EDINBURGH FRINGE: Batty! At the ZOO Playground (Playground 1)***

Everyone must be a bit batty to put on their own show at the Fringe!

To take the chance of attracting enough of an audience to pay for your venue and your accommodation among 3,000+ other shows is a crazy idea. 

Victoria Firth has even called her show Batty! But it’s not about being mad, just different, as she faces up to changes in her peri-menopausal state.

Having always loved Nature, she ponders on whether or not she is a witch or, in fact, if she wants to be one. She wants to have power, walk in bare feet and swim naked, but she doesn’t want to be old, ugly and lonely.

On the set of a wonky rustic cottage, which really does look batty, she shares her thoughts with her friend who behaves like an imp rather than a witch. While Firth is more preacher, Kathryn Hanke is delightfully mischievous and much less restrained.

Maybe they both end up barking mad, but Batty! is also about middle-aged women celebrating joy in Nature.

Batty! Is on at 11.30am until Aug 16 at the ZOO Playground (Playground 1) (1 hr) www.zoofestival.co.uk