INTERVIEW: West End Producer talks about bringing FREE WILLY to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Name of Edinburgh show: Free Willy Venue: Assembly Studios 2 and Assembly Checkpoint Performance time: 2pm (studios 2) and 4.40pm (checkpoint) Show length: 1 hour. On the dot. Nothing more. Nothing less. Just as theatre should be. Ticket price: Varies on how good looking you are. Can you tell me a little bit about yourself […]
Musical comedy about dealing with dementia PARADISE LODGE heads to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival
Name of Edinburgh show: Paradise Lodge Venue: Underbelly Bristo Square (Dairy Room), Teviot Place, Edinburgh, EH8 9AG Performance time: 13:15 Show length: 60 minutes Ticket price: Previews: £7, Weekday: £10 (£9), Weekend: £11 (£10) Can you tell me a little bit about yourself and your performing background? I’ve been a jobbing actor for 35 years. […]
REVIEW: Queens of Sheba (Underbelly Cowgate) ★★★★
Following huge success at Edinburgh Fringe, Queens of Sheba returns to London at the New Diorama Theatre for the start of September. It is an entertaining, powerful and ambitious exploration of black women’s experiences of racism and sexism. Threading through the centre of the performance is the story of four women going on a night […]
REVIEW: Sister Mary’s Playtime @ Teatime (Frankenstein Pub) ★★★
Some shows only make sense at the Edinburgh Fringe; think ‘Cat photos set to music’, ‘Shitfaced Shakespeare’ and ‘Chasing scenes’. Sister Mary’s Playtime @ Teatime is one of these shows. It is a fringeful mash-up of a hairy nun in a medieval tavern leading the audience in everything from Mary Poppins to rap between comedic […]
REVIEW: Daughter (CanadaHub @ King’s Hall) ★★★★★
Raw, unsettling and far too close for comfort, Daughter forces its audience to look darkness in the eye. Adam Lazarus centres as the unnamed father in this solo performance, produced by Quiptake and supported by Canada Hub. Sporting fairy wings and a pink bandana, Lazarus opens as a loving, good-humoured and, at points, vulnerable father. […]
REVIEW: SITTING (Gilded Balloon) ★★★★
Sitting is the debut play by Katherine Parkinson, better known for her TV roles in The IT Crowd and Humans. This is one of four plays by first time playwrights brought to Edinburgh Fringe by BBC Arts and Avalon Productions. Sitting is set in an attic artist’s studio. Three models enter loudly and singly, take […]
REVIEW: Kate Smurthwaite: Clit Stirrer (Banshee Labryrnth) ★★★★★
I follow Kate around social media (don’t worry, she doesn’t mind) and I really enjoy her specific brand of comedy and we agree on many subjects – particularly feminism and not accepting on line abuse. I’ve been trying to get to a show of hers for quite some time. I was very excited about Clit […]
REVIEW: Super Sonic 90’s Kid (The Globe) ★★★★★
I managed to catch Sooz Kempner’s show last year and she has a very specific brand of comedy, which uses projection (it’s very fashionable now, isn’t it?) and stories from her past, covering her personal development in a very relatable and funny way. I loved last year, but this year’s show is without doubt – […]
Mark Thomas: Check Up: Our NHS at 70 (Traverse Theatre) ★★★★
Mark Thomas turns his attention to the NHS in its 70th year. His mother was a midwife and he was born at St Thomas’s Hospital in London, across the river from the Houses of Parliament; he wonders what state the NHS will be in when he draws his last breath. Through morbid conversations with a […]
REVIEW: Social Media Suicide (Laughing Horse) ★★★★
Social Media Suicide is Clare McCall’s debut show, directed by Callie Nestleroth, in Edinburgh for a short run. McCall is Izzy, or @izzybaby1991 to her online fans. It’s her 27th birthday and the audience is invited to celebrate with her; she’s even baked a cake. In the Wee Room at The Three Sisters there’s nowhere […]