positive community action about this one, acting both as a respite for anyone looking to escape the newly bucket-hatted capital and a polite rebuttal to anyone who thinks Edinburgh is the only place for cutting edge comedy during August. It’ll take place at the Glasgow Zine Library on Sunday 10 August with a line-up featuring Richard Brown, Jay Lynch, Ruth Hunter, Rory Spence, Hot Death Theatre and David Callaghan. 

Brown, who organised the day with Callaghan, told us, ‘As appears to be the trend with everything in this day and age, each year it gets more difficult and more expensive to perform at the Edinburgh Fringe, something that becomes gradually more demoralising with each passing August. This year the cost has also been exacerbated by the series of Oasis gigs driving up the cost of accommodation.

‘It's quite a fitting comparison. Oasis gigs are a lot like Edinburgh Fringes; the ones in the 90s are the stuff of legend but nowadays they feel increasingly exploitative and more focused on profit than anything else.

‘Most people I know will be avoiding Edinburgh that weekend, and since there are so many great acts who can't do the Fringe because of a multitude of things (prohibitive costs, childcare, day jobs, etc), myself and David Callaghan are putting on an afternoon of shows in Glasgow, with some of our favourite acts who aren't doing full Fringe runs.

‘The reaction has been quite surprising. It shouldn't feel transgressive to put on shows which pay the artists and respect the audience. Yet here we are. Welcome to 2025. It is what the title says: Alternative Comedy In Good Faith.'

Ticket for the all-dayer will be available ‘soon’ via the Glasgow Zine Library site. 

Four stars or more 

Speaking of Richard Brown, he’s also doing a short Fringe run this year, delightfully titled Nauseatingly Woke Full-Grown Jellyfish. He’s been a mainstay of Scotland’s alternative comedy scene for years, and we were particularly taken by his Horror Show hour in 2022. 'Brown is a breed that’s increasingly rare in mainstream circles of comedy: a genuinely left-wing perspective that imbues grim gags with humanism and empathy,’ we wrote in our four-star review of the show. ‘For the lucky few who share his misanthropic mindset, this is a comedy goldmine.’ Read the full review here. 

You can catch Nauseatingly Woke Full-Grown Jellyfish at The Stand from Tuesday 12 – Thursday 14 August.