Guide: Edinburgh Fringe's Best Immersive Shows (2025)
- Immersive Rumours
- 6 days ago
- 7 min read
Updated: 3 hours ago
With nearly 4,000 shows on offer across the month of August, planning a visit to the Scottish capital is a daunting task. Here's our guide to some of the interactive and immersive shows at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2025 that are worth your time.
Images: Katie Edwards/Gameshow Spectacular/Yannick Trapman-O'Brien/Uncle Barry/KISS WITNESS
Spreadsheets at the ready! The line-up for 2025's Edinburgh Fringe is here. With nearly 4,000 shows on offer across hundreds of venues in the Scottish capital, the month-long arts festival is a daunting event to tackle, even for those who have been multiple times. To help out, we've put together a list of our top five recommendations for interactive and immersive shows at this year's Edinburgh Fringe.
While this is by no means an exhaustive list, it's a solid jumping-off point for anyone looking to see what interactive and immersive work is being performed at the Fringe this summer. Expect more shows to be added as we get closer to August.
Undersigned by Yannick Trapman-O'Brien
Photo: Unsigned/ Yannick Trapman-O'Brien
Yannick Trapman-O'Brien's interactive psychological thriller Undersigned has become a cult hit in the United States over the last few years, with numerous sold-out engagements and a long waiting list. Making its international debut this summer with appointments in London, Amsterdam, and at the Edinburgh Fringe, Undersigned is a deeply personal experience for one blindfolded audience member and is shaped entirely by the participant's input.
Topics of discussion on the table in Undersigned may include money, power, sex, pleasure, violence, blood, horror and the occult, with a commitment that everything discussed in the show will never be repeated once it concludes. Every participant is only ever allowed to experience Undersigned once.
Our friends at NoProscenium have previously described Undersigned as "thrilling in every sense of the word", and six months on from their appointment, Todd Martens from the Los Angeles Times commented, "..there are moments I’ll catch myself thinking about the show and the choice I was presented with".
Fans of last year's The Manikins: a work in progress by Deadweight Theatre, which shared a bill with Undersigned on the immersive programme at the 2025 Overlook Film Festival in New Orleans, will know how impactful an extended one-on-one experience can be, and how important it is to go into some experiences blind, so the less you know going into Undersigned, the better.
An invocation, a blindfold and a pointed discussion. This deeply personal, psychological thriller for one offers infinite possibilities and sharp choices. Repeat visitors are forbidden, and nothing said here ever leaves. As such, in place of summary, Management offers you a deal: after your appointment, you can reclaim a portion of your ticket price – or add what the experience was worth to you. Management bets we will exceed your estimation. After three years of sold-out runs and critical acclaim (LA Times, No Proscenium), we make our international debut with limited engagement festival appointments. Opportunity waits; come take it.
📍 Cowgate at Underbelly (Venue 61) 💰 From £22.00
🕒 31st July - 12th August 2025, Various times, 60 minutes 🎟️ Book via edfringe.com
ARCADE by DARKFIELD
Photo: Katie Edwards
Fringe mainstay DARKFIELD return to Edinburgh this August with a collection of audio-based immersive experiences. While they're best known for creating linear 360-degree sound experiences delivered through headphones such as FLIGHT, COMA and SÉANCE - which all use binaural audio and complete darkness to immerse guests - the company's latest show, ARCADE, offers up a more interactive experience with its choose-your-own adventure design.
Each audience member stands in front of an arcade machine in total darkness and takes control of Milk, an amnesic avatar dropped into the middle of an ongoing war between the North Block and South Block. By answering 'Yes' or 'No' when prompted, the branching narrative that makes up ARCADE all but guarantees everyone will have a different experience, and with Milk trying to navigate a war-torn world where violence is commonplace, there's some surprisingly dark subject matter to explore.
Earlier this year, we reviewed ARCADE as part of DARKFIELD's Shoreditch Town Hall residency, and described it as a "unique and unsettling half-hour in a dystopian nightmare".
DARKFIELD presents ARCADE: an interactive narrative that uses the nostalgic aesthetic of 1980's video games to explore the evolving relationship between players and avatars. Over 30 minutes in a completely dark shipping container, this choose-your-own-path experience will fully immerse the players using 360-degree binaural sound, sensory effects and a bespoke DARKFIELD ARCADE machine for each player. Players will be asked existential questions about free will and consciousness in a world where some may win and some may lose...
📍 Potterrow Plaza - Container 1 at Pleasance Dome (Venue 23) 💰 From £15.00
🕒 1st - 25th August 2025, Various times, 30 minutes 🎟️ Book via edfringe.com
Uncle Barry's Birthday Party
A recent highlight of both Side/Step Festival and Voidspace Live 2025, Uncle Barry's Birthday Party is an immersive show set at, you guessed it, a birthday party. With a spread of snacks and drinks, a killer playlist and heaps of party decorations, everything is in place to make this a great party, even if the man of the hour is running late..
As guests mingle and chat, everyone swaps stories of how they came to know Uncle Barry. Whether he's helped them as an AA sponsor, been a shoulder to cry on during hard times, or in our case when we attended, offered us a kidney in a time of need, everyone has the chance to improvise and make up as ridiculous a story as they wish about the man, the myth, the legend. It's a collective exercise in going 'Yes, and...' to every new story you hear, which quickly helps Uncle Barry reach mythical status amongst those in attendance, and asks as a world-class, never-fails ice breaker when speaking to other guests.
Sprinkle in some tension between a couple of guests (played wonderfully by the show's cast), a heartfelt speech that needs to be delivered once Uncle Barry arrives, and a conga line that snakes around the length of the venue, and you've got a wonderfully put-together, hour-long immersive show that's as fun as Barry is loved.
What makes for a fun party? People (you’re invited), gossip (someone has to spill the beans), booze (obviously), dancing (optional), flirting (encouraged), cake (yes), a good playlist (please)... and Uncle Barry! You're invited to share an evening with us celebrating Uncle Barry's Birthday, we know he'd love to have you.
📍 Muse at Braw Venues at Hill Street (Venue 41) 💰 From £14.00
🕒 9th - 17th August 2025, 20:45-21:45, 60 minutes 🎟️ Book via edfringe.com
Gameshow Spectacular - An Immersive Gameshow Experience
Photo: Gameshow Spectacular
Following a successful string of shows across London and, more recently, a sold-out run at the Brighton Fringe, Gameshow Spectacular is the perfect interactive, late-night Fringe show. Over 60 chaotic minutes, charismatic American showman Dom Blarke, fresh off losing their Las Vegas residency, invites contestants to compete on stage in a series of over-the-top, ridiculous challenges for the chance to spin the prize wheel and win as many Blarke Bucks as possible for their team.
Whether you find yourself on stage trying to catch as many balls as possible in your oversized trousers, doing a perfectly timed shot of tequila while blindfolded, or proving you're the drunkest audience member through a breathalyser, there are a lot of laughs to be had as your teammates either cheer you on or commiserate your loss. Part improv, part game show, the experience is frantic, messy, and heaps of fun.
Step into a world of comedy and chaos with Gameshow Spectacular! Hosted by the over-the-top American showman Dom Blarke, this high-energy experience is packed with ridiculous mini-games, audience participation and hilarious surprises. Forget boring trivia – teams compete in outrageous challenges, accompanied by dynamic sound effects and a fast-paced atmosphere. Expect absurd antics, unpredictable twists and non-stop laughter as Dom guides you through a night of pure entertainment. Whether you're on stage or cheering from the crowd, you'll be part of the action. Join us for the most fun, interactive and unforgettable night of your Fringe!
Photos: Gameshow Spectacular
📍 Just Out Of The Box at Just the Tonic at The Caves (Venue 88) 💰 From £7.50
🕒 31st July - 9th August 2025, 21:20-22:20, 60 minutes 🎟️ Book via edfringe.com
Stampin' in the Graveyard by Kiss Witness
Image: KISS WITNESS
Exploring the human desire for connection and a sense of belonging, this immersive theatre piece from KISS WITNESS uses silent disco headphones to guide the audience through the end of the world.
Set in the graveyard of humanity, Stampin’ in the Graveyard follows AI chatbot Rose as she sifts through the memories of a vanished civilisation, learning about the woman who created her and piecing together the human life that was. The audience shapes the story in real time by interacting with Rose, choosing paths that lead to multiple endings.
Rooted in the international creative team’s lived experiences of migration and exile, Stampin' In The Graveyard traces a thread of loss and loneliness - through inherited trauma, displacement, and ecological grief - ultimately investigating how we might move toward joy.
Speaking on the show, writer, co-creator and performer Elisabeth Gunawan said:
I don't think it's radical to say we live in frightening times - facing the destruction of our planet and the erosion of things we hold dear. I began making this show during the pandemic, when I was far from home and questioning what ‘home’ really meant. As a migrant, neither the place I was born nor the place I resided in offered the safety or belonging that 'home' seems to promise. I hope Stampin’ in the Graveyard can offer audiences a glimmer of hope and belonging in the chaos, even if it is fleeting.
Image: Valeriia Poholsha
ROSE is an AI chatbot that gives advice for the end of the world, powered by a black box of memories from people whose worlds have already ended. Tonight, ROSE unboxes her training data of human memories (and fabricates some in true AI fashion), to learn about the woman who created her. Stampin' in the Graveyard is an immersive headphone experience fusing physical theatre and live music to draw audiences into an ephemeral, apocalyptic world. Developed by the critically acclaimed and award-winning Elisabeth Gunawan and Kiss Witness
📍 Summerhall - Red Lecture Theatre (Venue 26) 💰 From £17.00
🕒 31st July - 24th August 2025, 12:15-13:15, 60 minutes 🎟️ Book via edfringe.com
For news, reviews and previews of upcoming immersive experiences, follow Immersive Rumours on Instagram or BlueSky.
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