Get ready! Chichester Fringe returns from Saturday 30 May to Sunday 14 June, bringing two weeks of great entertainment to the city.
This year’s programme features an exciting mix of music, theatre, comedy, and — for the first time ever — a brand-new Street Performance Festival in the city centre!
Andrew Bailey, newly appointed Chichester Fringe Director, says, “It’s so exciting to join the Fringe’s brilliant volunteers as we connect with new venues, new performers, and our biggest slate of shows yet.”
Head to the Chichester Fringe website for tickets, for further information and to be kept updated: www.chichesterfringe.co.uk
COMEDY
Comedians from all over the country bring their shows, including Phil Green (3 June), Kate Lois-Elliott (5 June), Abbie Edwards (5 June), Mark Daniels (10 June), Milo Edwards (10 June), Neil Sinclair (11 June), Andrew White (11 June) plus a brand-new comedy night at Ghost at The Feast (12 June).
And don’t miss last year’s winner Piran Armes, who brings his WIP show to the New Part Centre Studio on 10 June.
Genres of Sketch, Improv, Cabaret and Interactive Comedy also join the line-up; direct from Edinburgh Fringe, there’s ‘Sketch Show Bingo!’ (11 June) and ‘Closure Cabaret’ (11 June). The sell-out 2025 show ‘A Room Full of Idiots’ (13 June) returns to the 2026 line up, plus you can experience an improvised undead apocalypse movie with ‘Improv the Dead’ (30 May) or join connoisseur of the creepy Billy Bones for a whistle-stop tour of Every Ghost Story Ever told: is this show supposed to be serious or funny? (30 May).
British-Iranian comic and singer Hajar J. Woodland weaves standup with musical comedy to explore what it means to find love and your voice when you’re caught between two worlds in ‘Hajar, Like Badger (WIP)’ (9 June) and Aidan Jones presents Chopin’s Nocturne in Eb Major ‘with jokes by a bald, Australian with a beard!’ (7 June).
THEATRE
From musical theatre to drama, be swept away by the talent on stage this year.
We open this year’s Fringe (30 May) at brand new venue, The Nest (Chichester Festival Theatre), with ‘Best Wishes, Kind Regards’ and ‘A Criminal Melody’, simultaneously down the road at One-O-Four, The Hornet; multiple plays and musicals are being staged throughout the day starting at 2pm with ‘Living The Dream – A Bus Driver’s Lament’.
Best Kids’ Show nominee (UK Kids’ Comedy Festival) ‘Slugageddon!’ (7 June) is one of the wonderful children’s theatre offerings for 2026. Other shows include ‘The Smallest Sardine of the Seven Seas’ (7 June), ‘Where did Bailey’s Bark Go?’ (6 June) and ‘The Magic Crayon’ (13 June).
Local playwright and spoken word artist Olivia Coppin brings her brand new production ‘Just to Say!’ to The Nest (11 June), a silly little show, with a big heart. A work of poetic storytelling and an uplifting, love letter to language. The final Saturday of the fringe (13 June) sees a full day of theatre with ‘Darwin’s Cleaner’, ‘The Diary of John Marsh’ and concludes with ‘Tapestry’, which interlaces six compelling short plays into a vivid patchwork of drama, humour, and intrigue.
MUSIC
For music lovers, Laura Page returns to JAM Cafe (5 June), Driftwood Troubadours present its unique songs each with projected backdrop images (5 June) and for the first time Chichester Fringe hosts a music night at The Ghost at the Feast, MC’d by Sammy G and featuring James Laingan and David Robinson (4 June). Oving Folk also return to the fringe, performing at The Nest on 6 June and 18-year-old singer songwriter Oli Patient takes to the stage at Chichester Canal Cafe (31 May).
A NEW STREET PERFORMANCE FESTIVAL
For the first time, Chichester will be host to an international array of world-class professional street performers, from 11 am to 5 pm on Sunday 7 June. The city centre will be transformed into a playground for the imagination!
Performer and organiser Harvey Stinton says: “The Chichester Fringe Street Performance Festival brings a spectacular celebration of street theatre, outdoor arts, and community spirit together with a vibrant mix of national and international acts that will transform the city streets into a playground of joy, laughter, and surprise, a spectacle that brings moments of magic, mayhem, and memorable performances through the jampacked day.”
Tickets are on sale now for all 2026 shows: head to the Chichester Fringe website so as to be kept updated and to secure your tickets: www.chichesterfringe.co.uk.
