5 Star Shows

Homestead

Homestead is a powerful drama that grips you instantly and doesn’t let go.

Can't Stop Carrying On

As an ageing film producer plans to resurrect his past cinematic successes, an audience are invited to share his memories and triumphs as he flicks through his back catalogue of wo…

BOBBY WINNER

RUM by Joe Mallalieu

The exposed brick of a top-floor cavern at Underbelly Cowgate is the ideal setting for actor/writer Joe Mallalieu’s premiere of Rum, a solo play rooted in his experience of growi…

Ashley Gavin: My Therapist is Dying

In an impressive departure from her typical fiery comic persona, Ashley Gavin’s latest hour, My Therapist is Dying, gets deep.

BOBBY WINNER

L’Addition – Here & Now Showcase

A waiter pours a glass of wine for a restaurant customer.

It's OK, I Still Think You're Great

Two chairs, a table and a back wall filled with train tickets, polaroid selfies, drama posters and a cardboard cutout of Shakespeare – is this a re-creation of my university flat…

Margolyes & Dickens: The Best Bits

Icon, legend and star, Miriam Margolyes takes to the stage once more in an homage to her favourite author, Charles Dickens.

How to Mate: The Ted XXX Talk

Steve Porters (Daisy Doris May) is back with his second instalment of his Ted XXX talks: How to Mate.

These Mechanisms

Absurd, joyful and breath-taking, this brilliant wee gem might be the dance/physical theatre show of the fest.

Tweedy's Massive Circus

Tweedy is a clowning legend, having performed with Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey’s, and most famously with traditional ‘village green’ circus, Giffords for over 15 …

I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change

After their successful run in Wolverhampton, the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre decided to bring one of the longest-running off-Broadway revues, I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Chan…

Lewis Major: Triptych

Mesmerising and minimalist in style, this quadruple bill of dance and light will stay in your memory as dance, lighting, and music all meld into an exquisite whole.

Dead Mom Play

This is a beautiful play.

Sophie's Surprise 29th

Last year, I ended my five-star review of Sophie’s Surprise 29th by promising that, if Sophie’s friends decide to throw a surprise 30th, I’d be there with my party hat on.

Into the Woods

One of the most popular Stephen Sondheim musicals has hit the Edinburgh Fringe, and it truly shines! Into The Woods is produced by the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAM…

La Clique

Now in its 20th year, La Clique essentially created the genre of sexy circus cabaret at the Fringe.

Addict

Addict introduces us to the central character of John, who, after a tweet (or whatever it is we're meant to call them these days) goes viral, slips into the murky world of soci…

Whirligig of Time

In The Whirligig of Time, we revisit Malvolio, the much-maligned steward who leaves the stage at the end of Twelfth Night vowing revenge on the whole pack of upperclass nitwits and…

BOBBY WINNER

A Letter to Lyndon B Johnson or God: Whoever Reads This First

Xhloe and Natasha have been a Fringe icon for the past couple of years.

Hagar: War Mother

Hagar is a dreamer.

Hunchback Variations

This is the perfect Fringe show.

BOBBY WINNER

An Adequate Abridgement of Boarding School Life as a Homo

Not the longest-titled show at the Fringe, but surely in the top ten, An Adequate Abridgement of Boarding School Life as a Homo, at Just the Tonic, Cave, must also rate as one of t…

Cyrano

“Why do we keep telling the old stories?” asks the titular character of Virginia Gay’s adaptation.

Instructions

This incredible show is mind-bogglingly thought-provoking; it is also a lot of fun.

Pear

Which is which? Meet six-foot-seven identical twins, Patrick and Hugo.

Sh!t Theatre: Or What's Left of Us

The duo, Louise Mothersole and Rebecca Biscuit are having their turn to folk moment.

BOBBY WINNER

Taiwan Season: Lost Connection

Sometimes a dance production is so stunning it leaves your brain unable to engage with your tongue: this is such a show – Lost Connection is a fitting name in more ways than one.

2 Slut Drops and a Chicken Burger

Kirsty Munro has created an engaging show with her delightfully naughty stories in Two Slut Drops and a Chicken Burger, making the whole room cringe in the sweetest way possible.

NoVa

Les Foutoukours have been creating beautiful and engaging circus in Quebec for over 25 years.

Catherine Cohen: Come For Me

Catherine Cohen’s new Fringe show will have you asking yourself, “Is she flirting with me specifically?” for the full 60 minute duration.

The Black Blues Brothers

For one last time at the Fringe, The Black Blues Brothers will dazzle audiences with their electrifying circus show.

Ben Hart: HeX

There’s no question that Ben Hart is an international sensation.

GOOD BOY by James Farley

Review
★★★★★
Alexander Williams
Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Theatro Technis / theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall
2nd Aug, 2024

Good Boy is a one man play which follows the traumatic journey of a twink (a young looking, boyish gay man) from his first earnest kiss through to his complete loss of innocence.

Will Owen: Like, Nobody's Watching

I’ll start this review with what I really want to say to the gays out there: if you see one stand-up comedy show this Fringe, see this one.

I Really Do Think This Will Change Your Life

Emma-Louise Howell will go far.

Dylan Mulvaney: F*GHAG

Hilarious yet poignant F*GHAG explores Dylan Mulvaney's life at different stages.

OH OH

OH OH is an hour of beautiful, uplifting, delightful playfulness.

Elf Lyons: Horses

In an astonishing and delightfully absurd theatrical experience, Elf Lyons: Horses takes horsing around to a whole new level.

Adam Hills: Shoes Half Full

Comedy is highly subjective, but it is hard to imagine how anyone might not find someone as genial and goofy and downright decent as Adam Hills funny.

Christopher Hall: Girl For All Seasons

Christopher Hall may have started out as a social media star, but he has really earned his stand-up credentials in the past few years, and it's wonderful to see his confidence …

The Emu War: A New Musical

The Emu War is a joke.

Kate Butch: Wuthering Shites

We’re in luck: Kate Butch is workshopping her jukebox musical: Bush! to audiences at the Fringe this Summer.

Tiff Stevenson: Husband Material

You can always rely on three things from the Edinburgh Fringe: a huge, purple, upside-down cow, a ton of flyers everywhere and Tiff Stevenson giving us a hilarious show.

Alexander Bennett: Emotional Daredevil

Take a risk. See this show.

Derek Mitchell: Double Dutch

Derek Mitchell identifies as Dutch.

Chloe Petts: How You See Me, How You Don't

We’ve seen shows that deliver hard on shock value yet manage to stay fresh and original; shows that blunt the woes of trauma and refashion them into a source of laughter; shows t…

Gwyneth Goes Skiing

Linus Karp and Joseph Martin of Awkward Productions have an innate talent for honing in on the most ludicrous point of any given situation and turn it into a non-stop laugh-a-secon…

Alex Kealy: The Fear

It’s not quite clear whether Alex Kealy’s The Fear is a confessional or a general self-reflection that spirals into a cyclone, but what occurs onstage is a steady deluge of mat…

The Merry Wives of Windsor

Review
★★★★★
Rebecca Vines
UK Regional & Tours
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Southern Lane
17th Jun, 2024

In the third of three deliciously riotous performances on the main stage in recent months, it is clear that the RSC is not so much changing true rules for odd inventions, but rever…

BEAUTIFUL: The Carole King Musical

Better get your tickets quick because this is going to be one big hit once word gets around.

DIVA: Live From Hell!

Everyone knows it takes more than a pinch of ruthless egotism to make it to the top of the theatrical tree, but Diva: Live From Hell takes that demonic compulsion and ratchets it u…

Jára Cimrman's The Stand-In

Who’s the most famous Czech of all time ? Dvořák, Smetana, Navratilova, Kafka, Havel? But the greatest – it surely must be Jára Cimrman.

Alice no (Alice ne)

When the time comes to become a parent, you just know…right ? Especially the woman – the maternal instinct is reputedly strong.

Houdini's Greatest Escape

Houdini’s Great Escape is a self-proclaimed diversion for New Old Friends, whose well reputed murder mystery comedies have been a hit both an on-stage and in podcast form since 2…

When We Died

When We Died is an evocative and haunting exploration of grief, loss, and the process of healing.

UnErase Poetry - Stories from India

Making their international debut, UnErase Poetry, India's biggest spoken-word collective, with over two million followers on social media, provide an hour of delightful tales, …

Regards to Broadway

On 26 May 2024, Rob Madge should have been performing on Broadway.

Lie Low

A year has passed since her home invasion, but Faye isn’t sure she’s over it.

TAP

Dance when it has a clear usage of passion, dedication and experimentation can be a fascinating exploration of how various rhythms and technique can conjure up colour, feelings not…

Sexy Rude Harp Concert

Have you ever been on several failed dates and lived to tell the tale? Sexy Rude Harp Concert explores the idea of trying to find the perfect match and a happy ever after in an hon…

Magpie

In a cell strewn with straw, Michael Murphy sits on a basic mattress, chalks up the days of imprisonment on the wall; looks in his notebook and scribbles in it with his pencil.

People, Places & Things

You don’t get many second chances in life.

Spirited Away

Prepare to be swept away with the magical spirits, river gods and squeaking sprites of Yubaba’s bathhouse for a timeless adaptation of the classic Japanese animated film, Spirite…

Love's Labour's Lost

Review
★★★★★
Rebecca Vines
UK Regional & Tours
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Southern Lane
28th Apr, 2024

If Emily Burns’ immaculately realised Love’s Labour's Lost is anything to go by, there is a fresh new breeze whispering through the corridors of the RSC.

The Cord

Theatre in the round (well, square) at the Bush Theatre, The Cord is a powerful realist drama about the unshakeable bond of motherhood and the tests of being a new parent, written …

Les Misérables (School Edition)

To stage Les Misérables is a massive undertaking for any theatre company, but Director Ben Jeffreys has consummately risen to the challenge with a production of the School’s Edi…

Guys & Dolls

Celebrating the show’s first anniversary, Nicholas Hytner’s sensational, immersive production of Guys & Dolls continues at the Bridge Theatre with a new lineup of stars, th…

Uncle Vanya

The Orange Tree Theatre, Richmond, has scored a major triumph in securing the services of Sir Trevor Nunn to direct his faithful adaptation of Uncle Vanya in a production that has …

For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy

Ryan Calais Cameron’s For Black Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy, is now in its fourth run and second West End transfer with a brand new cast, and it …

Starter For Ten

In a landscape often cluttered with musicals trying to emulate other modern successes, it is delightful to see a new musical carving its own visual and musical aesthetic in this 80…

Marry Me a Little

London’s newest Pub Theatre has opened with a sublime production of Stephen Sondheim’s rarely-staged Marry Me A Little.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Review
★★★★★
Rebecca Vines
UK Regional & Tours
Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Southern Lane
28th Feb, 2024

Eleanor Rhode’s new production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the RSC is a child’s-eye Shakespeare; a tale told in either the boring black and white of adult discourse or a …

Standing at the Sky's Edge

It’s rare to see an original musical open in the West End.

The Hills of California

Review
★★★★★
Tom Shortland
West End
Harold Pinter Theatre / The Harold Pinter Theatre
12th Feb, 2024

Set in the summer of 1976, in the driest heatwave of the century, four sisters come back to their home in Blackpool as their mother teeters on the precipice between life and death.

Iliza Shlesinger - Hard Feelngs Tour

Hard Feelings is no ordinary stand-up hour, but then Iliza Shlesinger is no ordinary comedian.

The Time Machine

Time travel as a sci-fi trope is fascinating and presents us with endless possibilities and frontiers.

Treasure Island

Pitched as “Pirates of the Caribbean meets Fishermen’s Friends”, this highly enjoyable production of Treasure Island at the Barn Theatre, Cirencester, turns out to be a swash…

She Stoops to Conquer

Artistic Director Tom Littler, with Francesca Ellis, scores another inspired triumph with his production of Oliver Goldsmith’s She Stoops to Conquer.

Now Entering Ely, Nevada

Memory is a strange thing.

1984

Playwright Adam Taub says, “In the era of Google, Amazon and Meta, when our every move is monitored and recorded, there is no more relevant story than 1984”.

Manic Street Creature

Making its London premier Maimuna Memon’s multi-award-winning Manic Street Creature is now showing at the Southwark Playhouse, Borough, following its barnstorming, sell-out world…

Casting the Runes

Following their hugely successful run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year Box Tale Soup are now performing Casting the Runes, based on stories by M R James, at the Pleasance…

Gentlemen

From time to time a play comes along that ticks every box and gives a surprise treatment to a contemporary topic.

The Old Queen's Head

A sincerely told story, a captivating performance and a wealth of humour make for a well-spent eighty minutes upstairs at The Lion & Unicorn Theatre with David Patterson, who makes…

I, Daniel Blake

Two lives come together in an unlikely match.

The White Factory

With horrific events occurring around the world, The White Factory at The Marylebone Theatre, written by Dmitry Glukhovsky’s and directed by Maxim Didenko comes as a poignant rem…

A Night at the Musicals – Spotlights Show Choir

Is Exeter University emerging as the new powerhouse in student musical groups on the Edinburgh Fringe? Let’s not complicate this - the answer is simply but emphatically Yes.

The Threepenny Opera

There are many aspects to the brilliance of this show, but the greatest revelation is the singing.

BOBBY WINNER

Colin Cloud: After Dark

Let’s just get this out the way: Colin Cloud’s After Dark is the most powerful, impressive and poignant magic and mentalist show I’ve ever seen.

Reuben Kaye: The Butch is Back

“If you like dick and hate tories this is the show for you” – Reuben Kaye 2023I was gagged from start to finish, Reuben Kaye is one of the best performers I have seen at this…

Habitat

The thing on the floor as you walk into Dance Base’s Studio One – this year under the Assembly umbrella – is not paper.

Pieces of Us

Snippets of newsreels fill the Haldane theatre as we take our seats.

Helen Bauer: Grand Supreme Darling Princess

Throwing the gauntlet down and challenging dominant narratives on women’s need to be vulnerable to be loved, Helen Bauer’s Grand Supreme Darling Princess is an incredibly empow…