Long time FringeReviewer reviewer, Kate Saffin, trawls the previews for some early solo theatre Fringe suggestions
Here’s my recommendations for some solo shows across different genres and several venues based on shows I have seen:
A ripping yarn
Cadaver Palaver
Bennett Cooper Sullivan, gentleman adventurer and rakish raconteur, offers a tale astonishing tale of derring-do. No foe left unvanquished daily at 10.15 in the Anatomy Lecture theatre at Summerhall.
Bare Witness Theatre Co.
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/the-cadaver-palaver
https://www.barewitnesstheatre.com/the-cadaver-palaver
An adaptation with a difference
Bloomsbury Bell
Pleasance Courtyard 13.45
Watch Kara Wilson as Vanessa Bell paint an oil study of younger sister, Virginia Woolf, while she reminiscences about their heady times at the heart of the Bloomsbury Group.
Adapted from Jane Dunn’s Virginia Woolf and Vanessa Bell: A Very Close Conspiracy, written, performed and painted by Kara Wilson
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/bloomsbury-bell
Powerful new work
Ordinary Decent Criminal: Paines Plough
Summerhall 11.50
Set following the Strangeways Prison Riot, we meet recovering addict Frankie, played by Mark Thomas as he enters the brave new world of a liberal prison experiment. And finds that none of his fellow inmates are quite what they seem…
Almost sold out on its first preview, this new play by Ed Edwards is one to grab a ticket for fast!
https://painesplough.com/productions/ordinary-decent-criminal/
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/ordinary-decent-criminal
A tribute to a master of satirical song…
…by another master of satirical song, Mitch Benn. A tribute to, rather than a tribute show. An hour of exploring the way Tom Lehrer changed the course of Benn’s life (and work) peppered with Lehrers own songs. Plus some ‘Mitch Benn-ified covers’ of some of his most famous creations as well.
Mitch Benn, The Lehrer Effect
Underbelly 16.00
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/mitch-benn-the-lehrer-effect
Absurdist and dystopian
Is There Work on Mars?
Zoo Playground 16.30
Faye Yan takes us to an absurdist testing lab in an attempt to pass Nylon Tusk’s Mars Immigration Test, gain a Worker’s Visa and work on Mars.
Combining elements of her own childhood and life with ADHD and dyscalculia with a dystopian exploration of being tested by something that sounds decidedly mechanical.
A previous run was nominated for Neurodiverse Review’s ADHD Comedy Award.
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/is-there-work-on-mars
https://fayeyan.com/performance/isthereworkonmars
Quirky and musical
Fatal Flower
Summerhall 21.05
Valentina Tóth
A tragicomic musical and over-the-top one-woman show. There’s a mix of opera, theatre, musical, cabaret, classical music and comedy; various hysterical women, including the Queen of the Night, a jilted bride and a strict Russian piano teacher (or is that her mother?).
Valentina is a consummate musician with an incredible singing voice
It’s all very larger than life!
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/fatal-flower
Retelling a classic
A Mad, Mad Wonderland!
Greenside George St 15.00
Jason Woods
Or, more accurately, giving Lewis Carroll’s well known characters a further lease of life as Alice returns to Wonderland to save the White Rabbit from a chocolate-dipped doom, rediscovering the magic she thought she’d outgrown.
Be prepared for lightning character changes, some suspiciously familiar sounding voices and a lot of laughter.
https://www.jasonwoodsproductions.com/madmadwonderland
https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/a-mad-mad-wonderland
