There’s a first time for every Fringe writer, performer, director, producer… and sometimes they are they are all the same person! Those pre Fringe nerves will all be tingling as they get ready for their first show. Will the set/costumes/props last the month? Should we have made more cuts? And the big one, will anyone come?
To help things along your intrepid FringeReview reporter (who has vivid memories of being #emergingandolder) has been looking out some newcomers across the theatre scene. Why not give one of these five a try.
If you come across a hidden gem, a first time fringer, that you think deserves a bit more attention than they are getting, do let us know via Twitter @FringeReview
Ile
A solo coming of age story written and performed by Sophie Joans, from Cape Town, South Africa follows an 18-year-old girl who returns to the volcanic island to connect with her extended family (and escape her mother). Features a rumbling volcano…
Pleasance Courtyard 11.35
Hive
A new intergenerational queer sci-fi play about displacement, memory, and infestations from an older and emerging team of women/non binary folk AND at the Fringe for the first time. Covers just about everything that makes the Fringe such a great melting pot!
Assembly Roxy 16.35
Good and Gaslit
A first on all fronts: “first play, first production, first performing and first Fringe! All by a 50+ woman who says ‘Damn, who says 50 year old women aren’t the new ingenues?!”
The Space Surgeon’s Hall 13.55
Spin cycle
Possibly the only debut show you’ll see performed on a spin cycle, although being Edinburgh I wouldn’t risk being emphatic about that. Described as ‘a one person show about spinning, grief and everything in between. But mostly spinning, and grief’. The in between apparently includes boobs…
Pleasance Courtyard Bunker Two 12:20
Mememto Mori Bitches
Some interesting juxtapositions here: end of life planning, a puppet, humour, a peek into the world of the funeral industry. All in one of Edinburgh’s most atmospheric tiny venues – Paradise in the Vault, tucked away under Augustine’s church on George IVth bridge, 10.30
Gold
And lastly, a sneaky no 6. Almost all #firsttimers. Rumours has it one was here in the 1980s but that probably feels like another world so I’ve included it as it sounds very 80s and rather silly! Promises 1980s music, terrible dancing and a huge secret… possibly the very thing for those of us not queuing to see a big name comedian!
Space on the Mile 20.15