Edinburgh Festivals
The Edinburgh Fringe. The Edinburgh International Festival. Everything you need to know from reviews, top shows, musicals, theatre and more.
What’s in a name?
Alongside offering up challenging, thought-provoking and radical pieces of work (and works-in-progress), the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is also widely known for shows that boast ridiculously funny (or just plain ridiculous), cleverly outlandish and sometimes completely bonkers titles.
We’ve had a good look through this year’s line-up of theatrical productions and these are the ones that couldn’t help but catch our eye…
Macready Theatre Young Actors’ Company brings us a slice of absurdism with seven teenagers (and a Barbie doll) regaling us with coming-of-age tales of breakups and heartache… and even falling in love with the Berlin Wall of all things. We wonder if David Hasselhoff has a cameo?! C ARTS, 1 to 10 August.
Who wouldn’t be at least a little intrigued by a “fruity apocalyptic rom-com”?! A classic case of girl meets boy, girl hates boy, girl has sex with boy 44 times, gets an “end of the world” twist complete with mangoes and melons. Sounds tasty to us! Pleasance Dome, 31 July to 26 August.
Think there’s no link between canned meat and modern-day colonialism? Think again! Find out what the two have in common in Sierra Sevilla’s comic (and multi-sensory) one-woman show. Please note: invite might have landed in your spam folder! Pleasance Courtyard, 31 July to 26 August.
Everybody loves a bit of Haribo, right? But who knew of their gall and gumption?! Watch an epic battle between the nation of the Gummy Bears and the Dinosaurs (no less) in an existential tragicomedy… with real candy! Yummy! C ARTS, 31 July to 25 August.
“Can actors Adam and Kemi single-handedly save the UK healthcare system… before it’s too late?” No, is probably the short answer to the question posed in the show’s synopsis, but inspiring (and/or humourous) verbatim stories from NHS and social care staff should always be given a platform and we’re certainly here for it! Assembly George Square Studios, 1 to 26 August.
Follow Dev’s journey from boyhood to adulthood, from Margate to London, where the gay mecca perhaps isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. Underbelly, Cowgate, 1 to 25 August.
This title would have worked well if we’d written a play about every time we thought our older publishing platform system crashed. Sarina Freda’s solo show doesn’t offer any “life-changing hallucinogenic experiences” or explore “the secret key to existence”, but it does explain how one woman faced her own mortality and learned how to live with that comfortably. A universal lesson for us all perhaps. theSpaceTriplex, 2 to 24 August.
Although long and ludicrous titles often have an advantage when compiling shows for this sort of feature, occasionally one word can catch the eye in an instant. This is the case with Pillock – a show about a lactose intolerant man with ADHD, looking for love. Assembly Rooms, 1 to 25 August.
What were we just saying about long and ludicrous titles? OK, guilty as charged – we’ve succumbed to the lure of toilet humour. The Morton Players bring us a piece about political pandemonium when offensive statements are smeared on the walls… C ARTS, 2 to 9 August.
What to do when a dominatrix fetish has spiraled out of control? You could always find out in a no-holds-barred, onstage confessional… Bedlam Theatre, 31 July to 11 August.
The Edinburgh Fringe. The Edinburgh International Festival. Everything you need to know from reviews, top shows, musicals, theatre and more.