Every Brilliant Thing review – Lenny Henry gets audience on board for list of life’s joys

@sohoplace theatre, LondonHenry is the first of a group of star performers taking Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe’s hit show about depression into the West EndSince its premiere in 2013, Duncan Macmillan’s one-person play about depression has gradua…

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Wodehouse in Wonderland review – less than spiffing portrait of the artist as a light comedian

Assembly George Square Studios, Edinburgh Robert Daws stars as the great comic author in this one-man show but is let down by lukewarm humourRobert Daws has lots of previous form on PG Wodehouse: he has played in various Jeeves and Woosters through the…

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‘Casually jaw-dropping’: at an Edinburgh fringe of tricks and treats, Ben Hart has the magic touch

The sense of wonder never wavers in Hart’s charming ‘best of’ set, a fringe favourite in a year of crowd-pleasing card work, mentalism and a hidden-squirrel routineMagic is addictive. The more you see, the higher the bar rises, but the itch to be astou…

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Toussaint Douglass: Accessible Pigeon Material review – an eccentric hour from a fringe fledgling

Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe south Londoner’s avian theme frames a fine debut about family, neurodivergence, pigeons, pigeons and more pigeonsTwenty years ago, Original Pirate Material emerged from Brixton and made a star of Mike Skinner AKA the S…

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Joe Kent-Walters is Frankie Monroe: Dead!!! (Good Fun Time) review – garish grins

CabVol1 at Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh After last year’s Live!!! Kent-Walters’s hilariously monstrous alter ego has returned from hell to reclaim his club from gentrifying usurper Vegas DaveWith his painted face and demonic demeanour, Joe Kent-Walters’ al…

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Solitude Without Loneliness review – bad dates, frenzied flyering and the spirit of the fringe

Dance Base, EdinburghMalcolm Sutherland’s meta production about isolation and the search for intimacy knowingly ties its themes to the experience of the fringeThe dry title belies a show with spark. Solitude Without Loneliness can feel like several fri…

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Ian Smith: Foot Spa Half Empty review – struggle to conceive is fertile ground for stellar standup

Monkey Barrel, EdinburghTV success hasn’t gone to Smith’s head as he still sweats the small stuff – as well as detailing his attempts to procreateReviewing Ian Smith’s breakout show Crushing two summers ago, I compared the Yorkshireman to Rhod Gilbert,…

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Cat Cohen: Broad Strokes review – unmissable return of the egomaniacal millennial

Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Through song and standup, Cohen transforms her 2023 medical emergency into glorious oversharing with this comic triumphEverything was going right for cabaret comic Cat Cohen two years ago: Netflix special under her belt, …

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Andrew Doherty: Sad Gay Aids Play review – twice the satire from Gay Witch Sex Cult comic

Pleasance Dome, EdinburghStarting out with a deliciously bumptious persona, Doherty’s show trips itself up with a subplot about arts fundingGay Witch Sex Cult was quite the solo debut last year from Andrew Doherty, a folk-horror pastiche delivered in c…

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Dirty Work review – a jolly holiday with Mary Floppins

Underbelly Cowgate, EdinburghJessica Barton sets about cleaning up the domestic acts of the men in her audience with comically strict disciplineWe’ve all felt the urge to impose order on the mess of our lives, whether that mess is literal or emotional….

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