Summerhall Arts Completes 2026 Festival Lineup with Final 30 Shows

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Shaparak Khorsandi, Hannah Maxwell & Francesca Moody Productions among Edinburgh highlights

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Summerhall Arts has announced the final 30 shows of the 2026 instalment of its festival programme and the news that the UK's first purpose-built theatre sauna will occupy Summerhall's back courtyard this August.

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Adding to the 42 shows already announced , from companies including Xhloe and Natasha, Adam Riches, YESYESNONO, Creepy Boys, Salty Brine, Lightning Rod Special , and Wonder Fools; Summerhall Arts' third programme announcement continues to exemplify bold, diverse and intersectional work of the highest quality. 50% of these shows are from International Artists and companies, and Sauna Theatre will bring some of the world's greatest Aufguss (an immersive experience using heat, essential oils, towel work and storytelling) artists to perform at Summerhall throughout August.

Tom Forster, Programmer & Producer at Summerhall Arts, commented: “It's an immense privilege to present Summerhall Arts' second festival programme in full. 2026 runs from drag kings to ballet, opera to satire, ceilidh to Aufguss. It cuts across class, identity, conflict, memory, care, and the digital age. Bold artists, urgent ideas — asking us to sit and sweat it out.”

Summerhall Arts has announced new collaboration with director James Grieve and designer Lucy Osborne , who previously designed and launched Paines Plough's famous Roundabout theatre - a mainstay at Summerhall for so many years - who this year present the first project of their new company, Sauna Sessions Arts Club.

Occupying Summerhall's back courtyard will be the UK's largest sauna and the first to be purpose built to Showcase Theatre , art and culture. Literally the hottest new venue on the Fringe, Sauna Theatre will bring together an ambitious programme of Aufguss, theatre, spoken word, literature and music; all with the soothing heat of the sauna.

The 80-seat Sauna Theatre will host a diverse programme catering to both sauna regulars and culture lovers: ranging from morning raves to mysterious stories of ancient Scotland, the return of Nick Cassenbaum's acclaimed Schvitz-based show, Bubble Schmeisis (Summerhall, 2016), to Virginia Woolf reimaginings. The sauna environment increases endorphins, relaxes muscles and encourages blood flow - all helping to heighten audiences' senses and creating an immersive experience, allowing audiences to focus fully on art without distraction.

Sam Gough, CEO of Summerhall Arts, commented: "We couldn't be more excited to be bringing this ambitious Aufguss project here. It is a brilliant, brave and fun programme of work delivered in the most beautiful and innovative way and could not be more Summerhall Arts! This collaboration came about through our shared love for bold ideas and groundbreaking approaches to the arts, housed within one of Edinburgh's most innovative and experimental venues. What better way to develop our space, in our second year of reimagining everything we do here. Where is my towel?"

James Grieve , Co-Creator of Sauna Theatre, added: “It is thrilling to be launching this new pop-up space on the very same spot we launched Roundabout in 2014 at a venue and festival that means so much to us. We're so excited to welcome Edinburgh audiences to relax, revive and be inspired in Sauna Theatre at Summerhall Arts.”

This year, the programme includes a work in progress of a new play written and performed by acclaimed comedian and author, Shaparak Khorsandi. Based on her best-selling novel, Nina's Not Okay, Kismet (قسمت) is about the true life experiences of her Iranian family, scattered around the globe after the 1979 Iranian Revolution - and features original live music by Jean Delkhaste, aka Smiling Beth.

Multi-award-winning storyteller Hannah Maxwell returns to Summerhall after acclaimed turns with Nan, Me and Barbara Pravi in 2025. With dramaturgy by Ursula Martinez and Rachel Mars, Hannah premieres Turn Your f-ing Phones Off - a timely, autobiographical, and interactive work about digital toxification and mis/disinformation.

And the producer of Fleabag and Baby Reindeer, Francesca Moody Productions , teams up with Global Creatures (Moulin Rouge! The Musical) to present ROLEPLAY - a new, NSFW one woman show from actress, comic and podcaster, Hannah Reilly (The Deb). Paige Rattray (Fangirls) directs this red-hot interrogation of modern sex, womanhood and the commodification of feminism in the age of the personal brand.

Chaplin-esque legend of the Fringe, Thaddeus McWhinnie Phillips (Zoo Motel; 17 Border Crossings) returns to Edinburgh with a new theatrical journey into the realm of micro-cinema, classic magic, and object puppetry. ArounD the WorlD in 80 ToyS is a haunting and touching homage to the movies inspired by the world's first film director, Georges Méliès.

Award-winning theatre company theatregoose returns to Summerhall with a fourth show in a row written and directed by Emma Howlett (The Stage's Fringe Five 2025), after consecutive sell-out hits Aether, Sisters Three, and Her Green Hell. Premiering this year, THE PLOT is a new play set around the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, exploring rebellion, reinvention, and the power of a great story.

Summerhall Arts Surgeries returns this Fringe with 2 showcases providing financial support to 8 artists or companies and the opportunity to showcase their unfinished work to peers, producers and industry. Building on the spirit of experimentation that defines Summerhall Arts, the Surgeries provide a safe, collaborative environment to test ideas, exchange feedback, and discover new possibilities for their work. Open to all forms of live performance, this is the fourth year of the Surgeries, which have now expanded to the Spring as well and have so far supported 40 companies to present work to almost 8000 audience members.

Also in keeping with Summerhall Arts' commitment to keeping creative juices flowing, as well as maintaining good mental and physical health throughout August, Summerhall Yoga will return for the duration of this year's festival. Our resident Yogi, Olga, will give morning yoga classes, which are free for our staff and artists, and bookable for everyone else.

House of Oz will present four shows in the programme this year. Co-presented by The Sonicrats and the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Concerts of the Future is a cutting-edge participatory VR music experience that gives audiences of all musical capabilities the chance to perform Beethoven's iconic Symphony No. 7 with one of Australia's premier orchestras.

Joel Bray Dance presents the UK premiere of acclaimed Aboriginal choreographer Joel Bray’s show, DADDY - a seductive, provocative, and candy-coloured interrogation of colonialism. Theatre Republic presents Emily Steel’s award-winning semi-autobiographical play, How Not To Make It In America - a heartbreakingly funny show about chasing your dreams, the U.S. in the aftermath of 9/11, and which sees one man play twenty-eight different characters.

Acclaimed contemporary dance-theatre company The Farm premiere a powerful, raw and emotional work about two siblings, one of whom has Down’s syndrome. Expressed through dance, theatre and storytelling, Glass Child highlights how their lives and connection are affected by the perceptions of others.

Outwith House of Oz, the Australian contingent continues. Sophie Smyth brings her award-nominated autism and ADHD powered one-woman odyssey of sub, sea, and self: The subplot: A hyperfixation on the Titan submersible. And, winner of this year’s Adelaide Fringe Edinburgh Touring Award: South Australian theatre company The CRAM Collective present their acclaimed exploration of grief and lasagne, Meteors, for its UK premiere.

Another big hit in Australia and the winner of the overall Best Theatre and Physical Theatre award in Adelaide, acclaimed comedian Kirsty Mann returns to Summerhall after a sold-out work in progress run last year. Produced by Impatient Productions, she presents the UK premiere of her award winning show, CORPSE - a real-life ghost story with a difference.

Moving to the theme of endurance, from a producing team of Global Creative , Grace Dickson Productions and Nic Doodson Productions - behind a combination of musical (SIX; The Choir of Man) and Fringe hits (Playfight; Lady Killer), comes the world premiere of The Distance. Part play, part extreme workout, this is a sweat-drenched exploration of ambition, identity and letting go from former GB athlete and Archers star, BEN NORRIS .

Summerhall Arts will welcome Siofra Dromgoole’s brand new play, Women of Will, based on the seminal work by actress, director and founder of Shakespeare & Company Tina Packer . Presented by Women of Will Productions, Paul-Lou Lemieux, in association with Soho Theatre, this new pub-based celebration of Shakespeare’s heroines stars Ella Louden, who was directed by Tina Packer in productions of Titus Andronicus and Cymbeline, and Nigel Gore who starred in the original adaptation.

If audiences still prefer their saunas imagined, they can join the inhabitants of Peckham Pulse Leisure Centre as they cook themselves into a frenzy, with Thermodrama. Presented by emerging theatre company Lovecock Productions, Coco Cottam’s new comic-tragic play tackles the toxicity of wellness culture and how the cult of self-improvement affects society’s most vulnerable.

More Scottish work joins the likes of Autopsy Award winner Althea Young, including BULL / FIGHT - an exciting co-production from emerging Edinburgh-based theatre collective Mythography and Stirling’s Macrobert Arts Centre, about the death and legacy of poet and playwright Federica García Lorca, set during the Spanish Civil War.

Acclaimed Glasgow-based artist, performer, and Instagram reel-based arts sector agitator, Craig Manson presents Bunny! - a darkly comic take on the ‘critically acclaimed solo show’ that fuses live art, cabaret and musical theatre to tell the story of aspiring theatre starlet and serial killer, Bunny. And, new Scottish theatre company Trolley Problem (Mistero Buffalo - The Citz, 2026) premiere Nesting - an experimental, multidisciplinary and magical realist performance that explores assisted dying, neurodegenerative illness and the ethics of care.

This year, independent theatre company withintheatre, who cast their theatre ire at authoritarian regimes and had critically acclaimed turns with 1984 (2024) and Julia. 1984 (2025), presents Boogie on the Bones. Based on the novel by acclaimed Russian screenwriter Yurii Korotkov, this musical political play, set in Soviet-era Moscow, explores how youth cultures resist repression and conformity through jazz, dance, and underground culture. And, acclaimed comedian Derek Mitchell follows his sell-out show Goblin (2025) with a new work in progress performance.

Moving from political history to sexual and gender politics, Emmeline Hartley and Jack Mullings premiere We Had Fun, directed by Olivier and Tony awards-nominated Carrie-Anne Ingrouille (SIX: The Musical) - an un-romantic dark comedy and ‘fascinating exploration’ (Daniel Finkelstein, The Times) of the greyest areas of consent and sexual politics.

Magalie Rouillard-Bazinet presents a touching and humorous solo show about a young woman who loses her org*sm and herself: Homecumming explores taboos surrounding female sexuality and a wider conversation about mental health, shame, and self-worth. And, Katie Hurley an

_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/scotland/article/Summerhall-Arts-Reveals-Final-30-Shows-Of-2026-Festival-Programme-20260506)._