Starburst has been covering the Greater Manchester Fringe since way back in 2012 with Robots of Death. The festival, though small, has gone from strength to strength over the years, thanks to amazing creativity that can be found in Manchester. The festival runs throughout the month of July. Let’s take a look at five shows STARBURST readers are sure to enjoy.
One Man Poe: The Tell-Tale Heart and The Pit and the Pendulum
Stephen Smith has taken his brilliant one-man show around the world. We reviewed it back in 2024 and enjoyed the energy and atmosphere that this performer brings to Poe’s classic horror stories. Well worth your time. This show can also be found at the Hollywood Fringe and Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Mitch Benn: The Lehrer Effect
Comedy Legend and Fringe Veteran Mitch Benn returns, this time with a show that honours and homages the incredible Tom Lehrer. Mitch looks at Lehrer’s incredible body of iconic songs and honours them with some of his (also quite funny) tunes. Lehrer recently placed his entire catalogue in the public domain, so expect the odd Mitch Benn-ified cover of a Lehrer classic. This show can also be found at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Foxdog Studios: Robo Bingo 2.0
The Foxdog Studios team have been doing multi-media theatre in a brilliantly funny way for years, and their bespoke wifi-based robo-nonsense is unique, clever and very funny. If you’ve not seen this show, check it out. This show can also be found at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
The Invocation
Comedy is hard. Improv is hard. Horror is very tricky to do well. Luckily, Wigan-based group Casino Improv (probably) know what they’re doing. The Invocation is an anthology of improvised comedy horror skits inspired by the likes of The Substance, Midsommar and the works of Stephen King.
The Digital Prometheus
A locked room murder mystery where the mind of the murder victim is trapped in a computer? Sounds like a brilliant set-up for a thrilling drama to us.
If you really want to, you can check out our previous coverage of the Greater Manchester Fringe for
2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023 & 2024. You may even want to check out our picks for 2025 for other parts of the world, such as New York, Hollywood, Buxton and Brighton.
You can find out more about the Greater Manchester Fringe here.
