Manipulate live
A dozen live works for Manipulate Festival 2026
This year’s Manipulate Festival contains 12 live pieces of puppetry and visual performance, half of them from Scottish and Scotland-based creatives, over its run from Wednesday 4 to Tuesday 10 February 2026.
The 2026 iteration of the “international festival of animated film, puppetry and visual theatre” includes a total of 28 productions, screenings workshops and networking events. Details of the complete programme can be found on its website, details of the live performances are in the listings below – after the preview.
Julia Taudevin in Auntie Empire. Pic: Brian Hartley.
Live performances take place in three venues – the Traverse, the Studio Theatre and Summerhall. There are also pop-up events at the National Museum of Scotland.
All of the new works from Scottish and Scotland-based have received support and development from festival organisers Manipulate Arts during their careers. These range from seed funding to work-in-progress presentations, as part of the festival’s long running Snapshots series, which continues at the Studio (Sun 8: details) with four new works in progress by Scottish creatives.
Manipulate Arts say that their commitment to nurturing homegrown visual theatre talent sees the Festival present four World and one Scottish premiere from top class Scottish makers. A further five Scottish premieres come from leading International companies, whose work brings a global outlook to the festival, asking universal questions of our world.
Scottish work
Performance artist Mamoru Iriguchi and Vanishing Point return to the festival with the World Premiere of Size Matters (Th 5/Fr 6, Traverse: details) a wildly inventive blend of puppetry, science and surrealism
Joined on stage by puppet versions of themselves, Mamoru and Julia Darrouy take a mind-bending journey through time, size and perception to explore how we convey the importance of the things in life that feel big or small. Manipulate Arts has supported the development of Size Matters from the very seedlings of an idea to this full fruition.
A scene from Tell Me, from the Sadiq Ali Company.
Returning to Manipulate Festival after 2023’s incredibly successful The Chosen Haram, the Sadiq Ali Company (led by Edinburgh-native Sadiq Ali) presents the Scottish Premiere of Tell Me (Mon 9/Tue 10, Studio: details) – a cutting edge three-hander narrative circus offering a fresh perspective on HIV. Combining Chinese Pole and aerial artistry, Tell Me showcases an innovative, multi-dimensional cube structure, exploring connection to the self, to friends, to community in the face of stigma and silence.
Disaster Plan, led by Julia Taudevin and Kieran Hurley, kick off a Spring tour of Auntie Empire (Mon 9/Tue 10, Summerhall: details) at the festival. This outrageous, dark satire on Britannia and the grotesque absurdity of imperial self-regard finds Taudevin as Auntie, blending bouffon, comedy, and audience interaction into a bloody lampoon on the myths of nationhood.
The Raft of the Crab (Fri 6, Studio: details), presented by circus artist Ninon Noiret, is a captivating exploration of life first being diagnosed with, and then recovering from, cancer. Working in collaboration with celebrated Scottish puppeteer Gavin Glover, the show blends puppetry, contemporary dance, spoken text and Chinese Pole to navigate the deeply personal experience of illness, told with perseverance and play.
Bruno Gallagher’s Europe, Meine Liebe, Mon Amour: A performance in Four Absurdities (Sun 8, NMS: details) fuses together four absurdist vignettes of physical performance through the mediums of object manipulation, mask play, costume, altered movement and dance.
Inspired by memories and dreams of travels across Europe, the work is a journey of imagination accompanied by abstract soundscapes and elements of live and recorded music.
A scene from The Raft of the Crab.
International live performances
Opening the Festival’s live performance strand, Germany’s KMZ Kollektiv, an international collective based in Berlin with ties to Latin America, presents Coffee with Sugar? (Wed 4/Th 5, Traverse: details) a visually striking exploration of Western consumption and the legacies of colonialism, told through two now-staples of Western trade, coffee and sugar.
Candyfloss, coffee beans, historical sources, video and music combine to confront the mechanics of colonial power and global injustice, bringing in biographical experience of the struggle between two worlds and the power imbalance of global consumerism.
Further international and UK performance see familiar stories reimagined, including The Rite of Spring (Sat 7/Sun 8, Traverse: details) by Italian dance and performing arts collective Dewey Dell. The piece draws inspiration from art history and the animal kingdom to explore the eternal cycle of life and death through an eclectic combination of breaking and contemporary dance.
steeped in Russian theatrical flair
Inspired by Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina, Studio Daumza’s Kar (Wed 4/Th 5, Studio: details) invites audiences to a funeral dinner, steeped in Russian theatrical flair, where the guest of honour has come back to life. Imaginative cabaret, storytelling waiters, reanimated objects, puppetry, music and mischief all unite to bring the evening from solemn ritual into joyful chaos.
KAR pic: V. Brtnicky
A collaboration between England’s Opposable Thumb Theatre and Norway’s Nordland Visual Theatre, Don Quixote (is a very big book) (Sat 7/Sun 8, Traverse: details) weaves together the crazed delusions of Don Quixote with the performer’s own struggle against reality.
In a solo performance, Dik Downey delves into clowning and puppetry to create a surreal and joyous retelling of the famous novel to a contemporary audience, refusing to yield to the passage of time.
The Wood Paths (Mon 9/Tue 10, Traverse: details) from Latvia’s Theatre on Gertrude Street sees two performers, two logs, and two axes interweave on stage to bring a joyful and poetic journey to life. Exploring the human urge to create, to bring order to chaos, and to turn raw material into meaning, each performance becomes a distinctive world of creativity and playfulness that turns the ordinary into the extraordinary.
And finally, English artist Tim Davies’ iconic illuminated puppet, Ocho the Octopus (Sat 7, NMS: details), will be making its way around Edinburgh in a series of parades and pop up performances, bringing playfulness and light, reflecting Edinburgh’s identity as a coastal city.
Young people from Wester Hailes are designing and making their own inflatable puppets to join Ocho on his journey, supported by Scottish artists Ronan McMahon and Gretchen Maynard-Hahn in partnership with WHALE Arts. Besides the pop-up at the NMS, Ocho will be parading down the Royal Mile to Parliament Square on Sat 7 from 2pm to 2.30pm.
Listings
Festival venues:
National Museum of Scotland, Chambers St, Edinburgh EH1 1JF.
Studio Theatre, 22 Potterrow, EH8 9BL. Phone booking: 0131 529 6000
Summerhall, 1 Summerhall, EH9 1PL.
Traverse Theatre, 10 Cambridge Street, EH1 2ED. Phone booking: 0131 228 1404.
Listings are chronological
Coffee with Sugar? (Traverse)
By KMZ Kollectiv.
Wed 4/Thurs 5 Feb 2026
Evening: 6pm (Trav 1).
Using thousands of coffee beans, flying candyfloss, biographical fragments, historical sources, video art and live music, ‘Coffee with Sugar?’ is a visually striking performance delving into the enduring legacies of colonialism. Further Details. Book here.
Size Matters (Traverse)
By Mamoru Iriguchi & Fergus Dunnet.
Thurs 5/Fri 6 Feb 2026
Evening: 6.15pm (Trav 2).
Blending puppetry, science, and surrealist theatre, Julia and Mamoru and their puppet doubles explore how time and perception shift with size. Further Details. Book here.
Kar (Studio Theatre)
By: Studio Damúza & Fekete Seretlek – Czechia.
Wed 4/Thur 5 Feb 2026
Evenings: 8pm (1hr). Post show discussion Wed.
In this delightfully absurd and wildly imaginative cabaret, waiters become storytellers, objects come alive, and guests are swept into a whirlwind of puppetry, music, and mischief. Inspired by Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina and steeped in Russian theatrical flair, the evening spirals from solemn ritual into joyful chaos. Further details. Book here.
The Raft of the Crab (Studio Theatre)
By: Ninon Noiret, Scotland.
Fri 6 Feb 2026
One performance: 8pm.
A bold and deeply human new performance by the witty and charming circus artist Ninon Noiret, exploring her experience of being diagnosed with, and recovering from cancer in 2018. Further details. Book here.
Ocho the Octopus (National Museum of Scotland)
Tim Davies Design
Sat 7 Feb 2026
Pop-up performances at: 11am & 12 noon. Then Royal Mile Parade, 2-2.30pm.
Tim Davies’ Ocho – a larger than life inflatable Octopus puppet, with a single puppeteer manoeuvring eight independently articulated legs will do half-hour pop up performances at the NMS. The octopus will then make his way down the Royal Mile to Parliament Square, lighting up the city streets and inviting all to join him on his journey. Further Details.
Don Quixote (Is a Very Big Book) (Traverse)
By Emma Williams, Dik Downey, Chris Collier.
Sat 7/Sun 8 Feb 2026
Evening: 6.15pm (Trav 2).
In his new one-man show, Dik Downey weaves together the crazed delusions of Don Quixote with his own struggle against reality. With a rogue’s gallery of puppets and desperate clowning, Dik’s Quixote embarks on surreal, comic misadventures, accompanied by his wisecracking sidekick, Sancho Panza, and his decrepit horse, Rocinante. Further Details. Book here.
The Rite of Spring (Traverse)
By Dewey Dell.
Sat 7/Sun 8 Feb 2026
Evening: 8pm (Trav 1).
Offering a fresh perspective on the timeless score, the work solidifies the company’s position as one of the most original and compelling companies on the contemporary scene. The powerful seduction of Stravinsky’s score clashes with the furious energy of the performers’ bodies, creating a visceral experience that captivates audiences. Further Details. Book here.
Europe, Meine Liebe, Mon Amour (National Museum of Scotland)
Bruno Gallagher
Sun 8 Feb 2026
Pop-up performances at: 10.30am, 11.15am, 12 noon, 12.45pm, 1.45pm, 2.30pm, 3.15pm, 4pm.
A powerful new visual theatre work by Bruno Gallagher, unfolding through four playful, surreal vignettes combining physical performance, object manipulation, mask work, costume, and dance. Each “absurdity” is inspired by Bruno’s memories and dreams of travelling across Europe, blending fragments of autobiography with imagination. The performance is accompanied by evocative soundscapes and recorded music, creating a rich, sensory world. Further Details.
Snapshots (Studio Theatre)
Sun 8 Feb 2026
One performance: 3pm.
Bold new visual theatre works presented in the early stages of development. Scottish artists Alys Williams & Duncan Geoffrey MacLeod (Chu Chi Face); Jenna Watt (Hindsight); Ruxy Cantir & Sarah Rose Graber (Voyager); and Andrea Cabrera Luna’s Anahat Theatre (Instructions on How to Cry) offer a fascinating glimpse into the creative process that artists undertake to bring a performance work to the stage. Further details. Book here.
Auntie Empire (Summerhall)
Disaster Plan
Sun 8/Mon 9 Feb 2026
Evening: 8pm.
Auntie has gathered us all to relive and celebrate our glorious shared past, but unfortunately she also has some tragic, terrible, and most pressing news. And she needs your help. Julia Taudevin and Kieran Hurley blend bouffon comedy, satire and audience interaction into a bloody, messy, hilarious and timely lampoon of the myths of nationhood. Further Details. Book here.
Tell Me (Studio Theatre)
By: Sadiq Ali Company – Scotland.
Mon 9/Tue 10 – Sat Feb 2026
Evenings: 6pm.
Using Chinese Pole and aerial artistry, including an innovative new multi-dimensional cube apparatus developed specially for the show, Tell Me follows one person’s journey of self-discovery after a life-changing diagnosis. At its core, it’s about connection: to self, to friends, to community.. Further details. Book here.
The Wood Paths (Traverse)
By Theatre on Gertrude St.
Mon 9/Tue 10 Feb 2026
Evening: 8pm (Trav 1).
Two logs. Two axes. Two people. A pause. Silence. Then the splinters fly. A tree cracks under pressure. But the people don’t stop. A celebration of humanity’s endless creativity and our desire to understand, to shape, and to find beauty in the mess. Further Details. Book here.
ENDS
