EDINBURGH 2021: BWW Review: KILL ME NOW, Summerhall OnlineAugust 18, 2021Welcome to undertaker Anna Morgan-Jones’ live Zoom webinar. Her goal? To sell you the lucrative franchise model of her “end-of-life celebration” funeral business. But can the self-confessed grief guru successfully make it through her PowerPoint presentation – full of rainbow coffins, leopard print hearses and beer-can shaped scatter tubs? Or will secrets, accidental truths and internet trolls cause her to unravel right before our eyes? A dark comedy about coming to terms with grief by critically acclaimed Welsh new writing theatre company Dirty Protest and award-winning playwright Rhiannon Boyle.
EDINBURGH 2021: BWW Review: GOBBY, Pleasance OnlineAugust 17, 2021A biting and heartfelt one-woman odyssey about what it really means to be loud. Delving into social anxiety and emotional manipulation, Jodie Irvine's acclaimed debut is a darkly comic and relatable story of survival and a lesson in how to throw a really good party.
BWW Review: LOVE LETTERS AT HOME, Traverse OnlineAugust 17, 2021In Uninvited Guests’ signature performance style, Love Letters at Home shifts between theatre and feeling like a real social event. Songs and stories gathered from the audience are presented together as a shared declaration of love: toasts are made, speeches are given, dances are danced, for you and with you.
Before the show, you will be invited to send in music requests and to write dedications to those you love or care about, and these are worked into the performance. Each show is unique to the group of people in the audience each night – their memories, their current and past loves or friendships, their emotions, laid bare for everyone to witness, acknowledge and support.
EDINBURGH 2021: BWW Review: MUSTARD, Summerhall OnlineAugust 16, 2021Triple Fringe First and Olivier-winning Fishamble, in association with Fringe First-winning Sunday’s Child, return to Summerhall with the 2019 hit show Mustard by Eva O’Connor. A darkly comic play about heartbreak, madness, and how condiments are the ultimate coping mechanism. When the man of her dreams, a professional cyclist, leaves E, she plummets into a black hole of heartbreak at the speed of a doped-up team on the Tour de France.
EDINBURGH 2021: BWW Review: LOST IN LOVE, Fringe PlayerAugust 16, 2021The story of Emily: brassy, funny and forthright. Her journey, navigating life and men, takes her and the audience through obstacles, detours and dead ends; all met with dry, dark wit – at least on the surface. The Emily we are allowed to see isn’t always the Emily inside, and her acerbic outlook hides a deeper tragedy. Starring Rachel Pryde. This new writing was directed by Nathan Kean, the show was co-written by Nathan Kean and Megan Bowie. The question is, are you ready to let your guard down?
EDINBURGH 2021: BWW Review: AFTERPARTY, The SpaceAugust 16, 2021'It’s not a crime to have fun.' A group of friends celebrates the end of school – and the start of their lives – with a wild night out. What could possibly go wrong? Award-winning playwright Rachel O’Regan asks what makes a bright future in this riotous new comedy. 'The world’s not made for us. But we can make our own.' Directed by Hannah McEachern, Afterparty is the confetti-covered debut production from women’s theatre company F-Bomb. The only question is: are you ready to party?
EDINBURGH 2021: BWW Review: BROMANCE, Assembly George Sq GardensAugust 16, 2021International award-winning smash-hit Bromance is back! Five-star circus about camaraderie and affection. Audacious, touching, exhilarating tour de force of physical heroics where handshakes become handstands and backslaps become backflips. Among the UK's hottest circus companies, Barely Methodical Troupe are at the forefront of a new kind of physical performance, creating highly entertaining shows that mix the show-stopping acrobatics of circus with the emotional punch of theatre.
EDINBURGH 2021: BWW Review: FEAR OF ROSES, Assembly RoxyAugust 15, 2021This fast-paced, darkly comedic crime story written and directed by Nathaniel Brimmer-Beller follows three women, four eventful days and a nefarious plot straight out of the mid-century pulp. When ruthlessly ambitious bank manager Tabby is blackmailed by the mysterious Keely into robbing her own bank, Tabby incorporates her put-upon assistant Nicolette into the scheme... Of course, nothing goes quite as planned. Returning with their fourth original Fringe show after a sell-out run of Chagos 1971, Black Bat Productions presents this thorny neo-noir as a thrilling bit of pulp and a searing depiction of twisted modern hierarchies.
EDINBURGH 2021: BWW Review: CASH POINT MEET, Fringe PlayerAugust 14, 2021Emma and Sinéad know all that glitters isn't gold, but when given the opportunity to go from €3.99 wine to limos and Louboutins, maybe happiness is just a swipe away? Cash Point Meet follows two Irish women as they stumble into the world of sex work. What follows is a darkly comic exploration of labour rights and intimacy, spanning over a year in the lives of these women and the characters they encounter. This exciting debut by writer Niamh Murphy is a must-see for its timely themes, witty characters and honesty.
EDINBURGH 2021: BWW Review: CHARLIE'S A CLEPTO, Assembly ShowcatcherAugust 17, 2021Charlie is a kleptomaniac – the doctor told her. Reckons it stems from childhood trauma. But she has the robbin' completely under control these days. For real. She has a bit of a mouth on her, but she's only trying to be funny, not cause trouble, like. Not today, of all days. She loves that little boy more than she ever thought it was possible to love another human. There's a lot riding on these 24 hours, and if she keeps her head down, she'll get him back.
EDINBURGH 2021: BWW REVIEW: I LOVE YOU MUM, I PROMISE I WON'T DIE, Fringe PlayerAugust 13, 2021'Sensational' is how one viewer described this high-quality filmed version of Mark Wheeller's moving play. Telling the true story of Dan, a popular 16-year-old schoolboy from South London, who took ecstasy at an illegal rave in January 2014 and tragically died two days later as a result of taking a lethal dose. This powerful and engaging verbatim production tells the story of what happened to Dan, his family and friends, from heartbreak to redemption.
West End Star Kerry Ellis Rescheduled Date Announced for ElginAugust 12, 2021Forte Productions is delighted to announce that musical theatre star and West-End leading lady Kerry Ellis will be performing live at Elgin Town Hall in September. This is the rescheduled date after the previous concert had to be postponed due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
EDINBURGH 2021: BWW Review: TWO FINGERS UP, Summerhall OnlineAugust 12, 2021Remember when your religion teacher taught you about ridin’? And the school nurse told you to shave your pits? Or here, discovering your clit the first time? Wait, you haven’t yet? You don’t wank? Women don’t? My hole they don’t. Stick two fingers up and come with us on a journey back to your teenage self, to being scundered, to self discovery, to abstinence-only sex education, to Northern Ireland; a country of wankers.
EDINBURGH 2021: BWW Review: COVID LOCKDOWN BREATH MACHINE, Summerhall OnlineAugust 12, 2021Designed specifically to be experienced with headphones, alone, with the lights off and the curtains drawn, Covid Lockdown Breath Machine is a fantastical, transformative and uplifting binaural adventure into the symptoms and imaginings of a coronavirus patient. A woman on the edge of collapse battles a fever as the sweats carry her inside her body. While the world battles coronavirus, one woman searches for answers in her fever dreams. Take a breath and let this breeze whisk you to a world of kaleidoscopes, household gods and mushroom spores on a fresh but capricious westerly wind.
EDINBURGH 2021: BWW Review: DISHONOUR, Fringe PlayerAugust 11, 2021Dishonour is a powerful drama that explores the terrifying practice of female genital mutilation (FGM). Mimi, who plays all six characters, immerses viewers in the difficult truths of the FGM culture.
EDINBURGH 2021: BWW Review: MISS HONEY, Assembly ShowcatcherAugust 11, 2021A new online one-woman show digitally broadcast from East London's leading drag club, The Glory. A hilarious and provocative dive into privilege and sexuality, we follow the story of a private tutor juggling teaching the UK's elite with high-kicking disco balls on a school night.
EDINBURGH 2021: BWW Review: CHERYL MARTIN- ONE WOMAN, Summerhall OnlineAugust 10, 2021A hypnotic dreamscape. Through binaural sound audiences are drawn into the mind of a woman who grew up with severe depression and BPD, as she tries to find the answer to who she was, how she came to be that person, who she might have been and who she is now. The audience is taken right to the heart of the most difficult memories, that ultimately transcend the past and point the way to a different future. A future where the memories lose their grip, and with that loss, the power of the abuser fades.