Edinburgh festival kicks off – in pictures

Photographer Murdo MacLeod has been photographing rehearsals and preparations for this year’s much-reduced programme of the Edinburgh festival, which opened on Saturday Continue reading…

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Camels, clowns and sex education: what to see at Edinburgh fringe 2021

The festival has shrunk because of Covid but there are plenty of shows in person and online this summer – here’s our pick of the first to be announcedSex Education Xplorers (S.E.X.)What did they miss out in your sex ed at school? Mamoru Iriguchi fills …

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Alyssa: Memoirs of a Queen review – ego fest with a helping of humility

Vaudeville theatre, LondonRuPaul’s Drag Race star Alyssa Edwards rampages into the West End and has an easy way with the crowd“My favourite subject is talking about me,” Alyssa Edwards tells us – so she must really be enjoying her West End show, in whi…

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Alyssa: Memoirs of a Queen review – ego fest with a helping of humility

Vaudeville theatre, LondonRuPaul’s Drag Race star Alyssa Edwards rampages into the West End and has an easy way with the crowd“My favourite subject is talking about me,” Alyssa Edwards tells us – so she must really be enjoying her West End show, in whi…

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Let’s not ‘get back to normal’: the Southbank Centre will reflect our changed world

From postponed Meltdowns to melted icecream, shutting down an 11-acre multi-venue site has made for a challenging 15 months at London’s Southbank Centre. But, as it reopens, there have been gains as well as lossesPerhaps not right at the top of the lis…

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Aisles, stalls or near the loos: what are the best seats in the house?

Do you want your sightlines unobstructed by big hair, or is avoiding the eyeline of savage comics your priority? Here’s the perfect spot to enjoy the show In the Guide’s weekly Solved! column, we look into a crucial pop-culture question you’ve been bur…

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Love Bites review – gleeful salute to theatre’s thrilling return

York Theatre RoyalA mix of music, dance, comedy and poetry delivers a bittersweet reminder of what lockdown deprived us of – and a joyous celebration of live performanceOn the screen at the back of the stage, familiar images flicker: the river, streets…

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From Hamlet to Hullabaloo: what to see as theatres and comedy clubs reopen

As stage shows return, we pick the best post-lockdown offerings – featuring Egyptian gods, rebelling vicars, dancing youths … and Ian McKellen playing the Dane at 82More events to enjoy: Pop | Art | Classical Continue reading…

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‘I’m optimistic – hell, yeah’: stars of music and theatre on one year of Covid

In the second of our two-parter, rock stars, roadies, actors, dancers, composers and comics describe how their lives have been transformed without live shows – and imagine what now lies ahead‘The nation needed a rescue from despair’: Part 1 of culture’…

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They move in mysterious ways: the delirious thrill of Figs in Wigs

The identically dressed quintet combines dance, comedy and DIY electro-punk in a world they have created for themselvesHow to describe the joy of watching people dancing in unison? Anthropologists talk about synchronous activities leading to a sense of…

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