During August Edinburgh becomes a melting pot of cultures, nationalities and, inevitably, illness. While it is inconvenient for any of us to be struck down by a bug, it is considerably more bothersome for a performer.
Over the years, we have seen a number of performers struck down with laryngitis, but few bounce back with as [...]

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This show is what a comedy show should be. You’re sitting there when suddenly, the sketches are flying at you, fast and furious, the entire show whirring around you like a kaleidoscope, except the colours of the rainbow have been replaced by all the different kinds of comedy you know and love and you have [...]

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As the overture kicks in and the youthful company burst onto stage for the uplifting opening number, getting up at 9am suddenly seemed worthwhile. If only this initial surge could have been maintained over 90 minutes. There are good elements in this production of Maltby & Shire’s musical about three couples in different life stages [...]

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Part art installation, part devised memory play, this is an image-based, site-specific promenade. If those words make you wince, don’t go. It would be a shame as this is a spectacular example of its genre.
The walls of 32 Abercrombie Place are stripped bare. Wires criss-cross to countless hidden telephones, breaking oppressive silences with disturbing [...]

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Ivan is not a slug. He’s a man who’s a bit sluggish, and greedy (not a trait traditionally associated with invertebrates, but there you go). This is explained to us by the puppeteer in person.
Like many good puppeteers, he seems self-conscious when on stage himself. In this case, attempting to explain metaphorical anthropomorphism to seven-year-olds, [...]

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If you fancy Ambrosia Creamed rice for lunch, or at least something light, sweet and fluffy, you could do a lot worse than Jude’s Simpson’s performance poetry. The cute naughtiness of her delivery is engaging, gently witty and infectious. After a fairly innocuous but dull opening poem, she appeared to relax into her performance and [...]

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James Campbell, dressed in black, sporting a goatee beard and a mane of unruly hair, looks harmless enough but he has a little mischievous, nay evil, glint in his eye as he leads children through the comic delights of his imagination. Like theirs, it is vast, illogical, fantastical and a bit rude and as a [...]

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Les Enfants Terrible portray a self-penned story, a dark and brooding monologue about a bleak future for the worlds population, where a deranged politician attempts to solve the exploding population problem by aging all the children to adulthood.
Peppered with slight musical accompaniment and interluded with black and white film shots, it’s a great example of [...]

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This portmanteau of adaptations of three stories by Neil Gaiman is a mixed bag. The writing is superb – a series of timeless fables and morality tales in Gaiman’s distinctive dark whimsy – and the performances are solid. However, each story suffers from a similar problem, a sense of over-anticipation.
The first tale, The White Road, [...]

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Whether you realise it or not, you have met The Black Sheep before, although you were probably unaware of it. Perhaps it was at the parish fayre or jumble sale, or maybe it was at the last coffee morning or book group. It’s not you fault, they look like ordinary people who live ordinary people [...]

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