SM Publicity has represented theatre, musical theatre and dance clients at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe since 2016 including national and international showcases. Sharon has over 12 years’ experience and leads a dynamic, creative and hard-working team on the ground in Edinburgh for the full festival.

EDINBURGH FRINGE 2024

If you’re bringing a project to the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe festival and are interested in engaging SM Publicity, contact us.

EDinBURGH FRINGE 2023

In 2023, SM Publicity came to the Edinburgh Fringe to look after PR support for another super set of shows focusing on identity, family, self-medication and mental health.

After a phenomenal Fringe 2022, the critically acclaimed and award-winning Kathy and Stella Solve a Murder! returned to Edinburgh. Created by Olivier-winning Jon Brittain and Frisky and Mannish’s Matthew Floyd Jones, Francesca Moody Productions presented a new, extended version of the hit musical with Bronté Barbé (Newsies, Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre) and Rebekah Hinds (Oklahoma!, Young Vic/West End) reprising their roles as Kathy and Stella respectively, alongside original cast members Jodie Jacobs (Rock of Ages, West End), TJ Lloyd (Guys and Dolls, Sheffield Crucible) and Imelda Warren-Green (Doctor Who: Time Fracture, BBC).

We also supported REWIND, from Ephemeral Ensemble, the inaugural winners of Summerhall’s Rewind Award which celebrated works which tackle decolonisation. 2023 was the 50th Anniversary of Pinochet’s Chilean Coup and REWIND uncovered a timeless and universal struggle for social justice past and present through a unique fusion of physical theatre and forensic anthropology.

Taking their first Fringe steps were Roshi Nasehi with Ramalama Ding Dong, an experimental multimedia solo show about funny, surreal and intimidating acts of racism, Purple Wave’s Tea and Milk, which looks at failing at life when everyone else seems so put-together, and Pleasure Little Treasure, from Elina Alminas in association with Soho Theatre Labs, which charts growing up in post-Soviet Estonia’s first strip club in the early 90s.

International identity and belonging is explored in two SM Publicity supported shows this festival. Siapa Yang Bawa Melayu Aku Pergi? (Who Took My Malay Away?) from Khai & Faizal delves into Muslim-Malay-Singaporean identity in a passionate performance-lecture, whilst Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story and The Power’s Peyvand Sadeghian interrogates her Iranian-British nationality in Dual دوگانھ, a dark and playful interactive, multimedia show.

Grandparents form the basis of both How to Bury a Dead Mule from Richard Clements, and Hannah Maxwell’s Nan, Me and Barbara Pravi. In Clements’ UK Theatre Award-nominated one-man show, he tells the story of his grandfather, Royal Irish Fusilier Norman Clements following his time on the front line during WW2. Haunted by the horrors he witnessed, the sanity of war becomes the insanity of domesticity as a broken man tries to reconnect with his family. After critical success with I AmDram at Fringe 2019, Maxwell’s newest work follows Hannh after a move back to the Home Counties in 2021 to care for her recently bereaved grandmother. In between cooking, cleaning and Countdown, Maxwell escapes into an intensifying fantasy of ballroom dances, heartfelt ballads, fluent French and definitely-not-creepy plots to engineer a meet-cute with her random foreign celebrity crush (French Eurovision star Barbara Pravi).

Completing this year’s roster, is An(dre)a Spisto’s genre-busting tale of a queer, autistic, latinx caterpillar on the edge, El Dizzy Beast. Melding clowning, physical theatre and film, Spisto takes their audience on a frenetic, interactive and transformative journey of self-identity.

EDINBURGH FRINGE 2022

As the festival is back in full swing, so is SM Publicity. This year we present a vibrant range of shows which explore resilience, trauma, tradition and the urgency of the cost of living crisis, amongst other themes.

World premieres include two Francesca Moody Productions (Baby Reindeer, Fleabag) Feeling Afraid As If Something Terrible Is Going To Happen (starring two time Tony Award and Olivier Award nominee, Samuel Barnett) and Kathy and Stella Solve a Murder! (created by Baby Reindeer director Jon Brittain and Frisky and Mannish’s Matthew Floyd Jones) as well as the return of Common Wealth after an 8-year fringe hiatus as they bring Payday Party to Pleasance Dome (23rd-27th August).

Alongside Payday Party, Double Drop and The Rest Of Our Lives complete the This is Wales in Edinburgh Showcase whilst Annie George (★★★★ - The Scotsman, “One of Scotland's most powerful and interesting writer-performers”) brings two shows (Home is Not The Place and Twa, featuring live drawing from Scots-French visual artist Flore Gardner) to Summerhall as part of Made in Scotland and supported by The Meadows Award. Solo performance The Unicorn, from new company Ox Productions and written by Sam Potter, is about a woman trying to find balance between her sexuality and what society expects of her. The Village and The Road from Tom Pow and The Galloway Agreement is a marriage of storytelling, live music and theatre and is also a proud part of Made in Scotland.

Rounding off our impressive 2022 roster are Bloody Elle - A Gig Musical (already a top pick for The Guardian) and The MP, Aunty Mandy and Me which both examine LGBTQ+ experiences, as well as We Should Definitely Have More Dancing and Headcase, both tackling real-life trauma by seizing it as a chance to celebrate being alive. And finally, we present The Unicorn, a taboo-busting one-woman show which explores female sexuality, sex addiction and the societal expectations which surround the two, written by Offies nominee Sam Potter.

EDINBURGH FRINGE 2021

As the festival made a small but perfectly-formed return in 2021, we proudly represented ThickSkin’s new show Eavesdropping which played at the Traverse Theatre from 20 - 31 August 2021.

EDINBURGH FRINGE 2019

Our EdFringe 2019 roster featured 16 shows including the 2020 Olivier Award winning Baby Reindeer (Francesca Moody Productions) by Richard Gadd, Sh!t Theatre’s Sh!t Theatre Drink Rum with Expats (Soho Theatre & Show And Tell), How Not to Drown (ThickSkin), new company groupwork’s inaugural show The Afflicted, LUNG Theatre’s Who Cares, Kabosh Theatre’s Green & Blue, Hannah Maxwell’s I,AmDram and many more. Fringe First winners: Baby Reindeer, The Afflicted, Sh!t Theatre Drink Rum with Expats and How Not to Drown. The Scottish Arts Club Award: The Afflicted. Sit Up Award: Who Cares. Three Weeks editor’s award: Pianodrome.

EDINBURGH FRINGE 2018

Our third EdFringe roster featured 16 theatre shows from the political and heart-warming to rites of passage and speaking truths across Summerhall, Assembly, the Scottish Storytelling Centre, Traverse Theatre, The Space and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. 

Our shows included Fringe First winners, world premieres, a live punk band, real-life families, fake news, children and animals and the world's first playable amphitheatre made from 55 disused pianos, the #Pianodrome which will host fringe event, #Pianodrome Live.

We also presented world premieres from Julie Hesmondhalgh (Broadchurch) in The Greatest Play in the History of the World at the Traverse Theatre, Kieran Hurley & Gary McNair's Square Go in the Paines Plough Roundabout, LUNG Theatre's Trojan Horse and Grassmarket Projects' Where it Hurts, featuring real-life stories of care, resilience and hope within the NHS from Edinburgh based nurses (ex and current) and patients. We're also represented a clutch of exciting new companies to watch from the North of England including Knaive Theatre,  Bloomin' Buds Theatre Company and Tin Can People. Fringe First winners: Trojan Horse (LUNG Theatre), Square Go (Francesca Moody Productions, written by Kieran Hurley and Gary McNair). Trojan Horse also won the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award.

edinburgh fringe 2017

Our second EdFringe roster saw us go international. We supported the first Arab Arts Focus Edinburgh showcase, Sharon continued her relationship with Northern Stage and we represented artists from across the UK including: Sh!t Theatre, nabokov, Utter Theatre, Rachel Mars, Chris Harrisson and Theatre with Legs.

2017 saw sold out runs for salt., Our Carnal Hearts, DollyWould and The Believers are But Brothers. Fringe Firsts: The Believers are But Brothers (Javaad Alipoor/Northern Stage), Stand By (Utter Theatre). Inaugural Filipa Braganca Award: salt. (Selina Thompson/Northern Stage). Carol Tambor shortlist: Our Carnal Hearts (Rachel Mars).

EDINBURGH FRINGE 2016

In our inaugural year at EdFringe, we supported a range of the coolest kids on the UK theatre block from Kieran Hurley to Adura Onashile and Sh!t Theatre.

Sharon was engaged by Northern Stage for the first year, teaming up with their in-house freelance PR Helen Fussell. 2016 saw sold out runs for: Two Man Show, Heads Up and Expensive Shit. Fringe Firsts: Two Man Show (RashDash/Northern Stage), Heads Up (Kieran Hurley), Letters to Windsor House (Sh!t Theatre), Expensive Shit (Adura Onashile). Flying Artichoke/Scottish Arts Club Award: Expensive Shit (Adura Onashile). Carol Tambor shortlist: Letters to Windsor House (Sh!t Theatre)