Acclaimed Edinburgh Fringe shows head to Rugby

The Macready Fringe is a selection of critically acclaimed shows straight from Scotland's biggest arts festival.

It begins on Thursday July 24 with the family show Tales From The Lighthouse. Upon a distant shore, a lonely lighthouse keeper has grown fearful of the sea and its wild and stormy nature. But when a mysterious stranger appears with songs of the sea’s magic and power, the keeper is forced to confront his fears and slowly rediscover the beauty of the ocean that surrounds him. Featuring storytelling, traditional music, original songs and puppetry, it aims to be a treat for fans of myths, magic, music and folklore.

One Man Poe promises “a marathon of the macabre” on Friday July 25. Using Edgar Allan Poe’s original text from the 1840s, award-winning storyteller Stephen Smith faithfully brings to life two of the most terrifying examples of the gothic genre from the pioneering ‘Godfather of Gothic Horror’. In The Tell-Tale Heart, a madman tries his hardest to convince everyone of his sanity, while explaining the meticulous details of a murder he committed. Then, in The Pit and the Pendulum, a prisoner tries to escape the various torture devices of the Spanish Inquisition.

Bonding, on Saturday July 26, is Cyril Blake’s sell-out hit from the Edinburgh Fringe exploring the legend and legacy of Bond – and what it all means to men trying to find their way through life and love. The show takes audiences on a journey through Bond's cinematic canon, celebrating each actor who has played the spy, and seeking to answer the question on every fan's lips: who will be the next 007?

The Odyssey, on Monday July 28, is a musical adaptation of the ancient Greek epic to be enjoyed by all the family. Returning after its successful 2023 tour, the adaptation is full of monsters and gods, interweaving music and modern dialogue with Alexander Pope's poetic translation. Aiming to be classic yet accessible,the adaptation touches on many of the story’s universal themes, in particular loss, identity, like-mindedness and homecoming.

Solo play Dickens' Theatrical Friend tells the compelling story of the great Victorian actor-manager, Macready - the man after whom the theatre is named after and to whom Charles Dickens dedicated his novel Nicholas Nickleby. The remarkable true tale tells of the joy, graft and tribulations of a life lived in theatre, and takes to the stage on Tuesday July 29.

Finally, 8-bit Dream sees eight teenagers go back in time to an analogue age when telephones had wires and television was not so demanding, in a play about growing up which asks about what it means to be human. It will be performed on July 30.

Visit macreadytheatre.co.uk to book or for more information.