Shows at C venues

Grey Matter

Adrian Raine’s pioneering work in neurocriminology can be seen as a reaction to the supremacy of nurture over nature in the debate about the causes of criminal behaviour.

Communicate

Spot the cliché.

Three Days' Time

Set in small, Irish living room - somewhere between cosy and claustrophobic - Three Days’ Time is a thoughtful domestic comedy about weird parents, leaving home and mysteriously …

A Number by Caryl Churchill

Caryl Churchill’s 2002 play about the ethics of genetic cloning and an extension of the well-worn ‘nature versus nurture’ debate is a challenging text for actors.

The Invisible Man

It’s always disappointing to see an interesting concept marred by poor execution.

Missed Connections

There’s an unspoken rule on the tube: never try to start a conversation.

Blood Will Have Blood

Immer City’s intriguing audio-immersive take on an oft-forgotten part of the tale of Macbeth is a wonderfully atmospheric and unique experience, if one that still feels rough aro…

Our Man

Anybody who finds themselves rooting for a couple in a film or show will love the responsibility handed out by Ae-Ja Kim in Our Man.

Deal with the Dragon

It’s a familiar scene to many a Fringe-goer: a black-box stage, a chair and an actor with his story.

Californians Dreamin’

Californias Dreamin’, performed by California Poly SLO’s company Smile and Nod, comprises a mixture of short and long form improvisation, based on audience suggestions.

Fingertips

It’s all queasily familiar: a small badly lit room, a table littered with bottles of vodka and plastic cups, and several alarmingly costumed twenty-somethings sprawled over the f…

Aladdin and His Magical Europe Refugee Tour 2016

The show is a modern adaptation of the famous Arab folk story, in which Aladdin takes his wife Jasmine (her real name is too difficult for a European audience to pronounce) to Gree…

A Common Man: The Bridge That Tom Built

Striding onto the stage accompanied by thunderous fanfare, taking his place on a podium and decrying the evil of tyrants and the chains of authority, Dominic Allen’s blistering a…

Our Writer

There is a theory in literary circles that, at some point in the writing process, the characters will take on a life of their own and as such, will dictate their journey to the wri…

Every Wild Beast

It’s not often you get to see theatre in what is essentially an attic.

Madwomen in the Attic

The Madwoman in the Attic is a famous piece of feminist literary criticism that dissects the feminine ideal and its opposite, as exemplified by the relationship between Jane Eyre�…

Triple Entendre: Love, Life and Other Stuff

Triple Entendre is directed, created and designed by Emily Cairns and is a comic musical cabaret about “Love, Life and Other Stuff”, consisting of a collection of original song…

23, Please: The Sketch Show That Never Was

With a Cambridge Footlights endorsement on their flyer, this is a group already promising great things to an expectant audience.

Deep-Fried Language

A good crack at absurdist sketch comedy, this piece from Australian company 7blue is good fun and at times bitingly clever, the puns and witticisms are nineteen to the dozen, but f…

Lynn Ruth Miller: I Love Men

This is a show that anyone who has ever been single – and that means everyone – needs to see.

Smart

Smart may seem innovative in putting Facebook and Tinder at the heart of a drama, but this cannot compensate for boring and one-dimensional characters and a tedious plot.

Squirm

The toilet, which dominates the floor space of this production, is essential to the performance of Squirm.

Tomorrow, Maybe

Tomorrow, Maybe – the newest offering from writing duo Amies & Clements – is a touching musical, set to an absolutely exquisite score which is brought to life with passion by b…

From the Mouths of the Gods

The ever experimental Flanagan Collective is back with their new show, From the Mouths of the Gods, all about maths, free will, and determinism, with a little bit of kissing thrown…

An Account of a Savage

‘What does it mean to be a human?’Voiced explicitly at one moment during this equal parts captivating, inviting and horrifying production, the question of the very nature of hu…

Small Hours

The description of this touching piece of work as advertised in the Fringe guide does not do it justice.

Jules Verne’s Extraordinary Voyages: Journey to the Centre of the Earth

To start with – a confession.

Jerry Finnegan’s Sister

Written in the 90s, Jerry Finnegan’s Sister presents the iconic ‘girl next door’ story without being self-conscious and with a great deal of laughter.

Crazed

Anyone looking for important and assured new writing would be well-advised to give Ecce Theatre’s Crazed a look.

Für Elise

The female object of Beethoven’s widely known composition for solo piano is unknown, though in this devised production by the York Drama Soc, she is given form and identity as th…

Dark Vanilla Jungle

The strength of this production primarily sits with the intensely provocative script written by Philip Ridley.

A Boy Named Sue

A Boy Named Sue written by Bertie Darrell provides an interesting insight into the experiences of members of the LGBT+ community, played with great energy by the cast of three.

Hang

Hang, the latest show from Yellow Jacket Productions, set in the near future where the death penalty has returned with an added feature, the victim is able to choose the method of …

A Series of Unfortunate Breakups

From Mountview London graduate’s company Some Riot Theatre, A Series of Unfortunate Breakups is a rollercoaster of storylines and emotions that impresses and moves in equal measu…

Immaculate

Arriving fresh-faced from Dorset, young sixth-form group Harpoon present their take on Oliver Lansley’s hilarious play Immaculate.

Inglorious Insinuations of Insanity

Barry is charming, flamboyant and has a very ornate vocabulary.

Threesome

Threesome follows the rocky road to a triple tryst as married thirtysomethings Sam and Kate (Chris Willoughby and Gemma Rook) attempt to spice up their faltering relationship by in…

The Furies

Durham’s Ethrael Theatre presents a musical adaptation of Aeschylus’s The Furies, a tale of vengeance, honour, justice and mercy.

Two Thirds

Two Thirds charts the endlessly tangled lives of a group of university friends after graduation.

The Tell-Tale Heart

Before the lights go down and the show begins, a voiceover warns us to expect ‘scenes of extreme horror’ as this retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s gothic tale begins.

Picasso Stole the Mona Lisa

The Cambridge University Amateur Dramatic Club has failed to hit the nail on the mark with their latest show Picasso Stole the Mona Lisa.

Strawberries in January

Four people with a few more mutual friends than they might expect trip round one another in Strawberries in January, a play that mixes and matches the tropes of romantic comedies w…

The Edge Effect

In ecology, an ‘edge effect’ is a contact point between two habitats, characterised by an increase in biodiversity.

Naked Knotted Neurons

In this devised piece, the company from the University of Pennsylvania’s Theatre Arts Program set themselves an almighty challenge in terms of the subject matter they deal with (…

Ursula Invents Old Woman

Ursula K Le Guin, noted author of A Wizard of Earthsea, is visited by an alien adopting her form.

Cross the Shifting Sands

L.

Lear's Daughters

The Morton Players’ production of Lear’s Daughters attempts to give an insight into the complex characters of Goneril, Regan and Cordelia from Shakespeare’s King Lear by examinin…

Numbers

When I think of an all girls boarding school, I think of discipline, tradition, etiquette, and above all a place where success must exceed expectation.

Cabaret Nova

A blend of music and comedy, Cabaret Nova exhibits some of the Fringe’s up and coming stars.

Phantasmagoria

Phantasmagoria is Hookhitch theatre’s adaptation of the Lewis Carroll poem.

At the Crossroads

I was the only one watching this show, and what a mistake the hordes of people outside on Victoria Street made.

The Frida Kahlo of Penge West

As roommates, young London singletons Zoe and Ruth are as mismatched as Peep Show’s Mark and Jeremy.

Tate Postmodern

The Tate Postmodern has everything you would expect to from a contemporary art gallery: a whole host of hipster credentials, disinterested security and an overpriced gift shop by t…

Womenswear

Through a strong ensemble cast, this piece aims to expose the truth behind the juxtaposition of the stereotypical woman and the reality which every woman struggles to deal and cope…

Eat Me! Drink Me! Buy Me!

“Did she fall or was she pushed?” posits the Mad Hatter (Annie Neat), as Three Mugs of Tea embark on their consumerist take on Alice in Wonderland.

The Secret Garden

The Secret Garden from Not Cricket Productions is a faithful and on-the-whole, effective, adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett’s classic tale.

Splitfoot

Splitfoot by Piper Theatre tells the tale of the Fox sisters “Devil Daughters” who, in post-civil war New York, convinced the public that they could communicate with the dead.

Cut the Mustard

Cut the Mustard has what can only be described as an offbeat premise: it’s almost time for a live broadcast during a not-so-popular slot on Icelandic radio.

Some Thing New

Delivered as an interactive art workshop, with a narrative line slowly emerging, Some Thing New is a great idea with an unsatisfying execution.

Scattered

When their estranged father dies, twins Nicky and Jake reunite to execute his will.

Richard Parker

What I remember most strongly from Richard Parker, a 2011 dark comedy from playwright Owen Thomas, was the heat.

Waking Beauty

Waking Beauty is a new take on the traditional fairy story of Sleeping Beauty set in a re-purposed circular room papered with stencils and pasted pages of old books, fairy lights, …

Disorder

Disorder is a play about mental illness that attempts to portray the realities of living with bipolar disorder, as well as the long term effects of the condition, not only on the s…

Cleansed

Cleansed is classic Sarah Kane: disturbing, difficult, packed with violence and potentially quite profound.

The Night Watch

Set in the Spanish war, The Night Watch is a gripping period drama.

My Friend Peter

The life and work of classic children’s author Beatrix Potter is given a sweet folk musical twist in this fun ensemble piece.

Festivus

Trying to recreate the British music festival environment in a small Edinburgh theatre cannot be easy, but Signature Picture’s Festivus gives it a damn good go.

Jethro Compton's Frontier Trilogy: The Clock Strikes Noon

Brought to the fringe by multi-talented Jethro Compton, The Clock Strikes Noon (along with the rest of the Frontier trilogy) is not to be missed.

Paintings and Cake

Do you like weird and impenetrable absurdist drama? The kind of play that seems to bend time with its slowness? Do you find pleasure in watching characters say meaningless things t…

These Troubled Times

Troy Diana’s comedy These Troubled Times focuses on Charles (John Curtis), an openly gay man who arrives at his brother’s family home to babysit his niece and nephew.

The Remnants: Threadbare

Archimedes (Alexander Wilson) is interested in scopophilia, pleasure derived from looking.

Fashion

St Andrews Revue’s new sketch show Fashion is a fun and enjoyable way to spend 50 minutes, but it’s not going to split your sides or radically change your point of view.

Damsels in Success: Fairytales Retold

Mum and Dad are out and it is time for a bedtime story with a twist.

Roughs (for Radio)

Beckett’s dramatic works are disorientating at the best of times.

The Stolen Inches

The Small Things Theatre Company’s The Stolen Inches brilliantly puts family relationships under a microscope.

Mistaken: A Quartet of Plays for One Actor

Mistaken presents four short monologues, written and directed by Nick Myles and performed by William McGeough.

2 Become 1

50 minutes of Britney, Shania Twain, All Saints and the Spice Girls: every 90s girl’s dream.

Swing By Around 8

Ayckbourn fans will love this comedy of manners from Durham University’s Fourth Wall Theatre.

At the Break of Dawn

At the Break of Dawn is a show brimming with big ideas and questions all jostling together for space; but whilst the concept itself is impressive, the execution falls short of its …

The Hideout

Haste Theatre’s new take on the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur is one full of charm and humour.

Clairvoyant

Singular actor and writer of Clairvoyant, Bettine Mackenzie is funny.

George and Co (the Solo Tour)

At first it’s almost as if George Dimarelos has chosen to counter any preconceptions about loud Australians by opting for the least dramatic stage entrance possible; he’s alrea…

The Remnants: As Thyself

A short and beguiling piece of theatre, As Thyself is presented here as the first part in a conceptual series of plays by Isla van Tricht, although it was originally a standalone p…

La Ronde

In keeping with its history, this latest production of La Ronde by Zebronkeyis controversial.

The Last Five Years

Jason Robert Brown’s musical The Last Five Years is not an easy undertaking.

The Cherry Orchard: Beyond the Truth

I wasn’t supposed to be reviewing this show, but on a friend’s recommendation (“three Korean ladies doing Chekhov.

Valiant

Valiant is an hour of verbatim stories from women who have experienced war, adapted from the book Valiant War and Exile by Sally Hayton-Keeva who collected interviews from women ac…

Jethro Compton's Frontier Trilogy: The Rattlesnake's Kiss

The Rattlesnake’s Kiss, part of Jethro Compton’s Frontier Trilogy, is an all-round masterclass in what theatre at the Fringe can be.

Revan and Fennell: Fan Club

Brimming with originality and presenting a confidently executed show, Revan and Fennell are a double act that have the potential to succeed the comedy throne of French & Saunders.

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…

Mr Poe's Legendarium

Edgar Allan Poe and Sigmund Freud, partners in crime, telling horror stories and picking them apart: it sounds like rich source material, but Mr Poe’s Legendarium doesn’t quite…

Oh Gumtree

Oh What A Lovely War (musical), Oh Calcutta (nude theatre) – but what is Oh Gumtree? The title says nothing of the play behind the poster really but deserves further investigatio…

Phaedra's Love

To do justice to any of Sarah Kane’s work, you need to not be taken in by the maniacal, despairing nature of her scripts.

Cartography

This is a story of Sarah, a lover of maps and trigonometry.

Jethro Compton presents Sirenia

There is a room in C Nova that you have never seen before: up endless winding staircases and through many closed doors, a small attic store has been meticulously transformed into t…

Fringe Film Festival

C’s Fringe Film Festival is a smorgasbord of productions shuffled neatly into one come-and-go styled theatre.

George and Co (The Solo Tour)

Australian comic George Dimarelos’s first full-length show at the Fringe is a solid effort, with his conversational style and obvious talent for observational comedy showing a lo…

Telling Tales

Todoandahooha’s Telling Tales is a series of 21st century morality plays commenting on and critiquing the contemporary world.

Up the Auntie

Cambridge University troupe The Foxymorons promise their sketch show Up the Auntie will be a “ludicrous abandon” of “porn, politics, pheasants and porn”, but their failur…

Tender Napalm

Tender Napalm is a two-hander by Philip Ridley, best known for his controversial 2005 play Mercury Fur.

The Ugly Duckling

With an impressive variety of theatre tricks up their sleeve, Le Petite Artist recreate the classic Hans Christian Anderson tale.

This Wide Night

Chloë Moss’ 2008 play about two women reunited after getting out of prison is confidently revived by SUDS in Eliza Gearty and Tom Herbert’s searing production.

NSFW

It is an exceptionally brave thing for an amateur company to take a recent professional London production and attempt to pull it off as a Fringe performance, but this is exactly wh…

Contractions

Emma is called in for a meeting with her manager and is reminded of a company contract she signed at the start of her employment: she must inform the company whenever she develops …

Dinner is Swerved

Dinner is Swerved starts at 11:30 pm, so it isn’t really dinner — more like a midnight snack.

Cabaret Nova

Cabaret Nova has undergone a transformation since last year.

Learn to Laugh with Keep Calm and Improv

Learn to Laugh with Keep Calm and Improv is a comedy show that attempts to deconstruct the notion of improvised comedy through improvised comedy.

Unsung

Unsung, a tender, devastating domestic drama by Ayndrilla Singharay, draws on her experiences at the ASHA woman’s refuge.

Bazaar and Rummage

Bazaar and Rummage was written by Sue Townsend, best known for her Adrian Mole series, and incorporates some of the wry humour typical of those books.

The Bunker Trilogy: Morgana

The Morgana of legend: sometimes kind, sometimes violent, always bewitching.

Puzzle the Puzzle

The room of a poet is dimly lit by desk lamps.

The Capone Trilogy: Loki

Peeling wallpaper covers the walls of a dimly lit studio in the upper reaches of C Nova on Victoria Street.

God on Trial

God on Trial is a vital and important piece of theatre.

Lynn Ruth Miller: Not Dead Yet

80 years old and behaving like someone a quarter of her age, Lynn Ruth Miller is certainly not your typical OAP.

Lear's Daughters

It’s tempting to say that Lear’s Daughters feels like two different plays.

The Duchess of Malfi

For a minute, I thought I’d walked into a puppet theatre version of The Duchess of Malfi.

Barge Baby

After the success of ‘League of St George’ last year, Bricks and Mortar Theatre are back with their second Edinburgh Fringe production Barge Baby.

The Moth of August

Four performers share a flat in Edinburgh, the setting indicated only by the Fringe guides and flyers which share the single table in the play’s single room with a pair of biscui…

The Greenville Ghost

The Greenville Ghost, a new script by Tom Bonnington, is a laugh-a-minute farce about two struggling hoteliers who decide to invent a fictional ghost to draw in clientele.

Lavender Junction

In 1996 Lisa White interviewed her grandmother, Millie Shrieves, who grew up in colonial India.

The Capone Trilogy: Lucifer

Lucifer is the second instalment in The Capone Trilogy, the new set of plays from producer Jethro Compton and writer Jamie Wilkes.

Dirty Decadence

Exeter University’s Theatre With Teeth brings their modern ballet to Edinburgh, presenting the story of three couples and a maid on a weekend away.

The Capone Trilogy: Vindici

In the third part of this mafia-inspired trilogy, the action returns to a dingy hotel room in Chicago.

The Player's Advice to Shakespeare

Brian K.

The Bunker Trilogy: Agamemnon

Forget Ancient Greece: this Agamemnon marches straight into a real life bunker, transposing Aechylus’s personal and political drama deftly into the world of the First World War.

MenSWEAR Collection: Spunk

Set almost entirely in one small flat, Spunk is the tale of James, a young wheelchair-bound gay man who is in desperate need of a sexual encounter.

Cirque Tsuki: Birthday

We’re standing in the atrium of C Nova as a balloon wanders down from above with a note.

The Bunker Trilogy: Macbeth

The Bunker Trilogy has transported the world of Shakespeare to the trenches of the first World War.

Jack and I

The unsolved mystery of Jack the Ripper has provided constant fascination for people around the world ever since the grisly murders were committed.

Eden Gate

Eden Gate is very much like stepping into a post-apocalyptic sci-fi movie.

According To His Need

Oddball alert! A guy wearing headphones sits strangely close to me and asks whether I like “communist romcoms.

The Jungle Referendum

The Jungle Referendum, by Three Mugs of Tea Theatre, invokes the classic tale of the Jungle Book to explain what’s going on with the Scottish referendum.

MenSWEAR Collection: Three, Two, F*ck

What does it take to be remembered? What would you have to do to ensure that your name lives on forever? Three young lads have spent a few years on the music scene and have finally…

Hollywood Film Fest

The Hollywood Film Festival is an improvised comedy/drama show taking the standard improvised format onto the silver screen.

Cirque Tsuki: Feast

Cirque Tsuki: Feast plays with the old tales of 1001 Arabian Nights, exploring multiple interlocking stories-within-stories.

Icarus Falling

Scott Wings has taken this classical myth and twisted it like beaten metal.

Chatroom

An insight into the online lives of six teenagers, Chatroom displays a parent’s worst imagining of how online communication can escalate.

Lie Back and Think of England

Rachel Lincolns’ latest production gives the brutally honest lesson in Sexual Education that Britain needs.

Mallory: Beyond Everest

Lie motionless in the centre of railway tracks, they say, and a passing train will leave you untouched.

Altamont

If you want to know what it felt like to be part of one of the most disastrous free concerts of the ’60s, this atmospheric show is a good place to start.

Woyzeck!

Woyzeck! is a one-man show and an interesting take on Buchner’s timeless tale.

The Devil Without

Half Derren Brown mind tricks and black magic show, half theatrical monologue, this 50-minute lock-in with John Faust is frighteningly good fun.

Cirque Tsuki: Parade

The concept of Cirque Tsuki’s final instalment of its trilogy is strong.

We Never Land

If one has been lucky enough in life, one might have met that unique person that makes us feel like we are flying, or, at the very least, like we could fly and never land.

Shellshock! Improv Live!

Shellshock! Improv Live! features a daring band of young performers improvising sketches entirely from audience suggestion.

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Shows at C venues - C nova

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