Fest 2024 Issue 2 by Fest Magazine

SPREAD YOUR WINGS

Inside: Garry Starr Stuart Laws The Listies Futuristic Folktales

Sarah Keyworth So Young Lewis Major Polly & Esther

Director

George Sully

Editor Arusa Qureshi

Sales Team

Gabrielle Loue

David Hammond

Emilie Roberts

Ema Smekalova

Writing Team

Deputy Editor Ben Venables

Design Team

Phoebe Willison

Dalila D’Amico

Eilidh Akilade, Evan Beswick, Ashley Davies, Fringe Dog, Jamie Dunn, Veronica Finlay, Hamish Gibson, Jemima Hawkins, Si Hawkins, Jack Howse, Laura Kressly, Eve Livingston, Oran, David Pollock, Jay Richardson, Claire Sawers, Kirstyn Smith, Xuanlin Tham

Cover Image

Daniel Vasiljevic

Radge Media

Editor-in-Chief

Rosamund West

Commercial Director

Sandy Park

Deputy Editor

Peter Simpson

Fringe Dog Illustration

Lauren Hunter

General Manager

Laurie Presswood

Digital Editorial Assistant

Ellie Robertson

Fest Street Dates 2024 7, 14, 21 August

Advertising 0131 467 4630 sales@festmag.com

Contact festmag.com hello@festmag.com @festmag

Published by Radge Media C.I.C, M9 Codebase, Argyle House, 3 Lady Lawson Street, Edinburgh, Scotland, EH3 9DR. Every effort has been made to check the accuracy of the information in this magazine, but we cannot accept liability for information which is inaccurate. Show times and prices are subject to changes – always check with the venue. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without the explicit permission of the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within this publication do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the printer or the publisher. Printed by Micropress Printers Ltd, Southwold

Fest 2024 Issue 2

8 Free Spirit Nova Duh on The Disappeared

16 A Clean Bill

The creatives behind The Daughters of Róisí n and Futuristic Folktales on reproductive rights

12 Monkey Business

Garry Starr channels chaotic thoughts

Comedy

20 Sarah Keyworth

A comedian in total command of themselves

Theatre

32 So Young

An immaculately observed comedy of manners

Dance & Circus

41 Lewis Major

A brief escape into intimate conversation and exquisite dance

Cabaret and Variety

44 Polly & Esther

Camp drag cabaret from dramatic duo

50 Map & Listings

Find festival treasures with our map and hour-by-hour listings

Image credits (top to bottom, left to right): Henrik Uth; Charles Flint Photography; Amy Sinead Photography; Matt Crockett; Aly Wight; YO; Kirsten McTernan; Fest Magazine

Perfect Day: Gwyneth Goes Skiing

A Goopy day in Gwedinburgh

Gwello. My name is Gwyneth Paltrow and I will take you through a day in Gwedinburgh that will make you laugh, cry a number of times, sweat, dance, get a shot and have many epiphanies. I Shakespeare-inLove theatre, so the Fringe is a very special place for me.

I no longer sleep, but I do meditate horizontally in my bed for eight hours every night with my eyes closed. Once my eyes are open, I begwin my day.

6am

I always start my day with an ice bath. As we’re in Scotland in the height of summer – that means a dip in the sea at Portobello Beach.

6.30am

I awaken my body further with a quick climb to the top of Arthur’s Seat. I have to stay in shape as I’m training for an Iron Man with Robert Downey Jr. An Iron Man is a triathlon where a total of 140.6 miles are run, swam and cycled.

6.40am

I attend my first Edinburgh Fringe show. It’s not so much

a show as it is two pigeons picking on a piece of bread. Effervescent. Five stars.

7am

Using my latest Goop products for my speedy daily skin routine.

10.30am

I make my famous Boyfriend Breakfast for my then boyfriend, and now husband Brad Falchuk. He used to produce Glee you know. That’s how we met. I won an Emmy for my guest role in Glee. Not that awards matter of course. (Unless they’re Edinburgh Fringe awards and they’re given to the hit show Gwyneth Goes Skiing, that is.)

11am

I go to Princes Street for a quick visit to the Apple Store. I call it the Apple Store as my daughter Apple loves shopping there, it’s actually called Claire’s, and we find some gwonderful accessories.

12am

Lunch time. Bone broth from Barnacles & Bones in Old Town. Yum.

1pm

Being an A-list Hollywood Superstar and Goop founder can be tiring. As I walk along a quaint old street called the Mile, numerous fans run up to me, all wanting to hand me pictures and sheets of papers. I sign them all and graciously return them, kindness is a highly valued Paltrow attribute.

2pm

I send out my Goop newsletter that includes my pick of the Fringe for the year. My pick this year is Bangs.

2.30pm

I put on my headphones and go on a silent disco walking tour. Which means I walk around Edinburgh by myself, listening to the sound of whales, mountain goats and Coldplay.

3.30pm

I attend a performance of Gwyneth Goes Skiing at the Pleasance Courtyard. I find it beautiful, moving and strangely relatable. I’m gooped – there’s nothing else like it.

5pm

Grabbing a coffee from The Hideout Café on Upper Bow. They only sell oral coffees, enema not available, but it’s still nice.

6pm

I watch a man play a bagpipe. It makes me think of those less fortunate in society. To some of those, these noises would pass as music.

7pm

Dinner time. Bone broth with a side of jade eggs at Hula.

9pm

The evening rain soaks the city. The cobbles getting so slippery that people are sliding everywhere. Like doors.

11pm

I end the day by consciously uncoupling from reality and enjoying a performance of Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story at Pleasance Courtyard. Wow, Princess Diana really is stunning, we could be sisters. I wish her well.

And there we go guys. It’s time for me to get in bed. This has been fun.

SHOW Gwyneth Goes Skiing

VENUE: Pleasance Courtyard

TIME: 3:30pm – 4:50pm, 31 Jul – 26 Aug, not 5, 12, 19

Photo: Jonny Ruff

Free Spirit

South American burlesque activist Nova Duh speaks to Eilidh

Akilade about The Disappeared,

voice robbed of their freedom

the true story of a queer Latinx

“I was looking for my own histories,” says performer Nova Duh, when asked about their artistry. After working in film for some time, Nova began burlesque in 2019 while living in Chile. It was an exciting time, furnishing them with the tools to connect with their body and community like never before. “It’s a challenge for me, to strip down many layers of me. My burlesque at the beginning was not just about being naked or teasing – it was more about what I was looking inside of me to show.”

Now, Nova Duh attends the Fringe for the first time, as they star in The Disappeared, by Copenhagen-based theatre company Down the Rabbit Hole. Sexy and poignant, the burlesque cabaret reflects on their experiences as a queer Latinx person living in Chile when the new government regime comes into power. Throughout, The Disappeared remembers those who have been lost, removed, and taken from communities facing oppression. It’s both a party, and it’s a memorial.

of pinkwashing during Pride a far cry from the radical, sensual honesty of The Disappeared

The Disappeared is set on the last night before the authoritarian regime takes power. Joy is seized in its finality – just as it was for Nova Duh, one evening in 2019. “I was dressing up, getting ready for performing, and I saw one of my friends live-streaming on Instagram. She was stuck in the metro where things had started: the military and the police stalked the people and started shooting them inside the metro station.” Mid-performance, an audience member showed Nova similar video footage on their phone, reality beyond the party slowly shifting into focus. “We’re finishing the party, I look outside and we are surrounded by four trucks, full of militants.”

“We’re finishing the party, I look outside and we are surrounded by four trucks, full of militants”

Vulnerabilities – both theirs and others –interest Nova. “Burlesque is exposing me as a queer person, not denying who I am anymore,” they say. Undeniably, there’s agency in exposing an internationally policed body – whether in sequins, under spotlights, or otherwise. “Our bodies are radical right now, queer bodies are radical right now. They are censored in social media, everywhere. You can see a lot of publicity with hegemonic bodies but queer bodies, queer representation, LGBTQ+ bodies – we just see that in June, when the companies are promoting diversity.” Nova laughs, the naked truth

Before completing their studies at Cultural General San Martín, Nova briefly attended EMAD (Metropolitan School of Dramatic Arts), an arts college which survived the military dictatorship in 1970s Argentina. “That was so important for my art education because I was so aware it was not just about being a queer person at that time – it was about being an artist.”

Ever-seeking the present tense, Nova has removed and added individuals’ narratives throughout the show. Telling the stories of those who have ‘disappeared’ over the last year, The Disappeared is in a constant state of making and re-making memory. Remembrance becomes a continuous act – and it is incessant by necessity.

“I’m studying,” says Nova, when asked about their current movements. Returning to Mexico

Photo: Vasiljev

“We’re making fun of these banned topics, of this censorship”

for six months following burnout, they have taken the months leading up to their Fringe run to educate themselves on South America and its thinking. Throughout The Disappeared, Nova pulls in two key ideologies – aesthetically and thematically: magical realism and Latinofuturism. With its literary roots in Latin America, magical realism brings the fantastical into the everyday, both seamlessly and bizarrely. Meanwhile, at once speculative and ancestral, Latinofuturism reckons with the past, present and future of Latin communities across the globe. Incorporating elements of science fiction, Latinofuturism looks to the future, via an inevitably technological lens, with hope, questioning how agency may be reclaimed.

Reckoning with such home truths, The Disappeared becomes something of a multimedia party. Alongside their performances, video footage from Chilean individuals will be shown.

It’s all too easy to condemn social media but, for Nova Duh, social media isn’t the villain. Grainy video footage and instant sharing, social media granted communities the opportunity to share their experiences of oppression and suppression against the backdrop of the recent protests in Chile. And so, in imagining South America’s future, social media is in each and every vision of hope and of liberation.

For Nova Duh, the show spans a number of countries beyond Chile, including their home country Mexico, making for connections between these spaces and The Disappeared: “Me as a Mexican, I’m trying to understand why we are so connected with death and how we honour them,” they say. “It’s not just celebration, the Day of the Dead – it’s actually honouring, taking time for honouring.” Such honouring may take a number of forms across cultures and communities; for Nova, in The Disappeared, the dead are honoured through burlesque. With burlesque thriving in 1920s Berlin, Nova found a community within the city keen to continue this legacy, coming to understand their individual bodies through collective performance and discussion. To honour is to protest – and, in The Disappeared, burlesque brings an indisputable joy (and sexiness) to this universally radical act.

“We’re making fun. We’re making fun of these banned topics, of this censorship,” Nova Duh says. The Disappeared laughs in the face of oppression, and gives it a cheeky wink, for good measure. In this rousing call, the show creates its own celebration and invites audiences to likewise embody their own protest, however that may look or feel. Nova hopes we’ll carry these sentiments – of pleasure, joy, humour – into the coming months. “For me, this is a new revolution – not just a sexual revolution.”

Find out more about the show’s historical context: panterarosacabaret.wixsite.com/the-disappeared

SHOW The Disappeared VENUE: Summerhall TIME: 1:45pm – 2:55pm, 1–26 Aug, not 12, 19

Photo: Vasiljev

@recirquel #recirquel

Monkey Business

Garry Starr explains how channelling his thoughts helped create a show for all ages

Words: Jamie Dunn

Garry Starr – the clown alter-ego of Aussie performer Damien Warren-Smith – believes in the power of acting. In 2018, he attempted to single-handedly revitalise the performing arts by taking on every genre of theatre (Garry Starr Performs Everything). In 2022, he recreated all of Greek mythology to revive Greece’s faltering economy (Garry Starr: Greece Lightning). And this year at the Fringe, he’s adapting literature masterpieces to, erm, save the penguins (Garry Starr: Classic Penguins).

Warren-Smith’s portrayal of thespian delusion is pin-sharp, drawing on the years he tread the boards as a serious actor before falling for clowning. “I never really was drawn to comedy,” he tells me from Melbourne. “You know, I played Hamlet!”

Seeing the physical comedy troupe Spymonkey at the Traverse in 2009 opened his eyes to the form’s artistic potential. “It was basically four guys retelling Moby Dick, but not in any way telling the story,” he recalls. “I came out of that play going, ‘What have I just seen?’” Warren-Smith did some digging, and it turned out he’d had his first encounter with contemporary clowning. “At the time I didn’t even know that was the thing. They’d all trained with this French guy Philippe Gaulier, so I started down that rabbit hole.”

Gaulier’s influence at the Fringe looms large. John-Luke Roberts, Julia Masli, Natalie Palamides and Viggo Venn are just a handful of his celebrated alumni. Warren-Smith is also on this list; he studied at the École Philippe Gaulier, just outside Paris, in 2013.

I ask what makes this pedagogue of clowning such a special teacher. “I think what Philippe’s truly great at is helping people to

access what it is about them that is uniquely idiotic,” he explains. In Warren-Smith’s case, it was his unwavering self-belief; the confidence to complete any task, despite how ill-suited he may be. “Anytime Philippe needed someone in class to volunteer, I’d say, ‘Yup, I’ll do it. I can do this!’ And I think he realised quite quickly that’s actually what makes me ridiculous.”

This hubris – combined with highbrow references and lowbrow pratfalls – is the fuel for Warren-Smith’s act. It’s made Garry Starr a late-night Fringe favourite. He’s incredibly silly, but certainly not family-friendly, not least because he often bares all for his art. “People always ask why I get naked in all my Garry Starr shows. And I jokingly but also quite seriously say that, if I didn’t get naked or didn’t perform that late at night, then everyone would want to bring their children.”

That’s all changing this year with Monkeys Everywhere, the first Garry Starr show for all ages. Ironically, though, it sounds more serious than anything he’s attempted before, with Warren-Smith exploring his

Photo: Charles Flint

“The monkeys are the things that swing in from every direction and give me the ideas”

recent diagnosis of cyclothymia – a form of bipolar disorder. The resulting one-man show combines clowning and puppetry to give a glimpse into his chaotic creative process. “There’s this notion of the monkey mind,” he explains, “which is that your thoughts are like monkeys swinging from branch to branch. For me, when I write, it’s very much like that. And I think my shows are like that as well.”

Monkeys Everywhere begins with Starr sitting at a typewriter working on a play, and then a succession of monkeys begin interrupting his work. But this isn’t a show criticising neurodivergent thinking. “It’s not like I hate my monkeys,” he says. “The monkeys are the things that swing in from every direction and give me the ideas. But sometimes you just need to find a way to calm them down a little bit. And that’s what the show is about.”

Calming the little monkeys in the front row will prove a tougher challenge, especially as there’s as much audience participation involved in Monkeys Everywhere as in the latenight Garry Starr shows. But if Warren-Smith can handle tipsy Fringe crowds while wearing nothing but a ruff around his neck, a theatre full of excited kids should be a doddle.

SHOW Monkeys Everywhere

VENUE: Pleasance Courtyard

TIME: 11:30am – 12:30pm, 31 Jul – 25 Aug, not 7, 14, 21

SHOW Garry Starr: Classic Penguins

VENUE: Pleasance Courtyard

TIME: 8:30pm – 9:30pm, 31 Jul – 26 Aug, not 7, 14, 21

Comfort Zone

Following his autism diagnosis, Stuart Laws uses his new hour to explore the nature of his relationships

Words: Ashley Davies

Photo: Ed Moore

“It feels like it’s not just a stereotypically autistic nerd looking at their shoes and standing on stage talking about hyperfixations anymore”

Some of the most satisfying comedy is made by clever people who feel like outsiders. Whether their sense of otherness stems from their sexuality, gender identity, race, socio-economic status or something else, it often leads to them becoming astute students of human behaviour.

One stand-up, Stuart Laws, is a classic example. After decades of trying to make sense of his own behaviours – and working hard to try and mask them, not that he knew that’s what he was doing – he was last year diagnosed with autism. Right in the middle of the Fringe.

Laws, who’s adored and admired by comedy aficionados and practitioners, and deserves to be much better known than he is, is used to neurotypical people sounding surprised by this new information.

“Sometimes friends say, ‘You have too much empathy, you can make eye contact, I’ve never seen you have a meltdown.’ Those are all things I’ve learnt to control,” he says, adding that as a teenager he read countless books on body language, micro-expressions and psychology in an attempt to work out what he was supposed to be doing and how he could read people.

“It’s a common perception of autism and there’s a joke in there about people saying, ‘You don’t seem autistic,’ which people don’t realise is an insult and what they’re really saying is, ‘Oh, you don’t seem like a fucking whack job,’” he smiles.

He expressed it well in a recent social media post that read: “Would be incredible if just once a person was described as kind, generous and funny and maybe someone piped up ‘maybe they’re autistic?’ rather than a psychopathically rude person being the prompt.”

His new show, Stuart Laws Has to be Joking? focuses on relationships in light of his diagnosis. “It’s about my relationship with myself as someone who didn’t realise that he

was masking for 25 years, finding that out and how that has affected relationships with other people, romantically, and the audience and my comedy,” he says.

In typically inventive fashion, he’s structured the show to mimic the course of a relationship – with the audience as a whole playing the potential love interest – beginning with small talk, going into how we present ourselves and interact, then building towards deciding whether the two parties can be right for each other.

“The key line for me is that being in a relationship when you know who you are means that they can also know who you are,” saws Laws, who started seeing American comic Chloe Radcliffe around the time of his diagnosis, and seems grateful to have the chance to revel in the love with full disclosure.

Artistic explorations of neurodivergence in recent years have played an important role in educating audiences about how different minds work. “It feels like it’s not just a stereotypically autistic nerd looking at their shoes and standing on stage talking about hyperfixations anymore,” he says. “It feels like a broader thing because there is more comfort in being able to express these things and being able to talk about difficulties in areas like relationships.”

His last show, the excellent Stuart Laws? Is that Guy Still Going?, was about long grief, though the subject matter was so subtly woven into the high laugh-count silliness that audiences almost didn’t realise the emotional weight of what he’d been communicating until afterwards. That’ll be out on special, possibly next year, directed by Nish Kumar, and if the new show is as masterfully crafted and performed as that one was, it’ll be unmissable.

SHOW Stuart Laws Has to Be Joking?

VENUE: Monkey Barrel Comedy (The Hive)

TIME: 4:45pm – 5:45pm, 29 Jul – 25 Aug, not 14 Aug

A Clean Bill

The creatives behind The Daughters of Róisín and Futuristic Folktales explore how their shows tackle reproductive rights and health

Words: Laura Kressly

Though the 2022 repeal of Roe v Wade in the US outraged progressives around the world, there is often less attention given to reproductive rights closer to home, and how the right to reproductive care includes more than ‘just’ abortion access.

Reproductive healthcare also includes, for instance, birth control, IVF, STI testing, egg and sperm donation, and loads of other treatments and procedures that involve looking after reproductive organs and their related processes. Access – or lack thereof – to this care is more than dealing with unwanted pregnancies and relevant everywhere. Two shows at this year’s Fringe exemplify this.

Though Ireland’s 2019 legalisation of abortion was a significant leap for the country’s reproductive rights, The Daughters of Róisín focuses on single women who wanted to be mothers but did not have the right to do so. “I was inspired by the story of my great grandmother, Kathleen Barry who gave birth

to my grandfather in the early 1930s and had him removed from her care, as she was an unmarried woman,” Aoibh Johnson, the show’s writer and performer, explains. While the stories of the Magdalene Laundries are now widely known, their legacy is something Ireland struggles with. “There’s still a heavy sense of shame that ripples through the island and I wrote this piece to do my part in dispelling that shame,” she adds.

In Scotland, Charlotte Mclean, creator and director of Futuristic Folktales, finds inspiration from others as well as within herself. “Menstrual and reproductive health – for and with EVERYONE – is a topic close to my heart. Having had two abortions and a miscarriage, and currently contemplating if human reproduction is for me, in my dancing body, I feel like it’s an important discourse to feed into,” Mclean shares. She has drawn on the concept of ‘the first womb’ and its possibilities to make the show. “My hope for the first womb’s legacy

is that anyone who wants to have a child can. Whether they have an actual womb, or not. I’m here for the future of all reproductive possibilities, and what that may look like for different constellations of people. Or not.”

Both Johnson and Mclean recognise their shows’ positions within the current political climate. Reflecting on the past decade, Johnson notes, “I do believe that there has been a surge in advocacy for women’s voices in the last 10 years and The Daughters of Róisín speaks to this. It feels like communities are tired of staying quiet, not rocking the boat and hiding from reality”. That said, she adds: “I think the words ‘activism’ and ‘protest’ can connote ideas about aggression, noise and disruption. I’m excited about how theatre and female writers are bringing a new energy to activism. I believe activism can be gentle, beautiful and moving and at times, this is the work that creates most change. The Daughters of Róisín is a piece of fiery, protest theatre but it’s also a soft, moving piece, full of heart.” Mclean takes a similar approach in Futuristic Folktales: “With the show, we want to resist loud politics. We want to find a way to encourage political actions, thought, contemplation without spoon feeding or encouraging a particular party/ideal.”

Refreshingly, both artists look at the world around us with optimism. Thinking about the Fringe, Mclean says, “Hopefully everyone feels welcome to come to the show, and

“I’m here for the future of all reproductive possibilities, and what that may look like for different constellations of people”

Charlotte Mclean

whatever their opinion on reproductive health, trans rights or tradition may be, it can be discussed together afterwards.” Johnson, too: “My hope is that it connects to your heart and soul and encourages you to hold the hands of women everywhere.”

SHOW The Daughters of Róisín

VENUE: Pleasance Courtyard

TIME: 1:00pm – 2:00pm, 31 Jul - 25 Aug

SHOW Futuristic Folktales

VENUE: Assembly @ Dance Base

TIME: 3:50pm – 4:50pm, 13–18 Aug

Photo: Amy Sinead Photography

Futuristic Folktales

Fest Party 2024 @ The Voodoo Rooms

Photography: Charlotte Cullen

As Fest returns for its 22nd year, the whole crew were out for a pre-Fringe bash at the wonderful Voodoo Rooms, where we invited all our pals to celebrate the start of another year of the Edinburgh Festivals.

Guests were treated to cocktails by Pickering’s Gin, with tunes supplied by Fest DJs and a photobooth via the always popular Blushbooth. Alongside the great company, fantastic drinks and stunning magazines, everyone was lucky enough to go away with a free tote bag, sponsored by Monkey Barrel and the Edinburgh International Film Festival

A big thank you to everyone that made it along on the night, and to The Skinny and Fest’s George Sully for all his efforts with the planning and organisation. See you next year!

Comedy Reviews

Sarah Keyworth: My Eyes Are Up Here

VENUE: Monkey Barrel Comedy

TIME: 1:25pm – 2:25pm, 1–25

Aug, not 13, 14, 15, 16

Wry, hilarious, touching and informative, My Eyes Are Up

Here takes the high-stakes saga of Sarah Keyworth’s identity journey and effortlessly turns it into relatable stand-up

for anyone whose self-expression has threatened their relationship with loved ones. In-between the non-binary comic’s 30th birthday last year and their mother’s 70th, the pronoun-flexible “Keys” had top surgery for the removal of their breasts, a big deal but also a largely untapped cultural wellspring of personal and observational comedy that they richly exploit. Throw in a burgeoning self-awareness of undiagnosed ADHD that casts much of their childhood struggles into a more revealing light, and a tongue-in-cheek realisation that sparking online hate might actually be a lucrative proposition, and you get a comic suddenly in total

command of themselves – or at least those aspects that they can consistently take the mickey out of.

Although Keyworth’s droll delivery instantly reassures that everything turned out well, the surgery wasn’t without jeopardy, financial and other costs, and there’s still an emotional kicker to the tale that enhances the performance and speaks highly to their storytelling abilities. Even the darkest elements are handled with commendable lightness of touch and there’s zero expository excess in the hour, with everything leveraged for a joke, fat excised from the tale like Keyworth’s erstwhile “bazingas”. ✏︎ Jay Richardson

Photo: Matt Crockett

Rahul Subramanian: Who

Are You? HHHHH

VENUE: Assembly George Square

TIME: 6:25pm – 7:25pm, 31 Jul –25 Aug, not 12 Aug

Rahul Subramanian is the kind of guy who, if he was in your class at school, would make you snort with laughter with a single look – and you’d be the one who’d get into trouble. It’s hard to imagine someone so goofy being happy in the

corporate world, but that’s where he found himself after graduating. He became an engineer, got involved with a start-up, then did an MBA before realising he could make a living as a comic, and, in this hour that flies by, he shares some of the absurdities of his life.

From the scatter-gun hiring policy of the company that employed him and his impression of a group of hapless students giving a joint presentation, to the self-described motivational speaker who inspired the name of the show, there’s much to love. There’s also an extraordinary story

about his first paid gig, and a wonderfully silly recounting of his visit from a wealth manager trying to organise life cover for him.

He says he no longer does jokes about sensitive topics after receiving death threats from the unlikely sounding targets of some of his earlier jokes: DJs. It was so bad at one point that he needed bodyguards for four months. It would have been great to hear a bit more about how that all started, but it’s a good excuse to go through his back catalogue.

Subramanian is big in India and deserves to be huge here too. ✏︎ Ashley Davies

Image: courtesy of Soho Theatre

#1 Son #1 Son

Elaine Robertson: Delulu

HHHHH

VENUE: The Stand Comedy Club 3 & 4

TIME: 12:05pm – 1:05pm, 1–25 Aug, not 12

Elaine Robertson explores the concept of ‘delulu’, short for delusional, in her first hour at the Fringe. Effortlessly balancing singing, dancing, self-reflection and even some educational material, she proves that she’s more than just a northern lass telling jokes.

Growing up in County Durham, Robertson never saw the need to move anywhere else. She speaks fondly of her family and wild karaoke outings, worlds apart from the culture shock she experienced at Oxford University, where she thrived, nonetheless. Robertson is so confident that she’s delusional, a trait she shares with her father, whilst simultaneously thinking she’s the worst person in the world.

She tells her stories with understated humour rather than elaborate jokes, not afraid to pull the rug from underneath the audience to address serious issues. She reveals what it’s like to live with phychosis, and just as everyone moved on from talking about Covid, she provides a refreshingly engaging account of her experiences working in a care home during the pandemic.

The show is a bit unpolished at times, but the roughness is part of Robertson’s charm. Delulu is a beautiful love letter to Oxbow lakes, the residents of her hometown, and the

elderly friends she made in a time of crisis, in one of the most authentic performances you’ll see at the Fringe this year. ✏︎ Veronica Finlay

Runi Talwar as 'Runi Talwar' in Runi Talwar: The Runi Talwar Story

VENUE: Pleasance Courtyard, TIME: 8:40pm – 9:40pm, 31 Jul – 26 Aug, not 13

You might think that every conceivable topic has been covered across 70 years of the Fringe, all those thousands of comedy hours, but racist spoons does feel like a new one. It’s a significant moment too, the first sign that Runi Talwar’s new home, the UK, has a unique and long-established style of prejudice, sometimes expressed via kitchen utensils.

Talwar is an engaging presence to spend an hour with, striding merrily around Bunker One, tossing out well-crafted wordplay, glorious mane bouncing off his shoulders. That title may suggest a heroic high-concept blockbuster but, movie-star hair aside, this is actually a kitchen-sink tale of a young Indian lad dealing with a sort of reverse superpower.

Branded with ‘unluck’ – as he puts it – from birth, that fateful gift follows him from New Zealand to Australia and the UK, adversely affecting

huge cricket matches, his love life, and a vitally important section of his visa application. Or perhaps it’s a self-fulfilling prophecy? Letting your dealer do your admin is arguably just bad judgement, if juicy material for later.

The well-travelled comic throws his whole world into this hour, a winning blend of tall tales, callbacks and life lessons, which deserves a decent audience. Stirring stuff. ✏︎ Si Hawkins

Photo: Rebecca Need-Menear

SHOWS FROM DENMARK THAT OPEN YOUR MIND AND IGNITE YOUR CURIOSITY

august 2 – 26 – 2024 edinburgh festival fringe danishedfringe DANISHedfringe

danishedfringe.com

Furiozo: Man Looking for Trouble

VENUE: Underbelly, Cowgate

TIME: 9:40pm – 10:40pm, 1–25 Aug, not 7, 12, 19,

A wall at the back of the room is being punched repeatedly, signalling the arrival of our topless, snarling hero. Furiozo runs at speed around the venue; as if pumped full of sugar and steroids – but when the music stops, he delicately reaches his arm out to shake

hands with the audience in front of him. He fights a bear on stage – except it’s a tiny stuffed bear that he dramatically wrestles to the ground; he points a gun at the audience – except, it’s just his hand as an imaginary weapon; and he does an epic Evel Knievel-style daredevil jump over the crowd – except, it’s a tiny, plastic kid’s bicycle that we all collectively have to pass around.

Man Looking for Trouble is ultimately a show of contradictions – harsh, toxic masculinity on one side and gentle introspection on the other. There’s an early realisation that there’s much more to

Furiozo than just the grunting and hostility, and over a frenzied hour we, quite literally, see his huge heart.

Polish clown Piotr Sikora plays the rowdy character with a certain tenderness, his wordless physical comedy skilfully displaying the internal dichotomy between love and hate; all-out aggression and softness. Despite the punkrock energy, the police chases and the masses of cocaine soundtracked by Darude’s ‘Sandstorm’, we’re rooting for this hooligan, willing him to break out of the cycle of violence that starts and ends this surprisingly touching show. ✏︎ Arusa Qureshi

Photo: Alan Moyle

Michelle Brasier: Legacy

Patter House

TIME: 7:00pm – 8:00pm, 31 Jul – 25 Aug, not 14

One evening in 2022, on an otherwise normal trip to the cinema, Michelle Brasier received an envelope with her name on it containing £10.50 and no explanation.

What for others might be a strange quirk in a day quickly forgotten, in Brasier’s hands becomes both a mystery to be solved and a springboard for explorations of parallel lives not lived and futures not yet decided.

Across an animated hour of musical comedy, Brasier ranges between the mundane and the existential (with a touch of the visceral, one recurring anecdote involving a particularly painful-sounding ailment). The story is delivered with such energy that the eminently likable Brasier is almost breathless at points, punctuating the plot with observations about generational differ-

ences, tales of failed theatre auditions, and well-crafted musical interludes. Partner and guitarist Tim Lancaster ably takes on several characters to great effect, a foil to Brasier’s absorbing brand of fervent narration.

The profundity of Brasier’s message sneaks up from the outside while the audience remain riveted by the central mystery. Ultimately both are pulled off to a satisfying conclusion, leaving no doubt that for all the paths not taken and parallel lives not lived, Brasier, commanding a stage and captivating an audience, has ended up exactly where she ought to be. ✏︎ Eve Livingston

Photo: Paul Jeffers

VENUE: Gilded Balloon

Kevin James Doyle: After Endgame

VENUE: Just the Tonic at The Caves

TIME: 5:05pm – 6:05pm, 1–25 Aug, not 12

Opening: it’s certainly confident, with some punchy factoids about chess. The strategy is clear and we learn about Kevin James Doyle, a chess player (250 millionth best in the world) and educator, as well as a comedian and actor, living in New York. He manoeuvres us around the facts of his life, a few gentle jokes suggesting a firm grip on the match. But there’s cracks in the plan. The snippets of info are a little scattergun. The jokes start to rely on a few set pieces (“now here’s the thing…”). I might accept that impersonating a Moroccan woman is OK in NYC, but it feels a borderline rule infringement in EDI.

Middle game: meandering. We start to wonder if Doyle’s strategy for this match, and for the telling of his chess-based true story, has the moves to back it up. There’s empty squares where punchlines should be. “Time will tell,” he says at one point. We wait for a funny tag that never comes. A set piece about drug harm reduction programmes is energetic, and provides probably the most sustained laughs, but feels like a sequence shoehorned in from another match (in this excruciating metaphor,

that’s his club set). He gets stuck convincing us of the merits of backgammon.

Endgame: it’s a much more devastating sequence, victory plucked from the jaws of defeat. Here Doyle’s frankly jaw-dropping story really

takes flight. He brings pathos, timing and acting to bear. He handles a Siri-based interruption with real panache. There’s a well-weighted running gag. If not checkmate, this is a respectable draw. ✏︎ Evan Beswick

Photo: Josh Goleman

Theatre Reviews

So Young HHHHH

VENUE: Traverse Theatre TIME: times vary, 2–25 Aug, not 5, 12, 19

It isn’t just the presence of actor Lucianne McEvoy and director Gareth Nicholls which draws comparisons between So Young and the Traverse’s breakout Fringe hit of 2018 Ulster American. Like that excellent work by David Ireland, Douglas Maxwell’s play takes a moral conundrum of a situation which might almost be de-

scribed as everyday, and ramps up the urgency of the conflict between its protagonists until it hits near-existential levels.

In this case, happily married and middle-aged couple Liane (McEvoy) and Davie (Andy Clark) are taking advantage of a night while the kids are at their grandparents’ to go over and visit their similarly-aged old friend Milo (Nicholas Karimi). What Davie hasn’t told Liane is that Milo has also invited his new girlfriend Greta (Yana Harris), the 20-year-old barmaid at his local pub; what nobody can guess is how Liane will react to this development, with her best friend, Milo’s

wife, having died just three months earlier.

It’s not much of a spoiler to say her response isn’t positive, which opens the floodgates for an utterly immaculately observed comedy of modern manners. A great ensemble are on top form here, and Maxwell’s dialogue cracks out great comedic lines like a whip. Clark’s downtrodden but upbeat Davie is masterfully observed, while the cathartic speak-before-you-think rage McEvoy brings Liane is trumped by her beautiful mid-play speech on female friendship which gets its own deserved ovation. ✏︎ David Pollock

Photo: Aly Wight

Main Character Energy

HHHHH

VENUE: Roundabout @ Summerhall

TIME: 9:40pm – 10:40pm, 1–26 Aug, not 6, 13, 20

As delivering on its titular promise goes, Temi Wilkey’s Fringe debut Main Character Energy couldn’t be truer to its name. Wilkey revels in her own attention seeking from beginning to end in an aesthetic thrill ride, complete with joyous audience interaction, musical heights, and a multitude of insightful and comedic breakdowns.

Impressive agility marks this show throughout, as Wilkey flicks the switch with ease between flamboyant and distraught, entertaining and provocative. For all that any one-person show risks skating around the edges of self-indulgence, Main Character Energy is an unashamed deep dive into it. Taking the crowd through traumatic school play experiences, reflections on aspirational stardom and diasporic identity, and one particular dilemma over how far she can ethically stretch her own indulgence, she is capable at almost anything she turns to.

Where other high adrenaline shows might be peppered with tokenistic depth, Wilkey’s emotional vulnerability is highly skilled and cleanly adds new dimensions to the show’s overall offer. The returns to high energy are no less exuberant, while laced with

new questions around what it means for both individual and society to invite and reward such cries for attention.

When it comes down to it, she loves the attention, and the crowd can’t help but love giving it to her. ✏︎ Hamish Gibson

Photo: Jade Ang Jackman

The Signalman

HHHHH

VENUE: Zoo Southside

TIME: 2:55pm – 3:45pm, 2–25 Aug, not 12, 19

Based on Charles Dickens’ experience with a devastating train crash, The Signalman focuses on the eponymous character coming to terms with one of his own. A sparsely dressed set allows Tim Larkfield to take centre stage, as he relays the signalman’s

troubles to an unseen, unnamed spectator.

Larkfield’s characterisation of the disturbed railway worker is compelling and dynamic, starting off bewildered but determined and, over the course of 50 minutes, descending into terror and madness. Frequently sighting a spirit on the tracks, eyes covered and hand raised in warning, the signalman knows it’s warning him of something – but what? After a second tragedy happens on his watch, self-blame sets in, and no amount of singing to himself or sitting quietly watching the skies can assuage it.

This version of The Signalman, adapted by Martin Malcolm and directed by Sam Raffal, hones in on issues like post-traumatic stress disorder and unaccountable guilt, asking where can these sit alongside self-hatred for having squandered a promising future. This signalman is played with a suffusion of desperate sadness, both for the life he could have had, and the one he is living. Larkfield’s depiction of a man in crisis, as well as ghostly sound design and lighting, come together in a performance that is eerie and disturbing. ✏︎ Kirstyn Smith

Photo: Elee

Nova

I’m Almost There HHHHH

VENUE: Summerhall

TIME: 2:45pm – 3:45pm, 1–26 Aug, not 12, 13, 19

Whoever said love was an easy road never had to descend several flights of stairs to greet the perfect date. In an attempt to dodge an eccentric neighbour, an enticing cult leader and a lost cat who seems to have it out for him, this musical comedy has the audience yearning, through watery eyes and belly laughs, for a happy ending.

Piano player Todd Almond epitomises the modern trials and tribulations of the search for Mr Right in his hilarious one-man, three-musicians, show. While often poignant and sentimental, this chaotic whirlwind blends a drunken night out with a sing-song school assembly to create the true romantic comedy.

Set entirely to piano, harp and bass guitar, Anderson effectively utilises the rich seam of modern self-deprecating drama (a subtle indication to the producer he shares with sensation Fleabag), while retaining the comedic element of being unlucky in love.

As well as a masterful script, the talent on display from the three musicians elevated the performance, easing the audience into suspense or laughter, guiding them along the rocky road of romance.

With doubts and obstacles coming from all avenues to foil Todd on his pilgrimage to happiness, this show

is a comedic love song to our darkest thoughts, and the hot date waiting at the door. ✏︎ Jemima Hawkins

Photo: Mihaela Bodlovic

Penthesilea

HHHHH

VENUE: Royal Lyceum TIME: run ended

According to French philosopher Georges Bataille, eroticism is assenting to life up to the point of death. This principle drives the Internationaal Theater Amsterdam’s production of Penthesilea, charting the path of its titular queen of the Amazons: women who can only have sex with men they defeat on the battlefield. Taking place in a brutalist visual universe – yet with the inventive flourish of 80s new

wave rock performed by the cast standing in as enactments of battle – director Eline Arbo’s production strips back the grandiosity of Greek myth to its most essential element: the fatal collision of death and desire. Actors are dressed in black, be it the black gossamer adorning (a somewhat queered) Achilles, Penthesilea’s love interest; or her own suit with its harsh, masculine lines. When the red of blood makes its appearance, it is striking. It starts off controlled, with one bloodied palm. By the end, there is no containing the red viscera strewn across the stage.

The unstoppable momentum of fate finds a breathtaking

expression in how synthesisers, drum kits, and eventually, a metal basin of blood descend dynamically from the ceiling as if divinely ordained. There is no melodrama here, and while there are moments of rockstar carnality, Penthesilea is less interested in being sexy than exploring the twin animal instincts for sex and violence as conquest – hurtling our characters to their tragic demise. It only serves the production’s full commitment to the overwrought absurdity of mythology: the belief that one could, in fact, love another so much that they have no choice but to devour them alive. ✏︎ Xuanlin Tham

Photo: Jess Shurte

WHEN ADVENTURE BECOMES SURVIVAL

To celebrate we are offering 20% off tickets for the 14th & 15th Get your tickets before they sell out!

A true story you'll never forget

theSpace @ Venue 45, August 9th - 24th (not 11, 18th), 16:05

FREAK OUT!

ANDY JORDAN PRODUCTIONS

Written

Shelton

by Richard Shelton

Dance, TheatrePhysical & Circus Reviews

Lewis Major: Lien

VENUE: Assembly @ Dance Base

TIME: times vary, various dates between 4 Aug and 25 Aug

Breaking the fourth wall isn’t a new trick. Belgian theatre group Ontroerend Goed left some Edinburgh audience members triggered and terrified after their memorable 2011 show, Internal, exploring

intimacy and actor-audience boundaries. But there is beauty in the simplicity of Lien by Australian dance company Lewis Major Project: a ten-minute pause in your day for a one on one chat and solo performance from a dancer. It’s deliberately not passive entertainment but it’s not confronting either – unless eye contact and sitting on a stage are your idea of hell. It’s more a gentle check in, then watching some stunning, athletic and balletic dance.

Dancer Clementine Benson asks questions and answers a

couple before she begins her sculptural movement to music by Debussy. That’s probably far too many spoilers already. Plus it will be different for everyone. Benson is also performing in Triptych at night and we talk about how an intense run like the Fringe pushes performers, helping them grow creatively. Even the slowing down has power, and the bite-size show feels like sipping a quick, clean juice shot. Don’t be surprised if you need to use the chill out room they offer afterwards to come back to reality.

✏︎

Claire Sawers

Image: courtesy of Martha Oakes

Grupo Corpo

VENUE: Edinburgh Playhouse

TIME: run ended

This year’s EIF programme has slimmer pickings than normal in the dance section. Luckily Brazilian dance company Grupo Corpo brings two UK premieres; a tornado of vim and brio. Exhilarating opener Gil Refazendo (Remaking Gil) is a tribute to fascinating 82-year-old singer/activist Gilberto Gil, a leading trop-

icália artist alongside Os Mutantes and Caetano Veloso. The tropicálistas led a 1960s cultural revolution in reaction to Brazil’s dictatorship. Gil was imprisoned, exiled in London, then later became Brazil’s Minister of Culture. A duet reminds us of the tiring push and pull of resistance, a knee crashing into a chest, the torso pressing back.

Gil’s new score mixes protest song, bossa nova and electronic beats with bright, bouncing glockenspiel and didgeridoo. The dancers respond with loose arms flung skyward, shimmying hips and feet right-angled from the ankle. A huge sunflower pro-

jection unfurls behind them. Knowing the oppressive regime Gil was kicking against, their joyful flinging and arcing of bodies becomes even more gorgeous; a liberated unleashing of energy, tightly synchronised even as the large Grupo Corpo ('body group') weaves fast around one another.

Giro (Spin), inspired by Brazil’s Umbanda religion, is more urgent – bodies undulating wildly, the same signature flat feet from before now stomping in primal flamenco moves. Their precision is astonishing, waves of graceful spasms exploding like fireworks on the stage. ✏︎ Claire Sawers

Photo:

Andrew Perry

PRESENTED BY MASSAOKE IN ASSOCIATION WITH UNDERBELLY

‘THE PARTY OF THE FRINGE’ COMES TO MCEWAN HALL

Cabaret Reviews

Polly & Esther HHHHH

VENUE: Pleasance Courtyard

TIME: 7:40pm – 8:40pm, 31 Jul – 26 Aug, not 12, 19

There’s nothing better than a punny drag queen name and surely Polly & Esther takes the biscuit for a duo moniker. Hailing from Cardiff and brought up to the Fringe by the Wales in Edinburgh scheme, the two drag queens guide us through a campy cabaret about friendship, pinkwashing, imbued with real-life zest.

Polly & Esther first came together as performers in 2021 – Polly was performing as a successful drag queen while Esther had been in a one-person show out of drag. These

differences in their careers are explored in the show and the dynamics that arise from coming together for this show. It is one of the manners in which this show is elevated from just another drag cabaret to one that creates dramatic tension that rolls the narrative along.

But to the plot of the show, which sees Polly the seasoned performer and Esther the newly birthed drag queen realise their advantage as a duo to create an act that delights the masses. This includes the show’s real life audience and the fictional industrial overlord ‘Mulk’, a drink that wants to use them in the ad campaign. The togetherness of the two performers is really the high point of the show, the songs they perform (many of them original) are grand and a real

dynamic display of the harmonies and energy they bring out of each other. They sing and perform amazingly together – on the flip side sometimes their solo songs and moments on stage are not as strong. They really are best as a pair.

The addition of an industrial overlord making use of their talent is a great narrative device, if perhaps a little insensitive sometimes. The duo’s use of the protest slogan ‘No pride in Mulk’ can inadvertently strike the wrong tone in the wake of similar slogans that have been used with the events in Gaza. But you can tell that Polly and Esther’s hearts are in the right place as they meld their comedic ability with their narrative of how companies monopolise queer representation in today’s world. ✏︎ Jack Howse

Photo: Kirsten McTernan

Colin Cloud: Consequences

VENUE: Underbelly, Bristo Square

TIME: times vary, 31 Jul – 26 Aug, not 13

I don’t know how you guess a man’s phone unlock code out of nothing, but I do know this: in less enlightened times, Colin Cloud would be hanged as a witch. In our enlightened times, the reception of his feats of guesswork, influence and mind-reading provoke a more enlightened response and so the mentalist from Harthill has, he informs us, just

been offered a residency in Vegas. It’s a just reward and he will bring houses down with this loose origin-story framework, interposed with outrageous illusions. But, this isn’t just a demonstration of sorcery: it’s a theatrical event, and has to be judged by those standards.

There’s one thing stranger than the feats Cloud performs, and that’s the muted response they receive – even on a Saturday night. At times he needs to remind us to applaud. Something about Consequences just doesn’t flow, despite the motormouth delivery that keeps it moving along. At times it’s a little convoluted – I still don’t understand why four men have

to come on stage in order for their minds to be read once back in their seats.

The amount of ‘business’ rather muddies the clarity of the reveal. A dangerous fishhook-in-the-mouth moment isn’t helped by the number of steps Cloud needs to pack in to deliver it. There are some great moments of stagecraft – a fast cut soliloquy sequence is very effective. It’s static and tense and stands in contrast to the volume of slightly aimless blocking. Still, let’s not let Cloud off the hook. The accusation of witchcraft stands, and there’s a jaw dropping reveal to close that leaves only wonder in its wake. Go smash Vegas, pal.

Evan Beswick

Photo:

Titou Molard

Music Reviews

Sidiki Dembele

“It looks like a pumpkin, innit?” says Sidiki Dembele, introducing us to the calabash he’s just been playing, using his hands and fingernails to tap, thump and tickle out sharp then dull percussive sounds. From a family of West African griots (travelling musician storytellers), Dembele fell in love with

the djembe when he was five, and gives a passionate summary of the goblet-shaped drum’s charms, explaining how it brings communities together with its positive energy.

Dembele’s deep connection with African percussion is embodied as he plays. Sitting on a stool, his eyes are closed and he grins ecstatically as he leans far backwards. He’s been teaching workshops for years now and invites the audience in The Hub to call and response handclaps and African chants. Audience interaction makes up half of the

performance, which means his percussive bursts can’t always gather momentum. I’d have happily listened to an hour of just him wigging out, building BPMs and inducing a Tuesday night trance. Instead his noble dedication to evangelising about the instruments means he patiently shares his showtime with our often tuneless, out of time efforts. (He says we’ve been an “amazing crowd” but I’d give us a lacklustre two stars.) His playing tonight is intoxicating, just dosed out too sparingly.

✏︎ Claire Sawers

Photo: Maxime Ragni

VENUE: The Hub TIME: run ended

House of Cleopatra

HHHHH

VENUE: Assembly Checkpoint

TIME: 11:15pm – 12:25am, 31 Jul – 25 Aug, not 7, 12, 19

Casting a new, glittering light on a much-beloved ruler, House of Cleopatra is a musical-drag spectacle that pulls at the heartstrings. Amid celebrations for Egypt’s triumph over Rome, Cleopatra’s political security and close relationships are under threat. Bold performances coupled with unmistakable glamour, House of Cleopatra seizes the stage without taking itself too seriously.

Black sequins, gold and turquoise drapes, diamante in excess – the wardrobe is a tacky wonder. Such lavishness is met with suitably striking lighting, a blue wash streaked with white, rising and falling with orange. Meanwhile, a sparkling fever is maintained by the dancers, dripping with a delightfully dramatic comedy. Upon a tootight stage, each bend, kick, and thrust calls out for more space, talent unfortunately somewhat confined. While vocals may come in waves, each pop-synth hit – an original score by Laura Kleinbaum and Jeff Daye – is an undeniable crowd pleaser.

Although perhaps unnecessary, as a standing performance House of Cleopatra pulls us in, as if we’re the ruler’s subjects ourselves. Audience participation is

promised, but – arguably preferably – it makes good on this only with encouraged dancing and clapping, alongside a cheeky nod or conspiratorial

tap on the shoulder. House of Cleopatra is an exercise in extravagance and one to be thoroughly enjoyed. ✏︎ Eilidh Akilade

Photo: Charlie McCollum

Kids Critics The Listies ROFL

Reviewer Oran, six, finds Aussie comedy duo The Listies presenting highly relatable content for kids and parents alike

What happens in the show?

Bedtime. It was all about bedtime. No, Jack and the Beanstalk! Jack’s in it. They tell the story of Jack and the Beanstalk. It’s funny! They sing. They pee on everyone!

What did you like most about the show?

When they peed on everyone! That was funny. And the lullabies. When they died in the end [laughs]. And 'Twinkle Twinkle Little Star' was really noisy and I loved that. It was like disco at bedtime.

Was there anything you didn’t like? No.

What did your grown-up think about the show?

It’s set in Rich and Matt’s house at night time. There’s a full moon which is actually a picture of a bum! Much hilarity ensues. Rich is the ‘grown up’ trying to keep things on track and Matt is the child being as annoying and disruptive as possible. There’s lots of silly toilet humour, peeing on the crowd (squirting people with water pistols), a song and dance about brushing teeth, Jack and the Beanstalk story and a bedtime lullaby. Rich’s frustration is very relatable for the parents, and Matt being annoying is very relatable for the kids.

Would you tell your friends to go to the show?

[A long pause] What would you say? I’m not sure... [Another pause] Yes! One of my friends was there! Roo was there. And Noah was there too.

SHOW The Listies ROFL VENUE: Assembly George Square Studios TIME: 11:50am – 12:50pm, 2–18 Aug, not 8, 15

Photo: Teresa Harrison

NoVa

Canadian circus duo receive a mixed review

What happens in the show?

I actually have no idea. There are clowns. He did the splits! I think it was about acrobatics! They were cold? It’s about making friends?

I thought you would say did you like it or not and if you did I would say neither – it was in the middle.

What did you like most about the show?

When they went upside down.

Anything else? No. I mean no, I liked all of it.

Was there anything you didn’t like?

No. I liked all of it.

What did your grown-up think about the show?

Clowning and acrobatics with a strong focus on collaboration, working together, friendship. It was very calm, a sort of warm cocoon of a show with extremely mild peril as the elements close in on a pair of clowns trying to keep their candles lit. Kids in the audience were ending themselves laughing at some

points, although it felt like there was a bit of a lull in the second half. I think it’s maybe suited to slightly younger, gentler children before they enter their mainly-interested in-poo-jokes era.

Would you tell your friends to go to the show? No. Yes. No. Yes, yes.

SHOW NoVa

VENUE: Assembly Roxy TIME: 3:45pm – 4:45pm, 1–25 Aug, not 12, 19

Photo: Duncan McGlynn

09:30

A Political Breakfast

PBH’s Free Fringe @ Burrito ‘n’ Shake, 14–25 Aug

09:35

Daniel Powell: Breathless (Work in Progress)

theSpace @ Surgeons’ Hall, 14–17 Aug

09:40

This Show Contains No Maths, and Other Lies theSpaceTriplex, 19–23 Aug

09:45

These Fragments I Have Shored Against My Ruins

Laughing Horse @ Bar 50, 15–20 Aug, weekdays only About Comedy: Stand-Up Comedy Course

Laughing Horse @ Bar 50, 14 Aug, 17 Aug, 18 Aug

Editburgh: The Factually Inaccurate Historical

Walking Tour

Meeting Point @ Ibis Hotel, 16 Aug, 23 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug

10:00

Helen Prior – The Pussy from the USSR

Laughing Horse @ City Cafe, 14–25 Aug

10:15

A Brief Case

Laughing Horse @ The Three Sisters, 14–17 Aug

Wiki Knows Best – Micro Islands

Laughing Horse @ The Counting House, 14–25 Aug, not 19

Vegan Hunter

Laughing Horse @ The Three Sisters, 18–25 Aug

Editburgh: The Factually Inaccurate Historical

Walking Tour

Meeting Point @ Ibis Hotel, 14–27 Aug, not 16, 17, 18, 23, 24, 25