From big-name standups to dance performances and experimental plays, here are our picks for an excellent festival‘If you’d done that in the 90s, you’d be torn to shreds!’: comedy icons share their survival tips with Edinburgh first-timersExplore the re…
Continue ReadingPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghWith characteristic wit, Dan Bishop’s comedy develops from a jolly send-up of the vacuous TV industry into a politically astute play about power‘I’ve never read anything Greek, but I bet if feels exactly like this,” says I…
Continue ReadingAs she brings her memoir to the Edinburgh festival, Keeley Hazell talks about trauma, exploitation, the hollowness of the high life – and her new career as a writer on Ted LassoThere was a time in the mid-2000s when it felt as though “everyone” had see…
Continue ReadingSoho theatre, LondonJake Brasch and Nadja Leonhard-Hooper are vivid storytellers and fine musicians and foley artistsA filthy fable about a god-fearing Christian sect in rural Nebraska who, in a racy, sci-fi twist, are forced to wear butt plugs to avoi…
Continue ReadingThe horny TV series has inspired a whopping four comedy shows this summer. Their makers explain why musical theatre and steamy action are such good bedfellows – and why there’s no rivalry between themFive minutes was all it took. The stars of Heated Ri…
Continue ReadingThe standup on bad gigs at motorway service station hotels, her nan’s reviews and the pressure to be ‘prize pig’ at the Edinburgh fringeWho did you admire when you were starting out?I loved Lee Evans because of how he ran around on stage. I want to be …
Continue ReadingFrom returning comedy award winner Sam Nicoresti to Flo & Joan’s cheeky One Man Musical, these are surefire standouts at the fringeEdinburgh festival 2026 reviewsIt may contain a brief moment of actual tree-hugging but this bracing solo show by Bry…
Continue ReadingThis late-night escapade became a word-of-mouth festival favourite. The show’s creators discuss the method behind its madness – and why you’ll laugh without knowing whyDeep within the cavernous Banshee Labyrinth in Edinburgh’s Cowgate, robed monks stan…
Continue ReadingSoho theatre, LondonThe co-host of Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update delivers an expertly constructed set of jokes about her quest to live a more embodied lifeAfter serving an eye-catching apprenticeship in live comedy, Ania Magliano’s profile has n…
Continue ReadingThe Traitors-winning standup talks about quitting palliative care work for the stage and the dangers of mistaking a cockatoo for a cocktailHow did you go from a career in palliative care to standup comedy?I had a bit of a midlife crisis. I was being wi…
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