PRESS RELEASE for immediate release June 2026
Theatre at this year’s Buxton Festival Fringe is a huge category, even bigger than last year, with over 40 productions addressing a fascinating range of subjects for audiences of all tastes.
Several plays are based around real historical figures. Sheffield University Drama Society’s Trio charts the tempestuous relationship of Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West. Multi-award-winning actor Lexi Wolfe returns to Buxton with the surprising story of Constance Lloyd, wife of Oscar Wilde in The Forgotten Woman, while last year’s sell-out Richard III drama 1 King, 2 Princes, & Shakespeare's Lie is also back in town to delight Buxton audiences.
The rise of AI and new technology is on many people’s minds and proves the inspiration for a number of plays this year. In Copycat, Fringe First winner Joe Sellman-Leava wonders whether AI spells the end of humanity, or the dawn of a new utopia? In a darkly comic odyssey of clowning and poetry, Stewart Taylor’s Virtually There predicts the global product launch of the last word in virtual reality systems. Paul Richards combines theatre and stand-up for Offgridland, the story of a man trying to switch off from the perils of technology. Hard Times’ Online Presence is a queer dystopian romance of a man living his life mostly online while in I Always Walk Alone, Luke van Coot explores the themes of loneliness and social isolation and the measures someone may take to escape it in the year 2040.
There are plays on a musical theme, and musical theatre shows at this year’s Fringe. In Crazy Diamond from Sweet Productions/Two Foolish, a failed musician contemplates his life in relation to that of Pink Floyd legend Syd Barrett. Australian company Nuworks depicts the life of American folk singer and civil rights activist, Woody Guthrie in This Machine Kills Fascists. Closer to home, Clickers Theatre Group’s comedy The Last Throw of the Guitar is a comedy about an unsuccessful rock group manager and a disastrous rock festival on the outskirts of Buxton.
Musical theatre is represented by a bold new musical about Lady Jane Grey, Prism Theatre’s Jane: England's Nine Day Queen, as well as by Utopia Unlimited’s Pocket Pirates, a fast-paced, family-friendly take on Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance. Nuworks’ A Punk Opera is a reimagining of Bertolt Brecht’s The Threepenny Opera set against a backdrop of Thatcher, race riots, football hooligans and garbage strikes. Ashgate Heritage Arts’ Sadomasochism For Accountants is a sharp, hilarious musical comedy about heartbreak, reinvention and finding family in unexpected places. Buxton Fringe favourites Black Liver combine music with storytelling and poetry for Rogues' Gallery.
Physical and mental health are examined in various Fringe productions. Award-winning Teepee Productions presents a comedy drama spotlighting women's health and resilience in Tell Me Where It Hurts. Her Raving Mind from Sweet Productions/tríada theatre is a Greco-British tragicomedy on the raving journey of a female abuse survivor.
In Dr Kolff and his Miraculous Kidney Dialysis Machine, Cul-de-sac theatre presents a fictional interview-cum-demonstration with the ingenious inventor of the first kidney dialysis machine. Team Viking finds James Rowland exploring his best friend Tom’s last wish – to be given a Viking funeral. Charles Denton takes A Look Inside a Neurodivergent's Brain with all its quirks and foibles. And in Split Infinitive Theatre’s What Are We Going To Do When This Is All Over? discoveries come to light from the past as an actor’s memory begins to fail her.
Youth Theatre is, as ever, strongly represented at the Fringe offering a chance to see the stars of tomorrow. The Buxton Opera House Creates Work Experience Company presents an abridged version of Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Triple Threat are three young, talented actors, putting their acting skills to the test by writing, directing and performing The Space Between Heartbeats. REC Youth Theatre’s The Night Has Many Eyes combines sketches and scenes in a riotous hour of talent and skill. Buxton School of Performing Arts’ The Waters Rise portrays six young people in a struggle for survival. Multi-award-winning Shadow Syndicate delves into a society slavishly addicted to new technology in Matr[AI]Chy, while the award-winning The Pendleton Codebreakers brings Charlotte Keatley's classic examination of 20th-century womanhood, My Mother Said I Never Should.
Some shows only need one performer. In The Triple Bill, award-winning local performer Robert Tovey presents three plays in 50 minutes. Pricking Thumbs Theatre Company’s Flight: One Man's Journey features one actor and 21 characters as we follow the journey of Maneek, raised in a remote village, shadowed by tigers, ruled by a strict father. The adventures continue as Dylan Howells presents a magical, chilling, ghost story in Forget About Me and Julie Fowler invites theatre-goers back to Grandma’s Shop in her popular autobiographical show of that title. Artistic creation comes under the spotlight as Chris Neville-Smith brings to life comedy legend Jimmy Conway, in This Is Your Life, while Polis Loizou creates a chilling atmosphere in a tale about the making of a horror film in Golden Age Hollywood for You Oughta Be In Pictures. Ed Sumner’s show Loading … combines magic, mind-reading, storytelling, and comedy.
Extraordinary lives are examined. Lindsey Warnes takes a deep dive into the wonderful world of lidos and her life-long love affair with swimming outdoors in Lido – A Love Story. The award-winning There Is A Light And A Whistle For Attracting Attention returns as a woman looks back on a relationship, revisiting moments of love and conflict. Charles Lloyd tells his life story via a karaoke night at an old folks home in Life of Charles, while in Unleashed, a dominatrix unpacks shame and sexuality in today's chaotic, judgmental world.
Theatre can offer a chance to address difficult emotions. In the comedy Let's All Just Take A Moment To Breathe Here, Susie Halksworth follows Chandra's yoga class as she struggles to keep her frustrations under control and no-one knows which leg goes where. Paywall, a late addition to the Fringe from Neysa Killeen, finds aspiring journalist Lizzy at a crossroads as she has to pack up her Dublin hovel to move in with ‘Daddy Dearest’. In The Cagebirds, Chapel Players transform the Crescent’s Assembly Rooms into the cage with its captives the birds, in a powerful reflection on society and the roles we are forced, or choose, to play. In How To Be The Perfect Couple, married renowned relationship experts deliver a talk on how to have the perfect marriage, while theirs spectacularly implodes.
Some theatre comes to life in the open air. Two Left Hands’ Guardians of the Wye combines giant puppets, storytelling and original music for the story of an otter, lost in the Wye Valley. Listed under Street Theatre in the Fringe programme, Hubert’s Buxton Ghost Walk takes Fringe-goers around the parts of town which scarred Hubert Hobux, creating a session of haunted history hysteria. Discover Buxton’s Totally Made-Up Tour offers a tongue-in-cheek, alternative walking tour of Lower Buxton. And the multi-award winning The Shakespeare Jukebox returns for the open-air show where you call the shots!
It all adds up to a bonanza of enticingly diverse drama at the Buxton Festival Fringe.
Marketing Officer Stephanie Billen says: “We are witnessing an explosion of theatre, ranging from drama made in Australia to acts from artists much closer to home, all of it set to stimulate and engage Buxton Fringe audiences.”
Further Fringe treats can be discovered on www.buxtonfringe.org.uk and on the free to download Buxton Fringe App.
The Fringe wishes to thank High Peak Borough Council, its Fringe Friends and the town’s many Fringe supporters and venues.
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