Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Edinburgh Fringe set for administrative reform

21 Jan 2010

FROM a homosexual Jesus to Jane Austen’s Guide to Pornography, the Fringe has never been short of controversy when it comes to its acts. There was disappointment then, last year, when the headlines still focussed on the Fringe’s administration over the…

Homecoming at Henderson's

Graceful homecoming at a fine old Edinburgh powerhouse

17 Sep 2009

Henderson’s is an Edinburgh stalwart whose vegetarian power base, begun on Hanover Street in the early sixties, has slowly but surely expanded to dominate an entire street front. There are reasons for its success. It’s a business built with love, and…

Stuck in a rut

Utter nonsense

17 Sep 2009

For many of those students graduating in the centre of recession, the prospect of unemployment and mountains of debt to repay is a very real and current problem. This show is very loosely based on the dire situation much of the class of '09 are facing…

The World is Too Much: Posthuman Satire Slash Romance

Fresh writing taking on stale language

10 Sep 2009

In an island of lamplight bounded by the dull beat of a nightclub’s ‘throbbing ego’, a drug-dealer, his blind wife and a mate shout, shag and think their way into a tangle of words. This is Chris Hannan’s contribution to the Traverse Theatre’s early…

Bedtime Stories

A fun tribute to an essential piece of furniture

3 Sep 2009

One double bed and nine darkly comic vignettes form the basis for this show, which has returned to Edinburgh with a brand new cast. A talented team deliver stories as diverse as a stressed bed salesman, to an unbelievably embarrassing one night stand…

Ward No. 6

Entertaining and tragic adaptation of Chekov's work

3 Sep 2009

Chekhov’s classic tale of insanity and ruthless ambition is brought to the stage in this slick and energetic interpretation by DogOrange. Highly physical and original, this adaptation is both entertaining and tragic as the concepts of alienation and the…

Warehouse 364

Clichéd and flat

3 Sep 2009

A case of mistaken identity leads a part time prostitute to the doors of Warehouse 364, a place where ‘good things happen to bad people.’ Clichéd and flat from the very beginning, this piece is let down by its underdeveloped and repetitive plot.  This…

Bamboozlement

Audience interaction with much charm and wit

1 Sep 2009

Not the first act to blend comedy and magic in the same show, although they may just be the youngest. Unusually dressed in lapels and dinner jackets along with finely tended facial hair makes these boys look more like Amish school kids than magical…

Breakfast with Burns

Finally, a few words from the lassies in his life

1 Sep 2009

250 years after his birth, more Scottish girls than ever have got the hots for The Bard. Alicia Devine sure does. The triumph of this raucous one-woman show is that as we hear from Burns’ mother, wife, and lovers. And from all the blethers between…

Catch

Finding love is not as easy as buying it on the internet

1 Sep 2009

A show surrounding the upsurge in the mail order bride industry is, if nothing else, an bizarrely original concept. The show incorporates comedy, dance, acting and ,ahem, simulating oral sex with a suitcase, in an attempt to understand why people resort…

Dan Atkinson: Death by One Thousand Pricks

Compelling and entertaining thesis on the current state of Britain

1 Sep 2009

Dan Atkinson is sick of pretending. He's through with being nice, kaput with repressing his desires, and done with right-wing 'pricks' that moan and whine on radio call-ins. Charmingly presenting the stage as a realm in which the truth runs free, and…

Or[f]unny

Sibling power games with willies and mustard

1 Sep 2009

The blurb promises a story which ‘asks something of everyone: to rediscover the meaning of our existence’. Whether this is indeed the most obvious question raised by Or[f]unny is perhaps a matter of opinion, but if you want to psychoanalyse, there's…

Tim: Against All Odds

Truly entertaining and adventurous show

1 Sep 2009

Having reached the conclusion that the Tim's of the world tend to be a little boring, unnaturally unlucky and generally have little to boast about; our hapless hero Tim is relentlessly determined to buck the trend and make a credible name for himself…

Unknown Album

New play promises much but delivers little

1 Sep 2009

Four disparate characters’ lives are briefly touched by one song. It’s a simple premise that could deliver much, but this production of Fred Gordon’s play lacks direction and ultimately loses its way amid one too many clever stage manoeuvres. Themes…

Miles Jupp: Telling it Like it Might be

Mr Nice Guy is generous with the laughs

28 Aug 2009

Playing on his persona as a harmlessly posh good egg, the sort you’d happily leave your kids with, Jupp crafts tales of his failings and faux pas, mishaps visited on him and his own ineptitudes into a rolling onslaught of rib-tickling yarns. Designed to…

Edinburgh Comedy Award nominations

Who's up for the Fringe's top prize?

27 Aug 2009

The name may be up for debate, but what isn't in doubt is the prestige of the Edinburgh Comedy Awards and the impact it can have on a comic's career. Known in its most memorable form as the Perrier Award from 1981 to 2005, followed by a brief stint…

The Other Side

Hefty political issues and rational solutions

27 Aug 2009

Tackling some of the hefty political issues surrounding Israel and Palestine is no easy task when we consider the immense and often brutal circumstances of the conflict between the two nations. This is done very cleverly however by The Other Side, which…

The Bone House

No sleep tonight

27 Aug 2009

The cult celebrity of serial killers and the average person’s ability to become one is the subject of this new horror play by Marty Chan that questions our fascination with the macabre. Beginning as an informal lecture by self professed ‘Mind Hunter…

Cabaret Whore

Sex, revenge and Katie Price

27 Aug 2009

The themes of sex, revenge and Katie Price are just some of the topics tackled in Sarah-Louise Young’s all female cabaret show. Performed with passion from the very beginning, Young’s interchanging characters - Southern belle, socially inept librarian…

Crave

Raw and powerful from the very beginning

27 Aug 2009

Royal Holloway Theatre’s restaging of Sarah Kane’s penultimate play explores four characters disillusioned with life due to excess, abuse and loneliness. Raw and powerful from the very beginning, Kane’s fluid, poetic script dominates a piece that makes…

I'll Be Bert

Funny and touching one man show

27 Aug 2009

Hero worship and unwavering loyalty are faithfully remembered in this funny and touching one man show by Bill Cronshaw. Charting his lifelong devotion to Manchester City FC, this piece recalls life in 50s Manchester by focusing on Cronshaw’s childhood…

Kim Noble

Unfettered lunacy?

27 Aug 2009

Of the near 600 shows listed under Comedy in the Fringe programme, there will be absolutely nothing in there like Kim Noble Will Die. Indeed, whether the return of the man who was once one half of the Perrier Best Newcomer winning double act Noble and…

Moscow State Circus

Backbends aplenty; smiles and spontaneity in short supply

27 Aug 2009

The Moscow State Circus is full of extremely talented performers. High above the audience, Alexander Doktorov stands on his head, his hands and legs spread wide into the open air. Lots of people can do headstands, but I haven’t seen many executed on a…

Russell Kane: ‘Fakespeare: The Tragicall Saveings of King Nigel’

More bard theory than he's letting on?

27 Aug 2009

Russell Kane’s second ‘Fakespeare’ play tells the story of Nigel, a vile Essex banker torn between his fat orange wife – ‘the Gorgon’ – and his ‘semi-chav’ secretary, Donna. Nigel also has to choose between suicide and the nefarious investment in Sudan…

Eric's Tales of the Sea

Moving, humbling, and comic

26 Aug 2009

Breathtaking, poignant, suspenseful, and hilarious, Eric's tales are enthralling, told by a gifted storyteller who will draw you into the murky depths of his world. Self-deprecating and never boastful, he gives an account of the bravery of his fellow…