PRESS RELEASE 13th February 2026 - For immediate release
Buxton Fringe organisers are warning that there is not much time left for entrants to take advantage of the specially discounted early bird entry fee of £55, available only until the end of February.
The festival runs from July 8th to July 26th and around 30 events across a variety of genre categories are already booked in.
Last year’s biggest category, Comedy, is already looking strong with acts including Dr Andy Mycock, who packed out his Palace Hotel venue last year and is soon to be on BBC Radio 4 with his comic dissection of his arresting surname. The Great British Sewing Bee contestant Neil Donoghue will be bringing his ventriloquist dummy friend Terry Pastry to the Pump Room, Kevin O’Brien will be cracking up audiences with his one-liners, Laugh for Life Comedy will be giving new stand up talent a platform and Dreamshed Theatre will return with a bitter-sweet play, Dancing with Auntie.
A busy music section promises diverse entertainment courtesy of High Peak Big Band, High Peak Orchestra, folk-inspired Songbird Anna, mesmeric pianist Adrian Lord, Chapel-en-le-Frith Ladies Choir and Cheshire Chamber Collective. Audiences may find themselves getting involved as The Clarkes & Co’s Music and Poetry Hour includes the odd singalong while PDMC’s open-to-all Community Orchestra Day invites people to learn and play extracts from Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite.
In Theatre, John Beecher Fringe Award-winners Nuworks are over from Australia with a show about Woody Guthrie, acclaimed Utopia Unlimited offers a family-friendly take on The Pirates of Penzance, popular Clickers Theatre Group brings 1973-set comedy The Last Throw of the Guitar, Fringe Award-winning Mary Hennessy is back with Journey on Jed, and Pricking Thumbs promises one actor but 21 characters in its ambitious drama, Flight.
In other categories there is children’s fun from regulars Stone and Water, a brand new tour from award-winning Discover Buxton Tours, a family event, Ugly Bug Ball, at Serpentine Community Garden and Visual Arts treats via Peak District Artisans at the Pavilion Gardens and community event Buxton Photo Challenge.
The increasingly popular Spoken Word features award-winning Andy Gilbert, plus community groups Writers in the Peak and Chapel Arts Creative Writing Group.
With the Fringe website and App also offering a chance to view events by date, it is evident that Saturday 18th is already shaping up to be a day of mega-Fringe entertainment including outdoor Pavilion Gardens events High Peak Pride Picnic and Fringe organisers’ own new event Fringe Saturday at the Bandstand, replacing Fringe Sunday this year.
With many more entries likely to come in before the April 19th closing date for entrants to be featured in the printed programme, Fringe marketing officer Stephanie Billen says: “It is gratifying how many successful Fringe entrants choose to return to our friendly Fringe and appreciative audiences, even if that means coming all the way from Australia! We are also seeing new ideas galore and a fantastic diversity of entertainment though I’d love to see some Dance and Film entries - please help us spread the word!”
Full details on how to enter are available on the Fringe website under Take Part where there is also a link to a handy It’s a Fringe! YouTube video with tips for entrants. Anyone wishing to perform with managed venue Underground should apply via https://underthefringe.com.
Events are listed as soon as they have been entered, offering participants useful early publicity. Audiences can see the programme building up on the website’s What’s On pages or by downloading the free Buxton Fringe App, which is available from Google Play or Apple's App Store.
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