© Vicki Couchman Photographer vickicouchman.com
By Grace Hatchell
I am on the back table of Theatre Village’s sorting room, with a ferry timetable, a pink highlighter, and a packet of biscuits she claims are “for editorial stamina.”
Now then, I’ve had some interesting things through my satchel in my time — bills, flyers, mystery envelopes that smell faintly of perfume and panic — but today’s delivery has come with sea air, circus sparkle, late-night music and the sort of festival energy that makes you want to pack a bag before you’ve even finished reading the first paragraph.
Ventnor Fringe is returning to the Isle of Wight this summer, running from Friday 17 July to Sunday 26 July 2026, and it sounds like the whole town is getting ready to throw open its doors, cliffs, gardens, caves and curious little corners for ten days of theatre, comedy, music, cabaret, circus and children’s shows.
And honestly? It sounds less like a standard arts festival and more like someone looked at a seaside town and said, “What if we made the whole place misbehave beautifully?”
Set in Ventnor, within a National Landscape and UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, the festival will feature more than 130 shows across a mix of venues, including Ventnor Exchange and various pop-up spaces around the town. That means audiences can expect everything from secret shows in caves to late-night cliff-top parties, which is exactly the sort of sentence that makes me want to clutch my satchel and whisper, “Right, who’s booking the ferry?”
One of the big highlights this year is The Circus Trail at Ventnor Botanic Garden. After hours, the famous garden will be transformed by an international cast of acrobats and dancers, guiding audiences through a promenade performance among the tropical plants. It is being pitched as an adventure for adults and children of all ages, which is lovely, because sometimes grown-ups need a bit of wonder too. Preferably with sensible shoes, mind. I’ve learned that the hard way.
The Ventnor Exchange Arena is also back. Built especially for the festival in 2025, this striking pink Big Top returns with a properly lively line-up, including POLICE COPS, direct from London’s Soho Theatre, plus Norvil and Josephine’s magic comedy Rabbits Out of the Hat. Podcast fans are catered for as well, with names including The Guilty Feminist and Drunk Women Solving Crime making appearances.
Ventnor is also known for attracting comedians testing and polishing their Edinburgh previews before heading north, and this year’s ferry-crossing funny folk include previous Edinburgh Comedy Award winners such as Ahir Shah, Joe Kent-Walters as Frankie Monroe, and Sam Nicoresti. International acts Felicity Ward and Tom Ballard are also on the bill, giving comedy fans a strong reason to make a proper little island escape of it.
Then, when the daytime shows have done their bit and the sun starts sinking over the cliffs, Club Lunar takes over with music, DJs, circus and cabaret performers. The line-up includes international musical collective The Turbans, Cumbia/Tropicana project Malphino, sitar-led indo-jazz from Jawari, Latin/reggae sounds from The Soulfire Project, and Brooklyn psych group Evolfo. Tina Edwards will also be on the decks, which makes the whole thing sound like the clifftops are going to have better nightlife than most town centres.
And Ventnor Fringe has form, you know. This is not some little “two gazebos and a man with a ukulele” situation, though I do respect a gazebo when it’s pegged down properly. Previous praise has come from Time Out, The Independent and The Sunday Times, with the festival described as homegrown, bohemian, surprising and inspirational. Not bad for a seaside town that seems to have decided ordinary venues are optional.
What I rather love about Ventnor Fringe is that it sounds properly woven into the place. The festival has grown into the Isle of Wight’s largest arts festival, transforming the southernmost town into a world of pop-up venues and bars in all sorts of spaces. Past events have included improvised hip hop in a laundrette and a 1930s Parisian “Book Bus”, which is exactly the sort of thing that makes me think theatre people should absolutely be trusted with buildings, vehicles and occasionally washing machines.
The festival is run by Ventnor Exchange, a not-for-profit arts organisation which also operates a year-round creative space in the town, supporting creative projects and youth work. That matters. A good festival doesn’t just drop in, make a racket and vanish with the bunting. The best ones leave something behind — opportunity, confidence, community, and possibly a few glittery items nobody can identify by Monday morning.
For audiences, Ventnor Fringe 2026 looks like one of those festivals where you can plan every minute or simply wander and let the day unfold. You can book ticketed shows, explore free events, stumble across something strange, eat something nice, get windswept, laugh at a comedian before they become massive, and end the night wondering whether this counts as culture or a holiday.
I’d say it counts as both. And frankly, that’s the dream.
Tickets and full festival information are available through the Ventnor Fringe box office at vfringe.co.uk. The festival runs from Friday 17 July to Sunday 26 July 2026 at Ventnor Exchange, 11 Church Street, Ventnor, Isle of Wight, PO38 1SW, and various venues across the town.
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