EDITORIAL: 6 Pieces of Scottish New Writing to Catch at Dundee Fringe 2025

Craving some New Writing magic at one of the UK’s most exciting and innovative grassroots festivals? Dundee Fringe have you covered – taking place in the heart of Scotland’s North East, Dundee Fringe is proving year-on-year that Edinburgh needn’t be the last UK Fringe in your calendar, with more than 100 shows headed to the city’s regenerating Keiller Centre in just over a week’s time.

For our first dive into the programme, we picked out six exciting pieces of Scottish New Writing for you to check out amongst a great roster of local shows at the festival.

Do Astronauts Masturbate in Space?

September 15th & 16th, 17:30 (60mins).
Tickets (£10) available through Dundee Fringe Online Box Office.

When they caught this show at this year’s EdFringe, Binge Fringe writer OlI Fuller described Do Astronauts Masturbate in Space? as a “stunning play” in which the relationships came across as “painfully real”. This show follows a dystopian Britain where you need a license to have children, in which a young couple (Briony Martha and Zak Reay-Barry) are put to the test in a story built on “electric dark comedy”.

Note of Concern

September 15th & 16th, 16:30 (60mins).
Tickets (£10) available through Dundee Fringe Online Box Office.

Fast Snail Productions are also transferring their EdFringe comedy show to Dundee this year, following two childhood friends, distant strangers to each other now, find themselves trapped in the classroom of their least favourite teacher at a 10 year high school reunion. With an intriguing set-up exploring nostalgia, hard truths, puberty and friendship, Broadway Baby described the show as “superbly delivered with an air of Orton about it”.

Beastie

September 14th, 11:05 (70mins).
Tickets (£10) available through Dundee Fringe Online Box Office.

Scottish folk ensemble Flagstone Theatre are inviting us to step onto the mist-shrouded banks of Loch Mòrar, where myths linger and monsters may not be what they seem. Playwright and Director Izzy Gray recently described the show to Binge Fringe as “part Highland ghost story, part fever dream”, following a hermit, myth, and reluctant internet star whose life is turned upside down— as his quiet life is upended by a viral documentary.

Nick It For Munich

September 13th & 14th, 14:20 (60mins).
Tickets (£10) available through Dundee Fringe Online Box Office.

Aric Hanscomb-Ryrie’s one-person ode to the Tartan Army, the beloved fans of Scotland’s national football team who gained acclaim for their fanaticism, friendliness and long-suffering optimism at the recent Euros 2024 held in Munich. The show follows Jamie, armed with nothing but a Scotland top, fighting to get to the game in Germany. No ticket, no plan, and everything to prove, The Real Chrisparkle said of the show’s EdFringe 2025 run – “an escapist and engrossing production that’s great fun.”

Lunchbox

September 13th & 14th, 19:30 (60mins).
Tickets (£10) available through Dundee Fringe Online Box Office.

Returning to Dundee Fringe for the final instalment of her trilogy tracing her youth growing up as a Scottish-Pakistani girl in Glasgow, Lubna Kerr’s Lunchbox this time was co-written with her son, Ihsan Kerr. Kerr plays both a fictionalised version of her younger self and another character, Stephen, and aims to examine the impact of bullying through the eyes of these two young people as directly influenced by their environments and upbringing.

Bothy Tales

September 16th & 17th, 17:20 (50mins).
Tickets (£10) available through Dundee Fringe Online Box Office.

We’re back in the Highlands again for this next show, which sees author and public speaker John D. Burns lean on his forty year past amongst the mountains, trees and Lochs of the North. The show is an adaptation of John’s book that details time spent in bothies, finding comedy and adventures in wild places, John aims to take his audience on a journey over time and into the hills in a world where all you have is your rucksack, a pair of boots and a handful of dreams.