Shedinburgh was one of the most striking artistic initiatives of the pandemic. With live events closed down along with the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in its entirety in 2020, throughout August of that year, its online pop-up programme provided a lifeline for a world that had been forced to shut up shop.
Initiated by Fleabag and Baby Reindeer producer Francesca Moody with Harriet Bolwell and writer / performer Gary McNair, Shedinburgh live-streamed 25 performances from two sheds set up in the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh and London’s Soho Theatre, reaching over 5000 people worldwide.
As the world slowly reopened, 2021 saw Shedinburgh offer 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 thirty-six shows by more than 100 artists.
With Francesca Moody Productions at the helm, this year sees Shedinburgh bursting at the seams with some 150 performances of new work by a who’s who of off-kilter mavericks. These include the likes of Lucy McCormick, Bryony Kimmings and Tim Crouch, while a series of works in progress from the likes of Rosie Jones, Sabrina Mahfouz and Sh!t Theatre will also be on show.
While such regular Fringe names are a treat, Shedinburgh is also laying the groundwork for the future. Part of this comes through Shed Originals, a series of new works that have come through Shedinburgh’s script development programme, run this year in partnership with the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, Theatre Clwyd, Mold, and the Traverse in Edinburgh. Also planting seeds is the Shedload-of-Future Fund, which has awarded bursaries to five Edinburgh Festival Fringe productions.
A major draw this year will see the return of Forest Fringe, the team who arguably set the ever-changing template for the sort of short-run ad hoc genre-fluid happenings that Shedinburgh now champion. Forest Fringe’s prodigal’s 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 the ongoing outpricing, this is because it probably is. Seeking sanctuary in a shed has rarely sounded so in season.
Shedinburgh, Assembly Check Point, 7-30 August; The Young Vic, London, 19 September-10 October.
The List, August 2026
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