PLANETARIUM LATES: PINK FLOYD’S DARK SIDE OF THE MOON★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
PLANETARIUM LATES: PINK FLOYD’S DARK SIDE OF THE MOON Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★ “it really is a hidden gem of the fringe” Planetarium Lates: Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon is an experience well worth the walk to Edinburgh’s Dynamic Earth space museum. The 45-minute show pairs a play-through
POTTY THE PLANT★★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
POTTY THE PLANT Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★★ “Theatrical brilliance.” In ancient Greek theatre, at the end of a play, the deus ex machina would descend to tidy things up. But let’s not rush—let’s leave that thought where it belongs: at the end of this review. The house lights dim. A
ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE★★★★★Edinburgh International Festival
ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE Edinburgh International Festival ★★★★★ “This is a finely wrought work, every element chosen with precision” The theatre curtain glows with a looping projection—what many today would call a “boomerang”, though not of the Australian variety. The image fades. In the pit, the live orchestra tunes. The curtain
THREE CHICKENS CONFRONT EXISTENCE★★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
THREE CHICKENS CONFRONT EXISTENCE Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★★ “packs excellence in every moment” If you’ve ever wondered what battery chickens actually do while confined inside their indoor cages, Bill Schaumberg has the answers for you. Well, maybe not answers, as such, but a thoroughly dystopian, and hilarious, analysis of chicken
WHAT IF THEY ATE THE BABY?★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
WHAT IF THEY ATE THE BABY? Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★ “The chemistry between the two is electric” Dottie and Shirley look like they’ve stepped straight out of a 1950s homemaker advert; perfect dresses, perfect hair, and the kind of fixed smiles that make you wonder what they’re hiding. Fringe First-winners
DEREK MITCHELL: GOBLIN★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
DEREK MITCHELL: GOBLIN Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★ “a performer in such complete control of his character that he improvises and embellishes his act with ease” Derek Mitchell: Goblin, a one-man show performed by actor Derek Mitchell with Impatient Productions, kicks off as a vivid 2000s period piece, replete with heavy
KINDER★★½Edinburgh Festival Fringe
KINDER Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★½ “it could become a sharp, funny and moving piece of political drag theatre” Ryan Stewart’s KINDER arrives at the Edinburgh Fringe with a concept that is both timely and important. The censorship of LGBTQ+ issues from young people is a growing concern, and placing that
MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS★★★★★Edinburgh International Festival
MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS Edinburgh International Festival ★★★★★ “a work of rare ambition: visually striking, musically daring, dramatically urgent” Scottish Ballet’s Mary, Queen of Scots opens with Elizabeth I illuminated in a pool of light as white petals fall — winter, the end of a life. On her deathbed, she
ROTUS★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
ROTUS Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★ “a sharp, biting, and brilliantly political work—a masterful piece of writing” A small stage. Did I say small? I mean, broom-cupboard small. Just enough room for one desk, a chair, and a few feet to shuffle around. The venue itself is comically cramped, barely a
HAMLET – WAKEFULNESS★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
HAMLET – WAKEFULNESS Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★ “an intriguing piece, and certainly inhabits new territory for adaptations” A prequel to Shakespeare’s Hamlet comes to this year’s Edinburgh Fringe, courtesy of Poland’s Theatre of the Goat (Teatr Pieśń Kozła). This is Hamlet as you’ve never seen it, although never heard it,
BECAUSE YOU NEVER ASKED★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
BECAUSE YOU NEVER ASKED Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★ “captures many moments where the sounds and movement line up meaningfully” Because You Never Asked by We All Fall Down is a visually captivating piece set to the backdrop of a co-creator Roger White, and his grandmother, Marianna Clark about her experience
DIRTY WORK★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
DIRTY WORK Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★ “a fun, silly, and expertly crafted show” Jessica Barton is Mary Floppins in her Edinburgh Fringe debut clowning show Dirty Work, a side-splittingly hilarious hour of singing, dancing, dirty laundry, and plenty of audience interaction. Dressed in the iconic black feathered hat and button-down
HANDS UP!★★★½Edinburgh Festival Fringe
HANDS UP! Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★½ “I would absolutely recommend the show for anyone looking for an easy laugh and some promising dramatic talent” I open this review with a confession. I have seen a lot of student theatre. Too much. And yet shows like this one remind me why
300 PAINTINGS★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
300 PAINTINGS Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★ “compelling, funny, and, at times, quietly challenging” Sam Kissajukian opens 300 Paintings by telling us he is quitting comedy to become an artist. It is a ridiculous premise, he admits, and one that becomes the launchpad for a fast-paced, funny, and unexpectedly thoughtful hour
THE CITY FOR INCURABLE WOMEN★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
THE CITY FOR INCURABLE WOMEN Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★ “an informative and affecting devised piece” The City for Incurable Women by Fish in a Dress Theatre is a trailblazing dissection of the history of hysteria. This careful solo piece explores and uncovers the murky depths of how women’s mental illness
MOTORHOME MARILYN★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
MOTORHOME MARILYN Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★ “Fans of Michelle Collins will enjoy the opportunity to see her live on stage” Michelle Collins, of Eastenders fame, is packing the house with her fans at the Gilded Balloon’s Patterhouse Downstairs. Motorhome Marilyn is a quirky one woman show written by Ben Weatherill,
FLICK★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
FLICK Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★ “Nunn’s performance is magnetic; she’s endlessly animated, holding the room as if we’re her closest confidants” Madelaine Nunn strolls onto the stage in her teal scrubs, beaming like she’s about to let you in on a juicy secret. She’s a palliative care nurse, used to
PALDEM★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
PALDEM Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★ “so many fascinating ideas and visceral moments” From the instant you walk into the Summerhall theatre, you’re struck with a rush of hot, sticky air; an intensity that never really abates throughout the narrative to come. The set is minimalistic but tactfully constructed; an Ikea
ED NIGHT: YOUR OLD MUCKER★★★½Edinburgh Festival Fringe
ED NIGHT: YOUR OLD MUCKER Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★½ “the last few minutes of the show turn into something genuinely special, and strangely hopeful” Ed Night’s fifth show “Your Old Mucker” at the Fringe manages to feel dry, bleak and poignant all within the hour. With signature droll delivery, Night
FLUSH★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
FLUSH Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★ “the young actresses all show impressive range in their multi-rolling” Flush is a cross section of one night in the women’s toilets of a Hackney club. Fast paced and wide-ranging, it offers a kaleidoscopic view of the female hivemind anno 2025. With fourteen characters, it’s
STAMPTOWN★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
STAMPTOWN Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★ “Fringe is an excellent space to push boundaries, but to my mind, Stamptown distastefully oversteps them” Do you remember Rosamund Pike’s ‘Cool Girl’-monologue in Gone Girl (2014), based on Gillian Flynn’s book? The novel explains that the Cool Girl is someone who ‘adores football, poker,
SAME★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
SAME Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★ “honest, powerful, and true — and, perhaps most importantly, hopeful” Many men carry complicated maps of their fathers in their hearts — some routes well-trodden, others broken off mid-journey. In Same, two best mates, James and Lewis, wrestle with the weight of those inherited paths.
PIGS FLY EASY RYAN★★★½Edinburgh Festival Fringe
PIGS FLY EASY RYAN Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★½ “you can’t deny having an absolutely wild time watching the chaos unfold” A technical hiccup with a set malfunction early on had me genuinely wondering whether it was part of the show… that is very much the territory we’re in here! NONSTOP’s
PICKLED REPUBLIC★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
PICKLED REPUBLIC Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★ “a promising beginning for an artist who has found a whole new world to explore on stage” Ruxy Cantir’s Pickled Republic is a one woman show celebrating pickled vegetables. Or it would be a celebration, if these vegetables were not overly ripe, deep in
JOAN COLLINS BLOCKED ME ON TWITTER★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
JOAN COLLINS BLOCKED ME ON TWITTER Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★ “Billy Walker has come up with a strong concept” Joan Collins Blocked Me On Twitter is the brainchild of Billy Walker, who comes to us from Los Angeles, dripping in awards. In this 60 minute monologue, he gives us actor
THE LOST PRIEST★★★½Edinburgh Festival Fringe
THE LOST PRIEST Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★½ “What makes The Lost Priest special is its resistance to formula” I first heard about The Lost Priest not from a flyer or a listing, but at another show. An artist asked the audience, “What else should we see at the Fringe?” Three
SHUNGA ALERT★★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
SHUNGA ALERT Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★★ “Ridiculous? Entirely. Entertaining? Absolutely.” Inventive. Collaborative. Comedic. Physical theatre and clowning tangled together with illustrations that leap from paper to projection to full three-dimensional mischief. This isn’t so much a performance as it is a cheeky carnival of images, bodies, and imagination. Early on,
MIKE RICE: CRUEL LITTLE MAN★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
MIKE RICE: CRUEL LITTLE MAN Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★ “to his absolute credit he shirks on dignity and goes big on gross-out laughs” Irish comedian and semi-famous podcaster (YOU should relax) Mike Rice is bringing his hour of stand-up, Cruel Little Man, to Edinburgh, and it does not disappoint. As
BABY IN THE MIRROR★★★½Edinburgh Festival Fringe
BABY IN THE MIRROR Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★½ “a gentle, intimate hour with moments of truth and tenderness” Joey and Lena have just moved into a new home. Cardboard boxes are still stacked around them, their lives mid-transition. They are also about to have a baby, with the help of
NERDS★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
NERDS Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★ “Packed with technology-related puns, the script is generally entertaining” In ‘Nerds’, Steve Jobs is a hippie-turned-leather-clad bad boy and Bill Gates a traumatised but vindictive incel. In an hour and a half, this musical charts their trajectories from garage-based geeks to some of the richest
KEVIN QUANTUM: UNBELIEVABLE MAGIC FOR NON-BELIEVERS★★½Edinburgh Festival Fringe
KEVIN QUANTUM: UNBELIEVABLE MAGIC FOR NON-BELIEVERS Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★½ “Quantum is a charismatic and sincere showman, and his predictive powers are the most impressive parts of the show” Kevin Quantum’s Unbelievable Magic for Non-Believers is a show that dares its audience to believe in the power of fate and
NIUSIA★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
NIUSIA Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★ “The subject matter is urgent, and the personal lens has real potential” Beth Paterson’s one-woman autobiographical show Niusia is built from fragments: family memories, inherited stories, and Holocaust history. It centres on her grandmother, Niusia, a Holocaust survivor who was, in Beth’s words, both heroic
WORKS AND DAYS★★★★Edinburgh International Festival
WORKS AND DAYS Edinburgh International Festival ★★★★ “an intriguing work by a (literally) ground breaking theatre company” Works and Days, a rumination on the vanished rituals of rural life, has just opened at the Royal Lyceum Theatre as part of the Edinburgh International Festival. This show is created by the
PHILOSOPHY OF THE WORLD★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
PHILOSOPHY OF THE WORLD Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★ “It’s a thrill to watch, genuinely hilarious at times” A key memory of In Bed With My Brother’s last Fringe show, Tricky Second Album in 2019, was the rumour that they had failed their risk assessment and had to cancel the first
THE SHOW WITH MATT LEAZER★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
THE SHOW WITH MATT LEAZER Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★ “Matt’s stage becomes a metaphor for life: a wild adventure, a poem we write to ourselves” I was standing outside a venue when an artist handed me a flyer. Not just one of the countless leaflets scattered across the festival, but
JAZZ EMU: THE PLEASURE IS ALL YOURS★★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
JAZZ EMU: THE PLEASURE IS ALL YOURS Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★★ “unique, surreal and consistently hilarious” Earlier today, a friend asked me what it took to get five stars at a fringe level. I’ve never really had a metric. Probably never will. But if I had to say, and so
MARIUPOL★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
MARIUPOL Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★ “a gem of a short play, and Katia Haddad draws the audience in with great skill” Mariupol, Katia Haddad’s poignant drama set against the backdrop of the Ukrainian War, is currently playing at the Pleasance Courtyard Beneath. It’s a beautifully constructed drama about a Russian,
CONSUMED★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
CONSUMED Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★ “a sophisticated and ambitious piece of writing” Four generations of Northern Irish women gather for their great-grandmother’s 90th birthday: a family kitchen, a table set for dinner, and a tangle of unspoken histories. Over the course of the meal, tensions simmer, humour bubbles, and old
MISS BREXIT★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
MISS BREXIT Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★ “well worth a watch for its strong performers” In Miss Brexit, four Europeans compete to gain the leave to remain in an absurd pageant that sees the contestants attempt to assimilate to British culture. By the end of the show, three Europeans have been
DANCE DANCE INVOLUTION★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
DANCE DANCE INVOLUTION Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★ “brims with originality and creative flair” Dance Dance Involution truly embodies the word “unique”. And that’s not a backhanded compliment. It’s truly original; the personalities and talents of its three creator-performers are so immediate and vibrant, grounding their theatricality in familiar childhood and
SOME MASTERCHEF SH*T★★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
SOME MASTERCHEF SH*T Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★★ “infused with delicate, tight writing, lightning-quick dialogue, and refreshingly honest, natural banter” Dark comedy, dark coffee, dark corner, dark encounter, and a dark post on the dark internet converge the lives of Adam and Luke—two divergent, lost souls each looking for a way
AETHER★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
AETHER Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★ “a fascinating piece much like the women it presents” If you’re intrigued by the idea of particle physics presented as a cabaret show involving four energetic performers stepping in and out of a variety of roles, Emma Howlett’s Aether is for you. Sixty minutes on
ROLE PLAY (OR THE HOTTEST DAY IN BELGIAN HISTORY)★★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
ROLE PLAY (OR THE HOTTEST DAY IN BELGIAN HISTORY) Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★★ “unapologetic, bold, brave, and brilliantly acted” A single actor sits facing upstage in a small Fringe theatre. One chair. A pillow. Two torches (flashlights). That’s all — and it’s all that’s needed. This is Fringe perfection. I
POP OFF, MICHELANGELO!★★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
POP OFF, MICHELANGELO! Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★★ “this camp, fairy-tale romp of a show is going to be the best hour and fifteen of our day” A cloud drifts across the stage. Six tall columns stand proud, with a scattering of shorter ones—Doric and Ionic, naturally—not a Corinthian in sight.
A SUDDEN, DISTURBING TO DO LIST★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
A SUDDEN, DISTURBING TO DO LIST Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★ “wonderfully vivid and authentic” I really loved this show. Despite the intensity of a stuffy heat which looked upon its singular, opposing fan and spat in contempt, I never for a second felt a drifting sleep; even when the character
BOILER ROOM SIX: A TITANIC STORY★★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
BOILER ROOM SIX: A TITANIC STORY Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★★ “Tom Foreman’s script is seaworthy—tight and purposeful—navigated with skilful technical design” The engineers call the boiler rooms of the Titanic ‘The Inferno’—its roaring furnace rooms where steel bellies glow red, the beating heart of the “unsinkable” luxury liner. Here is
FIGURES IN EXTINCTION★★★★★Edinburgh International Festival
FIGURES IN EXTINCTION Edinburgh International Festival ★★★★★ “Figures in Extinction transcends story: it is a thesis danced, a living meditation on extinction, existence, renewal” Act I Dancers stand facing us. A single breath — then movement. Crystal Pite’s choreography speaks in precision, clarity, and the eloquence of gesture. A second
TOM AT THE FARM★★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
TOM AT THE FARM Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★★ “The characters are flawed, magnetic, dangerous to love — yet, by the end, we do” Federico García Lorca once wrote that duende is “a state of tragedy-inspired ecstasy” — a force that doesn’t live in the mind but in the marrow. It
ME AND MY YEAR OF CASUAL MONASTICISM★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
ME AND MY YEAR OF CASUAL MONASTICISM Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★ “The piece works neither as an intimate confessional monologue nor as a sharp comedy” ‘Me and My Year of Casual Monasticism’, written, directed, and performed by Emily Knutsson, is about a semi-autobiographical piece about a Cambridge University student who
HOW TO WIN AGAINST HISTORY★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
HOW TO WIN AGAINST HISTORY Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★ “an hour-and-a-half whirlwind of a spectacle” Henry Cyril Paget, the 5th Marquess of Anglesey, converted his family’s ancient chapel into a theatre and quickly squandered his entire family fortune, only to die at the age of 29. His kin then attempted
BERNIE DIETER’S CLUB KABARETT★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
BERNIE DIETER’S CLUB KABARETT Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★ “largely the warmth, affection and beauty shone through and beyond the tent” Where to start? The full frontal nudity? The death defying acrobotics? The public desecration of a cake? Bernie Dieter’s Club Kabarett has almost everything one could ask for from a
AS YOU LIKE IT RADICAL RETELLING★Edinburgh International Festival
AS YOU LIKE IT RADICAL RETELLING Edinburgh International Festival ★ “The movement of the piece is clumsy: clichés, borrowed gestures that feel appropriated rather than considered” We enter a jewel-box theatre. Birds chirp, a troubadour sings. The red drape, gold fringe, and footlights evoke a sense of tradition. But the
BOOK OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS★★★★Edinburgh International Festival
BOOK OF MOUNTAINS AND SEAS Edinburgh International Festival ★★★★ “a piece that is uniquely modern, despite multiple traditions from the past that have inspired the work” Composer Huang Rho, puppeteer Basil Twist, and Ars Nova Copenhagen bring an innovative contemporary opera to the Royal Lyceum Theatre as part of the
TRIPTYCH REDUX★★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
TRIPTYCH REDUX Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★★ “It is dance you can read, dance that is language, dance that is legible” Australian choreographer Lewis Major’s mixed repertory Triptych Redux sweeps between the inner and outer worlds—a whirling maelstrom of motion, sound, and light—holding us in its pull from first breath to
CREEPY BOYS: SLUGS★★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
CREEPY BOYS: SLUGS Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★★ “Pretty much every moment of this show is laugh-out-loud hilarious” A part-techno-punk concert, part projector-screen-puppet-show run by perhaps the sweatiest, funniest, and unapologetically existential performers at fringe? You won’t be able to get enough of. Unless you are in the front row. Slugs
DANCE PEOPLE★★★Edinburgh International Festival
DANCE PEOPLE Edinburgh International Festival ★★★ “As the sun sets, darkness transforms the space, and the lighting takes full effect” An empty courtyard. A red ribbon separates the performance space from the audience area. Lebanese-French dance company Maqamat takes the stage—or rather, the quad. We’re in the Old College Quad,
CHAMPIONS★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
CHAMPIONS Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★ “cinematic, poignant, visually stunning, and deeply affecting” We enter a large theatre space and take our seats. The stage is set as a living room: a single lounge chair, a rug, a vintage tube television, a retro stereo system, and an antique Victrola phonograph are
THE NATURE OF FORGETTING★★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
THE NATURE OF FORGETTING Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★★ “The movement takes on the task of speaking—in a universal language that we can all understand” Theatre Re’s remarkable The Nature of Forgetting has returned to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Last seen here in 2017, this show is about Tom, a man
MAKE IT HAPPEN★★★Edinburgh International Festival
MAKE IT HAPPEN Edinburgh International Festival ★★★ “it’s left to Brian Cox to bring a craggy humanity to Adam Smith, and to deliver the best lines” James Graham’s latest play, Make It Happen, and written for the National Theatre of Scotland is, fittingly, thoroughly Scottish in theme and character, and
GISELLE: REMIX★★★★Edinburgh Festival Fringe
GISELLE: REMIX Edinburgh Festival Fringe ★★★★ “The choreography is impeccable, the performances magnetic, and the shifts in tone handled with total control” Jack Sears’ Giselle: Remix takes the bones of the classic ballet and explodes them into something gloriously queer, irreverent, and intoxicating. Part ballet, part lip-sync cabaret, part queer
