07-08-2025
Dublin Fringe Festival returns with a bang - 10 must-see shows
Bee Sparks, the new Festival Director at Dublin Fringe Festival, selects 10 shows to catch at this year's DFF, which runs city-wide from September 6th – 21st.
Full of bold nights out, big ideas and belly laughs, the 2025 Dublin Fringe Festival programme highlights joy, community, brazen truths and blazing dance floors, with performances created by artists who showcase excellence, experimentation and dedication.
There are experiences spread across the city map, packages in the post that ask you to reimagine your home and tasting menus curated from Irish biodiversity, alongside all your Fringe favourite shows that stay with you long after the curtain falls.
Here is your Top 10 to help kick-start your 2025 Dublin Fringe diary; whether you're a first-timer or seasoned pro, you don't want to miss it!
1/ THE REVENGER'S TRAGEDY by +353 and Kevin Keogh, is a co-presentation by the Abbey Theatre and Dublin Fringe Festival. Performed with a live orchestra, this retelling of a theatrical classic engages with black identity and drill music culture. Come experience this modern encounter with Jacobean verse and one of Ireland's most prominent underground subcultures.
2/ AM I THE A**HOLE from Dafe Orugbo and Lisa Nally: join a live interactive courtroom drama like you've never seen before and sign up to be a member of a jury - this satirical, comedic and experimental show about social politics turns the theatre-going experience into a game of cunning and manipulation.
3/ BIG from Alison Spittle - In this brand new comedy show, Alison confronts misogyny, sexuality, classism, death and M&Ms in a hilarious and often angry show about the change that the last year of her life has imposed upon her and about her recent weight-loss and health journey. This should go to the top of your Fringe bucket list.
4/ CHANGE by Croí Glan is a new dance show from the integrated dance company, speaking to disability, environmental change and immigration. This ground-breaking performance weaves a powerful call to climate action through movement, music, and diverse bodies in motion.
5/ CLASH AT THE QUAYS! II: LOKOMANIA: Join some of Ireland's finest musicians; Ahmed, With Love, Sloucho, VaticanJail, Julia Louise Knifefist, Lil Skag, Curtisy and Kibo, as they take to the ring to settle some scores. Expect musical rivalries, wrestling blood-feuds, and suplex-level silliness as live music collides with the wacky world of professional wrestling.
6/ GOOD WITH FACES by Oisin Kearney is a riveting new play from the critically acclaimed theatre-maker; it's a contemporary exploration of families, abuse and what it means to care.
7/ ITCH by Christopher McAuley is an aerial work exploring Chris's experiences as a young man growing up in post-Troubles Belfast with chronic eczema as a queer Catholic person.
8/ OCTOPUS CHILDREN by FELISPEAKS: Feli returns to Dublin Fringe with a new theatre show exploring their experience growing up Black and Irish. Created with theatre mavericks, THISISPOPBABY, there will be amazing music, spoken word woven throughout. This work speaks to conversations of a contemporary Ireland.
9/ PEA DINNEEN: RAISING HER VOICE: Exploring contemporary Irish womanhood, through the journey of a trans woman, join niche cabaret legend Pea Dinneen and her fabulous band for this world premiere as she sings her way through a powerful story about herself, her country and her voice.
10/ THE FUTURE IS EGG: superstars in cabaret, EGG, welcome us to the year 3000, where the future of Ireland is EGG — a dazzling DIY cabaret spectacular for the queers of tomorrow, today! We're looking ahead to a future worth celebrating, in all its eggy, gooey, filthy, gorgeous glory. With performances from the fiercest cabaret stars the galaxy has to offer!
