Edinburgh, sometime very soon. Four flatmates try to make do as hearts are broken, climate change disrupts hope of a faraway escape and their dingy flat (literally) falls apart. But someone (or something) has wormed its way into each of their lives. Someone is messing everything up. And only one of them has noticed. Aphrodite Rogue - a comedy about love, uncertain futures, and the importance of trying again, no matter how pointless it may seem.

Drawing as a means of defining the ephemeral, to describe contemplation, in parallel to movement, meditation or prayer will be explored. Using “drawing” as a verb as well as a noun, allows us to explore our personal lives. The course focusses on creativity to fulfil spiritual needs in a divided world.

This is one in a series of five Art and Wellbeing workshops tutored by Janet McKenzie at Summerhall.

Artist / author Janet McKenzie has lived in Scotland for 38 years. She has a multidisciplinary practice and has written extensively on contemporary art; editor Studio International (2000-2013). As an author her books and artist interviews focus on the immediacy of drawing and how one can assert self within the context of loss. As a visual artist she works in wood ash, collage, paint and chainsaw woodcuts. Her images, instinctively conceived, manifest her psychological space and states of mind. Her practice (writing and making) focuses on identity and the way, art can help to facilitate the defining of self in periods of isolation and during periods of bereavement. She continues to merge practice and critique, to explore roles played by women in key transitional situations, out-with conventional art audiences, to address disempowerment, memorialisation and loss.

YESYESNONO (we were promised honey, Nation) return to Summerhall with another prophetic act of storytelling. Written and performed by Sam Ward, it's a hallucinogenic road trip through a world of anomalies. It's about holes appearing in the ground and prices that just go up. It's about cartographers, bubbles, crashes and psychics. It's about trying to understand what's going wrong... and a world that refuses to be understood. Praise for previous work: 'Something really special' ***** (BritishTheatre.com). 'An aerial feat of storytelling' ***** (Scotsman). 'An apocalyptic, strange hour of theatre' ***** (Financial Times).

Join us for a relaxed, small-group visit to Catalyst: Art as Activism, a season of four solo exhibitions exploring art as a form of care, resistance and lived experience.

This session is designed especially for blind and visually impaired visitors, and is also open to anyone who would benefit from a slower, more sensory and conversational approach — including people with sensory sensitivities, neurodivergent or cognitive differences, or anyone who prefers to experience exhibitions at an unhurried pace.

Together we will move gently through the galleries, spending time with fewer works and exploring them in more depth. Selected objects and materials will be available to handle, including tactile ceramic pieces and touch samples that echo the artists’ processes. The session will be gently facilitated and responsive to the group. You’re welcome to contribute as much or as little as you like. Afterwards, we’ll gather for tea, coffee and refreshments — a chance to chat informally and share thoughts.

The methodology employed by Drawing Out, seeks to enable a shift in one’s state of mind, to heal, to create a personal 'toolkit' of preferred materials and methods to support one’s ongoing creative practice.

This is one in a series of five Art and Wellbeing workshops tutored by Janet McKenzie at Summerhall.

Artist / author Janet McKenzie has lived in Scotland for 38 years. She has a multidisciplinary practice and has written extensively on contemporary art; editor Studio International (2000-2013). As an author her books and artist interviews focus on the immediacy of drawing and how one can assert self within the context of loss. As a visual artist she works in wood ash, collage, paint and chainsaw woodcuts. Her images, instinctively conceived, manifest her psychological space and states of mind. Her practice (writing and making) focuses on identity and the way, art can help to facilitate the defining of self in periods of isolation and during periods of bereavement. She continues to merge practice and critique, to explore roles played by women in key transitional situations, out-with conventional art audiences, to address disempowerment, memorialisation and loss.

The world-renowned Edinburgh Ceilidh Club brings you the very best in Scottish ceilidh dancing, featuring Scotland’s top ceilidh bands. Brilliant live music and dancing for everyone, from complete beginners to experienced ceilidh dancers; everyone is welcome. All the bands have a caller who will teach the dances throughout the night so everyone can get involved and have a great time. Come and experience some of Scotland’s finest culture while dancing the night away.

Current Line-Up:

Stereolab | Ty Segall | Model/Actriz | Gwenno | GHOSTWOMAN | The Mystery Lights | Adult DVD | Lael Neale | Dog Race | Makeshift Art Bar | Bleech 9:3 | Floral Image | Roller Disco Death Party | National Playboys | Sunstinger

 Taking place across multiple Edinburgh venues, and with many more acts still to be announced, the festival promises another unforgettable day filled with mind-bending sounds, trippy visuals and a celebration of all things psychedelic.

Early bird tickets SOLD OUT. £49.75 tickets and £40.05 U24s & NHS tickets are on sale now! (Prices inclusive of booking fee).

14+ Event. Under 16’s must be accompanied by an adult. Contains flashing lights. Standing only event. For access bookings please contact the Box Office at boxoffice@summerhallarts.co.uk

Lineup subject to change. Venue capacities are based on a first-come, first-served basis, so customers are advised to arrive early for specific acts.

Take a deep dive into drawing flowers with water-soluble colour, with artist Jules Bradbury.

It’s so good to feel the burst of energy and fresh colour in early Spring –– a delight for our senses. Join us for a laid-back Sunday afternoon, trying out new ways of drawing botanical loveliness.We'll be looking at examples of inspiring work by artists such as Winifred Nicholson and Jim Dine and immersing ourselves in Spring flowers and colour!

Suitable for all levels. All materials, drawing boards and refreshments will be provided.

From the critically acclaimed, award-winning company behind Mass Effect and Champions comes a brand-new performance celebrating imperfection, queer joy and the courage to find your tribe. Good Enough? is a queer, quirky and boisterous physical theatre performance about reclaiming your story and having the courage to be loud, awkward and unapologetically yourself. This is not a show about perfect bodies or polished dancers. It's about the instinct to move, to express and to be seen – especially when language isn't enough.

Come along and have fun getting to grips with the wonders of ink drawing! We will experiment with different tools for working with this exciting medium, including: sticks, brushes, droppers, and dip pens, and will create a collection of drawings of natural objects in the studio, such as plants, shells, and flowers, before working from reference photos to create a Japanese garden drawing using ink and charcoal.

Suitable for beginners, improvers and anyone interested in exploring this spontaneous and versatile medium. Ticket price includes all materials (just bring yourself!) and tea, coffee and biscuits. Please remember that ink is a messy medium which may not come out of clothes so please don’t wear your best outfit!

During this workshop you will be introduced to natural inks, make ink to take home and try out a selection of Kit’s inks. Working on paper and fabric, we will experiment with colour shifts by adding household chemicals and mixing inks.

All welcome and you don’t need to be able to paint or draw as there’s no pressure on the outcome; this is a chance to slow down, connect with nature, and enjoy some alchemy and the process of discovery.

In this lo-fi workshop, you'll learn how to make experimental, abstract images using expired darkroom papers.

Chemigrams lie somewhere between photography and painting. This process involves using light-sensitive paper, photographic chemicals and household items, including oil, masking tape, lemon juice and nail varnish. Phytograms are similar but the images are made from plants, seaweeds and feathers dipped in home made developer. Plant based developers will be used alongside traditional darkroom chemicals to develop your images and we will discuss sustainable darkroom research and practice.

There will be a short break so bring something with you or grab something from the cafe.

Learn the basics of this captivating historical photographic process and experiment with making blue and white prints on paper and fabric. You will be introduced to the process and given instruction on mixing chemicals, coating paper and fabric and exposing prints. You will have time to think about composition and design and to make some prints to take home.

Small class so you will get plenty of help. No experience necessary and no camera needed. Both beginners and those who have worked with the process already will be supported throughout the day. All materials will be provided, but you might want to bring some items to make prints with. e.g. plants, feathers, lace or other items that can be squashed under glass (Kit will bring a selection of things for all to use too). You will be working outdoors for some of the time. Exposure times will depend on the strength of the sun on the day.

Bring lunch or head to the cafe during the lunch break.

A HISSYFIT and Scissor Kick production, written by Becca Robin Dunn and Claire Macallister.

On a sunny afternoon in Vienna, Emma Eckstein went to see a doctor. You won’t have heard of her. But the doctor’s name was Sigmund Freud.

Based on astounding true events, Jackals is a contemporary retelling of the bewildering professional relationship between a young, ambitious woman and her fledgling doctor with a point to prove. In paying our respects to a woman sacrificed at the altar of male genius, Jackals vividly reimagines the most chilling scandal in the history of psychoanalysis.

When the last plane left Kabul, Afghanistan vanished from Ariana’s reach. In LANDSFRAU, the return of the Taliban and the withdrawal of the western troops in 2021 triggers an autofictional reckoning with war, memory and responsibility. Onstage, Ariana dismantles images of Afghanistan and builds her own counter-archive: fragments of family history, imagined pasts, longing and rage. Afghan folk music collides with electronic beats; Attan meets contemporary dance. Through a feminist lens, she confronts the quiet guilt of living safely abroad. Refusing explanation or absolution, this performance becomes a personal act of political resistance.

In this workshop we will work with white gel pens, black fineliners, coloured pencils, watercolour and white gouache paint on grey toned paper to create colourful A4 size landscape paintings. Reference images will be provided, but feel free to bring your own landscape image to work from if you like (an A4 size printout is best), or bring your tablet. (Phone screens are a bit too small work from.)

Suitable for beginners and improvers. Guided tuition from local artist Sheila Chapman.

All materials provided, plus tea/coffee and biscuits.

Join us for a relaxed and creative monoprinting with plants workshop. Discover how to make beautiful, one-of-a-kind prints using leaves and natural textures on paper and fabric. All materials are provided, but feel free to bring a few interesting leaves/plant material to experiment with. Please bring an apron or wear old clothes — the ink has a habit of wandering! Suitable for all skill levels, with plenty of time to explore and experiment.

Puttana is a work that questions the boundary between body and commodity, between desire and power. In a society that normalises consumption, the buying and selling of bodies, follows the same rules as any other market: I pay, therefore I can. A single actress gives voice to five characters, through music and words, to tell an uncomfortable and cruel story. Will you be the one be who casts the first stone?

A contemplative and participatory workshop seeking to explore the ways in which rage and anger manifest in our daily lives, and how we can creatively and therapeutically channel and manage it, asking questions like: What does it mean to be angry? Why do we fear such a powerful part of ourselves? What could our anger fuel if we gave it voice and permission? How might it change our experience of the world if not the world itself?

Hosted and led by writer, director and producer Catriona MacLeod of _and friends, and therapist Phil Shaw from Edinburgh-based practice Room for Therapy.

This is a free ticketed event.

Set against the dramatic backdrop of Devon’s coastline, Sand follows Dylan and Heather as they navigate the complexities of living with dementia. Together, they uncover profound truths about love, memory, and resilience, while coastal erosion symbolises life’s inevitable changes. Created by the acclaimed Kook Ensemble, SAND is a non-verbal circus theatre show that blends acrobatic skill with meticulously crafted storytelling. Through visually striking, emotionally resonant performances, the company brings the experiences of people living with dementia to life, offering audiences a deeply moving experience. A must watch!

Giving form to invisible experiences is achieved through meditation, prayer, music, poetry. Each participant will be given methods and means through experimentation and discussion, to describe and express their inner life. Diary entries will be used to include thoughts and objects in a random, stream of consciousness like style: observations, daily ephemera, recurrent thoughts.

This is one in a series of five Art and Wellbeing workshops tutored by Janet McKenzie at Summerhall.

Artist / author Janet McKenzie has lived in Scotland for 38 years. She has a multidisciplinary practice and has written extensively on contemporary art; editor Studio International (2000-2013). As an author her books and artist interviews focus on the immediacy of drawing and how one can assert self within the context of loss. As a visual artist she works in wood ash, collage, paint and chainsaw woodcuts. Her images, instinctively conceived, manifest her psychological space and states of mind. Her practice (writing and making) focuses on identity and the way, art can help to facilitate the defining of self in periods of isolation and during periods of bereavement. She continues to merge practice and critique, to explore roles played by women in key transitional situations, out-with conventional art audiences, to address disempowerment, memorialisation and loss.

Abstract drawing or mark-making can externalise the physical, psychic and emotional rhythms that we all experience. Music and meditation will be used to create notations to project internal rhythms and dramas onto paper. The process itself is similar to the stream of consciousness writing and drawing, used by surrealist artists to draw out subconscious thoughts and feelings.

This is one in a series of five Art and Wellbeing workshops tutored by Janet McKenzie at Summerhall.

Artist / author Janet McKenzie has lived in Scotland for 38 years. She has a multidisciplinary practice and has written extensively on contemporary art; editor Studio International (2000-2013). As an author her books and artist interviews focus on the immediacy of drawing and how one can assert self within the context of loss. As a visual artist she works in wood ash, collage, paint and chainsaw woodcuts. Her images, instinctively conceived, manifest her psychological space and states of mind. Her practice (writing and making) focuses on identity and the way, art can help to facilitate the defining of self in periods of isolation and during periods of bereavement. She continues to merge practice and critique, to explore roles played by women in key transitional situations, out-with conventional art audiences, to address disempowerment, memorialisation and loss.

Once a month, Imogen, Summerhall Arts' Development and Producing Lead, sets aside a day for one-to-one conversations - either in person at Summerhall or online via Zoom. These 30-minute sessions offer the chance to brainstorm creative projects, discuss funding applications or simply have a bit of a blether. Open to all artists - whether you're developing a new idea, refining a proposal or just looking for some creative guidance.

Summerhall Arts Surgeries returns for a special Spring edition, marking the first standalone iteration of the programme outside of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. After three successful Fringe editions, the Surgeries now expand beyond August to showcase artists year-round - continuing to champion bold, early-stage ideas in a generous, low-pressure environment.

Summerhall Arts Surgeries is an artist development initiative led by Summerhall Arts. Across two evening events, eight Scotland-based artists and collectives will share short excerpts of unfinished, in-progress performance with an audience of peers, public and industry professionals.

Building on Summerhall Arts’ long-standing commitment to experimentation, risk-taking and artist-led development, the Surgeries create space for artists to test ideas, play with form and spark new creative connections across artforms.

The Surgeries offer a behind-the-scenes look into some of the most exciting work currently being developed across theatre, performance, movement, spoken word and interdisciplinary practice. After each event, we encourage audiences to stick around for a drink and an informal chat with the artists.

Double the Teams. Double the Laughs. 100% Unscripted Fun.

Get ready for a high-octane night of improv comedy as TBC Improv UK takes the stage for an unforgettable evening of spontaneous brilliance!

Headlining the show are the pros of The TBC Improv Team, serving up fast-paced scenes, wild characters, and razor-sharp wit that’ll keep you laughing all night. Opening the evening there will be a special guest (shhh, it's a surprise!)—a dynamic troupe bringing fresh energy, fearless play, and boundless creativity to the stage.

Expect bold choices, unpredictable twists, and the kind of joyful chaos only live improv can deliver. It’s a double-header packed with top-tier comedy talent—come for the laughs, stay for the surprises, and leave grinning ear to ear.

Doors at 19:00

Part ceilidh, part storytelling, and a good night out, Tether is a bold new collaboration between Scotland's Wonder Fools and South Korea's Theatre SAN. Spanning 60 years and three generations, the piece weaves folk songs, love letters and war stories into a shared experience of music and memory. Beginning as a joyous communal gathering, it gradually reveals an intimate love story shaped by migration, oppression and time. Playful, powerful and deeply human, Tether invites audiences to collectively dance, laugh, listen and remember – tracing the invisible threads that bind two nations together.

Having only just recovered from our debut, Tierhaus returns to Summerhall, continuing our vision of creating a new kind of club night, in a new kind of club, built by Edinburgh, for Edinburgh.

Inspired by seminal 90s electronic music culture, Tierhaus aims to bring the communal spirit of 90s rave and dance music culture into 2026. Expect soulful, groovey house music rooted in 90s club culture with driving basslines and vocal hooks built for long, ecstatic moments, all in a unique setting at the heart of Edinburgh’s infamous Summerhall arts complex.

Alongside the music, Tierhaus will unfold as a multi-art, immersive, synaesthetic experience shaped by contributions from across the Edinburgh creative scene, featuring visuals, installations, projections and artistic interventions throughout the space. Think of it as a festival in club night format, shaped by Edinburgh’s creative community.

Summerhall’s Dissection Room, a former veterinary anatomy theatre where animals were once examined and studied, now transformed into one of the city’s most striking performance spaces. Now a hub for experimental arts, music and performance, Summerhall has become synonymous with boundary-pushing programming and unconventional venues. This night taps directly into that spirit: a rave rooted in history, culture and space. This is a safe space.

We will not tolerate any form of discrimitation. If you feel uncomfortable or notice an unpleasant situation, do not hesitate to contact our team.

'Storytelling at its best!' (Playbill.com). This highly awarded, internationally toured, inspirational true story is about overcoming obstacles, pursuing passions and the healing power of the arts, and is told with warmth, humour and banjo music! Through donations, including 100% of all artist fees, the show has raised over $1.2 Million Dollars (CAD) as of December 2025 for various charities including cancer organisations, music programmes, community groups and artist funding and development. All proceeds from this Edinburgh Fringe run will benefit Summerhall. Sold-out runs in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

Vibrant Viki’s Messy Art Club is a lively, hands-on creative experience designed especially for children under five who love to explore, play, and get wonderfully messy.

Each session invites little artists into a colourful world where imagination comes first and perfection doesn’t matter, only curiosity, confidence, and fun. Children are encouraged to experiment with texture, colour, and movement through a wide range of sensory art activities. From squishy paint play and bubbly foam creations to glittery collages and nature-inspired crafts, every moment is designed to spark joy and discovery.

Rotating themes each week along with a new storybook that fits theme keep the sessions fresh and engaging, allowing children to build new skills and explore new ideas every time they attend.

Mess is celebrated, creativity is encouraged, and children are free to express themselves in a safe, fun environment.

So come along and let’s get messy!

A Siren Theatre Company and Scissor Kick production, written by Emma Lynne Harley.

Walking on Eggshells is the autobiographical crack at Post Traumatic Stress Disorder you won’t see coming. Britney Spears meets neuroscience, eggs, sci-fi, cabaret and theoretical physics to ask: What does it mean to truly “move on'' after the end of an abusive relationship? And do YOU believe in life after love? Walking on Eggshells is a theatrical celebration of survival and a humorous insight into living and navigating relationships with Complex PTSD.