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Greater Manchester Fringe 2024

Kristy Stott, Theatre Editor

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Greater Manchester Fringe 2024

The Fitzgerald, Manchester HOME Manchester, Manchester The Kings Arms, Chapel Street and other venues...
1-31 July 2024

Always double check opening hours with the venue before making a special visit.

Free
Greater Manchester Fringe Festival 2024
Image courtesy of Amy Webber/ Greater Manchester Fringe Festival.
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This July, Greater Manchester Fringe Festival returns for its 13th year. A huge celebration of theatre and performance in the North, we love that the festival offers a fascinating and diverse programme of performance with ticket prices that won’t break the bank.

A creative hotbed of new work, the festival brings some of the most up-and-coming writers and performers to the region – many to showcase their work ahead of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Springing up in a number of venues across the city, festival-goers will find an eclectic programme of drama, comedy, music, mime, children’s shows, storytelling, visual arts, spoken word and stand-up on offer. Most pleasingly, the festival comes with affordable ticket prices, offering access to a non-traditional theatre-going audience.

Spilling out across Greater Manchester, performances will take place in several different venues including HOME Manchester, Salford Arts Theatre, The Fitzgerald, The Edge, Chorlton, Whitefield Garrick and The King’s Arms.

Faith by Mike Heath at HOME
Faith, a new play by Mike Heath at HOME. Image courtesy of Greater Manchester Fringe.

Highlights of the 2024 festival include Faith, a brand new play by the award-winning writer Mike Heath, telling the story of a gay couple who clash with a devout Catholic mother at their wedding. We’re also championing Red Brick Theatre’s Moult, a darkly comic monologue revealing the inner workings of a person who has escaped the challenges of modern life by living in a commercial waste wheelie bin. In contrast, we’ve also got our eyes on Amy Lever’s Lost Girl – a fresh new show exploring Jewish-Arab heritage, connection and family – that previews in Manchester before heading to Edinburgh Fringe.

Lost Girl by Amy Lever at the King's Arms, Salford
Lost Girl by Amy Lever. Image courtesy of Amy Lever/ Greater Manchester Fringe.

We’re thrilled that Manchester Fringe audiences are the first in line to see brand-new theatre by some of the UK’s sharpest creatives. Furthermore, many of the Fringe’s past productions have gone on to be performed in some of the North’s established theatres, such as the Royal Exchange, Octagon Theatre Bolton and The Lowry.

With a performance for everyone, Greater Manchester Fringe Festival offers a delightful chocolate box of theatre.

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Pillock at Contact
Fringe Theatre in Manchester and the North

Check out our top picks of shows previewing in the North West before heading to Edinburgh Fringe Festival later in the summer.

Where to go near Greater Manchester Fringe 2024

Penistone Hill Country Park
Bradford
Park
Penistone Hill Country Park

As part of Bradford 2025’s UK City of Culture programme, Penistone Hill plays host to outdoor events that celebrate the enduring connection between landscape, identity and creativity.

Threshold is an artist-led project space for sculpture, located in the front garden of a traditional back-to-back house in Burley, Leeds. Exhibitions are open for all to view. Encounter sculpture on your daily walk, or way to work or school.
Leeds
Event venue
Threshold Leeds

Threshold is an artist-led project space for sculpture, located in the front garden of a traditional back-to-back house in Burley, Leeds.

The Engine Room Notice Board
Southport
Event venue
The Engine Room

The Engine Room is a creative community hub in Southport’s Wayfarers Arcade, offering co-working space, cultural events and collaborative opportunities for artists, freelancers and educators.

Leeds
Gallery
The Mill Gallery

The Mill Gallery is an artist-run space in Leeds, supporting emerging artists to develop and showcase their work authentically.

Church congregation at St George's Church in Leeds
Leeds
Place of worship
St George’s Church

St George’s is a lively city centre church in Leeds with three services every Sunday and a midweek programme that includes groups, courses and events. We’re here to help people

Picante
Liverpool
Restaurant
Picante

Picante is a sun-soaked Mexican restaurant at the trailblazing Cains Brewery Village in Liverpool.

Miru Mill
Manchester
Event venue
Miru Mill

Miru Mill is an event space and micro-factory based at Churchgate Mill in Stockport.

Salford
Restaurant
Kallos Cafe & Wine Bar

Kallos is a Greek restaurant and wine bar in Salford, serving up exquisite dishes throughout the day and evening.

Symmetry Room
City Centre
Museum
Museum of Illusions

Museum of Illusions Manchester is part of the global Museum of Illusions Group, the largest and fastest-growing chain of private museums in the world.

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What's on: Comedy

Free Activity at Aviva Studios
Until
ComedyManchester
Free Activity at Aviva Studios

From comedy nights to drop-in family craft sessions, Factory International bring an accessible and inclusive programme of events this spring – the best thing, it’s all free.

Free entry
Until
ComedyManchester
XS Malarkey

Providing award-winning Comedy since 1997, XS Malarkey is a not-for-profit comedy club, hosted every week by Toby Hadoke.

From £3
Until
ComedyManchester
Comedy Balloon

Every Wednesday at Ape & Apple, Manchester’s official underground comedy club, Comedy Balloon’s friendly and warm comedy night takes place.

Free entry
Until
ComedyManchester
The Comedy Vault

Every Monday night upstairs at Fierce Bar, The Comedy Vault hosts an outrageously funny open-mic night. Come and try your hand or just to watch and laugh.

Free entry
Until
ComedyManchester
Creatures of the Night Comedy Club

An insanely committed seven-nights-a-week, Creatures of the Night Comedy Club opens its doors (20.30-22.30 typically, though please check) for evening after evening of side-splitting comedy.

From £5.00

Culture Guides

Hannah Platt 'Playing Out', courtesy of Threshold, photograph by Jules Lister.
Exhibitions in the North

From city-wide art festivals to open-air sculptural installations, we have exhibitions from all around the North, both indoors and out.

Sextile
Music in the North

Gigs are coming in hot this spring – from long-awaited returns to one-off happenings you’ll blink and miss (unless you’re paying attention).

Theatre in Manchester and the North
Theatre in the North

Eclectic as ever. You'll find inventive reworkings, world-class contemporary dance and Greater Manchester's inaugural Improv Festival in our guide.

portrait of Lorsung in a dark shirt with dark hair and dark round glasses
Literature Events in the North

We've got laughs and we've got leftfield on the live literature radar this month. Something for everyone, from poets playing with form to short story writers looking long.

Classical Music in the North

Read our latest highlights from the live classical music offer in Manchester and the North, taking in a number of the region's most cherished orchestral forces and venues.

See all guides