Pay What You Can: At Dublin Fringe Festival 2025
Dublin Fringe Festival is always considering new ways to try and make our shows accessible to as many people as possible. This year, we're proud to introduce a new initiative that aims to break down one of the biggest barriers to attending live performance: cost. For the very first time, we’re trialling a Pay What You Can (PWYC) ticketing scheme available for all shows taking place after 7PM on Wednesday 17 September — one festival night with radical accessibility in mind.
SCROLL DOWN TO SEE THE LIST OF SHOWS TAKING PART
WHAT IS PAY WHAT YOU CAN? Got a little extra? Chip in to support others. Feeling the pinch? Pay less. It’s a flexible, tiered model built on community and solidarity — where some pay more so others can pay less. This trial is a step toward a more inclusive, accessible festival for all.
Artists are fully supported. Dublin Fringe will cover any financial shortfall, so no one’s income is affected. We’re protecting the heartbeat of the festival — while opening the doors wider to audiences.
HOW DOES IT WORK? We offer a range of pricing tiers, and you select the one that works for you
💚 Low-Income Ticket: For anyone who needs it.
💚 Reduced Price Ticket: For anyone who needs it.
💛 Standard Price Tickets: This is the standard price and reflects the true cost of the ticket. A great choice if you're able to pay the standard rate.
❤️ Recommended Ticket Price: Buying at this price makes schemes like this possible and allows more people to see great art, thank you!
❤️ Supporter Ticket: For those who love what we do and want to support the ongoing work of the festival, including schemes like this one. Radical art is only made with your support.
We hope this initiative opens the door for new audiences to step into Fringe, and helps create a more equitable and inclusive experience for all.
Join us for the below performances on Wednesday 17 September and pay what you can to see what you love.
BIG: ALISON SPITTLE
A man on the train tells her to sit down and now she's doing a whole stand up show about it.
Spittle returns to Dublin Fringe Festival after a monumental few years, from appearing on House of Games, Celebrity Gogglebox, and Pointless Celebrities to touring with Fern Brady and Rob Delaney.
In this brand new show Alison confronts misogyny, sexuality, classism, death and M&Ms in a hilarious and often angry show about the change that the last year of her life has imposed upon her.
SHREDDER: David McGovern
A man with a shredder. He shreds the news. He shreds fascist propaganda. He shreds AI slop. He shreds recipes. He shreds his holiday photos. He shreds your holiday photos. Shredder is an absurd reimagining of our information-heavy society.
Influenced by science-fiction and satire, it’s a retro-futurist world of not just letting go but going off-grid. What do you need in your life? Everything else is going in the shredder
HE DIES IN THE END: Liam McCarthy
Matty’s dead, but it’s not as bad as it sounds.
There’s no need to be sad, he says, sure he didn’t have much going for himself in the first place. He’s no big loss... Matty recounts his last day alive, over and over, telling us contradicting stories about a life that was already falling apart.
An irreverent story about love and grief, and a young man making sense of his life on the day that he dies. Performed by Darren Yorke, 'He Dies in the End' is a time-bending, funny and heartfelt piece of new writing, and a riff on time and potential.
don't copy me (copy): Gift Horse Theatre
Original art is dead, and you’re invited to the funeral.
don’t copy me (copy) is a celebration and interrogation of the myth of originality. None of us are original. We poach stories from legends, base characters on real people, repurpose real life into art.
What does it mean to make work in the present without responding to the past? What does it mean to adapt a text you love? To work with ideas from someone you hate?
Eras Tour: An Improvised History Musical: Bum Notes
They say history is written by the victors… now watch it being made-up by a bunch of improvisers via the medium of SONG*!
You’ve enjoyed many a perfectly curated musical by your ‘Manuel Miranda’s’, and God knows you’ve relished a good history book or two. But what if history could be interpreted with some sparkle fingers?
The Chalice: Brigid Leahy
When a medieval chalice is unearthed on an Irish farm, three characters clash over its ownership. An American tracing her lineage insists it’s part of her family legacy but the son of the landowners sees it as his to keep. Tensions spike when a government worker, an immigrant to Ireland, asserts that the state has the strongest claim. A sharp, dark comedy about ownership, identity, and the messy politics of cultural inheritance.
LIBYA!: Farah Elle
What does it mean to have your heart broken open? Farah Elle invites you into a world scented with jasmine and laced with truth, an intimate performance filled with the warmth of being welcomed home, asking what we bring with us and what we leave behind.
This sensory music and storytelling experience weaves family history, cultural duality, and radical love. Join Farah in celebrating community, healing and restoration, in being bold enough to choose to live with joy and love at the centre.
Cult of Aerobics: Emily Bradley
Ever hated yourself? Great! Welcome to the Cult.
Cult of Aerobics is your glitter-drenched gateway drug to self-improvement, groupthink, and really good abs.
Join the charismatic leader on a high-energy journey through aerobics, obsession, and the dark side of perfection. With infectious choreography, biting humour and a suspicious amount of spandex, this immersive spectacle dares you to sweat it out, laugh it off, and maybe – just maybe - finally love yourself. Or at least love your reflection.
A Piano Mediation: As If I Always Knew
A semi-improvised solo piano performance inviting you to slow down and breathe. Blending live music, gentle breath work, audience participation and soft humming, this intimate experience encourages deep listening, relaxation, and presence. Shaped by the energy in the room, each performance is unique - an invitation to connect with yourself and those around you.
Leave your phone behind, take a breath, and step into a moment of mindful calm.
Amsterdam: Made Up Productions
Is there a… vibe?
Himself and Herself arrive in Amsterdam as friends, best friends, but somewhere between the canals and coffee shops, something terrible happens: they catch feelings. Is it love in the air—or just weed? Reeling from unexpected feelings, they scramble to keep things normal. But how do you fall for your best friend without being creepy? And can you be a feminist in a world as messy as modern romance?
Hungry Grass/Stray Sod: Wandering Stories Theatre
Fresh from its award winning off-broadway debut (BEST PLAY Origin’s 1st Irish Festival 2025), Wandering Stories is coming home to Ireland! Mixing fucked up folklore and heartrending personal stories, let’s take a another look at the tales we tell ourselves.
An Irish bisexual and an Ugandan lesbian meet in a foreign land. One turned up hoping for work, one was forced to flee her home. As they share stories from their past and cultures, strange parallels emerge.