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This year’s Durham Fringe Festival will take place from Wednesday 26 to Sunday 30 July and it’s set to be a bumper event showcasing student and local performers.

Over 200 shows from 75 different acts will take place across six venues in Durham City as part of Durham Fringe Festival. We’re delighted to be supporting the Festival, working in partnership with the organisers.

Our students take to the stage

Six of our student-led companies from Durham Student Theatre will perform shows alongside visiting troupes across the City. 

 UK A Cappella champions Northern Lights will perform a decade of award-winning vocals, culminating in an on-stage party and plenty of feel-good factor. Collingwood College’s Woodplayers Troupe’s darkly comic Drop Dead puts the 'fun' into funeral, while Sightline Productions' Chance focuses on Aaron, who has been excluded from mainstream school for disruptive behaviour. 

Shellshock! Improvised Comedy Society introduces the riotous Hysterical Artefacts in their 14th Durham Fringe performance, and KEITH. Sketch Comedy's Watch List contains satire and absurdity rolled into a fast-paced show.  

Finally, award-winning comedy sketch troupe Durham Revue promise to bring laughter with completely new material. Having established themselves as one of the most well known student comedy groups in the country and having seen the likes of Ed Gamble, Nish Kumar, Liz Kingsman, Ambika Mod and Stevie Martin pass through their ranks, the group will be performing at The Assembly Rooms Theatre.

All six Durham Student Theatre companies will be heading to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August. 

A Summer of Shakespeare

This year’s Durham Fringe coincides with the Summer of Shakespeare festival, which marks the 400th anniversary of the publication of the First Folio of the complete works of Shakespeare. Together they offer live entertainment crossing the arts and for the benefit of enthralled audiences across Durham throughout the summer. 

For the first time, Durham Fringe will have a venue on Palace Green in the heart of Durham. A stretch tent will be erected in this World Heritage setting, giving shows an evocative setting in amongst the historic buildings, including performances of Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream by the Elysium Theatre Company.

Stephen Cronin, Chair of Durham Fringe Festival commented: “The beauty of Durham Fringe Festival’s collaboration with Elysium Theatre Company and Durham University is that the works of Shakespeare will now be provided in so many different ways. Audiences can enjoy performances of some of his best-known plays in full, as well as modern, personal, and witty interpretations of his works. It’s what a fringe festival should be all about!”

Performances will also take place in our own Assembly Rooms Theatre, close to Palace Green. This traditional theatre will be welcoming new audiences to enjoy refurbished facilities which include improved disabled access and a cosmopolitan bar. 

Full details of the Durham Fringe Festival shows including all Durham student performances can be found on the website. Tickets can be booked online.

For a taster of what this year's Durham Fringe could hold, watch the 2022's highlights below.

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