Edfringe: A show born in the classrooms of Denny High School

After they returned from the Fringe and the venue The Space on the Mile, I caught up with some of the cast and the director of Get Thee to a Nursery… Disgracefully, I was unable to go and see it, however they still let me in to talk to them about their experiences of a […]


“(Mommy’s a whore, Daddy’s a hitman). Laugh, cry and see God in this award-winning solo show by writer/performer Mitch Hara. Strap yourself in for a heart-wrenching rollercoaster ride you’ll never forget, featuring sex, drugs, disco balls and blackouts. All during an audition for Hamilton Unplugged. Directed by Carlyle King.” That’s the premise for Mitch Haras’s […]


Jo Tomalin talks with members of Buzzcut performing Bark Bark at 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Beckett Gray, Faye James and Gabe Winsor. Buzzcut make live performances with live cameras and have created several projects. “A dog with a bird-killing problem. Two people stitching their relationship together. A house filled with taxidermy animals. When a young […]


This is Zachary Loram’s second Fringe. He got a taste for it in 2022 with Boom Town the Musical, a comedy gay cowboy musical. Now he’s back with his guitar to perform Zac Zac Zoom at The Space Surgeon’s Hall with the support of a Keep It Fringe Award. This is a solo musical show […]


In Conversation with the team behind COVENANT

Tell us a bit about who you are and what you have at the Fringe. We are TPTC, a female and queer-led theatre company who formed during their time at university. Our goal is to create politically-focussed work that has female voices at the core. This year, we’re bringing our new play COVENANT to the […]


The Baader-Meinhoff phenomenon refers to a cognitive bias wherein an observer learns something new and starts seeing it everywhere. For example, I recently noticed a Rowan tree for the first time, and now the world seems to be overrun with scarlet berries and feathery leaves. I imagine if one had just learned the term ‘Neurodiverse’, […]


Kate Saffin talks to the team behind In The Lady Garden

The team behind In The Lady Garden are living, lively, proof that new creatives can emerge, or re-emerge at any age! Writer Babs Horton, Director Deborah Edgington and actor Julia Faulkner talk to Kate Saffin (also a late emerger) about the origins of the play, a match made in Heaven (or possibly Twitter) and how […]


Barbara Fernandez show is described as a ‘cheeky, hilarious, mellifluous romp through one singer’s colourful (and true!) past of cult-loving husbands, vampiric record producers, jailbird exes, shaggable therapists and diverse pharmaceuticals, peppered with lusty vocals delivered in bra-busting style.’ It also reveals that behind much of that cheekiness is years of undiagnosed Borderline Personality Disorder. […]


Photo credit: Anne Crawford El Blackwood is the creator of Tending. A verbatim piece based on over 70 interviews with nurses of all ages, backgrounds and nationalities, Tending immerses you in their day-to-day lives. In our interview she talks about the impetus to create the show, the process of recruiting nurses to interview (there was […]


Is Art in Society too “baroque? Is to too collusive? Is the new Total Arts Movement a new impulse for much needed avant garde art in society? I am taking four days out from the Edinburgh Fringe to bring my own solo show to this artistic inquiry over four days in Nancy in France at […]


In Conversation with Comedian Kelly Bachman

“Patron Saint is an hour of stand-up about spirituality, sexuality, virality and why anyone is funny. More specifically, it’s an hour of stand-up by Kelly Bachman, a comedian and rape survivor who found herself with sudden notoriety after encountering serial predator Harvey Weinstein at a comedy show in New York. Kelly was then asked to […]


Living. Dying. Dead. is an improvised theatre show that has been created to engage audiences on the taboo subjects of death, dying and bereavement. After sharing the show at improv festivals around Europe they brought their first full length (one hour) show to Edinburgh Fringe 2024. Owen talks about his work as a consultant physician […]


Bert and Nasi have developed several original devised shows together. For their latest show L’Addition they worked with director Tim Etchells to create it and they talk to Jo Tomalin about the experience and their work. “Two performers armed with a single scene – a customer orders a drink from a waiter. And then things […]


Physical theatre and dance performers and creators Luca Vaccari and Yuxi Jiang talk about their fringe production In The Round. “A dance theatre production exploring the perpetual cycles that bind our existence. Blending dance, film and verbatim sound derived from live interviews. It weaves inspirations from Tibetan spiritual practice to the vibrancy of Japanese pop […]


The term exulansis is not to be found in any mainstream dictionary. It was coined by John Koenig for his project ‘The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows’—which aims to define emotions we feel but do not yet have a word for – as “the tendency to give up trying to talk about an experience because people […]


A Conversation About Theatre of the Absurd

Earlier in the Fringe Paul Levy was in conversation with Actor Gareth Watkins and Director Pete Gomes about The Gentleman of Shallot at Edfringe 2024. In this conversation, Jules Smekens is added to a fascinating four-way discussion of Theatre of the Absurd at the Edinburgh Fringe and elsewhere. This genre has become rather niche at […]


Focus on Producing: In Conversation with Chris Grady

Chris Grady has been helping producers to develop their skills, experience and expertise for many years. In this wide-ranging conversation with Paul Levy, Chris defines exactly what a producer is, how the role of prodicer is a moving feast in different contexts within the Arts, and how he helps producers to develop their capability.


Mychelle Colleary talks to Kate Saffin about her first experience of developing a solo auto biographical show. Without giving too much away about the content she shares some of the influences, the work in getting this far and the challenges of navigating the Fringe for the first time. Ambitious Underachiever  is an musical one-woman show at […]


Beowulf: The Musical had its premiere at Greyfriar Kirk at Edinburgh Festival Fringe on 15th August. I sat down with its writer and composer, Umay Acar-Sümer, to talk about the source material and why she feels it was ready for a musical adaptation.  What made you decide to write a musical version of Beowulf? I […]


Actors Matthew Boston and Mark Boyett talk about Plotters by Brian Parks from Twilight Theatre Company. Playing in a Brian Parks work is usually a challenge for actors. Words fly up off the pages, into and out of the mouths of performers at breakneck speed. Matthew and Mark discuss the excitement and the exertions involved […]


British actor and writer Yolanda Mercy is presenting her new solo show Failure Project at the 2024 Edinburgh Festival Fringe. She talks with Jo Tomalin about why she writes and performs and the mental health and other struggles writers experience. “A comedy drama… or “dramedy” about Ade, a successful writer, or so it seems. She […]


Richard’s 2024 Fringe View – 4; Open For Business

As a fringe regular for a decade or so I’ve met many people and made a number or friends. This gives me a familiarity with the Fringe as it changes year on year. Maybe it’s because I’m an observer that tries to be relaxed and in-tune with what’s going on around me. Principally I’m here […]


Storyteller Sinead O’Brien from Wandering Stories brings her acclaimed show No One is Coming to the Scottish Storytelling Centre during the Edinburgh Fringe. “No One Is Coming is a devised, storytelling performance about a mother and a daughter inspired by lived experience and infused with Irish mythology and comedy. This storytelling event is not just […]


In her new one-woman show The Day My Sugar Daddy Dumped Me, Becky Goodman talks and sings about her relationships with older men, particularly married ones. The expanded version of the show includes her experience as a sugar baby for a surprisingly sweet man called Sal, and the surprising connection that made last year’s show […]


In this series of interviews, I sent several questions to couples who are bringing shows to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe together. In this edition, Stephen Smith and Stephanie Van Driesen talk about how to work through annoyance at each other, what they’ve learned working together, and the morning routine that keeps them going. Who are […]


Free Workshops from FringeReview at the Edinburgh Fringe

Free Events for Fringe Performers Use the form below to book Workshop 1 How to hit the ground running at the Edinburgh Fringe A gritty, hands-on session for ensuring you get the most out of every minute at this Fringe. What are the essentials of a successful and satisfying Fringe? What shoukd you do on […]


Fringe Couples: Sarina Freda and Nicholas Webster

In this series of interviews, I sent several questions to couples who are bringing shows to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe together. In this edition, Sarina Freda and Nicholas Webster of no no no please no god no, never mind I’m fine talk about sound design, crystal math, and the TV show we should all be […]


Free Fringe Solo Work Focus: Naomi Wood talks about Gobbess

Billed as a “kaleidoscopic one-creature show merging the circus with storytelling and spoken word”, Gobbess arrives comes to Edfringe with a clutch of positive reviews from Brighton Fringe. Creative force of nature and acclaimed performer, Naomi Wood, discusses the origins of the show and its development towards the Edinburgh fringe and beyond with Paul Levy. […]


Beowulf and Grendfel is a faithfully told version of this legendary tale from Tawnydog Productions. In this interview performer and adapter Evan Quinlan discusses the original “codex”, the original text from which this show at CC Blooms as part of PBH’s Free Fringe has been adapted. This is “the gripping tale of a prince’s struggle […]


A walk down the Royal Mile in Edinburgh during the Fringe

Paul Levy wends his way down Edinburgh’s Royal Mile in August during Edfringe 2024. He hears about shows that find their way into his hand from the many performers in all kinds of costumes flyering their shows to passersby. The noise of the crowds,street performers and a few landmarks on the way…


In Conversation with Action Theatre (Italy)

Action Theatre Italy are a truly international troupe, with two shows at the Edinburgh Fringe 2024. The Italians in England is set in 1572. “Shakespeare is some years away but Commedia dell’Arte’s combination of mask, comedy, wild plots, hilarious improvisation and women performing on stage is taking Europe by storm. Queen Elizabeth I insists on […]


Our pick of Edinburgh Deaf Festival

Edinburgh Deaf Festival is in its third year. It runs from 9th – 18th and here Joanna Matthews shares her picks – all suitable for Deaf and hearing audiences. The festival has it all – stand up comedy, new writing, a walking tour, workshops, exhibitions and dance. Edinburgh holds a unique place in Deaf history […]


FringeReview’s Paul Levy got five diverse theatre and arts makers around the Press Room table at theSpace at Surgeons’ Hall, with one thing in common: They all come from New York. So, what draws them to the world’s largest arts Festival and why is there no longer a New York Fringe? We hear about their […]


Richard’s 2024 Fringe View – 3; Time Out

Richard the photographer from ‘fringefoto’ gives a unique view of the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe After a busy week, I took some ‘time-out’ and caught the bus to Roslyn Chapel with Kate and Jo. On a sunny Tuesday afternoon we arrived early for our timed slot and were allowed in to explore the chapel and look […]


FringeReview’s Nicholas Collett talks to musician and now musical writer and performer Sean Findlay about The Shakey Shakey Hips at Paradise Green at the Edinburgh Fringe 2024. “Hilarious epic 50s rock musical following Shakey Sean (Elvis character) working in an Arbroath egg’n’roll van. A customer asks for a ‘rock’n’roll’. Shakey concedes he doesn’t sell this, […]


A head and shoulders picture of a white man with white hair and glasses wearing a blue velvet jacket

Insight into Edinburgh Deaf Festival

Edinburgh Deaf Festival is entering its third year and Its Executive Producer Philip Gerrard spoke to Joanna Matthews about deaf culture and heritage and why having a Deaf Festival as part of the Fringe is vital for both deaf and hearing audiences. Inclusion and representation are hot topics in theatre, TV and film and although […]


Julian Mayer talks to Paul Levy at Greenside at Riddle’s Court after their sell out show “A Cosmologist’s Guide To Life and Love” In this show “Astrophysicist Dr Julian Mayers asks whether studying the Universe gives us any insight into earthly matters of life, death and love. Down to earth, accessible, funny and ultimately uplifting, […]


Who is reviewing at the Edinburgh Fringe?

In this regularly updated list, we share all of the sources we can find for show and event reviews at the Edinburgh Fringe… Print Newspaper Financial Times (Paywall) The Guardian The Herald The Independent Jewish news Jewish Chronicle Metro Morning Star Rolling Stone (They review occasionally) The Scotsman Scottish Daily Express Scottish Field The Stage […]


Gareth Watkins, writer and performer of The Gentleman of Shallot, “began developing experimental improvised and devised theatre, which led him to study with the MA Theatre Lab at RADA. He has since written two plays: Boy for Life, on the lasting effects of gay conversion ‘therapy’ and The Gentleman of Shalott, his radical reimagining of Tennyson’s poem The Lady of Shalott as […]


Guest blog: GDFB4CP: Enter Jasper, the Flyer Pig

Our guest blogger, Gabey Lucas continues her Edfringe journey… I’m currently writing this in an airport, which themselves are a testament to the triumph of human hubris. Who thought “Ya see that sky up there? That place that God himself has clearly earmarked specifically for birds n’ bats n’ such? That’s human territory now.” Absolute […]


“In a world full of ugliness, desperation and people touching you with dirty hands, OCD became a coping mechanism. This young girl tries to hide her symptoms, for example touching things three times, but it’s in her DNA and to her discomfort the world starts noticing. But, relax. It’s a comedy. Fine, tragi-comedy. A monologue […]


Kuang Lee, Writer and Performer and Kevin Rebultan, Director of Gags playing at the San Francisco Fringe talk to Jo Tomalin about how and why this show developed around the topic of grief. Chinese American, Lee discusses his solo comedy and musical performance about grief and how he developed Gags. “Inspired by his grief counselor’s […]


Poet and storyteller, Laura Thurlow, talks to Kate Saffin about her new show ‘River Time’ (Edfringe 2024 show details below). The title is taken from one of the show’s opening anecdotes.  As a student in Edinburgh with unmanaged ADHD (and later realising also Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria), Laura would often go for a night out on […]


Steve Goodie is a musician and comedian from Nashville, Tennessee.  He has been the host of the internationally renowned music venue The Bluebird  Café in Nashville for 17 years. Steve’s album of Harry Potter parody songs was  a hit on audio entertainment platform SiriusXM, and legendary broadcaster Dr  Demento describes him as “one of our most […]


Richard the photographer from ‘fringefoto’ gives a unique view of the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe This year’s fringe is now well underway as the first weekend comes to a close. I’m just about on top of my photo editing with one more launch show’s pics to finish. Here are a few pictures to give an idea […]


Barbara Fernandez on her unique show at the Edinburgh Fringe Barbara’s show, Barbara Fernandez Singing, Sagging and Shagging, can be booked here At an age when most people contemplate retirement (and at the start of lockdown), I got diagnosed with borderline personality disorder (BPD for short – which may sound like a far right wing […]


Fringe Focus: Children’s Theatre at the Edinburgh Fringe

There’s plenty of famly-friendly theatre at the Fringe each year, though not as much as there used to be. With offerings across most of the genres in the programme for all ages, here are a few of our recommendations. If you are looking for shows particularly suited for teens, you may well find that these […]


Richard’s 2024 View of the Fringe.

Richard the photographer from ‘fringefoto’ gives a unique view of the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe After a long over-night drive from just outside London, I’m here in Edinburgh. Settled into my accommodation, equipment unloaded and sorted out, ready for the pre-festival rush of previews shows. First ‘FringeReview’ reviewers meeting to kick things off. I find these […]


New Writing at Camden Fringe

Camden Fringe champions new writing and even gives it its own section in the fringe programme. Here at FringeReview we are rather partial to new writing, as newness is usually a key quality of “fringe. So here are a few recommendations for enjoyers of the “new”. Black Velvet is a “new dark comedy, about time […]


Music and musicals to see at Camden Fringe

There are music gigs and musicals to see at Camden Fringe. So pull aside the curtains of Comedy and Theatre and enjoy a bit of music. Here are our choices, gleaned from the music and musicals sections of the fringe programme. Most fringe festivals seem to cover flamenco and, if you havbe never been to […]


Acclaimed Franco-Uruguayan auto-fictional playwright Sergio Blanco returns to Edinburgh afterhis International Festival hit show When you walk over my grave* to direct Divine Invention, hislife-affirming new show, translated from Spanish and performed by his long-time collaborator,multi-award-winning director, Daniel Goldman. Part metatheatrical performance lecture, part auto fictional memoir, Divine Invention is anexploration of love that interweaves […]


FringeReview Award-winners, Theatre Movement Bazaar, are back at the Fringe with their new musical, Tiny Little Town. The new show from is billed as “a new musical comedy reimagining Ukrainian playwright, Nikolai Gogol’s 19th century satire, “The Government Inspector”. In TINY LITTLE TOWN, a small town in 1970s America is thrown into chaos when its corrupt bureaucrats […]


Physical theatre is based on physical expression that takes the place of words (or some spoken words) or expresses figures or forms or is applied in stylised movement. Those of us that do physical theatre as a performer or deviser may feel that this is one of the best genres of theatre because of how […]


Camden Fringe Comedy Choices

You won’t just dind stand up, improv and sketch comedy in the comedy section at Camden Fringe. Fringe theatre goers will find more thratre-based offerings in this section, so don’t just restrict yourself to the theatre section of the Camden Fringe programme. There is quite a lot of work-in-progress stand-up happening this year, so tread […]


Donald Stewart, our Scotland editor, makes a considered selection… Three thousand plus shows, sixty less venues, shorter runs for many shows than normal and question marks over funding to the whole shebang, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is upon us. And so, as we get out the planners, the pencils and the coloured markers to sort […]


Short Plays at the Edinburgh Fringe

Those with a lower attention span, or who simply enjoy the short form in theatre have a few short play-based shows to choose from at this year’s Fringe. Here are a few of our early choices. Low Bar Theatre presents “Four More Short Plays Loosely Linked by the Theme of Crime,” a follow-up to their […]


Matthew Roberts reflects on how his skills development from writing, performing and producing several Solo Shows at the Edinburgh Fringe since 2014 are applicable to exploring his PhD – Queering the British Holiday. He is in his second year (part-time) studying a PhD Text, Practice as Research at The University of Kent. Since embarking on this […]


Vibrance dancer

Dance! Jo Tomalin’s dance choices for EdFringe 2024

A variety of Dance forms are on offer at this year’s EdFringe at several venues around Edinburgh. For example, dance and choreography may be based on traditional forms, contemporary, experimental or a fusion of forms, reflecting different cultures, stories or moods, and are sometimes interspersed with other theatrical genres such as circus or musical theatre. […]


Pat Silver’s EdFringe A Cappella Picks

SING! Toronto A Cappella Festival Director Pat Silver shares her a cappella choices for this year’s Edinburgh Fringe No instrument – no problem A cappella is back at Edinburgh Fringe – and it is aca-awesome From international touring headliners to young collegiate artists, they have one thing in common – a love of the human […]


Comedy Improv Focus: Camden Fringe 2024

A search for “comedy” in the Camden Fringe programme brings up 122 results and, as with most fringes, comedy tends to represent a large chunk of the shows on offer. You will also find comedy shows under the other genre headings so there may well be more to discover. Our focus here is on the […]


Theatre Focus: Camden Fringe 2024

Set up as a viable alternative to the Edinburgh Fringe, “Camden Fringe is a performing arts festival, established in 2006, which takes place in Camden during August. Anyone and everyone is welcome to apply. Previous fringe events have encompassed new writing, opera, musicals, stand-up, sketch comedy, dance, cabaret, poetry, opera, mentalism, improvisation and Q&As. Shows […]


Sing Toronto Festival Director Pat Silver shares her music and other genre choices for this year’s Edinburgh Fringe What I’m looking forward to seeing at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe I’ve been coming to the Edinburgh Fringe since 1993. We first discovered it on a trip to Scotland and I was hooked. The Fringe was a […]


Camden Fringe 2024: A First Look

29th July – 25th August 2024 If you go to the show search page on the Camden Fringe Website, you’ll find “340 Results” listed. This is a growing Fringe in London in the UK that still somehow manages to feel not too large scale. There are a family of venues in the city that host […]


Through a series of lessons taught by a professional curmudgeon with high expectations, students will be challenged on their unspoken assumptions about condoning and perpetuating harmful social norms. In this 55-minute class, they will reckon with their complicity in humanity’s current demise. Examples of learning outcomes include: how math can prove anything, preservatives are better […]


“Storytellers from a range of backgrounds, ages and cultures share stories of LGBTQ+ lives past, present and future. With a different line-up at every show featuring household names alongside upcoming storytellers and the occasional audience micro-story. Sometimes hilarious, often moving, occasionally shocking and always queer. Hosted year-round by Turan Ali (Producer of BBC comedy/drama), this […]


Hey there, fellow Fringe-curious! You may or may not know me as the anything-but-typical hypnotist behind Hypnotist Matt Hale – Top Fun: 80s Hypnosis Spectacular.  I’ve been performing at Fringe fests for years … but not Edinburgh. If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably heard all the wild tales about taking part in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival […]


“A standup comedy show that’s a mix of personal stories, social commentary and uncomfortable truths. It features character voices and physical comedy too! Let’s share a laugh together while we await the failure of our meat suit! Comedy, Solo performance by Barb of San Francisco, produced by Janette French. WARNINGS: not for children.”


Playing the final week of Edfringe 2023, White Butterfly is a new theatre piece from Heather Tiernan.” “Grief isn’t a straight line, it’s a never-ending rollercoaster you find yourself on one day. White Butterfly explores grief and how it affects different people through a series of vignettes. From wakes, to therapy, to several years later, […]


Box Tale Soup’s Paperless Fringe

Box Tale Soup’s Noel Byrne tells the tale of getting sell-out houses without the need to fell trees… Is a paperless Fringe really possible, or necessary? If you’re a new  company bringing work to the Festival for the first time, of course you  want to do everything you can to promote your show, and the […]


Bipolar Badass is a one-woman show by New York City artist Mari Crawford. It is a dark comedy about her experience getting diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder.  I didn’t know how my piece would be received by the Fringe audience. Late nights at rehearsal studios in Manhattan and sleep deprived work days filled my time, in […]


The memory of President Lincoln is widely revered – there is even statue of him in Edinburgh – but the First Lady who supported him through the Civil War is forgotten in Scotland and reviled in America. Mary Lincoln was a woman who suffered repeated personal losses and tragedy and betrayal. And all this was […]


Images from the Fringe 2023

2023 photographs – More Galleries Show Pictures Clearing the Backlog I can’t really believe how quickly the last couple of weeks have gone by as I sit at my computer updating picture galleries, reviewing and sorting photographs to upload. As you may suspect I’m drawn to visually interesting shows and I feel lucky to have […]


“Celebrating the strength of mature bodies and challenging the cult of youth, the show is a reclaiming of the ageing body created by dance-theatre innovators Junk Ensemble. Performed by acclaimed actor Mikel Murfi and leading dance artist Finola Cronin (formerly of Pina Bausch’s Tanztheater Wuppertal), the performers are heroic, vulnerable, comedic and completely themselves in […]


Vagabond Productions are back with what they describe as a perfect lockdown party, their own translation of The Chairs by Eugène Ionesco (originally in French). Picture an ancient couple, beached in life and marooned in some isolated spot, inviting many imaginary guests. The result – lots of chairs and characters but no inconvenient social distancing. […]


The second annual Edinburgh Deaf Festival – part of the Fringe – is underway with more than 60 events for anyone and everyone.  The 2023 line-up features drama, comedy, film, exhibitions, entertainment for children and young people plus workshops and other activities. Running until 20 August it’s designed to appeal to hearing as well as deaf audiences.  Among those taking […]