Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh Alan Bissett embodies both the expansive Big Yin and the detached author of Lanark in a thoughtful, entertaining search for their connectionThere is a scene in Alasdair Gray’s landmark novel Lanar…
Continue Reading@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…
Continue ReadingThe 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…
Continue ReadingPleasance 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…
Continue ReadingCabVol1 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…
Continue ReadingDance 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…
Continue ReadingMonkey 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,…
Continue ReadingPleasance 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, …
Continue ReadingPleasance 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…
Continue ReadingUnderbelly 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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