3 Star Shows

Searching and Knowing

For an episcopalian minister from California, Joyce Parry Moore’s performance in Searching and Knowing comes as somewhat of a surprise.

The Lost Letters

Does it matter that snail mail letters are dying out in our fast moving world? We can now email instead, cutting down fewer trees, so what have we actually lost? Plenty, say Newbur…

Brainstorm

Recent studies in education suggest that the two best ways for students to boost their educational development (by eight months in each case) are immediate feedback from a teacher …

Almost 13

Almost 13 is a highly thoughtful and at times disturbing portrayal of the childhood experiences of a young girl growing up in Brooklyn, New York.

Hot Clown Sex

The Hot Clown Company is a relatively new troupe that set out to blend sketch comedy and physical theatre with a particular emphasis on clowning.

Simply Blue

There is a real physicality in music.

Blood Harmony

Chloe, Maia and Anna are reunited under the most painful of circumstances, the death of their mother.

O, for a Muse of Fire: Henry IV 1, Henry IV 2 and Henry V

Shakespeare’s Henry IV and V - two great plays and one that’s a bit of a stinker.

Fitry

Fitry is an intriguing one-man show from Faso Danse Théâtre, Brussels, featuring Serge Aimé Coulibaly as the performer.

52 Souls

Chronic Insanity’s 52 Souls is a series of monologues that correspond to each indiviudal playing card (plus one Joker) along the subject of death and mortality, all in an hour.

Double Crossed

Whilst mildly fun, it is odd in this day and age to have any form of pro-police art.

Alternate Endings

The end is nigh.

Ice Age

Ice Age is a life-affirming show celebrating and bringing much-needed visibility to what disabled people can achieve as performers on stage despite being confined to a wheelchair.

Living with Sin

Turning what we know about morality on its head, Gabrielle James and Joshua Newman’s Living With Sin is an interesting twist on the traditionally 'evil' seven deadly sins…

Greg

Greg is Duck in Arms Theatre’s first production.

Vote Macbeth!

An original musical with plenty of spark, Vote Macbeth! aims to present a fresh take on the well-worn story of the Scottish play.

Cherub Spring: A Political Satire

Children, especially toddlers are known to be tyrants.

The Thinking Drinkers Pub Quiz

Before the Thinking Drinkers even begins, the audience experiences a feeling which is very rare at Edinburgh Fringe: ‘This show is value for money!’Provided with a bag containi…

The Masks of Oscar Wilde

Occasionally humorous, this is a well-formed exploration of Wilde’s life, loves and works.

The Girl and Her Balloon

Recalling Banksy’s famous graffiti, originally painted on the side of Waterloo Bridge in 2002, Amy Wakeman’s The Girl and Her Balloon is a similarly ubiquitous depiction of hop…

Three Women and Shakespeare's Will

Three Women and Shakespeare’s Will is is a nice little premise for a play.

007 Voices Of Bond

In March 1952, hunched over a typewriter on a semi-circular table in the corner of a Jamaican villa, a man has finally completed his first draft of an espionage novel that would re…

North Star (What I Listened to Instead of My Intuition)

Lori Hamilton's retelling of her eventful life is touching and amusing, despite the whirlwind pacing.

Sylus 2024!

Jeff Ahern’s presidential campaign based on audience suggestions brings an insightful look at the current state of political affairs.

Attenborough and His Animals

Clownfish Theatre has returned to the Edinburgh Fringe with an updated version of their show which saw sell-out audiences in 2019 as well as similar success in Adelaide.

Joseph Parsons: Equaliser

Swept up by the Lionesses’ historic win at the Euros, I booked to see Joseph Parsons: Equaliser.

Buffy: Revamped

Spike has left Sunnydale for Edinburgh to fulfil an ancient prophecy and the ‘stakes’ have never been higher!When you’re part of a fandom like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, there…

Simon Munnery: Trials and Tribulations

Fringe veteran Simon Munnery once more brings his eclectic mix of props, jokes, sketches, songs, poetry, and storytelling to the stage of The Stand with Trials and Tribulations.

MARVELus: All the MARVEL Movies... Kind Of!

The Just Us League of Javier Jarquin and Gary Tro return with an update of their whistlestop tour of the first 3 Marvel Cinematic Universe phases (somewhat contradicting their titl…

CUMTS: SLEEPOVER

Gen Z has arrived.

Leith Social

Leith Social offers a rotation of different comedic, musical and cabaret acts under the roof of The Pitt Street Market, hosted by Cornish comedian Sam Lake.

Garry Starr: Greece Lightning

Despite the hyper atmosphere and start of Garry Starr’s Greece Lightning, there is something vaguely unsettling about the manic nature of the way that Starr approaches this show.

About Us

All of Us is an attack on welfare state reform.

Love Loss & Chianti

Love, Loss and Chianti stages two of Christopher Reid’s poetic works A Scattering and The Song of Lunch, both, as the title suggests, explore the liminal space where love and los…

My (unauthorized) Hallmark Movie Musical

Review
★★★
Kate Nora
Edinburgh Fringe
C venues
14th Aug, 2022

Are you a love warrior? Turns out, I am!Hallmark movies might be cheesy and predictable, but they’re the kind of films that help people escape their lives, and during the pandemi…

Blodlina: The Viking Musical

Where do you start if your ultimate goal is a West End and Broadway musical? Revivals often start at Chichester and new concepts here at the Fringe.

Out to Lunch

Well-written, though lacking in some areas, Out to Lunch is an enjoyable watch for anyone interested in a slice of wacky humour.

Fata Morgana

Most often seen at sea, in that area that rests just above the horizon, a Fata Morgana is a type of complex mirage superstitiously named after the Arthurian sorceress Morgan le Fay…

Bad Teacher

I’m sure we can all remember seeing our teachers feeling the pressure on the cusp of parents evening, and as we’re beginning to realise in light of the unprecedented events of …

The Queen's Cartoonists

Six Players.

Speed Dial

It’s finals week on an unnamed university campus and a professor in English literature is having a bad time of it.

Business Casual: FERAL

No imaginary babies are safe in Business Casual: FERAL, a slice of enjoyably daft sketch comedy from American trio Jeremy Elder, Hunter Saling, and Corey Peter Lane.

Ian Lynam: Autistic License

This personal account from Ian Lynam draws on his own experiences and research to break down the superficial stereotypes, misleading media presentations, and poor psychological pra…

Mary, Chris, Mars

Mary, Chris, Mars tells the story of two astronauts who share a Christmas Day together after a chance encounter pushes them away from the crippling isolation of their solitude and …

Feeling Afraid as If Something Terrible Is Going to Happen

According to The Stage’s recently departed Scotland editor, Thom Dibden, comedy first overtook theatre as the largest proportion of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe’s programme du…

Dreamgun: Film Reads

Don't you forget about Dreamgun! The comedy script re-writers are back for another year at the Fringe with updated material and even a few new movies thrown in.

Bilal Zafar – Care

There’s inherent absurdity in an industry which charges elderly people and their families countless thousands of pounds for care but pays a pittance to the often-underqualified s…

Joz Norris: Blink

If Joz Norris is no longer a comedian, then why is he still very good at making people laugh? You see, at some point in recent history, after an unfortunate experience with a non-s…

Two's Company

Two’s Company is Gillian Duffy’s take on rekindled romance and finding new direction in later life, following 55-year-old Maureen as she navigates life after her second divorce…

Magical Bones: Soulful Magic

Britain’s Got Talent finalist Magical Bones is one of the more recognisable magicians on the Fringe thanks mostly to his BGT appearance.

Irvine Welsh's Porno

The highly anticipated world premiere of Irvine Welsh's Porno catches up with the lives of Renton, Sickboy, Begbie & Spud, fifteen years after their appearance in TRAINSPOT…

Dom Chambers: Fake Wizard

America’s Got Talent semi-finalist Dom Chambers makes his Fringe debut with the magically titled Fake Wizard.

Cirque Berserk!

I have a soft spot for classic, big top style circus even if it is being presented in a conference centre by a company that are famed for bringing this genre to West End stages.

Ivo Graham: My Future, My Clutter

Too young to be yelling at clouds, Ivo Graham decides to talk loudly at us over the course of an hour instead.

Harriet Kemsley: Honeysuckle Island

When Harriet Kemsley was young, she daydreamed about her perfect secluded hideaway, Honeysuckle Island, and her memories of that have inspired her latest stand-up show at the Monke…

Briefs: Bite Club

In 2017 I last saw Briefs in a Spiegeltent on the Southbank.

Fashion Freak Show

Fashion Freak Show is a retrospective of Jean-Paul Gaultier’s career using a combination of catwalk, dance and theatre revue.

The Seagull

Review
★★★
Katerina Partolina Schwartz
West End
Harold Pinter Theatre / The Harold Pinter Theatre
13th Jul, 2022

Stripping back any recognisable aspect of Russian culture, Jamie Lloyd’s adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull presents the bare minimum of what theatre can be: a group of …

Offered Up

Set in Chester in 1645 as England was ravaged by the Civil War, Offered Up, at the Liverpool’s Royal Court Studio Theatre is a commentary on the political and social life of the …

Private Peaceful

Michael Morpugo’s stories about the world wars have for a long time been the gold-standard for children’s books.

Red Pill

If schools want a ‘Keeping Yourself Safe’ presentation on incel culture, then they won’t have to look further than Sam Went’s Red Pill.

Cancelling Socrates

Howard Brenton’s new play Cancelling Socrates at Jermyn Street Theatre is a fascinating piece that transports us to classical Greece in a consideration of the circumstances that …

The Last King of Porn

Porn is a form of entertainment that has always had mixed reactions, yet brings a lot of pleasure to many individuals.

No Particular Order

Set in an unspecified time and without a location, No Particular Order resonates across the ages, through civilisations and empires, dictatorships and democracies and more, vividly…

Small Acts: Future Pub

Going to the pub is a British rite of passage, but increasingly pubs are going out of business.

#BLEEP

#Bleep is both a hilariously funny and deeply unsettling glimpse into part of a new doctor’s life.

Sylvia Vs The Fascists

This is an interesting experience from start to finish, as we are treated to moments from Sylvia Pankhurst’s life.

The Huns

The Huns is a fast-paced and (at times) chaotic examination of what can happen in the workplace when something goes wrong.

The Unforgettable Anna May Wong

You’ve probably heard of Greta Garbo, Charlie Chaplin and Marlene Dietrich - but what about Anna May Wong? Wong fought against racism, societal expectations and stereotypes to be…

Privates: Great Ideas by Geniuses

Review
★★★
Johanna Makelainen
Brighton Fringe
Brighton Spiegeltent: Bosco / The Warren: The McElderry
16th May, 2022

Things were warming up at the Spiegeltent Bosco as the pre-Eurovision party crowd was ready for some afternoon goofs and giggles.

Man of a Thousand Farces

If you looked up the dictionary definition of a variety show, Johnny MacAulay’s Man of a Thousand Farces should be there.

Mentalless

Mentalism and comedy might be an uncommon combination, but performers Andrew Phoenix and Emma Wesslus prove it’s a worthwhile experiment in this lighthearted hour of tricks and j…

My Fair Lady

Review
★★★
Richard Beck
West End
London Coliseum
25th May, 2022

Expectations can work in many ways and it’s interesting to realise the extent to which we can be influenced by what we have just seen.

Shaggers

Review
★★★
Sascha Cooper
Brighton Fringe
Laughing Horse @ The Walrus (Raised Room)
16th May, 2022

Shaggers brought a different take on sex for this year's fringe festival.

Rough Night

Still recovering from the weekend? As usual, you get online and start flicking through social media to see what have your friends been up to.

American Idiot

An odd combination of nostalgia and existentialism, American Idiot continues to remain incredibly current.

Abigail

Most of us will be familiar with Arthur Miller’s character Abigail; the seductress who caught John Proctor’s eye and led a group of girls that sent innocent women to their demi…

Busman's Honeymoon

Both a restaurant and a theatre, The Mill at Sonning, with its beautiful river setting in the countryside near Reading, is currently host to the Busman's Honeymoon, co-written …

Orlando

Orlando, Virginia Woolf’s amusing challenge to the norms of society, stemmed from her own life and that of her lover Vita Sackville-West, but in her novel, the eponymous hero'…

Absolute Certainty?

Absolute Certainty? staged by Qweerdog Theatre revolves around the confused lives of two brothers and a friend.

Sheila's Island

Four women find themselves isolated, stuck on a small island during a company team-building weekend.

Rabbit Hole

After sitting through two acts of around fifty-five minutes each at the Union Theatre, quite why David Lindsey-Abaire’s Rabbit Hole received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, five To…

Two Artists In a Relationship

Jude (Michael Lake) and Iris (Ella Muscroft) are a couple who care – both about each other and their respective careers in directing and acting.

The Handmaid’s Tale

Modern opera is difficult to execute well, because no matter how good it is it will always be judged against the classics.

Mojo Mickybo

Two stunningly energetic performances keep Owen McCafferty’s Mojo Mickyboy, courtesy of Bruiser Theatre Company, rolling along at a cracking pace that provides an hour of action-…

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

When Charles Dickens died, he left behind a plethora of iconic novels.

Diary of a Somebody

John Lahr’s Diary of a Somebody makes a return to the stage after an absence of 35 years, this time at Seven Dials Playhouse.

The Marriage of Alice B. Toklas by Gertrude Stein

There is deceit in the title of this play.

The Da Vinci Code

Review
★★★
Elanor Parker
Brighton
17th Mar, 2022

Can 80 million people ever be wrong? Back in 2003, The Da Vinci Code became a global publishing phenomenon, later branching out into a Hollywood film franchise.

Abigail’s Party

That irresistible 1970s suburban comedy, Abigail's Party, has been revived again; this time at the Watford Palace Theatre under the direction of Pravesh Kumar.

Bacon

Bacon, at the Finborough Theatre, showcases the talents of two remarkable young actors in a moving exploration of teenage angst.

Moreno

Review
★★★
Richard Beck
London Fringe
Theatre503
11th Mar, 2022

Simple acts can often have huge repercussions.

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