Edinburgh Fringe 2026
Garry Starr: Classic Penguins
Garry Starr: Classic Penguins"
Genre: Absurd Theatre, character comedy, Clown, Physical Comedy, Solo Show
Venue: Pleasance Courtyard
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
All your favourite classics published by Penguin Books, but not how you remember them…
Review
It’s been 2 years of jabbering. Garry Starr. A name that has been whispered up and down The Royal Mile. Who is this man? And what’s he doing with Classic Penguins? I had to find out of myself. I went in to investigate, completely unaware of what I was about to see. Although I’m not too sure if there was any way for me to prepare for the madness I was about to watch.
As soon as you walk into the Grand you walk past Garry sitting with his back turned to the audience. I looked for clues for what was to come. Not much. An empty stage, except for said chair, a box and a small unit, lined with Penguin Classic books. So it’s not about penguins? It’s about the publishers! Is this a bedtime story?
Garry gets out of his seat and that’s when I realise, no it’s not an innocent show, reading Penguin Classic books. He turns around and is completely naked, apart from orange flippers, a black suit jacket and a top hat. This image sets you up for what to expect for the rest of the evening.
And yet at the same time it doesn’t. There’s a reason he swaps penguins and classics around. His whole show is back to front. It goes in every direction you’d least expect. The premise is Garry performing a big collection of published penguin classics. He doesn’t go too deeply into each one – in fact I’d say half of the comic effect is when he acts them out solely based on their titles rather than their plot. He flies through at least 50 of them, very quickly. It’s truly amazing how, showing an audience a book title, can bring such laughs.
My mouth was in awe for the majority of it. It’s not a show where you’ll sit there blandly and watch. There was a real community spirit that was born from his work. It’s a show that gets the whole venue moving and squirming and even… interacting. It’s heavy on audience interaction. I was quite amazed by those that volunteered to join his mad quests. It really felt like we were in a room of naughty school kids who just wanted to play.
Play. The whole show was played. Garry would thank his volunteers for playing with him. It’s really touching watching grown adults play again. For a moment- allowing themselves to regress to childhood and be free. Surprisingly there was something very moving about watching a grown man skipping around, bollock-naked, in front of 750 people. He seemed so liberated. The audience were shocked. A man, breaking social norms? And nobody was judging him. He was proving to us all that laughter, fun and play- all things we seem to have left in childhood – are so important in finding long-lasting happiness.
To conclude my investigation, I now understand why Garry is touring New York, London and selling out shows. People are so desperate for freedom. To play. And who could blame them? Especially with the state the world is in, we need Garry Starr and his classic penguins. And now, I too will be jabbering his name around Royal Mile and maybe even beyond.
