From Wednesday, 23 to Sunday, 27 July, Bedford will host the 18th International Bedford Festival Fringe, bringing to the town a carefully selected programme of comedy, theatre, live music, film, dance and physical theatre, spoken word and poetry to your doorstep.
Bedfringe brings together over 90 events in five days and across five venues at the Quarry Theatre and the Place Theatre, so there is definitely something for everyone.
This year, day one of the festival is designed with SEN families in mind, with an open-air and fully inclusive event where every child, young person, and adult can feel safe, comfortable, and free to be themselves.
You can peruse the whole progamme on the Quarry Theatre website here.
Taking place just before Edfringe, Bedfringe is geographically and chronologically the perfect place and time for acts on their way to Scotland to hone their material.
Over the years, it has been responsible for supporting many up-and-coming acts, including Lee Ridley (Lost Voice Guy), Pappys (BBC sketch show), Howard Read (CBBC’s Little Howard’s Big Question), Simon Brodkin (Lee Nelson), Adam Brown (Ori in Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit), Patrick Monahan (winner of ITV 2011 “Show Me The Funny”), The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre Company (Edinburgh Fringe favourites), Simon Munnery, Jack Whitehall, Jan Ravens, Barry & Stuart (BBC1’s “The Magicians”) and world record breaker Sir Tim FitzHigham (Clint Eastwood’s “Hereafter”), Josh Widdicombe, The Noise Next Door, Ivo Graham, Pete Firman, Joel Dommett and Vikki Stone.
So who knows which future star you might see this year.?
Bedfringe at The Place Theatre
The Place Theatre is hosting several events at this year’s festival. Don’t miss their production of Shakespeare’s Macbeth by BRAVE Youth Theatre at 3pm and 6pm on 26 July and a musical feast of country tunes with Tap the Barrell at 8.30pm – a lively collaboration of familiar local musicians as they perform your favourite country tunes. It promises to be a foot-stomping celebration.
Director’s picks…
Each year, we ask festival director, James Pharaoh MBE, for his top tips for Bedfringe.
Whether you’re a seasoned ‘fringer or a Bedfrige virgin, you can be guaranteed that these five shows will deliver the goods.
Over to you, JPMBE…
Saturday, 26 July 2025
Alfie Moore: Tour warm-up show
The Quarry Theatre @ 7.30pm | Tickets: £13.50
Copper turned comedian and star of BBC Radio 4 hit ‘It’s A Fair Cop’, returns to Bedfringe for a pre-tour warm-up of his brand-new show.
Topics covered include: How to stave off the apocalypse, how to save UK policing, and – most pressingly – how to avoid the potholes on the A15.
Saturday, 26 July 2025
Max Fulham: Full of Ham
The Quarry Theatre @ 6pm | Tickets: £10
Max Fulham is coming to Bedfringe 2025 with an evening of never-before-seen nonsense. Having amassed millions of online views with his signature brand of stand-up, Max is catapulting ventriloquism into the 21st century and is not to be missed! Expect talking ham, malfunctioning self-service checkouts, and an inner monologue that just can’t be kept inside anymore…
Thursday, 24 July 2025
Matt Parker: Getting Triggy With It
The Quarry Theatre @ 7.30pm | Tickets: £10
Matt Parker talks a lot of maths. He’s a NYT best-selling author and sold-out Edinburgh Festival Fringer. But now it’s time he does the maths. Really gets in there and gives the maths a good doing.
It’s time he programmes his own Christmas tree lights and then 11,184,024 people watch his downfall (and counting). It’s time he shares his hand-crafted maths code online only for viewers to improve it by 40,832,277,770%. It’s time he shaped-up and crawled out from under the square named after him.
Come watch Matt Parker do the maths. (Every audience member will get some free maths.)
Friday, 25 July 2025
Paul Foot: Barbaric Fantasies for Bedford
The Quarry Theatre @ 7.30pm | Tickets: £13.50
Imagine receiving an invitation to perform at a beautiful theatre in prestigious Bedford. Imagine that you don’t currently have a new show, as you’re working towards one for 2026. Imagine that what you do have is a whole series of disturbed comedy fantasies in your mind that you haven’t yet got round to sharing with a psychiatrist. Imagine that you carefully put these together to create a show and then bring them to Bedford, calling the show, Barbaric Fantasies For Bedford.
Thursday, 24 and Friday, 25 July 2025
Bloody, Bloody Kansas
The Quarry Theatre @ 6pm | Tickets: £10.50/£8.50
Dive into the dark heart of American history. 1873 – Kansas.
Based on the true story of the West’s first known serial killing family, the Bloody Benders, this bold new play shatters time and space to reveal the chilling legacy they left behind. At the center is Mary York, a grieving widow turned relentless detective, piecing together a puzzle of violence, justice, and memory.
