Assembly Festival has announced that two venues will relocate to St Andrew Square for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2026 season following the recent announcement that the Princes Street fire will impact Edinburgh city centre for the coming weeks. Traffic diversions on Princes Street mean the road closures Assembly Festival normally operate on George Street cannot go ahead this summer.
Assembly Festival will relocate two external outdoor venues, Bijou and Front Room, normally residing on George Street, to St Andrew Square, working closely with the City of Edinburgh Council and Essential Edinburgh to ensure the shows of 17 artists and companies impacted by the relocation can still go ahead this August. Bijou, a Spiegeltent-style venue, and Front Room, a container venue, will pop up in the southeast corner of St Andrew Square alongside a temporary bar and box office. Together, the venues will create a vibrant garden atmosphere within the square, with food, a bar and dwell space for audiences to relax and socialise before and after shows.
Shows including ‘Scaramouche Jones’, ‘Frisky’s Remix Roulette’, ‘Arachne / Athena’ and more will take up residence in St Andrew Square from 6 August until 30 August in the two temporary outdoor structures. The programme across both venues includes classic theatre like ‘Scaramouche Jones’ and an adaption of a Shakespeare tale in ‘Midsummer!’, family shows including ‘Cricket & The Freebugs’ and ‘Smashing Shakespeare: Brave Macbeth’, comedy and clowning in ‘A Haunted House’ and ‘The Van Gogh Shogh’ and comedy cabaret in ‘Frisky’s Remix Roulette’.
Shows indoors at Assembly Rooms on George Street will go ahead as originally planned alongside a box office and bar.
William Burdett-Coutts, Artistic Director at Assembly Festival said, “The fire on Princes Street has had, and will continue to have, a significant effect on city centre businesses and residents. Following the subsequent investigations, it became clear that the usual Festival road closures Assembly Festival operates on George Street wouldn’t be possible for this year's Fringe season. This means we are unable to operate two of our external, outdoor venues - Bijou and Front Room - on George Street.
“We are grateful to the City of Edinburgh Council and other city and Festival partners for working closely with us to move the two affected venue operations to St Andrew Square, allowing us to deliver our planned programme in full.
“This has had a significant impact on our artists with only a week to go until their shows kick off, and we are working to support and minimise disruption for them, but it is extremely positive news that all 17 of these shows will still be able to go ahead, after the huge amount of work our artists have already put into them. Our team on the ground have been working hard to ensure we can still host the full range of shows across both venues and we’re delighted to now confirm the new plans at St Andrew Square, which we think will become a vibrant new hub for this year.
“We’d like to thank artists for bearing with us whilst we worked quickly to pivot plans and we know Edinburgh locals and Fringe fans will get behind these shows and make sure they have a season to remember following their change of venue.“
Roddy Smith, Chief Executive, Essential Edinburgh, “We have been delighted to work with Assembly Festival and the city of Edinburgh Council to facilitate the moving of Festival activity to St Andrew Square Garden for this August. Once it was clear that George Street could not be closed this year due to the fire, it was vital for all parties that we did everything we could to move the planned activity to another venue in the New Town to ensure the buzz and excitement of August remained. It has been an exceptional effort by everyone concerned to make this happen in such a short timeframe.”
Miss Frisky, of Frisky’s Remix Roulette said, “Yet again in the face of adversity, the city of Edinburgh has pulled together to find a creative solution. Orchestrating a move like this so quickly after the Princes Street fire is a massive testament to everyone involved. I’m thrilled that Frisky's Remix Roulette has found such a brilliant new home in St Andrew Square, and I can't wait to bring the party there every night!"
Captivate Theatre said, “Captivate Theatre is delighted to be bringing Brave Macbeth to St Andrew Square. We have performed in the Square before and know that it is a great location. We can't wait to get started.”
Tickets remain valid for the new venues at Assembly at St Andrew Square - ticket-holders will be contacted directly by their point of sale.
The full list of shows relocating to Assembly at St Andrew Square are:
Bijou: 70s Jukebox by The 60 Four | 1954: Ella, Etta, Eartha | Best of Burlesque | In Pour Taste: A Comedy Wine Tasting Experience | Frisky’s Remix Roulette | Midsummer! | Scaramouche Jones | Smashing Shakespeare: Brave Macbeth
Front Room: A Haunted House | The Van Gogh Shogh | Arachne / Athena |The Problem | A Play on Words | 44 Minutes | Cricket & The Freebugs | Becoming Dr Ruth |Ludwig: Unfinished Business
In its 45th Fringe season, Assembly will now operate seven venue hubs including the new space in St Andrew Square alongside its regular hubs: George Square Gardens, Assembly Rooms, Assembly Hall, Assembly Roxy and Dance Base, whilst, new for 2026, Shedinburgh takes over Checkpoint.
Tickets are available at www.assemblyfestival.com. Sign up to the Assembly Festival mailing list for more information, exclusive offers, and all the latest news.
