Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2008

Matthew Bourne's Dorian Gray

Thoroughly modern Oscar

Although no one would bat an eyelid today, Oscar Wilde’s gothic novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray caused shock and outrage when it was published in 1890. The tale of an impressionable young man who becomes obsessed with his own image, had a little too…

5 Questions: Dance

David WW Johnstone, artistic director of Edinburgh-based experimental arts unit talks about his new show, Aurora Borealis, and why you should be heading to Dance Base to see it What 5 things/people inspire you most in your work? Japanese…

Deca Dance 2008

Whenever you read about Batsheva Dance Company, a few key words come up time and again; adjectives like ‘exuberant’, ‘joyful’ and ‘energetic’. This is thanks, in large part, to their choreographer Ohad Naharin. Drawing together short sections from ten…

Family

Martial arts and B-boy battles

Head spins. Body spins. Spinning hand stands. Spinning kicks. Spinning on one hand. This energetic show from Korea makes outrageous martial arts and breakdance moves look so effortless that you begin to believe you could do it all yourself.

Hitlist: Dance

Deca Dance 2008 A stunning retrospective of works by choreographer, Ohad Naharin and his incredible Batsheva Dance Company. Take your non-dance loving friends and convert them. Edinburgh Playhouse, 473 2000, 28–30 Aug, 8pm, £8–£28. Matthew…

Hitlist: Kids

The Echo Chamber and We All Fall Down Two top notch shows from En Masse Theatre. Journey down into the dark, damp vaults beneath Edinburgh’s Old Town in The Echo Chamber or learn about the colourful characters in two plague-ridden villages in We All…

Office Party

Tasteless delights

Seldom were ham and cheese so well combined in a sandwich as in Cal McCrystal’s interactive version of that familiar titular institution, the office party. The show may be disrupted here and there by its structure, but this seems to do nothing to dampen…

Yasser

An original take on the Middle East conflict

The concept of national identity becomes ever more fragile in the absence of a nation state. A people bereft of the glue that binds modern communities together – whether real or imagined – risk having their identity defined by others, moulded by…

5 Reasons To Go See - John Renbourn

1 He’s an axe hero OK, he’s not in the same mould as Slash, but the veteran English guitarist and songwriter delivers an exemplary, dextrous mix of blues, folk, classical and jazz to wow his audience. 2 He’s a Pentangle Renbourn was one of the…

Baldanders

Polish puppetry for adults

Baldanders examines the relationship between a freak show master and his caged beast. Inspired by the fantastical, existential ideas of Edgar Allen Poe, Jorge Luis Borges and Topor, it’s a thorny and enigmatic show that explores man’s desire for…

Bite the Dust

Polish satire lost in translation

First there is the show that should have been. Originally staged in the late-70s, Bite the Dust is a satirical sideswipe at the military mindset. It proved so controversial in Poland that playwright Tadeusz Rólewicz withdrew the performance rights.

Borderline

Repetitive beat poetry

The Stone Roses come on, and over in the corner there’s always one monged fella pivoting off the wall. He starts monkey-dancing closer like he thinks he’s Ian Brown, gurning and chewing his face off with the pills. He’s pointing at you. He’s looking you…

Boys of the Empire

High-camp boy’s own comedy deserves six of the best

This self-consciously silly, satirical stab at the boy’s own adventure wants to be Just William with a nod towards The History Boys by way of Michael Palin’s Ripping Yarns. Set between an English boarding school in the late 1930s, and the newly re-named…

Britt Ekland: Britt on Britt

A Swedish sexagenarian’s exploits

‘Who is Britt Ekland?’ So the former Bond girl and one-time wife of Peter Sellers begins her frank and surprisingly funny whistle stop tour of her enchantingly colourful life. Offering glimpses of the young starlet who entranced the likes of Rod Stewart…

By The Way

On a road to nowhere, for no reason

There’s obviously a lot of talent behind this little two-hander, which follows a pair of friends on a road trip through a dystopian France, where an unnamed plague is killing off everyone’s mothers. The actors are likable and clearly talented, and for…

Esoterica

No ordinary card

The paradox of a culture that loves to see magic and the sixth sense at work, while refusing to believe in either of them, becomes particularly apparent when, sitting in a darkened room watching one man appear to read another man’s mind, your brain…

Free comedy

A Pandora's Box of PowerPoint and pointlessness

There is a rebellion at the Fringe this year. High venue costs have caused some artists to take matters into their own hands. Doug Stanhope is charging £7349 for a one-off show in someone's living room and the Free Fringe organisations have brought more…

George Orwell's Coming Up For Air

Funny, tragic stage adaptation of little-known text

What swiftly becomes apparent about this adroit adaptation of George Orwell’s lesser-known 1939 novel is how powerfully it resonates today. Written on the eve of World War II, while the author was in Morocco recovering from an injury sustained fighting…

I Love You, Bro

Tragedy for the dotcom generation

Johnny (Ash Flanders) just wants to be someone, and online he can be anyone he wants. What starts out as a humorous look at socialising in the digital era swiftly morphs into a dark analysis of our atomised society. After a chance online meeting…

It Ain't All Bollywood

Confused, overwrought look at mental health issues

Part of this year’s InvAsian programme of Asian performance, It Ain’t All Bollywood depicts the trials and tribulations of Kiran, who has descended into an escapist fixation with Bollywood films following the death of her father. As a result, she…

Lie of the Land

Two go mad in the countryside

Him and Her move to the country on her family’s money. Mostly. He contributed, though. He’s not as rich as her, rather lacks her breeding. But he’s kind, and she is trying to civilise him. The important thing is, it’s their house. All theirs. Away from…

Lies Have Been Told: An Evening with Robert Maxwell

Reviled figure rebuffs his critics

The tremendous performance by Phillip York in this one-man show about Robert Maxwell is so impressive you’re likely to find yourself admiring, and even feeling sorry for the once reviled late media mogul. But as towering a performance and uncannily…

Married to the Sea

Poetic writing tells a coastal tale of loss and decline

A sparse stage and a small cast of three belie the detail in this lyrical tale from the fledgling Dragonfly Theatre. Set against the decline of Galway’s old Claddagh seafaring community, writer/director Shona McCarthy’s first full-length play could have…

Metropolitan Cathedral Organ Concerts

New organ put through its paces

Fringe statistics tend to be fairly staggering, but if all the organ pipes on the Fringe were added together, their total would beat the lot. The new organ at St Mary’s Metropolitan Cathedral alone has almost 4000. Built in French style by Matthew…

Misterioso

Exploring Monk’s elusive mindscape

The often chaotic, always creative and ultimately silent life and times of one of the greatest of all modern jazz giants, pianist Thelonious Monk, is celebrated in this amalgam of music, theatre and video projection from the London-based Theatralia…

Motherland

Narratives of soldiers’ mothers who bear the burden of war

Motherland is a piece of verbatim theatre, which gives voice to the testaments of women from the north east of England who had children serving in the armed forces in war zones. With the least amount of staging, the individual voices, which are studied…

Paperweight

Flawed peek into daily office life

Squeezing into one of the tiniest Fringe venues – a modest office in the Assembly Rooms – this two-man show is about as up close and personal as you can get to what’s happening onstage. Arrive early for a seat: you have the choice of a box against the…

Reasonable Doubt

Confessions in a Sydney hotel suite

Two former jurors reunite in a hotel room two years after a controversial hung verdict in this smart two-hander from Australian playwright Suzie Miller. Both harbour guilty secrets, and sex – initially top priority – is soon shelved in favour of a…

Sideshow: The Weirdest Show on Earth

Electric cabaret with a dark side

This isn’t any cabaret show. This is a circus on acid (or perhaps the poppers that the beautiful freak crowds are into nowadays). This is a late-night step into the realm of nightmares for a dastardly conglomeration of comedic, titillating…

Sister Cities

Death and the maidens

If naturalistic plays set in living rooms are not your bag, then it might be wise to avoid Sister Cities. But, for all its conventionality, Colette Freedman’s black comedy contrives to constantly amuse with crisp, observant dialogue and nicely tempered…

St Nicholas

All theatre critics are bloodsucking scum

Conor McPherson was clearly settling old scores when he wrote St Nicholas in 1997. Like many of his earliest plays, it’s a monologue and tall tale. This one is told by a successful Dublin theatre critic, a self professed ‘hack and a drunkard’. Bitter…

Stefan Golaszewski Speaks About A Girl He Once Loved

Bold, original show from sickeningly talented young performer

Stefan Golaszewski’s a sickeningly talented young man. Squished into a sweaty attic in the Pleasance and armed with nothing more than a handful of props and some banging techo music, the young London lad is bowling over audiences with his first solo…

Surviving Spike

The taming of the Goon

He was a maverick, a one-off, a free-associating comedy anarchist. So what’s the point in paying tribute to Spike Milligan with a bio-play that is safe, conventional and cosy? The tone of Surviving Spike by Richard Harris has far more in common with the…

The Bastard Children of Australian Folk: CWQ

Oddball eclecticism from down under

Melting together genres from Celtic to klezmer, the pioneering Australian folk band CWQ present the result of mixing musical traditions from across the world in The Bastard Children of Australian Folk. Exploring and moulding the entire gamut of…

The Bird and the Bee: The Bird

Tales of love and abuse

It almost goes without saying that abusive behaviour visited upon a person in childhood can lead to dysfunction later in life. This idea is explored in this second part of successive companion pieces at the Fringe from Kandinsky, whose earlier work…

The Caravan

Impressive site specific verbatim piece

One of modern Britain’s cruel realities is that, while a US presidential hopeful dominates front page news, the continued homelessness of thousands of UK citizens after the 2007 floods, has gone largely ignored. When this situation is mentioned, it is…

The Gymnast

Harrowing history makes for unsatisfying theatre

This curious collage of movement, speech, sound and lighting FX creates an impressionistic portrayal of life under the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. Opening with a series of statistics and dates, we are bombarded with the major losses and severity of…

The Riot Showgrrrls Club

Cabaret fun with an anti-porn message

A polemic against mainstream pornography is not what you’d expect from two be-corseted cabaret performers, but as the Riot Showgrrrls say themselves, there’s a difference between taste and morality, and this show aims to celebrate the flamboyant…

The Six Wives of Timothy Leary

Surprising glimpses into a controversial life

It’s a tragedy of our age that the 60s, a period of unparalleled liberation and social progress for ordinary people, is portrayed today as a kind of absurd self-indulgence from which we were all lucky to recover. This piece goes a little way to…

Vincent

Hazy portrait of an artist

Leonard ‘Spock’ Nimoy’s one-man show about Dutch painter Vincent Van Gogh explores the last ten years of the artist’s life, looking into the events leading up to his suicide. American actor Jim Jarrett plays both Vincent and his brother Theo, whom we…

Kristen Schaal - Heart of daftness

Kristen Schaal merges sinister and sweet with terrifying success. Claire Sawers chats to her while hoping she doesn’t do that angry, erotic sheep thing.

Ecstasy

MDMA-fuelled love story

Based on ‘The Undefeated’, one of three stories from Irvine Welsh’s 1996 novel Ecstasy, this piece centres around Lloyd (Jack McGowan), an ageing clubber who wants more out of life than living for the weekend. In the meantime, though, he’s content to…

Five Questions: Paul Foot

A late and dramatic entry to the Fringe programme, Paul Foot brings us a show entitled Off (The Top of/With)* His Head: *Delete One or Both As Applicable. Quite.

Freeze! - Cold comfort

Tom Basden may be an award-winning comic but, he tells David Pollock, that doesn’t stop him from being tormented by a fellow-Coward ‘I just didn’t want to rush a follow-up to the show I did in Edinburgh last year,’ says comedian Tom Basden, current…

Hitlist: Festival comedy

Kristen Schaal and Kurt Braunohler ‘Bona fide kooky monster’ Schaal offers more of her surreal blend of the dark and the utterly wholesome in the company of comedy partner Braunohler.

Hitlist: Festival theatre

The Idiot Colony. Terrifying insight into the penal system that branded women ‘moral defectives’ for crimes such as homosexuality or having children out of wedlock.

Jonny Woo: International Woman of Mr ‘E’

Moving and darkly comic one-(wo)man show

Moving and darkly comic one-(wo)man show. Jonny Woo, drag queen darling of the London alt.queer scene appears onstage beneath sequined butterfly make-up and various costumes. He knows that the act of wearing a mask is designed to reveal rather than…

Oh water night!

Happily the rain didn't spoil this year's List Festival Party - if anything it enhanced the tropical atmosphere. Burlesque stilt-masters waded through the crowd as Clarkson & Crouch provoked giggles with their slick comedy, topping off a dazzling…

Take 5: Festival people

The Agent: 'Oh but isn't he just hil-ar-i-ously funny daahling? We're lining him up for his own Friday Night Project series. He's on Mock the Week next month, y'know...' The sacred golden comic cash cow's agent coos down the phone. If only she could do…

The British Ambassador's Belly Dancer

Shaking things up

Belly dancing, spanking, stripping and politics are the intriguing ingredients of this rags-to-riches tale in which object of media notoriety Nadira Aleiva (who was mistress to the controversial former ambassador in Uzbekistan, Craig Murray) tells her…

The Fooligan

Tall tales by candlelight

Al Seed displays an enviable gift for storytelling alongside a physical prowess to rival Max Wall in this one-man show. A vibrant series of clowning tableaux breaks up this atmospheric tale within a tale, as Seed recounts the exploits of one of the…

The Terrible Infants

Are you sitting comfortably girls and boys? Good, then I’ll begin... Les Enfants Terribles’ award-winning theatrical banquet, The Terrible Infants, is a delirious blend of puppetry, live music, twisted fairy tales and physical theatre, populated by…

Waverley Care Fringe Fundraising

Waverley Care, Scotland's leading HIV charity, has launched a programme of events in a bid to raise over £25,000 during the Fringe. Adam Hills will host more than 14 of his rib-tickling contemporaries, including Ed Byrne and Rich Hall, at the Festival…

Wheels of Life

From Russia – via Glasgow – with love

It’s hard to call Wheels of Life, the new production by Sharmanka Kinetic Theatre, a ‘play’ as such. Huddled in the intimate Theatre Workshop venue, the audience is confronted with a macabre toy box of intricate artistic contraptions; a captivating maze…

New tricks - Magic on the Fringe

Conjuring tricks and card chicanery may have long disappeared from our tellies, but as Claire Sawers discovers, the appeal of stage magic has never really gone away. It’s hard to believe now, but during the 80s, Paul Daniels was must-see television.

Office Party

Party On

The medieval feast of fools was an event where established hierarchies were overturned, sexual and social proprieties were transgressed and the everyday laws of the culture were suspended. It’s the subject of academic study all over Europe, where…

Saddle up

As a posse of spoof country and western acts rides towards the Fringe, Allan Radcliffe asks why songs about rednecks, guns and erections make for sublime comedy

Pajama Men - Night moves

Their brand of unique, unhinged comedy has had critics and judges raving about the Pajama Men. Claire Sawers finds that they’re keeping the silly wigs firmly in the bag The voice on the phone sounds impossibly camp. It has a slick and persuasive way…

InvAsian Festival

Culture shock

When, earlier this year, a BBC executive lamented the continued dominance of a ‘liberal, white, middle class elite’ across British television, his words could equally have been applied to Edinburgh in August. For all the Fringe’s variety, the number of…

Polish theatre

Poles apart

Sitting in a picturesque café in the heart of Warsaw – Poland’s capital and largest city – it’s easy to forget the turbulent history that has shaped this country’s place in the world today. The city has long had a reputation as a vibrant playground…

Three Billy Goats Gruff

This is the third year in a row that the very wonderful Theatre of Widdershins has played the Fringe – and, rather appropriately, they’re doing a show all about threes: the eponymous goats, plus a few other fairytale characters such as Goldilocks’ pals…

Wisecrackin’ Mindsqueezin’ Behemoth - Big time

Their first stage meeting involved simulated copulation. John-Luke Roberts and Nadia Kamil now make beautiful music in their Behemoth sketch guise. Brian Donaldson hears about the pair’s celebrity fans and those nasty critics

5 Questions - Andi Neate

One of Edinburgh’s most beguiling singer-songwriters gives us her lowdown on the festivities 5 words to describe your show Original, folk-rock, organic, origamic, neate! 4 shows you’re looking forward to seeing in Edinburgh this August Camille…

5 Questions: 2FaCeD

What five words describe how a 2FaCeD DaNcE show makes you feel? High, energised, happy, wow, sexy. What four things have brought you back to the Fringe? The atmosphere, different venues, further opportunities, the challenge. Name three major…

Adam Riches

A host of he-men and myriad of macho types flex themselves

Last Fringe, Adam Riches introduced us to Victor Legit, the musclebound bully who made a barely honest living as a surveillance officer for the Federation Against Copyright Theft. This year, Victor is joined by a host of other creations out of the…

Andrew Lawrence - Sit tight

He may no longer be the stage psychopath with a killer tune and attitude to match, but Andrew Lawrence is still not exactly a cosy act. Marissa Burgess tentatively meets the man behind the growl Andrew Lawrence is a comedian in a state of constant…

Bale de Rua

Brazilian rhythm of life

Being short of cash can lead to some surprisingly good results. Back in 2004, when Brazilian company, Bale de Rua found themselves without a costume budget, they improvised with paint instead. Covering their skin with bright colours, the effect was…

Barb Jungr sings Nina Simone

Barb’s hymn to Nina

Barb Jungr has turned to the music of Nina Simone for her latest project, following the release of her Just Like a Woman album (a title that also neatly evokes her earlier Dylan project) with this live show dedicated to the woman whose voice and musical…

Barry and Stuart

You may have seen these guys on the telly upsetting everyone from Christians to their female fans when they unleashed the plagues, walked on water, turned staffs into serpents and generally did lots of stuff that it’s in the Bible. Concocting more…

Camille: the Dark Angel

Some festival veterans would appear to be gluttons for punishment, others just seem to return again and again only to grow in stature. Dublin’s Camille O’Sullivan is very much of the latter category and is among the most celebrated and cherished of…

Capoeira Knights

This lively lot are the real deal – 16 athletic performers straight from the streets, or favelas, of Brazil. Capoeira is termed ‘a fight disguised as a dance’ in their native land, and helps to channel energies into more creative endeavours. Featuring…

Clockheart Boy

Mechanical inventions explore life and death

It may not seem the ideal topic to build a family show around, but grief regularly pops its head up in children’s film and theatre. As Nicola Cutcher, co-director of Clockheart Boy says, ‘even The Lion King is about death’. Cutcher and her company…

Cloudcuckooland

When Greek comic playwright, Aristophanes wrote The Birds in 414 BC, he could scarcely have imagined where his masterpiece would end up. Although given his taste for humour and bad behaviour, chances are he would have loved Cloudcuckooland, a new…

Dance Base Presents…

One stop shop for dance fans

Pop open the Dance Base brochure and what do you see? A picture of artistic director, Morag Deyes beckoning you into one of the most striking arts-centred buildings in Edinburgh. And why go? To see what will be one of the more eclectic, stimulating and…

Dirt

Sensitive inquiry into what it means to be an outsider

From the United States comes Dirt, a contemplative monologue that addresses racism. Originally written in German, Dirt tells the story of a 30-year-old Iraqi man who is grateful to live (albeit illegally) in an English-speaking city. Selling roses on…

Ed Byrne - Cry freedom

Amnesty International supporter Ed Byrne may not be sure where he fits in any more but, as he tells Doug Johnstone, this keeps him in material

Felix Dexter - Comedy shuffle

At the RSC he pretended to be the sea and in Edinburgh he sparred with Christian Slater. Leaving the theatre behind for now, Felix Dexter tells Julian Hall that he’s happy again with his first love It’s the first time in over a decade that Felix…

Finished With Engines

Attack Mode

Stephanie Viola and Drew Friedman, draped sleepily about a rehearsal room, don’t look much like wisecracking sailors with the power to blow up the world. It might be the jet lag. The New York-based actors, best known as founder members of the multi…

Five questions - Tall Stories

Armed with two shows – The Gruffalo and How the Giraffe Got Its Neck – Tall Stories return to conquer the Fringe once again Name 5 words to describe the Tall Stories style Physical, visual, musical, comical, universal. What 4 things should good…

Free Outgoing

True-life tale explores India’s traditional attitudes to sex

It was a real-life incident that prompted Chennai-based playwright Anupama Chandrasekhar to write Free Outgoing, which depicts a country’s anger when an Indian schoolgirl is filmed with a boy in her classroom. ‘I heard the girl’s family migrated…

Fringe celebs

Star turns

Joan Rivers, the funnywoman and enemy of Loose Women stars in her play on the ups and downs of ageing, Work in Progress by a Life in Progress. Karen Dunbar, the Chewing the Fat star gets serious in Denise Mina’s A Drunk Woman Looks at the Thistle.

Gavin and Gavin

Irish sisters deliver a personal show that’s distinctly close to home

Irish sisters deliver a personal show that’s distinctly close to home. ‘I’m the feistier, gobbier one. Lauretta’s quieter,’ says Sharon Gavin about her older sister, the other half of Gavin & Gavin. ‘But if you piss her off, she’s the Incredible…

Heartbreak Soup

Spending time in hospital isn’t ideal at any age, but for children it’s even less appealing. It was while working with children undergoing heart and lung transplant surgery, that Laura Lindow became inspired to write Heartbreak Soup. ‘I’m not using…

Hitlist - Festival comedy

David O’Doherty The Irish muso-comic delivers more ribald whimsy with a tiny keyboard and giant talent. The Stand III & IV, 558 7272, 1–24 Aug (not 11), 9pm, £9.50 (£8.50). Previews until 31 Aug, £8.50 (£7.50). Sarah Millican The north-east…

Hitlist: Festival Dance

Dance Base Presents... Scotland’s National Centre for Dance welcomes you into another packed programme. Dance Base, 225 5525, 7–16 Aug (not 11), times vary, £11 (£7). Preview 6 Aug, £6. Pericles Redux Californian physical theatre company No Man…

Idiots of Ants

Internet sensations return with more sketches firmly on the side of silly

A lot of modern comedy dwells on the darker side of life, but that’s not an accusation to be levelled at Idiots of Ants. The London-based four-man sketch act can be placed firmly in the ‘daft’ file, and if you don’t believe us just check out their…

Interrupt

Relationship drama on the dancefloor

The bustle of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is not necessarily the ideal place to premiere a new piece by a new company. But David Beer, of still wet-behind-the-ears classical/contemporary dance company, Collisions, is letting the experience shape his…

InvAsian Festival

Choreography from across the Continent

There’s no shortage of diverse dance at the Fringe, but seldom do you find it all under one roof. The InvAsian Festival, however, is priding itself on bringing together a wide range of performers from throughout the eponymous continent, and basing them…

Isy Suttie

The homespun revolution continues with Matlock’s character comic

‘It’s called The Suttie Show; I knew I would use that title at some point,’ explains Isy Suttie of the serendipitous naming of her new show.

James Campbell's Shut Up Stupid

Comic plays for kids of all ages

James Campbell is envied and acclaimed across the comedy universe for carving out a triumphant career performing stand-up for kids. While his Comedy Club 4 Kids continues to train young folk from the ages of six upwards in the hard-nosed business of…

Jason Cook

Bringing joy with honeymoons, confessions and midgets

Geordie comedian Jason Cook looks at the Fringe like a month-long Christmas day. In fact, he wants his show this year to be a caring, sharing, warm hug of a thing, where people feel so uplifted, they’ll be crying when they leave. As his alter ego, Herr…

John Pinette

Fringe debut for big talent who appeared in Seinfeld

A heavyweight performer in every sense, John Pinette never imagined he’d be playing ‘a place where I have the best cholesterol in the country’. The 44-year-old Bostonian has been a stand-up comedian half his life and a muffin devotee far longer, earning…

Johnny Candon

Dublin comic finds his theme with a personal story free of sentiment

At last year’s Fringe, Johnny Candon was dancing around in a bear costume for Tony Law’s Revenge of the Dog of Time, but for many years the Dublin-born stand-up has been successfully gigging all over the world. Candon has been a background name in the…

Keith Farnan

Irish comic’s debut shot rips apart America’s attitude to criminal justice

Irish comic’s debut shot rips apart America’s attitude to criminal justice. When Keith Farnan was contemplating his first hour-long show at the Fringe, he wasn’t short of advice from fellow comics. ‘I listened to everyone who had done well and those who…

Lough/Rain

New writing explores themes of love and stoicism

The spirit of adventure brought to the Fringe by the Underbelly has always been about new work, but this year’s programme seems to lean, more than ever, towards new writing, above and beyond the usual array of physical and visual theatre. Notable among…

Lucy Porter

It seems wrong to describe Lucy Porter as a Fringe veteran but with an Edinburgh career dating back to 1995 when she was a finalist in So You Think You’re Funny (the winner that year was some guy called Lee Mack) that’s how she’s now known.

Lucy Porter - Festival veteran

Lucy Porter wanted to be like Kate Adie but ended up being more like Lee Evans. That’s what repeatedly coming to the Fringe does to you. She doesn’t mind though… The Edinburgh Fringe Festival ruined my life. That sounds melodramatic, but it’s absolutely…

Luke Toulson

‘I don’t want to be a testosterone-charged alpha male on stage,’ says stand-up Luke Toulson. ‘I’m very aware I’m an idiot, and generally assume the audience is more intelligent than me.’ It’s self-deprecating talk, but then Toulson has written his…

Lynn Ferguson - Fringe benefits

Never one to do things by halves, Lynn Ferguson is performing not one but two plays at this year’s Fringe. Here are her top four survival tips Take a publicist - Hopefully one that you know/like already. Failing that, steal someone else’s. If you don’t…

Mark Olver - Journey's end

In June, Mark Olver set off by foot from Bristol to Edinburgh, relying on the kindness of strangers to get shelter and material for Ramble On. He tells of the shuddering climax to his fantastic voyage ‘I can see Arthur’s Seat’ I said excitedly as I…

No Place For Dreams

No Place For Dreams is Brief Candle Theatre’s debut production at the Fringe, and artistic director, Dave Shimwell is ‘absolutely thrilled about this great family show we’re putting on.’ The show is set on a mythical volcanic island, where magical…

Obong

Celebration of Nigerian music and dance

It’s easy to lump African dance together into one big melting pot of bright costumes and tribal drums. In reality, not only does each country have a distinct style, so too does each region within it. Hailing from Cross River State in Nigeria, the Obong…

Painting Music Workshop

We all have images in our heads when we listen to music, but capturing them on paper isn’t something many people attempt. Rhuti Carr of Painting Music, however, has made an entire career out of doing just that. Her workshops feature live music, large…

Pericles Redux

Getting physical with the Bard

‘Putting Shakespeare to dance is a dangerous thing to tackle,’ says John Farmanesh-Bocca about his ‘wild retelling’ of Pericles. ‘People are like, “well, are you going to make it a dance or are you actually going to speak the language properly?” We’re…

Reginald D Hunter - Tall tales

Reginald D Hunter is a giant of UK stand-up. But, as he tells Jay Richardson, he’s still trying to escape the sins of his father ‘I have always found Edinburgh intense, in my soul and in my belly. You can’t say there ain’t tension in my shows. It’s…

Rise

Extreme movement meets electronica

Dry ice fills the air while hooded dancers move across a dimly lit stage. Despite the huge, wide space they occupy, there’s something oppressive and deeply atmospheric about Tom Dale’s new show, Rise. All of this is conveyed through a tiny clip on…

Rose Street Ensemble

Eclectic orchestrations from broadminded classicalists

What might a melancholy lute piece by the English Renaissance composer John Dowland and a traditional Romanian folk tune have in common? Not a lot, except that both have been used as the basis of later works for string orchestra. In a fascinating…

Sammy J

The rude puppet show that blew Oz away roasts everything in its path

‘If you put Disney, Les Mis and Queen in a blender, it might sound a little like our show,’ explains Sammy J, the delicately framed Antipodean whose puppet show Forest of Dreams is hoping to charm Edinburgh audiences. ‘That said,’ he continues, ‘the…

Sarah Millican - Credit crunch

Sarah Millican is putting a sad past behind her and profiting from pain. Marissa Burgess pops round for a cuppa and finds that the Geordie comic may not be as dastardly as she wants us to believe

Scaramouche Jones

Quintessential English hero finally arrives north of the border

Millennium Fever took hold at the end of the last century, with some people anticipating the end of the world and others a fresh start. But after two world wars, the demise of the British Empire, and dizzying technological advances, England seemed to be…

Scottish Opera: Cinderella

A fairytale debut at the Fringe

It’s probably safe to say that Scottish Opera is the only name which appears in both the music programme of the International Festival as well as the Fringe. As part of their continuing quest to bring high quality opera to a new audience, the company…

Sean Grant

Curmudgeonly Scots comic with show which pricks a few balloons

Reigning Scottish Comedian of the Year and through to the So You Think You’re Funny? competition semi-finals, Sean Grant only began performing stand-up last summer after a declaration of love. ‘I’d always enjoyed watching comedy, but it never occurred…

Stephen K Amos

Who’s he then? Stephen K Amos is a 30-something actor, comedian and documentary-maker whose Batty Boy involved him going on a journey from his south London backyard to Jamaica in an attempt to discover why homophobia is so prevalent among black…

Take 5: Ways to avoid being flyered

The Sleeve: The incredible hand-less woman! Was it a freak hand-dryer accident? Or a genetic mutation of great Uncle Albert’s short fingers? No it is The Sleeve. Imbued with ancient and mystical powers, The Sleeve should scare off those rogue…

Tales From an Enchanted Forest

Bright lights, big sets and fancy costumes are all very well, but sometimes it’s nice to let your imagination do some of the work. The three storytellers taking part in Tales From An Enchanted Forest are allowing you to do just that. Each day, one of…

The Burma Play - A Comedy of Terror

Burma’s political nightmare, from colonial times to the present day

The Fringe may be brimming with comedians cracking gags at the expense of politicians, but it would be fair to presume that few, if any, have tried out their material under the watch of a police state. The Burma Play, however, was inspired by…

The Cholmondeleys and the Featherstonehaughs

Dance of Death

It’s hardly damning the cast of Dancing On Your Grave to call them a handful of dead-beats. Created by the veteran choreographer Lea Anderson for members of her two cult dance companies, The Cholmondeleys (pronounced ‘chum-leez’) and The…

The Factory

Theatrical technology

A questioning of human nature and love of technology has defined Bristol-based company Precarious in recent years. Both Junction 8 and Druthers explored aspects of ourselves we’d sometimes rather forget, and presented them in a cutting-edge fashion. Now…

The Lighthouse Keeper

‘Clowning has an ageless appeal,’ says Clive Nicholas Andrews, of his new one-man show, The Lighthouse Keeper. ‘When I was a kid I grew up loving people like Charlie Chaplin, Laurel and Hardy and Buster Keaton. I’d call my style clowning with added…

The Meeting - Suits you sir

Three young talents have variously got a boardroom comedy, a sketch show and a student competition to contend with. Our chair Julian Hall asks if there is any other business This year it’s going to be hard for many Fringe-goers to leave work too far…

The Real Daniel O'Donnell Show

Sketch stuff which will cheerily upset fans of the crooning Irish icon

The festival is, as always, packed full of worthy messages with comedy addressing everything from politics to love via environmental disasters. When asked about his Fringe sketch show, comedian Michael Legge replies gleefully ‘oh, it’s childishly…

The Sun Dragon

Following the highly acclaimed Little Red Things, Gomito Productions return with the second instalment in their trilogy, The Sun Dragon. Writer/director, Rich Rusk is excited about the upcoming show, which features live music, puppets assembled out of…

The Wilders

Honky-tonk storytelling with added goatee

As Ike Sheldon, the Missouri-born lead singer and guitarist of the country four-piece The Wilders, likes to say, ‘you can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy.’ Sheldon’s got the hillbilly sound in him. He can’t…

Theatre to stimulate the senses

Far Up! Far Out! Far More!

Wanderlust This interactive club event returns audiences to the spirit of 1930s Berlin with its electrifying fusion of circus and cabaret, all administered by a ten-foot Fraulein. Underbelly, 0844 545 8252, 2–24 Aug (not 11), 11.30pm, £9–£10.50…

Tim Minchin - Looney tunes

Not one for being stuck in a pigeonhole, Tim Minchin is a musician, actor, comic and father. Anna Millar meets the man who looks like a scarecrow and is terrifying the world of traditional stand-up comedy

Top 5: Acceptable in the 80s?

Umbrage Swain & The Magical Diamond of Ramtutiti

Umbrage Swain is set to go on the hunt for the Magical Diamond of Ramtutiti. Here he tells us the best (i.e. least horrible) things about the decade that taste, fashion, sense, class and decency completely forgot.

Transgression

Bikers and breakers take it to the limit

Prepare for the ultimate in urban sports, as rival factions clash for control of the concrete jungle using skateboards, BMXs, breakdancing and free running instead of fists. Transgression grew out of the passion and skill of Edinburgh’s ‘urban…

Vincent - Jim Jarrett

Lasting impression

A one-man play about an iconic Dutch post-impressionist painter, scripted by the man best-known for playing a pointy-eared alien would be worth seeing for sheer curiosity value alone. What’s perhaps more surprising is that, since its first production in…

War and Conflict

Theatre of war

There’s always a profit to be made from war. The black market proved lucrative during World War II for the sale of rationed chocolate, coffee and cigarettes, while oil companies such as Halliburton have been kept ticking over nicely by the recent…

We all fall down

Exploring the darker side of storytelling

Over the past five years, En Masse theatre has garnered a reputation for creating exciting, imaginative productions for young people and their families. Their latest show, We All Fall Down, is a tale of two villages – Eyam, where the people are saintly…

Wearing well - crazy clobber for comedic purposes

The Pajama Men are not the only ones who are putting on crazy clobber for comedic purposes. Brian Donaldson reveals some other Fringe comics who’ve had a wardrobe malfunction. The show by Mark Allen is about his uneasy relationship with animals and…

Wil Hodgson - Five questions

With Chippenham on My Shoulder, former pro-wrestler and My Little Pony fan Wil Hodgson once more tackles his West Country heritage. Here, he gives our Q&A an inverted facelock that it won’t forget What five words best describe your show this…

'It’s a comedy colonic!' - David O’Doherty

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Jay Richardson meets David O’Doherty, the mild-mannered comic whose musical musings and offbeat observations have won him a legion of indie followers. This year he’ll be feeding his insomnia by entertaining kids and adults alike As an award-winning…

Real gone kids - Architecting

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Fringe favourites The TEAM return to Edinburgh with a reimagining of Margaret Mitchell’s iconic Southern drama. Kirstin Innes caught up with them to discuss everything from Barack Obama to Scarlett O’Hara.

Daddy fool - Pappy’s Fun Club

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

With the spirit of The Monkees and Monty Python coursing through their comedic veins, sketch troupe Pappy’s Fun Club tell Marissa Burgess that cash worries have fuelled their success

Scouting For Girls

Edge Festival

What a rollercoaster ride it’s been for this London-based indie pop outfit since ‘She’s So Lovely’ crashed into the top ten in 2007. Typical of their instantly catchy, mass-audience appeal, the single had four old school friends finally leaving behind…

Best of the rest - Kids shows

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

The Gruffalo. Mouse can scare hungry animals away with tales of the terrifying Gruffalo, but what happens when he comes face to face with the very creature he imagined? Potted Pirates. From the good people who brought you Potted Potter comes this…

Mick Sergeant

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Touted as the next Steve Coogan, this year marks the first solo show for character comic Lee Fenwick who has previously delighted Fringe crowds as one half of spoof German techno band Die Clatterschenkenfietermaus. For his debut, Fenwick is presenting…

New Electric Ballroom

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

If Karl Marx was right that history repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce, no one told Enda Walsh. He’s done it the other way around. After the riotous surrealism of last year’s Fringe First-winning The Walworth Farce, the playwright is back…

The Mozart Question - Kids theatre

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Over the last couple of years, Fringe audiences have wept at his stories. Kelly Apter finds former Children’s Laureate Michael Morpurgo continuing that tearful trend with a sad tale from World War II Michael Morpurgo is standing on a sun-drenched…

Andrew Clover’s Crazy Kids’ Show

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Andrew Clover’s show for children came about purely by accident. Last year he wrote a novel for teenagers with an agency booking him to appear at schools to discuss it. Only they booked him into the wrong schools. ‘They sent me to primary schools by…

Animal Olympics - Francesca Beard

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

With her daughters’ stuffed toys and an inspired wit, poet Francesca Beard is bringing the Chinese Zodiac to the Fringe. Her first solo Edinburgh show, Animal Olympics, is ostensibly for kids, telling the tale of the animals racing to work out the order…

Best of the rest

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

A short round up of the shows not to miss on this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe including Stewart Lee, Tricky, Pornography, the Soweto Gospel Choir and Scottish Dance Theatre

Camille O'Sullivan

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Sliding onstage in a red corset and heels, sipping a glass of red wine, French-Irish chanteuse Camille O’Sullivan likes keeping her audience on their toes when she performs. She may launch into a tear-stained Edith Piaf cover or an angry Tom Waits…

Eyes on the prize - Roy Walker

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Thanks to a fellow game show king, Roy Walker is finally making his Edinburgh debut. Marissa Burgess talks to the man who is hoping to woo the city’s youth

How the Giraffe Got its Neck - Tall Stories

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Choosing a Fringe show can be a pot luck affair. So it’s nice to know that year after year, Tall Stories can be relied upon to come up with the goods. The team behind The Gruffalo and The Snow Dragon are back with a new show that fuses physical…

Isoceles

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

This Glasgow-based foursome jump to the sound of the raging bull. Or so say their Japanese fans, according to glowing reviews reworked by one of the internet’s more established language translators.

Night terrors

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

A traumatic childhood accident inspired Adam Rapp’s latest play, Nocturne. Mark Fisher chats to the US writer about death, drama and decapitation

Omid Djalili

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

There are several downsides to modern fame. Being hassled in the street by ordinary people and getting hunted down by paparazzi when hanging out the washing are just two celebrity negatives. Having chirpy researchers from celebrity TV shows ringing up…

The generation game

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

Age is no barrier to performing at the Fringe. Allan Radcliffe talks to veteran stand-up Joan Rivers and 12-year-old debutant Eros Vlahos as they head to Edinburgh, armed with their own distinctive brands of innocence and experience

When worlds collide

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

A collaboration between artists and comedians suggests that aliens want to know about supermarkets, science and the Welsh. Mark Fisher hears the spin on The Golden record We were banking on the aliens having hi-tech record players. That way, they’d be…