“Getting Triggy with it”, Matt Parker’s 2025 Fringe Show is a Tri-umph!
Love learning new things? Love triangles? Love Love Triangle (the book)? Then from an in-depth mathematical analysis (run by me) on over 3000 shows available at the Edinburgh Fringe, Matt Parker’s “Getting Triggy with it” is the one to see!*
You may know popular mathematician Matt Parker from his YouTube Channel or his bestselling books “Humble Pi” or “Love Triangle”. Whether you know him or not, you will not be disappointed with this show. Matt’s aim is to change the perception of maths in the popular view and through “Getting Triggy with it” he successfully shows how maths can be interesting, useful, and useless in a gripping and engaging fashion. You get to learn about the maths of Dobble, how to algorithmically DJ, and Matt explores the use of mathematics in large language models.
Even if you don’t know much about maths you will still enjoy this show! Matt engages the whole audience through questions, and a lively presentation style that some will be used to from his videos. He presents his ideas in a way that people with little mathematical background will understand but is still fun for those with more mathematical experience. There is plenty of audience participation, you can even win a prize, but with an audience of up to 299 people you won’t feel like you are being picked on! You can tell that Matt loves mathematics, and talking to people about it.
There is also a chance to chat to Matt after the show! I took this opportunity to hang out in the queue and ask my fellow audience members for their thoughts. (I recognise the inherent selection bias in interviewing the people who have stayed longer to get their calculator signed.) One audience member had come along because he knew Matt’s videos and was excited to see him in person. He was pleased to find that the show was totally new information but still with Matt’s engaging presentation style. We spoke to someone else who did not have a maths background and was not aware of Matt but found the show accessible and very funny! I also spoke to an audience member who had come for the second time and was planning to come again. Which I think speaks for itself! Funny, fascinating, and mathematical. What more could you want from a Fringe Show?
“Getting Triggy with it” will run 18:30 every night in Edinburgh until the 25 August and then will be touring the UK into 2026.
*Disclaimer: I know I know, if you are reading this review in Chalkdust you won’t need much convincing to go to a maths show! They come few and far between but we wanted to make you aware!
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