Edinburgh Fringe 2026
Garry Starr: Classic Penguins
Francesca Moody Productions and Fiery Entertainment in association with MILKE
Genre: Clown, Comedy, Interactive
Venue: Grand at Pleasance Courtyard
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
International sell-out cult hit Garry Starr swears to save books from extinction and sets off on a journey to perform every book published by Penguin Classics, mostly naked with just a magician’s coat and a pair of penguin feet.
Review
It’s one of those shows that manages to leave you speechless but also with a lot to say. Starr brings structure, clarity, a clear vision, great performance skills, joyful audience interaction and lots of unpredictable chaos. He might be the most complete performer I’ve ever come across. He makes it difficult to look away from him even for a second, his physical abilities leave you in awe, and he has a voice you wouldn’t want to stop listening to.
The best aspect of this show is how clever it is. Starr plays at the height of his intelligence. He doesn’t believe in playing a dumb clown that fails because of his stupidity. He believes in failing because of the impossibility of the task he’s set for himself and uses his intelligence to come out at the top. A clown show of this kind keeps you on your toes, leaves you in awe and keeps you wanting more.
There’s no emotional arc here. Starr is sharing a celebration with us. We know he’s going to complete all the books on the shelf, and the joy is in the anticipation of what’s about to come next. How will he tie up this scene with the next book? How is he interpreting a particular book I know is going to come up? He obviously doesn’t get through all the books, since Penguin Classics has published over 3,000 books, but he does manage to get through around 40 of them, and it leaves you with a feeling of having accomplished this with him over the past 70 minutes.
The show is performed almost entirely naked, and that’s important to mention because the dangling genitalia play a big role in the show. The humour was a mix of top-notch clever jokes and easy, low-hanging genitalia jokes. I stayed conflicted about this decision throughout the performance. Why was the nudity necessary when he already had us with his intelligence? Would it be equally joyful if he wasn’t naked? Of course there were some ridiculously clever jokes involving genitals that cracked us up, but I’m sure Starr could also find alternatives to it. It made me think about our particular obsession with nudity as both a medium of shock and freedom. It also made me wonder how the show would be received on a feminine body. Masculine bodies aren’t sexualised in the same way, which gives Starr a particular freedom to use nudity as both shock and play.
Starr trusts himself and his audience to carry the show. This trust expands into a collective effort to save books. Collective efforts are important for humanity because they reduce divisions between us and remind us that we can work together. We learn to co-exist and find new ways of achieving things together. Starr facilitates this beautifully. His brilliant technician, Sam, doesn’t miss a beat and delivers the most hilarious sound effects when they’re least expected. I’m in awe of his intelligence. Even more in awe of the smile he shares with the audience when he realises he has out-tricked us.
Celebratory shows like this have the ability to make you feel like you’ve been part of something greater than yourself, that you’ve contributed to a bigger goal. It shifts the energy of the room and soothes a part of us that might’ve been yearning for more connection. Clowns are great at making you feel connected once again. And the clown shows at this year’s Fringe seem determined to make this world a little more compassionate again.
