Fringe 2023

Scottish jazz guitarist and singer Aki Remally, who also performed in the Hendrix & Us show at this year’s Fringe, brings the music of black conscious American poet and author Gil Scott-Heron back to Edinburgh for a sell-out show.Along with Fraser Urquhart on...

Comic magician JezO aims for a Royal Variety Performance with his debut at Edinburgh Festival Fringe.JezO (Jez Bond), a member of The prestigious Magic Circle, is set to premiere his family-friendly Car-Crash Magic Show at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this summer. Running from August...

Reviewing can be a balancing act, with actors saying they want reviews but all too often really meaning they only want good ones. Preferably five star.if you see something great, things are straightforward. But what if you see something badly acted, incomprehensible or just...

Christopher Biggins would love you to join him for tea at Prestonfield House where he will entertain Dean Friedman on Friday - (yes Dean who had a hit with Lucky Stars which he sang with Denise Mara in 1978) - and the Artistic Director...

Steve Richard's Rock and Roll PoliticsFive StarsSTEVE Richard’s podcast “Rock and Roll Politics” has become very popular but it is clear that the veteran journalist also really enjoys the live shows.It allows plenty of time for Steve to express his views on a number...

Actors preparing for this year’s Fringe picked a fitting location to make an appearance in full Jacobite costume: North Leith Churchyard, where the heroine of their play Colonel Anne lies buried.Anne Farquharson Mackintosh defied her husband, the Laird of Mackintosh during the 1745 Jacobite...

‘The London property market is the fundamental driver of inequality; it makes everything very difficult and it’s getting worse.’Jeremy Corbyn has been MP for Islington North since 1983.  Helping his constituents is his favourite part of the job, and housing issues are the number...

What happens when an Action Hero walks into a small sound booth by themselves, alone on a dark stage? That’s what audiences can find out over six performances starting on 22 August when Summerhall hosts a collaboration between the Action Hero partnership and Deborah...

House of Oz, winner of Best Venue at Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2022, is back for 2023 to showcase the best of Australian talent, including this new work for families from acclaimed physical theatre artists Legs On The Wall.Beetle (11am, 4-26 August) follows the story...

Dozens of comedians have joined together in Edinburgh to pay a special tribute to a tragic stand up in a daily show that has become one of the most popular performances on the Fringe.Stars from the world of comedy including Frank Skinner, Dara Ó...

In composer-librettist Scott Eyerly’s new comedy opera My Life Online we meet Kay (Sarah Minns), an American woman who’s not left her apartment for a year. As she announces in her very first song, she’s‘Living my life online.’For why should she do her exercise...

Rupert Bevan delivers a powerhouse performance in Darling Boy, a one-man show exploring longing, love and loneliness in a queer coming of age story that is both poignant and mesmerising.It charts a young man’s journey through the dizzying highs and crushing lows of...

In his 30th year on the Fringe, Mervyn Stutter has announced his Spirit of the Fringe Awards - the MERVs - chosen from all the genres who have performed here.This year’s winners are Horizon Showcase: Birthmarked, Ian Stone Will Make It Better, Death Suits You,...

The Abrupt SonFour starsIT may sound like damning with faint praise but this is a performance that had bags of potential in it.When Cynthia's husband dies during her pregnancy, she's expected to mourn. Instead, she's jubilant. He can never hurt her again. But what...

This is an intensely personal story written, performed and composed by Brook Tate who was disfellowshipped from the Jehovah's Witnesses after coming out as gay, but it is also a very Fringe show.Tate has been unable to retain contact with his nieces and...

Picture yourself at a birthday party hosted by the twins from The Shining and a collection of aggressive ghosts, where you’re forced to play “pass away the parcel” as you try to get through the event without being murdered.This is the nightmarish premise...

The Queen of Hollywood arrived in Edinburgh this week, Elizabeth Taylor.Often described as the last movie star and certainly of a certain era. Kayla Boye brings the 1961 Elizabeth Taylor back to life discussing her life so far with a biographer. Boye delivers...

‘Liberate yourself from the gender binary and celebrate queer joy!’ screams the flyer. And a celebration is exactly what Antonio! provides.This show is such a joy; it’s hilarious, it’s camp, it’s well acted, the script is clever, the music is great, the costumes...

Jack Docherty takes us back to Edinburgh in the 1970s to Carrick Knowe and “love across the divide” with the subject of his unrequited affection Eleanor. In many ways, David Bowie became a passport to another world. Doherty weaves the cataclysmic effect that Ziggy...

AN ESSEX theatre producer is bringing not one but two shows to the Edinburgh Festival in August.There are over 3,500 shows at the world’s largest arts festival and Joel Goodman hopes that theatre goers will come to his two productions.Joel’s shows are: Alan Turing: A...

Gabby Killick: Conversations with my AgentThree StarsTHIS show was a bit of a curates egg. We weren’t entirely convinced that one woman stand up is the best showcase for Gabby Killick’s work.It was only later when we saw her work on social media that...

The winners of the Edinburgh Comedy Awards which is the highest honour at the Fringe have been announced.The winner for Sky Best Comedy Show has been won by Ahir ShahUrooj Ashfaq has won the DLT Best Newcomer AwardThe Show for Gareth Richards...

PHYSICAL Theatre is easier said than done. Sophie Kean produces an outstanding performance inhabiting the stage and the story and immersing the audience in a story of survival.TheatreGoose's debut show, Her Green Hell, follows the incredible double survival story of Juliane Koepcke.After surviving a...

AloneFour StarsIT takes a remarkable talent in a play when the dialogue and interplay is so natural that you forget they are acting.That is just one of the qualities of the multi award winning New Zealand drama.It starts to the strain of Bowie’s Starman...

This show, prompted by tragedy, is one of the 'underground' highlights of this year's Fringe. Arriving 45 mins before kick-off, it was clear that this show had built up a real buzz.Already, at least 30 people had gathered, keen to be part of...

Skinner is immediately drawn to a man in the front row with a black kilt, sparkly black jacket and cane.He proves to be something of a comic foil for Frank throughout the show and loves every minute. The 66-year-old refers back to when...

Shimmer** starsTHIS IS story told by one performer of life in the heartland of America, Tama County Juvenile Home, Iowa.1956.The story is told by John, looking back on himself as a fifteen-year-old who has found himself in a succession of institutions, homes for...

Gyles Brandreth is that annoying geezer on in the background of my mother’s telly when I go visit her.And queuing for his Gyles Brandreth Can’t Stop Talking! show (he really can’t) at Assembly George Square it was ladies of a certain age, and a...

The line-up for Mervyn Stutter’s special charity gala on Monday 21 August has been announced. Mervyn’s gala celebrates three decades of Mervyn Stutter's Pick of the Fringe, the legendary showcase that presents a curated mix of Fringe picks, highlighting the Festival’s international acclaim.The choice of shows covers all genres of...

Tech misadventures, train strikes and thinking that an asparagus is an island off the coast of Greece, a Yorkshire stand-up shines in this Athens of the North performanceStand-up tag team Beth Fox and pub-running Oli Burkill invite punters to sit back and laugh at...