Ventnor Fringe

About

Ventnor Fringe, the Island’s multi award winning arts festival, which features gigs, comedy and performances in unusual spaces around Ventnor, is set to return from 19th-28th July, and the festival’s first ever large scale circus is among the first attractions to be announced.

Channel 4’s Taskmaster Champion Sophie Ducker, panel show regular Olga Koch and prolific TikTok comedian Christopher Hall join rising stars like Huge Davies, Ania Magliano and Alex Kealy. Also returning is long time supporter of the festival Ahir Shah with his hilarious and emotional show ‘Ends’ that was first previewed as a work in progress last year before going on to win the most prestigious prize in comedy at the Sky Edinburgh Comedy Awards. 

Other returnees include Fringe favorites the hilarious and idiosyncratic poet Rob Auton as well as neurodivergent comedian Joe Wells who’s shows exploring autism have attracted sold out audiences for the past three years in a row.

Revel Puck Circus’ new production ‘The Nose Dive Assembly’ will be heading to Ventnor direct from London’s Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park and promises to be a festival highlight with high wire walkers, teeterboarders and the only female Wheel of Death duo in the UK!

Long time festival favorites Impromptu Shakespeare return alongside Bristol based collective Degree of Errors with their Edinburgh Fringe smash hit Murder, She Didn’t Write, in which audiences become Agatha Christie in an improvised comedy based entirely on audience suggestions! Theatre and dance combine in Temper Theatre’s cinematic show HOME which is likely to strike an emotional chord with local residents with it’s themes of rising sea levels and displacement. Finn Morrell, the show's Director explained “HOME is inspired by what we relinquish when we move away from where we begin our lives and the unsteadying emotions which can resurface when we find our way back. As the sea levels rise and the Fens (marshlands in Norfolk) return to the water, my family story will be washed away.... “

Also returning is cabaret legend Joe Black in Club Cataclysm which promises vaudevillian villainy and musical mayhem, while comedian Ahir Shah, fresh from winning the prestigious Sky Edinburgh Comedy Award hosts Pick of the Fringe showcasing some of festivals top stand ups.

Local talent is also represented, with Jack’s Comedy Club and last year’s Audience Choice Award winner Quivers back for a one off encore performance.

Celebrating its 15th anniversary in 2024, Ventnor Fringe offers a unique opportunity to explore a huge programme of events, both free and ticketed, as well as pop up bars, street food, exhibitions and markets. 

With around 150 different shows expected to take part this year, new additions to the programme will be added regularly at vfringe.co.uk and audience members looking for advice or recommendations can also visit the festival box office at Ventnor Exchange (open 7 days a week from 10am) or by calling (01983) 716767.