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Underground Venues have announced the line-up for their 19th season at the 2024 Buxton Festival Fringe. This July, the award-winning venue group are converting a grade-II listed shop in the Buxton’s historic Spring Gardens shopping street into a fully-equipped theatre.

The brand-new space in the heart of town will host 127 performances of the UK’s finest touring comedy, theatre, music, magic and family shows, all-day every day from 3-21 July.

Highlights include: a new live version of The Unlikely Weightlifters podcast from Rob Rouse (star of Ben Elton’s Upstart Crow) and Tom Wrigglesworth (previous Edinburgh Comedy Award nominee); new stand-up from Buxton favourites Hayley Ellis, Alex Kealy, Darren Walsh, Sasha Ellen and Nathan Cassidy all appearing in Buxton before their Edinburgh Fringe runs; the ‘School’s Out Comedy Club’, a comedy club especially for children; an internationally-renowned one-person performance of Richard III playing in Buxton after touring around the world; magic shows, impressions, improvised comedy, new writing, youth theatre, and late-night game shows!

Venue manager Tom Crawshaw said “This is a hugely exciting opportunity to use one of the Spring Gardens shops in a new way. Growing up in Buxton, this always felt like the heart of the town and we can’t wait to welcome Buxton audiences to the new theatre to see a fantastic range of shows.

The former shop which will become an all-day theatre

With the support of High Peak Borough Council, Underground will be converting the former Track & Trail shop next to WH Smith. Originally the grand entrance to the nineteenth century crescent-shaped Royal Hotel (1849-1914), the space will now host live performance of every type from 1pm-11pm.

The project sees theatre return to Spring Gardens for the first time in 200 years. Buxton’s very first theatre ran on a site just over the road from the new Buxton Fringe venue, hosting local and touring productions 1784-1829.

A new venture for Underground and Spring Gardens, the events are part of the 44th Buxton Festival Fringe which sees 190 different shows take place across the town.

The entire line-up of 53 different shows and events can be seen now at underthefringe.com All tickets are just £8-£10 – with an extra £2 off for anyone unemployed, on a low income or a student.

The full Buxton Festival Fringe programme is online at buxtonfringe.org.uk

Fringe puts the bounce back in spring gardens