EdinburghGuide.com

How's your Festival going? EdinburghGuide.com's reviews team has been busy posting new Fringe reviews daily and will be throughout August. You can find our reviews archive going all the way back to 2008.

Here's one from this year's Fringe that our reviewer rated 5/5: the site-specific "Mayflies" by Scotttish theatre company Grid Iron.

Two men reflect on their hedonistic past with the cool, sobering eye of the present.

https://edinburghguide.com/festival/2026/mayflies-browns-of-leith-rear-warehouse-review-22013

Mayflies, Brown’s of Leith (Rear Warehouse), Review The warehouse at Brown’s of Leith ripples with reflections of a swimming pool as two young men re-enact a gunfight from a favourite film before plunging in. As the ripples settle, a middle-aged Jimmy “Noodles” Collins begins, with a slightly professorial air, to explain why he did what he did....

A section of West Princes Street is to remain closed for at least 3 weeks while the front of the Debenhams building is reinforced. The cordon is expected to reduce later this week though.

West Princes Street to Remain Closed During Festival After Debenhams Fire West Princes Street is going to be closed to all vehicles until at least mid-August following a fire at the historic Debenhams building in the early hours of 9th July, City of Edinburgh Counci

If you are in the Bruntsfield area Pianodrome, "the world's first" amphitheatre" made from upcycled pianos has free events at Fringe 2026.

Pianodrome @ St Oswald's Centre The peripatetic upcycling project, the "world's first" amphitheatre made entirely from disused pianos, has found a home at St Oswald's Church (now a community centre). Pianodrome is an in-the-round sculpture, performance venue and community hub featuring free Fringe shows, evening events, hands on w...

In the long run, the Edinburgh Visitor Levy will be good for everyone, residents and visitors alike, says Edinburgh City Council.

Edinburgh's Visitor Levy Is Now In Force Edinburgh’s Visitor Levy, aka “the Tourist Tax”, has come into force today, Friday 24th July.

The Edinburgh International Book Festival has always been a welcoming forum for civil debate, sharing of ideas. This year the Festival is leaning into that, as it proposes, in festival director Jenny Niven's words "how we might change each others' minds, or at least agree to disagree, more agreeably.”

Book Festival 2026: Change Your Mind or “Agree to Disagree, More Agreeably” The Edinburgh International Book Festival has always been a reliable and relaxed place in which to expand one’s mental horizon at festival time.

Ai will not be replacing actors putting on live performance anytime soon, but the implications in the creative process are massive.

The Edinburgh Festivals recently put out a report pondering the big questions around how the festivals should meet AI.

Edinburgh Festivals Publication Ponders Proper Use of AI The impact of AI on Edinburgh’s Festivals and the broader cultural sector, is the focus of a new publication released by Festivals Edinburgh, the body representing Edinburgh’s major festivals.