EDINBURGH 2023: Review: THE BEATLES WERE A BOYBAND, Gilded BalloonAugust 22, 2023The cosy, safe world of three flatmates is rocked by a woman's murder. Now Violet's scared walking home from her late shift. Daisy's become an accidental activist drawing unwanted attention from the manosphere. And Heather just wants to get on with her life. After all, who really needs to change to make women safer? This unforgettable play by Rachel O'Regan and feminist theatre company F-Bomb returns to Gilded Balloon, having won a Scotsman Fringe First Award and the Sit Up Award for social impact in 2022.
Review: LET'S TALK ABOUT CONSENT, Edinburgh International Book FestivalAugust 20, 2023Explore the thorny and pertinent issues faced by young people around consent. Hear from Scottish novelist and playwright Alan Bissett about his new book, Lads: A Guide to Respect and Consent; Screenwriter Emma Dennis-Edwards, who has written episodes of Casualty, EastEnders, and most recently factual drama Consent, based on hundreds of testimonies of young people; and bestselling author Holly Bourne, who shares exclusive details from her new novel, You Could Be So Pretty. Chaired by poet and performer Leyla Josephine
EDINBURGH 2023: Review: BUFF, PleasanceAugust 22, 2023After a bad break-up from a six-year relationship, a plus-sized, gay, primary school teacher decides to sublet his flat to a buff Instagram model. Funny yet poignant, this solo-performed play tackles body image pressures, social media jealousy, and one man's journey to self-acceptance whilst navigating the toxic world of online dating. Fresh from its five-star, award-nominated run at VAULT Festival, Buff is a hilarious yet timely story about being plus-sized in the gay community. Starring Dublin-born actor and comedian Pearse Egan (In from the Side, Netflix).
EDINBURGH 2023: Review: WONDER DRUG, PleasanceAugust 20, 2023Charlie has cystic fibrosis, a condition that causes a build-up of mucus. Lovely. But with a new girlfriend and a Wonder Drug called Kaftrio coming soon, what can stop him now? A rollicking course of intravenous antibiotics set to 80s bangers!
EDINBURGH 2023: Review: JAMES ROWLAND: PIECE OF WORK, SummerhallAugust 20, 2023James has been touring his storytelling theatre shows for half his adult life. This year was different. Returning home after his first stint away he received a letter that exploded his life and the tour became a search: for the person who sent it, for a sense of home, and to maybe save a life.
EDINBURGH 2023: Review: LADY DEALER, SummerhallAugust 19, 2023For Charly, every day is the same. They used to be different, when there was Clo, but there isn't Clo anymore and she doesn't want to dwell on that. She just wants to chug coffee, blast Beastie Boys and deal drugs. Simple. But when Charly suffers a power cut, she's forced back into the real world; a world of knockoff Morrisseys, disapproving mothers and, ultimately, a world she has to navigate alone. Lady Dealer is a mile-a-minute poem play by Martha Watson Allpress about self-forgiveness, the exhaustion of trying, and mistaking self-destruction for self-preservation. It's also about weed.
EDINBURGH 2023: Review: BED: THE MUSICAL, Gilded BalloonAugust 19, 2023Bed – A playful and poignant 'pocket-sprung' musical. Instead of a honeymoon, newly-weds Ben and Alice buy a luxury divan. Twenty years of marriage milestones in 60 minutes – love, betrayal, loss and dirty linen. We spend a third of our lives in bed.... If only beds could talk!
EDINBURGH 2023: Review: KATHY AND STELLA SOLVE A MURDER, UnderbellyAugust 18, 2023BFFs Kathy and Stella are Hull’s least successful true crime podcasters. When their favourite author is killed, they are thrust into a thrilling whodunnit of their own! Can they crack the case (and become global podcast superstars) before the killer strikes again…?
EDINBURGH 2023: Review: TOM MORAN IS A BIG FAT FILTHY DISGUSTING LIAR, PleasanceAugust 19, 2023What's the worst lie you've told? How far would you go to keep it a secret? Tom is a charismatic people-pleaser, an expert in empathy, but someone who struggles with the truth. Join him in this hilariously honest solo show as he seeks to exorcise ghosts, confess his deepest darkest secrets and somehow un-f*ck his future. As Tom begs the question, if I never lied again and was just myself, would any of my loved ones still love me?
EDINBURGH 2023: Review: I HOPE YOUR FLOWERS BLOOM, Scottish Storytelling CentreAugust 16, 2023Flitting between romantic obsession and botanical description, this semi-autobiographical piece by Raymond Wilson offers a raw, moving and genuinely humorous exploration of healthy masculinity, self-worth and working-class access to nature. Through his friendship with Flo and her modern nomadic lifestyle, Raymond attempts to escape the greyness of the Glasgow scheme into Scotland's natural world, with some unflinching self-reflection along the way.
EDINBURGH 2023: Review: TIM MURRAY IS WITCHES, UnderbellyAugust 16, 2023From The Craft to Wicked to Hocus Pocus, Murray will have you howling at the moon in a tribute to queerness and how we discover our powers once we find our coven. Witches is an hour of stand-up, original comedy songs, drag and also, he flies. Okay, not really, but wouldn't that be sickening?
EDINBURGH 2023: Review: SHANE DANIEL BYRNE: BUT HE'S GAY, Gilded BalloonAugust 15, 2023But he's gay... The award-winning Shane Daniel Byrne is Irish comedy's new wonderkid (in his mid-30s). Back in Edinburgh for the first time after winning second place at So you Think You're Funny 2019. Once considered an exciting talent of contemporary performance art in Dublin he messed that up and now he's a comedian.
EDINBURGH 2023: Review: CAROLINE RHEA: I IDENTIFY AS A WITCH, Gilded BalloonAugust 15, 2023Hi, it's me, Caroline Rhea. I'm thrilled to return to Scotland, my part-time childhood home, and not just because it's the only place you can get tablet and no salad. Yes, you know me as Aunt Hilda on Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and I've been a stand-up comedian for 34 years. I'm here to do my new show, I Identify as a Witch, because at this point I seriously do, so does my 14-year-old daughter. My new show covers everything from parenting a teenager to dating (it's super fun).
EDINBURGH 2023: Review: KATY BERRY: DIAMOND GODDESS CRYSTAL PUSSY, Just The TonicAugust 16, 2023Katy Berry grew up on Long Island, the land of Billy Joel and baked clams, but she never fit in. After a staggering revelation that her mom slept with Poseidon in the 80s, it finally makes sense: she's been a demigoddess all along! Now Katy's done doing human shit and out to help other repressed goddesses unleash their power.
EDINBURGH 2023: Review: LIAM WITHNAIL: CHRONIC BOOM, Monkey BarrelAugust 15, 2023Join the gifted comic storyteller with over 10million TikTok and Instagram views as he battles chronic illness and hilariously reckons with his new reality during a hospital stay. This enlightening stand-up show about how we adapt when life throws a curveball takes audiences on a rollercoaster of laughter and packs an emotional punch.
EDINBURGH 2023: Review: KUAN-WEN HUANG: ILHA FORMOSA, Gilded BalloonAugust 15, 2023In his debut hour, Leicester Comedy Festival Best Show nominee and 'Taiwanese force of nature' (Chortle.co.uk) Kuan-wen tells how he traded his beloved Taiwan for the rainy British Isles, what it means to be Taiwanese and what it symbolises through generations of migration and shifting identities.