This year’s Buxton Fringe performers have been looking both to the future and the past whilst some shows seem absolutely timeless! Read extracts from some of their press releases below.
For venues, times, ticketing and further information about all our Fringe shows, see our What's On listings here. If you are performing at Buxton Fringe and would like us to feature your press release, please get in touch via the marketing officer!
Dave Bibby needs to get Back to the Future!
Dave Bibby: Hasta la Vista… Bibby!
Dave Bibby is trapped in his latest comedy show and needs to get Back to the Future! On July 10th (8.30pm) and July 11th (10.15pm) at Underground at the Working Men's Club comes a brand-new show from the winner of the prestigious Amused Moose Edinburgh Comedy Award ‘Most Fun Show 2023’.
The question at its heart: would you go back in time and tell your childhood self that you are different?
Complimented by a show packed with friendly audience interaction, each show is unique with audience members providing sound effects, delivering classic lines and driving a DeLorean!
This show celebrates the richness of neurodiverse thinking and live performance, incorporating audience participation in ways that can only be achieved on stage, making each performance one-of-a-kind. A celebration of the spontaneity and creativity that Buxton Fringe has pioneered.
A hilarious hour of songs, sketches and [AHEM] multi award-winning stand-up.
Described by Broadway World as ‘Everything a fringe show should be’. *****
The Worst Record Covers in the World!
A dreadful collection of the world’s most awful record covers is coming to Buxton Festival Fringe from July 9th till 27th 2025.
The hilariously bad LP covers have entertained fans at music festivals, galleries and museums and on Instagram since quirky collector Steve Goldman first shared his collection in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire in 2021.
Since then the exhibition has featured on BBC’s Have I Got News For You, BBC Radio 4’s Front Row, BBC Breakfast, The Guardian, Metro , the Sun and the “i” newspaper. It was recently praised by renowned BBC Radio DJ Mark Radcliffe who visited the exhibition in Warrington in November 2024.
Buxton will see the first ever Worst Record Covers Trail of Travesties as six venues in the town centre will host a sample of covers from the full collection. To see all the covers in Buxton fans will giggle their way through Scriveners Bookshop, The Crescent Heritage Experience, Book Folk, The Pump Room, Beer and Bean Cafe and Coffee #1.
Steve Goldman , a computer programmer from Huddersfield, explained how his collection started:
“About 40 years ago I bought an album called Roadstar Peter Rabbit because it had such a strange album cover. I picked it up simply because it had such an extraordinarily bad cover – rabbits picked out of a hat, with the band's awkward faces amateurishly superimposed. Subsequently I lost it and had never been able to find another copy. Someone told me about Discogs.com, a website where you can pick up old and obscure vinyl records. To my delight I found it there. I searched for a couple of other albums I knew of and I was off…”
Steve, who had a stroke in 2020, aged 53, asks visitors to the free exhibition to make a donation to Different Strokes, a charity that supports young stroke survivors.
“In showcasing the cheapest and yet most sincere sleeves they can find, Goldman and Robinson are defining an as yet uncategorised new substrata of folk art.”
Stewart Lee, 41st best stand-up comedian writing in the foreword to the book of the exhibition “The Art of the Bizarre Vinyl Sleeve.”
”An unmissable exhibition of the world’s worst album covers”
BBC Radio DJ Mark Radcliffe, BBC 6 Saturday November 16th 2024 Radcliffe and Maconie.
Death of the Author
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| Peter Sleigh plays the author |
GAP Theatre will be performing their new play, Death of the Author, in The Peveril Room at The Palace Hotel, on July 11th, 18th and 19th at 7.30pm.
In need of publicity, a failed writer fakes his own disappearance, but he can’t do it alone. Plenty of twists and turns in this debut thriller by local writer, Peter Sleigh.
Inspired by the essay by Roland Barthes, The Death of the Author, in which the reader’s interpretation of the piece is more important than the author’s intention. Sleigh takes the idea to new levels in this world premiere.
Destination: ‘Old Hag’
A tale of life backstage before going on stage. Told by witches. With music. The performance takes place on July 19th at 2.30pm the United Reformed Church.
Written by Samantha Houston with Bridget Hardy and Penny Rossano, and starring Bridget Hardy, Penny Rossano and Samantha Houston, this play with music is (possibly) the world’s first Sit-Op-Com - or ‘Situation Operatic Comedy’!
Set in a theatre broom cupboard, next to the building’s only toilet, the three ‘Ladies of the Chorus’ are getting ready for opening night of a small-scale adaptation of Verdi’s Macbetto. Opera-wise, these women have seen and done most things ... but have they achieved their career dreams? And do people even notice the work they do ‘upstage’? This story draws on the ladies’ 20+ years in the world of opera, so join them as they chart their ups and downs over one-act with humour, heart, and a sprinkling of live opera singing.
Bridget Hardy, Penny Rossano and Samantha Houston have enjoyed many years on stage for opera companies in the UK and abroad - from English National Opera and English Touring Opera to Welsh National Opera, Théâtre de la Monnaie and Carl Rosa - and are now here to share their story.
"A clever show that breaks down barriers to opera as an art form.” Backstage Bristol
Hitchcock’s Silent Film Blackmail with Live Music
An evening of suspense and drama, Hitchcock style…
Step back into the 1920s and experience the magic of cinema as it used to be with 2024 Film Award winners Brief Encounter Duo. http://briefencounterduosilentfilms.co.uk/
Their newest show is Alfred Hitchcock’s last silent film ‘Blackmail’ accompanied with live music from the era played on a variety of instruments. Expect to hear at least one that you may not have heard before…
Also known as ‘A Scotland Yard Romance’, the film was released in 1929. Hitchcock displays all his usual trademarks of deceit, guilt, suspense and thrills. Keep an eye out for his very short cameo appearance!
The event takes place on July 17th and 18th at 7.30pm in the Lee Wood Hotel (Pendennis 1).
800 Years and Counting
For its eagerly-awaited spoken word show at this year’s Buxton Fringe, Chapel Arts Creative Writing Group is delving into the fascinating story of its home town, Chapel-en-le-Frith in the High Peak.
2025 sees the 800th anniversary of St Thomas Becket Church and of Chapel-en-le-Frith. The town’s long history reveals why it is known as “the capital of the Peak” and why the Frith (meaning forest) was so important to it.
The thriving Chapel Arts Creative Writing Group, which includes award-winning published writers, will be presenting two shows entitled “800 Years and Counting”: an evening performance on July 10th at 7.30pm and a matinee on July 13th at 2pm. The two shows will comprise poetry, mini-plays and even some music - all with different slants on this year’s fascinating local theme.
Led by author Mark Henderson, the group is open to all. A booklet of writings from the show will be on sale at the Fringe events, with profits in aid of local charity Little Cherubs. The group has had its monologues performed by Glossop’s Partington Players, and three writers from the group took the top three places in Strajanka Productions’ open competition at last year’s Fringe, The Monologue Project 2024.
Says Mark: ”It’s been a privilege to work with this talented group of writers over the past several years. This year, it’s particularly gratifying to contribute to the celebrations surrounding Chapel-en-le-Frith’s eight hundredth anniversary”.
The Beauty of Being Herd
Original smash-hit, The Beauty of Being Herd has been hitting the road this year for
its first UK Tour.
The surreal brainchild of Ruth Berkoff, graduate of world famous
clown school, Ecole Philippe Gaulier, The Beauty of Being Herd is taking the UK by
storm following its runner up awards for ‘Best New Show’ at Brighton Fringe, and
‘Best Newcomer’ and ‘Best New Writing’ at Manchester Fringe. It has sold-out shows at
Brighton Fringe, Camden People’s Theatre and Glasgow Comedy Festival.
Now it will be at Buxton Fringe on July 11th at 2.30pm and July 12th at 5.30pm at Underground at Spring Gardens.
This playful, tender rollercoaster of a show follows Hannah at her BIG GOODBYE
PARTY and features clowning, songs and heart. The funny and moving story will
resonate with many, through its exploration of the struggle to fit in. Hannah has
always followed the rules and has a longing to figure out how to fit in, but human life
simply isn’t working for her. Accompanied by original songs, clowning and a
generous sprinkling of facts about sheep, Hannah decides to say goodbye to life as
she knows it, and makes peace with the fact that she is going to live as a sheep.
Ruth Berkoff comments, The Beauty of Being Herd shines a light on social anxiety,
isolation, mental health, neurodiversity and consent, but in an unexpectedly fun and
irreverent way. I love sharing sheep facts, frolicking with the audience and discussing
loneliness. All with knickers on my head.
A beautifully tender piece on belonging, loneliness, and finding your tribe - Reviews
Buxton Fringe
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