It’s always good to find something new at the Fringe and it’s a distinct pleasure when these new experiences are as enjoyable as Rick Chester’s show.
Presented as a celebrity seminar, the whole premise of this show is that 30s acting ‘legend’ Rick Chester is going to teach the audience how to make it in the [...]

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Not many shows put you in a dilemma from the off but with Knocker you have to make an instant decision whether to like Edmond or not. After all, he is part of that relentless marketing machine that desperately tries to invade every moment of our lives. On the other hand, he is here to [...]

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When you’re set on a path that contains sexual abuse, incest and sexual violence you know that things aren’t going to end well, but it’s often this terrible inevitability that makes stories like this one so compulsive. This should be the case with Girl in Box, as it promises the mother of all car crash [...]

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Given last year’s flurry of ASBOs, chav celebs and David Cameron’s desire to ”hug a hoodie”, it seems odd that there aren’t a more shows investigating today’s yoof culture, but perhaps everyone thought that Geoff Norcott had it all sewn up. After all, he used to be a secondary school teenager. However, despite having the [...]

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There is no getting away from the fact that some of the Fringe venues are hardly fit to have anything in them, let alone a theatre audience. One of the biggest offenders in this category has to be the Baby Belly caverns on South Niddry Street, as they are damp, dank and, frankly, smell a [...]

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If there was random screening for performance enhancing drugs on the Fringe there is little doubt that Phil Nichol would be called in time and time again to give a sample, as nobody can be that naturally energetic. In fact, the best comparison you can make is with Looney Tunes Taz, as Nichol bounces around [...]

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It’s unusual to find really good theatre in small Fringe venues these days but this Romanian production is definitely a rare exception.
Obstinately dealing with the frailty of identity, this wonderfully played series of mutating vignettes also hints at a bigger political picture, as it is often clear that it is pointing the finger at the [...]

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The Arcade Bar has to be one of the worst performance spaces in Edinburgh. This is no sleight on the establishment, as they can only work with what they have, but it is a statement of fact – it is cramped, it is ill-lit and the performers practically have to stand on top of the [...]

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There are times during the Festival when you feel absolutely privileged to be part of a small audience but, more often than not, these out of the way performances leave you wanting to lash out against anyone who contributed to that hour of your life that was wasted. This being the case, Jenny Lion would [...]

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There is simply no justice on the Fringe. Amazing pieces of experimental theatre go unnoticed in squalid, out of the way venues, while celebrity acts are guaranteed sell-out runs for dross that even the most self-involved student company would shun. This obviously isn’t always the case but it certainly rings true for 4 Poofs and [...]

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