Broadway Baby presented four more prestigious Bobby Awards at the end of this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, making a total of five.
The Taiwan Season at Summerhall was successful again this year, having won a Bobby for Tomato in 2022, a production that is now on a world tour. Reviewer Mark Harding found Seed Dance Company’s Lost Connection to be ‘driven by intense creativity, excitement and passion’ with ‘fantastic solos, intense duets, astounding quartets’ and the inventiveness of Wen-Jen Huang’s choreography to be ‘astonishing’.
Also at Summerhall, contemporary performance duo Bertrand Lesca and Nasi Voutsas performed what Roger Kay described as ‘a masterclass of clowning, comedy, physical theatre and absurdism’. L'Addition, generated considerable debate and became one of those divisive works that was loved by some and loathed by others. But our Editor-in-Chief, Richard Beck was blown away by its stunning originality and inventiveness.
He had a similar reaction to actor/writer Joe Mallalieu’s Rum at the Underbelly Cowgate for Max Emmerson Productions. He found the performance ‘highly polished …captivating and impassioned and the story ‘deeply moving’. Rum . It had a strong social message: ‘a plea for men to open up, to educate their sons differently and to start tackling the crisis in male mental health’.
Making history by winning a third consecutive Fringe First Award, Xhloe Rice and Natasha Roland also impressed reviewer Ewan Woods with A Letter to Lyndon B Johnson or God: Whoever Reads This First at theSpace Triplex and theSpace@Niddry Street. Who thought it to be ‘an absolute marvel… Its movement is tight, its story keeps you thinking and tears at your heart and both characters are an absolute delight to watch’.
These shows join An Adequate Abridgement of Boarding School Life as a Homo at Just The Tonic as the Bobby Award winners of 2024.
The Bobby Awards seek out the best of the best at the Fringe. Since 2011 only a handful of shows each year receive our golden statuette, marking them out as a truly unique experience.
