Assembly Festival (31 July to 26 August 2019) has announced another twenty shows at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe will go on-sale today (Thursday 28 February), including the Assembly Gala Launch – which kicks off the Festival and showcases some of the best acts in this year’s programme.
Comedy highlights for 2019 include festival favourites Ed Byrne, Al Murray and Jason Byrne, who enjoyed sell-out runs in 2018; the feisty and hilarious Cally Beaton (Best of the Fringe 2017) with her show Invisible; and Indian stand-up Anuvab Pal taking on the British Empire in Democracy and Disco Dancing. They join the incredibly funny Stewart Francis, David O’Doherty and Frisky & Mannish who are already on sale.
Theatre highlights this year include the return of New Zealand’s ‘A Slightly Isolated Dog’ with their 2016 production Jekyll and Hyde (Don Juan ***** 2018); Brian Foster Productions’ Myra’s Story – a funny, feisty and at times tragic one-woman show about a middle-aged, homeless Dublin street-drinker (Winner of Best Tragedy Award, United Solo Festival, New York, 2016); and the intrepid HandleBards who are cycling North once more, to perform two of Shakespeare’s finest plays The Tempest and Much Ado About Nothing in Assembly’s two-storey Treehouse in George Square.
Also returning, following successful runs in Edinburgh are the runaway hit of 2017 and 2018 The Choir of Man described as the greatest pub gig you have ever been to; the magnificently funny Baby Wants Candy with their show The Completely Improvised Full Band Musical; the hilarious, and at times super-gory Thrones! The Musical Parody; Oxford’s premier all-male a cappella group Out of the Blue; multi-award winning comedy trio Sleeping Trees; ingenious live cooking from laugh-out-loud stand-up George Egg; and new for 2019, from the creators of the hit Las Vegas show Absinthe, is Atomic Saloon Show presented by Madam Natty Rich and some of the prettiest, sexiest, dumbest, drunkest entertainers and acrobats on earth…
Younger children will be entertained by the return of Fringe favourite Monski Mouse who is bringing Baby Disco Dance Hall and her new show Baby Cabaret to the Fringe; and on 3 August Assembly is delighted to host Kids Do Forth on the Fringe showcasing some of the best names in children’s entertainment, hosted by Bec Hill.
William Burdett-Coutts, Artistic Director of Assembly Festival said: “It’s an absolute pleasure to still work in this industry after 40 years and to have seen the enormous contribution the festival and the arts have made to this city. Year-after-year I am inspired and delighted by the increasing numbers of performers who return, and the new talent we see debut at the Festival. Each of them working tirelessly to be able to perform here and be seen by the world’s media, promoters, and the hundreds and thousands of people who visit Edinburgh to experience the greatest arts festival in the World.”
Bookings can be made at www.assemblyfestival.com
