Reviews & features

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2013: Surprise Movie candidates

The EIFF Surprise Movie is a closely guarded secret - here's what we think could be showing

Filth The James McAvoy-starring Irvine Welsh adaptation is a bit of a long shot, considering it isn't scheduled for general release until October. That said, the news broke recently that Filth was coming out in Scotland a week before anywhere else in…

Jeremy Lion answers questions from kids

The children's entertainer answers the questions that popped into our mailbox

Bumbling children’s entertainer Jeremy Lion has taken time out from being near-permanently soused to explore some pressing environmental issues in his new show. He’s still got time for the kids, however, and was more than happy to answer the questions…

Edinburgh Fringe comedy podcasts 2012

Enjoy shows by Shaun Keaveny, Greg Proops and Richard Herring without the need to visit Edinburgh

There are so many Fringe shows on in August every year it is impossible to see them all. The good news is more and more shows are being recorded live and put on the internet for you to download and listen to at your leisure.

How to visit the Edinburgh Festival

A guide to getting the best from the Edinburgh Festival and Fringe

The phrase 'planned itinerary' might might be at odds with the spirit of chaos and wild abandon you associated with your visit to the Edinburgh Festival. The brutal truth is that shows do sell out, so book tickets to things you definitely want to see.

Five of the best free comedy shows this Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2012

Cariad Lloyd, David Mills, Trodd en Bratt, Sam Fletcher, Mace & Burton

Austentatious Best Newcomer nominee Cariad Lloyd takes time out from her solo character show thing with a return to her free roots. In which a crew of similarly expert improvisers make up an hour-long tale in the style of Jane Austen purely from…

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2013: the best comedies

Frances Ha, Oh Boy and Old Stock among our top picks for comedy at EIFF 2013

Frances Ha This being a film by Noah Baumbach (Greenberg, The Squid and the Whale), you'd probably expect this to be a comedy of the 'bittersweet and poignant' vein rather than, say, all-out slapstick. And you'd probably be right to a certain extent…

New trailer for Not Another Happy Ending starring Karen Gillan

The Glasgow-shot romcom features the Doctor Who star as an author suffering from writer's block

Following the announcement that quirky indie romcom Not Another Happy Ending will be the closing gala film at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, we've just been given a first glance at the trailer. Not Another Happy Ending features the big…

Juilliard School bring upcoming dance stars to Edinburgh International Festival

High profile American dance institution set for Playhouse performance

Each August scores of budding artists, many still studying their craft, flock to Edinburgh to test their performance mettle in what even die-hard professionals might regard as a dauntingly competitive market. It’s these same young people – a few of…

Oh, the Humanity and Other Good Intentions

Marvellous quintet of short plays with excellent performances

Marvellous quintet of short plays with excellent performances Isn’t self-consciousness a ball-ache? It ups the ante, rather, as if all eyes are on you and you’re barely making sense, let alone delivering the goods, and you still haven’t found what…

Edinburgh International Film Festival 2013: the best horrors

The Conjuring, Frankenstein's Army and Outpost 3 among our best bets for horror at EIFF 2013

The Conjuring Having reconfigured the modern horror template with Saw back in 2004, James Wan turned his attention to ghost stories, first with the less-than-perfect Dead Silence, then with the more successful (but still a bit iffy) Insidious. The…

Thread

Poignant site-specific evocation of life and loss

After the success of last year’s Allotment, Nutshell Theatre returns with an immersive evocation of nostalgia, memory and love as the forces that bind us together in the second part of their thematic trilogy. The audience is invited to the Burntisland…

Bubblewrap and Boxes turns cardboard boxes into children's show

Playing around with the post at 2011 Edinburgh Festival

As any young child will tell you, there’s no end of things you can do with a cardboard box. Melbourne-based theatre company Asking For Trouble discovered it too, when they turned a pile of unwanted boxes into packages and parcels to create award-winning…

Golden years - Tracey Emin

Edinburgh International Art Festival

As the leading female light of Britart, Tracey Emin has been revered and rejected in equal measure. Writer and broadcaster Bidisha has a few words of scorn for the detractors and reflects on the already profound legacy she will leave behind It’s been…

Tim Key interview: the poet discusses Edinburgh, Alan Partridge and 'sexy baths'

Comedy Award winner brings his Masterslut show to the 2011 Fringe

The List has just presented Tim Key with two pages of facts about himself. ‘This is a very good piece of research,’ he says, commending the 16-year-old work experience person who compiled them. ‘I didn’t get to do anything like this on work experience.

Stonewall

Doubtless huge progress has been made regarding gay rights in recent decades but there are still reports of gay people being persecuted across the world.

Full programme announced for Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2013

New shows from Ontroerend Goed, Michael Nyman and Brendon Burns among highlights

After a month of being drip fed nuggets, the full Fringe feast has been revealed, with a whopping 2,871 shows performed by 24,107 artists in 273 venues across Edinburgh up for grabs. From X-rated puppet musicals and guerrilla style pop-ups to the London…

My Shrinking Life - Alison Peebles' MS-themed show

Alison Peebles' first MS theatre piece will feature dancers and is directed by Belgian Lies Pauwels

Scotland has the highest levels of multiple sclerosis in the world, and one of the country’s most high profile sufferers is lauded actress, writer and director Alison Peebles. Peebles, who’s won acclaim in the past for her portrayal of Lady Macbeth and…

Cabaret Whore

Sex, revenge and Katie Price

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…

Circus Oz: 30th Birthday Bash

Acrobatics with an Aussie accent

Characters in colourful costumes exchange banter with the audience, the live band plays a constant stream of Gogol Bordello-like polka and one act involves a dramatic take on Frankenstein's monster. This isn't your average circus. Far more theatrical…

Magnus Betnér Live

One of Sweden's finest comic exports prefers to look on the bleak side of life

In one shaven-headed, tattooed man appears to be encapsulated the downbeat, morose nature of the Scandic peoples. Letting us know that everything he says on stage is absolutely true, who couldn’t feel worried about his suicidal thoughts? But it’s ok, he…

Scotrail announce expanded Edinburgh Festival 2012 train timetable

Additional night services to Glasgow, Dundee, Perth and North Berwick

New late-night train services to and from Edinburgh will make it easier for those outside the city to visit the 2012 festival. In Glasgow, there will be a Fringe box office at Queen Street station from July 27. Tickets bought online in advance can be…

The Door

An unexpected outcome to an ultimately un-engaging play

Two men argue in spiteful spirals about responsibility and religion as a door bangs offstage. Each has his own particular brand of self-righteous posturing; both are equally grating. The outcome of the debate is unexpected without being contrived, and…

Leigh Warren + Dancers - Breathe/Impulse

The choreographer bringing his 'group of individuals' to Edinburgh International Festival

In some dance companies you have soloists and principals, in others everybody is on the same level. But rarely are company members described as ‘a group of individual dance artists’, as they are on the Leigh Warren website. When he started his company…

Matthew Crosby

Slightly stilted affair from an otherwise very funny man

Given the majesty of this year’s main Pappy’s show, we can surely forgive Matthew Crosby (the small, bespectacled, beardy one of the trio) if he’s not firing on the same number of cylinders that powered his 2011 solo debut. Even so, he is able to…