Starry Shakespeare, super standups and a Black Sabbath ballet: the best theatre, dance and comedy of autumn 2023

Patsy Ferran takes on Eliza in Pygmalion, Andrew Scott plays multiple characters from Uncle Vanya and Mlima’s Tale tells a powerful tale of the ivory trade. Here’s what’s in store on stage Continue reading…

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The Life Sporadic of Jess Wildgoose review – feverish financial comedy

Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghVoloz Collective’s satirical thriller set during the subprime mortgage crisis is staged with style but has little emotional impactWho needs a load of props when you have a company this game? Within the first few minutes of…

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Cowboys, puppet witches and toilet humour: joyously queer Edinburgh fringe shows

Coming-out tales, ventriloquism, a musical set in a public loo and glamorous late-night cabaret are among the festival’s uplifting LGBTQ+ showsNo one ever pays attention when you’re handed a flyer at the fringe. It’s only when I take a proper look that…

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Troll review – sweetly silly Nordic comedy is monstrous fun

Underbelly Cowgate, Edinburgh The real beasts – not the internet kind – have come to teach us their ways, learn human stuff and dish the dirt on billy goatsIt’s not easy being green. Just ask these two trolls, sporting hoodies, tights and trainers in v…

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Troll review – sweetly silly Nordic comedy is monstrous fun

Underbelly Cowgate, Edinburgh The real beasts – not the internet kind – have come to teach us their ways, learn human stuff and dish the dirt on billy goatsIt’s not easy being green. Just ask these two trolls, sporting hoodies, tights and trainers in v…

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‘The doc said you’re having a heart attack right now’: why is US standup Mike Birbiglia still alive?

The comic, who has survived cancer and once sleep-jumped through a closed hotel window, is bringing his Broadway smash about mortality to the UK. ‘I guarantee you’ll laugh,’ he saysFor someone whose affably rumpled appearance suggests Matt Damon waking…

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‘We’ve had one Fleabag. We can’t have another’ – has the legendary Edinburgh hit become a curse?

Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s uncouth one-woman show is seen as the epitome of festival success. But 10 years on, we speak to three fringe performers battling to escape its long shadowTen years ago, Phoebe Waller-Bridge perched on a stool and delivered a line…

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Until Death review – brief encounters with mortality and Marilyn Merlot

theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, EdinburghNalini Sharma makes an engaging fringe debut, using clowning skills and audience participation in a show inspired by her hospital stay“What’s your favourite phallus?” asks performance artist Sophia Cleary in her fring…

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Terrence the T-Rex review – dino entertainers lock horns

Bedlam theatre, EdinburghIn this comic two-hander, uptight Terrence is hawking a prehistoric children’s show when he’s forced into collaborating with upfront Tri-Sarah-TopsIs the Edinburgh fringe big enough for rival comedy shows about warring children…

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‘I’ll never be rich’: Edinburgh fringe standups consider the cost of living – and comedy

As the expense of performing and watching shows at the fringe is ever rising, three comedians ask their audiences to reassess what they place value onMoney is changing hands during a number of Edinburgh festival performances this year, and not just whe…

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