I need a bit of cheering up this week. It’s so hot I can hardly focus, my local supermarket is all out of ice lollies and my homemade solar eclipse glasses showed little more than a few cornflake crumbs. So if I could be beamed up to Edinburgh Fringe for the world-famous comedy festival, I’d be gone in a heartbeat. And I’d be glad to have our guide to the 11 best shows of 2026 to steer me.

As a former nerdy child who spent my school lunch breaks gossiping with the dinner ladies, I’m particularly intrigued by Lady Bolognese: Class War. Dinner ladies Barbara and Veronica (played by comedy duo Tanika Lay-Meachen and Matt Straker) serve up “a scrumptious blend of greasy friendship and anarchic delight”. The show notes describe it as Thelma & Louise meets George’s Marvellous Medicine meets a big pile of offal. It sounds every bit as bonkers as a Fringe show ought to be.

Our festival reviewer (a comedy expert at the University of Edinburgh) also recommends How to Art from New Zealand’s Ratbags Theatre, in which two bananas wake up duct-taped to the wall of an art gallery.

If you happen to find a spare moment in Edinburgh, then we suggest you try and see Catherine Opie: To Be Seen at the Royal Scottish........

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