Twonkeys Castle

Opening with a beleaguered attempt to get an audience member spinning a hot air balloon prop around in flying motion, Twonkey's Castle weaves a surreal narrative which feels a bit like being frenetically drunk inside a scary playgroup.

Haling from the north of England, Paul Vickers bumbles about his self-made stage set of off-the-wall props - Twonkey’s wire castle, multiple puppets, paper sketches - at the front of the pub function room. Careering through nonsensical stories about Twonkey and friends, sprinkled with sporadic Christmas-related references (a robin with whisky and mince pies in its belly drawn on a chalkboard) and semi-funny but mostly vaguely disturbing songs belted out throughout. Transforming into a New York gangster by putting on an accent, black mac and mask, he read out a story with three possible endings, all held by the audience before the ‘climax of the show’; cottage cheese, saw him identify irreverently named strands of cheese from rooms within a dolls house cottage. Really? Yes, that actually happened.

The Laughing Horse ,The Beehive Inn, Grassmarket,until 28 Aug (not 23), 6.15pm, free, part Free Fringe.