Region: Edinburgh

Scaramouche Jones cuts a tragic, almost grotesque, figure as he drunkenly stumbles onto the stage in, appropriately, the Bijou Spiegeltent, feeding my lifelong fascination for clowns and my childhood terror of them. But although a stock clown character from the 16th century commedia dell’arte, associated with Harlequin and, later Punch and Judy, Justin Butcher’s Scaramouche […]

Anything with Cora Bissett’s name on it gets my vote. And as she both wrote and directed this show her genius runs right through it.  But it’s not just her that makes The Singer so special. Originally a short film, her then co-writer Jamie Rea now takes centre stage, in a role so beautifully acted […]

Jono Darby should be applauded, not just for playing 28 characters in Emily Steel’s tender, heartfelt account of an aspiring Australian actor trying to make it in New York at the time of 9/11, but because he stepped into the role at the last minute when the original actor couldn’t make it. And he has […]

The Scottish Storytelling Centre is a bit off the beaten track as regards other Fringe venues, but the well established Theatre of Widdershins has been selling out with its enchanting classic tale of a shoemaker who is helped by elves – and a cheeky mouse – when a factory moves in on his patch to […]

I well remember falling in love with an acorn when Half a String brought their puppet show, Breathe, to the Fringe two years ago. Now they are back with another star in the shape of Alma, an intergalactic space baker who, on his way to deliver a wedding cake, crashes on a dried out tiny […]

Don’t be like me and see Cathy and After Party consecutively. While both can be classed as comedies they each portray families at their ugliest and both deal with… death. Unlike Cathy, where the deceased’s relatives sit down to a Chinese takeaway, After Party oozes style and elegance. Well, Richard Kent’s set certainly does. As […]

Elaine C Smith is up there with Billy Connolly when it comes to making Scots laugh, so when young writer Eilidh Loan’s grandmother insisted she play her in her granddaughter’s play about her it was a big ask. But such is the quality of Loan’s writing that Smith is indeed playing her grandmother in this […]

EDINBURGH FRINGE: Bog Witch at the Traverse, Traverse 1 (1 hr 20 mins)***** Bog Witch is the show everyone is talking about. If I don’t see anything else at this year’s Fringe I will go away satisfied. I am tempted to say little more, because it isn’t what it seems, and part of its enjoyment […]

Don’t take your children to see this off-Broadway show. For their illusions about fairytale princesses riding off into the sunset to live happily ever after with their handsome princes will be well and truly shattered. Billed as a hit musical, I wouldn’t go that far, but the line-up of sassy princesses can really belt out […]

Sally begins her story by saying that she fell down a hole in the street. And for a second, being an Edinburgh resident, I thought this was going to be a play about Edinburgh’s notorious broken pavements and pot holes! But, of course, Zinnie Harris is above all that. She’s one of our greatest living […]