Monkey Barrel at The Tron, EdinburghIn an act mining similar territory to Rhod Gilbert, Smith flounders in everyday life and revels in being the butt of the jokeThe little guy floundering at life is a well-worn – and evergreen, in the right hands – com…
Continue ReadingSummerhall, EdinburghBritt Plummer is waiting to get married to fellow clown Otto in this playful and wistful comedy Clowns at the Edinburgh fringe are proving that banana gags are far from overripe. Bill O’Neill’s pulpy sideshow The Amazing Banana Bro…
Continue ReadingMonkey Barrel Comedy, EdinburghWritten in the shadow of grief and nominated for the Edinburgh comedy award, this barnstorming set takes in race, class and migrationQuite the fringe journey for Ahir Shah this year, who arrived in town with an unready wo…
Continue ReadingOn Edinburgh fringe stages, pop is eating itself with a series of pastiches and tributes that riff on TV hits and surreal celebrity reimaginingsThis review goes out in honour of Gerard Slevin. He was the theatre director who in 1961 came up with a sugg…
Continue ReadingUnderbelly Bristo Square, EdinburghNominated for best newcomer at last year’s fringe, Sonubi is a warm performer but this leisurely new show lacks shape‘I never asked to be so goddam gifted,” sings Emmanuel Sonubi, in self-congratulatory mode after his…
Continue ReadingAssembly @ Dance Base, EdinburghBobak Champion is a storyteller who dances from one character to another in these travels between Bristol and TehranThere is a fragrant scent when you walk in the room, all senses tickled in this show that has a bit of e…
Continue ReadingJulia Masli, Ahir Shah and Janine Harouni are on the eight-strong shortlist for the coveted £10,000 prize at the festivalA clown-therapy show that takes place in the middle of the night. A hymn to British multiculturalism. And a show at risk of imminen…
Continue ReadingThe festival’s musicals this year range from theatrical introspection to a rip-roaring improvisation inspired by Lin-Manuel Miranda’s smash hitThe world’s most popular musicals have often been on the least likely of themes. Who would have thought TS El…
Continue ReadingUnderbelly’s Circus Hub on the Meadows, EdinburghThe enthralling Canadian company offer up a fast-paced but often jarring show that treats Shakespeare like the Super BowlHere is a twist on Romeo and Juliet’s balcony scene. Juliet stands on his shoulder…
Continue ReadingPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe duo, doing separate shows for children and adults at the fringe, have hit on a winner – their daft pranks bring the young audience right inIt’s a thing, comedy for kids, but still a fairly marginal thing: it’s hard to …
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