Underbelly Highlights for Fringe 2016

There is one Edinburgh Festival venue that is hard to miss – possibly because it’s a giant upside-down purple cow! We’re talking about the Udderbelly at George Square of course! Underbelly does comprise other venues too, such as the new Circus Hub on the Meadows and Cowgate with its several licensed bars and venues. Being one of the largest venue operations at the Fringe, Underbelly hosts an impressive amount of shows, which means it can be difficult to know which ones to go and see. But don’t fret, we’ve asked the lovely people at Underbelly to answer a few questions about which shows we should look forward to this year!

1. What shows at the Underbelly are you particularly excited about this year?

We’ve got a jam-packed programme this year (with over 150 shows a day!) so we’re really excited about all of our shows. This year Underbelly’s Circus Hub returns to the Meadows after a brilliant debut season in 2015, circus is a really exciting and accessible genre so it’s great to be bringing it into the spotlight! Ava/Ada by Manual Cinema is a beautiful show full of amazing animation and shadow puppetry that we’re very excited about. Some of our transfers from our London Festivals this year is not to be missed, like Closer by Circa; an incredible circus show with six performers moving their bodies in unbelievable ways in a very stripped back and intimate setting, as well as the a cappella singing smash hit of last year’s Fringe, Gobsmacked!

2. What shows do you recommend for parents with young children?

We have a great day time programme of family shows, including Bedtime Stories (where the audience gets to watch amazing circus tucked up like they’re in bed!), The Amazing Bubble Man, the very funny and very messy Trash Test Dummies, a beatboxing kids show with UK beatboxing champion Shlomo and lots more!

3. What shows do you recommend for the older generation?

Our programme spans theatre, comedy, musical theatre, circus, music and more, so there really is something for everyone! We’ve got some great musical theatre for this year, including No Horizon and Paper Hearts the Musical, plus a version of Northanger Abbey with puppets, and the return of Austentatious: an improvised Jane Austen novel if you’re looking for some fringe comedy!

4. Are there any late night laughs we shouldn’t miss out on?

We have an amazing late night comedy show every Friday and Saturday night during the Fringe called Edinburgh Comedy Allstars, with top line-ups from the biggest comedians at the fringe including Katherine Ryan, David O’Doherty, Danny Bhoy and lots more! The line-ups are different for each show and you get a little taste of lots of types of comedy, be quick though, this one sells out fast!

5. What show should we see if we want to be amazed?

Hmm.. that’s a tricky question! All of the shows in our Circus Hub on the Meadows are especially amazing, because you’re seeing people do these incredible acrobatic stunts, being thrown up in the air, dangling by just one finger raised up six feet above the audience, moving their bodies in the most astonishing ways! The Edinburgh Fringe is all about seeing things that you can’t see anywhere else, and I think that our Circus Hub shows definitely fall into that category!

6. Last but not least; what makes the Underbelly special?

It has to be our upside down purple cow! Amongst our various venues, we have the Udderbelly at George Square, which is an inflatable performance venue in the shape of an upside down purple cow! It’s definitely worth experiencing at some point during your trip! Underbelly has been delivering top entertainment to Fringe audiences since 2000, and we love the variety that’s on offer to everyone in Edinburgh for the duration of this amazing festival.

Make sure you also check out the Fringe highlights for the Gilded Balloon, the Assembly and the Pleasance!