Dublin Fringe Festival is back in 2025 with a programme ready to disrupt and delight audiences across the city. Running from September 6 to 21, expect daring, wild and wonderful events that champion artistry and defy expectations.
Officially launched on Wednesday, July 9, the programme features 85 listings with 492 performances across 36 venues. Among them are 56 world premieres, 67 Irish premieres and 5 Dublin premieres, showcasing bold, innovative and experimental live artistry across a wide range of genres.
The 2025 festival is segmented into seven strands: ‘Éire Defining’, which hosts thrilling new works that rewrite the canon and show us the way forward; ‘Urgent Pleasure’, a joyful, experiential and communal celebration of clubbing, music genre-defying work and nights out; ‘Radical Care’, which explores how we understand and look after ourselves and each other; ‘This City’, featuring projects that take you somewhere you haven’t been before; ‘Play//Time’, highlighting new writing, new voices and new ideas; ‘Craicing Up’, a chance to laugh out loud with hilarious improv standup and other works from well-known and up and coming comics; and ‘Young Radicals’, an under-18s programme with shows made with and for young people.
As is always the case with Fringe, there is also an array of amazing queer highlights that are not to be missed, including Itch by Christopher McAuley, Octopus Children by FeliSpeaks, Pea Dinneen: Raising Her Voice, Testo by Wet Mess, The Future is EGG, Diary of a Dublin Drag Diva by Davina Devine, Apocalypse How? by Donna Fella, Annie Queeries and Laylah Beattie, dubliningirl_Vs_dartlinediva, Genesis by Shaqira Knightly, Cult of Aerobics by Emily Brady, Cirque du Honeypot, Who’s a Big Boy by Shane Daniel Byrne, Attention by Jules Head, Change by Croí Glan, Don’t Tell Dad About Diana by Conor Murray and Hannah Power, and Hungry Grass/Stray Sod by Wandering Stories Theatre.
The 2025 edition has been curated by the new Festival Director, Bee Sparks, who said, “We are delighted to reveal this exceptional new programme for audiences as this year’s Dublin Fringe Festival is packed full of bold nights out, big ideas and belly laughs.
“The 2025 programme highlights joy, community, brazen truths and blazing dance floors, with performances created by artists who showcase excellence, experimentation and dedication. There are experiences spread across the city map, packages in the post that ask you to reimagine your home, and tasting menus curated from Irish biodiversity, alongside all your Fringe favourite shows that stay with you long after the curtain falls.
“This new Dublin Fringe programme offers an invitation to be bold, be captivated, be overwhelmed, to bring your pals and experience the new. You don’t want to miss it. Be here in September!”
Tickets for Dublin Fringe Festival 2025 are on sale now at fringefest.com or through the box office at 1800 374 643.
© 2025 GCN (Gay Community News). All rights reserved.
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