Articles by Henry St Leger

Frankie Vah by Luke Wright

Luke Wright has been performing spoken word on the Fringe circuit for years, winning a dedicated following for his catalogue of smart, catchy polemics.

Police Cops in Space

When a Fringe show sells out on opening night, you know it’s doing something right.

A Hundred Different Words for Love

“I’m aware there isn’t much art made about love, so I thought I’d nip in and nail the definitive article before anyone else could.

Guards at the Taj

Only a few weeks ago, the Bush Theatre emerged from its year-long renovation, boasting a revamped auditorium and studio space, alongside open-air decking for those all-important …

Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again.

“Revolutionise the world”.

A Pickering’s Gin Jolly

Gin is on the up.

Le Bossu

The scene is Notre Dame.

If There's Not Dancing at the Revolution, I'm Not Coming

Taking multimedia representations of young women as its inspiration, If There’s Not Dancing at the Revolution, I’m Not Coming picks apart a medley of references to Titanic, Disney …

Sirqus Alfon: I Am Somebody

Sirquis Alfon, an international trio of street entertainers, take to the stage at Gilded Balloon this year, offering a variety show of crowd-pleasing fun and impressive technical m…

Exposure The Musical

Jumping from ravaged warzones to recording studios and London’s VIP clubs, Exposure: The Musical sheds a light on the limelight, dissecting the nature of fame and cost of succes…

All Your Wants & Needs Fulfilled Forever

Modern-day deadbeat Simon (Eli Kent) would rather natter to his mum, objectify his girlfriend, and play video-games with a pothead gorilla than think about the recent death of hi…

A Steady Rain

Keith Huff’s best-known work is found in the hallowed spaces of US television, as a writer for potent office dramas such as AMC’s Mad Men and Netflix’s House of Cards.

Baby

‘Violent.

Beta Public V

Billed as “a world-first experiment in merging the live and digital worlds”, Beta Public’s fifth iteration brings together a medley of daring talks, performances, and video-…

Edinburgh Gin's Night of Literature and Liquor

Much what it says on the tin, Edinburgh’s Gin Night of Literature and Liquor waltzes you through the history of gin distilling and the drink’s use and abuse by the literary world’s…

The Man Who Planted Trees

The Man Who Planted Trees was originally a tale from French author Jean Giono in the 1950s, now pieced together onstage with cloth hangings, felt animals, and wafting lavender (yes…

Blake Remixed

“In hip hop, we create our own mythology”.

Idiot-Syncrasy

Igor and Moreno move.

Dillie Keane

A regular performer in Edinburgh and confident stage actress, Dillie Keane returns with her ‘first solo show for 557 years’.

Fiction

Fiction is unlike anything else you’ll see at the Fringe.

Ada

Meet Ada Lovelace, the ‘poetical scientist’, and daughter of romantic poet Lord Byron.

This Will End Badly

After a rave reception for his controversially-named Fringe debut last year, Awkward Conversations With Animals I’ve F*cked, Rob Hayes has penned another one-man show.

Tonight with Donny Stixx

An unassuming teenager, Donny Stixx, tries to keep his calm as he meets fans for a televised Q&A, just like he’s always dreamed.

The Girl Who Fell in Love With the Moon

A troupe of hopeful Fringe performers get lost in the woods, forced to deliver their starry-eyed show to the “nonexistent” audience.

Heartbeats & Algorithms

What do you do when your computer knows you better than you know yourself? In a self-penned monologue about the dangers of data-mining and artificial intelligence, actor/writer Jen…

Jethro Compton's Frontier Trilogy: Blood Red Moon

Jethro Compton, formerly the driving force behind Belt Up Theatre, has certainly earned his household name at the Fringe, bringing shows of consistent quality for years - notably w…

The Christians

The team behind the Fringe First winning Grounded (2013) are back with a powerfully human tragedy – one that grapples with issues of belief clearly and concisely, without recours…

Yellow Moon: The Ballad of Leila and Lee

Meet Leila and Lee.

Wireless Theatre Presents: Couples Who Changed the World

Ever had a burning desire to see radio entertainment being made in the studio? Me neither.

21st Century Poe: Moyamensing

One night in the life of Edgar Allen Poe, renowned American poet and global ancestor of the horror genre as we know it: we follow an original tale of Poe’s brief stay in Moyamens…

Don't Let Go

This story concerns two workers at a coffee factory, their profit-focused/self-regarding employer, and the struggle for beauty or joy or play in an everyday life that has lost its …

Dear Mister Kaiser

In one of the more light-hearted representations of the First World War at the Fringe this year, Dear Mister Kaiser charts the result of one idealistic English soldier’s reques…

Be Kind to Yourself

There probably aren’t many free venues that are packed to the seams, having to turn people away and fit others into the corners with Tetris-like ingenuity.

Grave Invaders

Thirty seconds into a show that hasn’t started yet, one performer is rapping an improvised piece about how the show hasn’t started yet.

#MyWay

Young Pleasance has built up a reputation as a company surprisingly close in quality to many more adult and professional theatre troupes at the Fringe.

How to Disappear Completely and Never Be Found

This distinct and ever-so-slightly whimsical tale follows the breakdown of a high-flying advertising executive as he becomes disillusioned with the superficial world around him a…

Bonenkai

Bonenkai is a Japanese term meaning “forget the year gathering.

Alexis Dubus: Cars and Girls

As the title may suggest, Cars and Girls concerns Dubus’ geographical and emotional journeys through life, from nude bike rides to broken down cars, in England, Madagascar and th…

Blind Hamlet

Anyone expecting anything like Hamlet will be sorely disappointed.

I'm Not Pale, I'm Dead

Ever wondered what a conversation with a real-life ghost would be like? In this interesting take on the supernatural genre, writer/performer Lydia Nicholson shows her afterlife i…

Swimming

The sea has inspired fear, dread, awe or hope in many a work of literature.

Inheritance Blues

Hosted by some occasionally fallible blues band members and housed in “deepest, darkest Dorset”, Inheritance Blues is a tale of three sons as they meet to mourn their father (o…

The Art of Falling Apart

The Art of Falling Apart follows the path of midlife-critical salesman Callum, gleefully poking fun at modern life and the absurdities of trite conversation, chance meetings, hol…

Wingman

This chuckling two-man verse-play charts part of the life of a TFL office worker trying to navigate life’s rocky road after the death of his mother and reappearance of his fath…

Kingmaker

The creators of last year’s hit political parody Coalition have returned to answer that very current question: what if Boris Johnson runs for the job of Prime Minister? The resul…

The 3rd Sector

A new, seemingly naive charity worker walks out of her gap year and into her corporate office.

Mojo

Jez Butterworth’s debut play exploded onto the Royal Court stage two decades ago, with its colourful array of hapless 1950s gangsters getting high on slimming pills and getting s…

Jack Rooke Opens Up about Mental Health

Feature
Henry St Leger
Edinburgh Fringe
15th Aug, 2017

Jack Rooke's career was launched by his 2015 Fringe meditation on loss and mourning, Good Grief, which took him on a national tour, sold out at the Soho Theatre in London, and saw ...

Virtual Reality Comes to the Fringe at Assembly's FuturePlay Festival

Feature
Henry St Leger
Vault Festiival
9th Aug, 2017

Could virtual reality and interactive media become a staple of the Fringe programme? Housed in Assembly Rooms on George Street, FuturePlay is an artist-led technology festival that...

Tearing down ivory towers with the Sex Workers' Opera

Feature
Henry St Leger
Brighton Fringe
17th May, 2016

The Sex Workers' Opera rehearses on the third floor of Theatre Delicatessen, a multi-level studio space and gutted workplace that used to serve as an office-complex for The Guardia...