Underbelly Cowgate, EdinburghA Romanov raised by wolves meets a struggling Lancashire boy in a memoir dipped in glamour and pulsating to powerpopThere’s a well-travelled road from boy- or girlband glory to solo success. So why shouldn’t it be open to a…
Continue ReadingPerforming at the festival can be a taxing experience. Objectively Funny has created a peer support network that turns attention offstageIt’s lunchtime in Edinburgh’s Old Town and I’ve swapped comedy for something more serious. On stage, psychotherapis…
Continue ReadingCaught between self-love and neurosis, Cohen has taken Edinburgh by storm with a musical show that plays up to her generation’s stereotypes. She’s even got a song called Look At Me … ‘The other day I woke up, I was like, ‘This is the most magical pla…
Continue ReadingPleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh In a thoughtful sophomore fringe show, the standup reflects on her relationship with a fellow comicSarah Keyworth’s 2018 fringe show – which secured her a best newcomer nomination – fretted at the signification of the wor…
Continue ReadingUnderbelly Cowgate, EdinburghSounds and samples are tailored to the hack comic’s every comment, punchline and flirtatious wink in this fun character showThe hack comic is such a mainstay of drama and caricature – from Osborne’s Entertainer via Neil Ham…
Continue ReadingThe Caves, EdinburghThe comic turns his childhood trauma into a warm and deeply reflective show laced with jet-back humourAn iron law of Edinburgh shows is that your trauma is your big reveal. So it’s a jolt in more ways than one when Jonny Pelham tell…
Continue ReadingThe Hive, EdinburghA hallucinogenic trip through the desert provides the basis for a standup show teeming with ideas but lacking true cohesionDesiree Burch is out of the traps at a gallop in her new show: the first 10 minutes all but pin you to the bac…
Continue ReadingPleasance Courtyard, EdinburghKatie Arnstein uses Dorothy’s yellow-brick road to map her own struggles and issue a raw reminder of the urgency of #MeToo‘We saw your boobs! We saw your boobs!” The words from Seth MacFarlane’s opening number at the 2013 …
Continue ReadingIt used to be that just wearing a dress and lip-syncing was enough. But now drag is mainstream, the bar for this most creative and transgressive art form has been raisedIt’s Friday night at the Edinburgh fringe. Artists are running all over town, weavi…
Continue ReadingMonkey Barrel Comedy, Edinburgh The standup rails against old-fashioned ideals of femininity, the diet industry and society’s policing of women’s bodies. It’s strong stuff.Who decides what’s womanly? Culture, you might say, or tradition, or the patriar…
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