Edinburgh Festival

The Carol Tambor Theatrical Foundation has announced the winner of this year's The Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award, the highest honor at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The winner of The Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award was announced at the closing ceremonies of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe on Friday, August 23 at 10:45 AM BST (5:45 AM EST).

We ask all the tough questions...

BWW Review Natalie O'Donoghue's pick of the 2013 Edinburgh Fringe festival.

Scotland's most distinctive writers and musicians and you: a nation, awake in the dark, waiting for the light to come.

It's a magical place, The Fringe. Everyone's in the same boat, albeit different sections of the same boat. Everyone's working a bit harder, drinking a bit more, sleeping a bit less, aching a little deeper, and everyone's truly in it, it's difficult to stay on the fringe of The Fringe.

Rave Generation has been nominated for the National Students Drama Award for new writing. It is a black comedy based around 4 fictional characters who inadvertently take Class A drugs. They experience a unifying and liberating journey and are united in an unlikely setting, a primary school classroom.

There is a kind of musical I've started to call plinky-plonk (the name is a work in progress). They're invariably set in New York, and they always involve a perky group of young twentysomethings and a piano. And I find them supremely irritating, and [title of show] is definitely one of them.

I didn't know what to expect other than 'Howie the Rookie' is a one-man show set in Dublin. Or at least it's a one-man show now. It's comprised of two monologues from two young Dubliners, first The Howie and then The Rookie. Previously, these roles were portrayed by different actors, but in this production directed by writer Mark O' Rowe, both are played by Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, recently seen in the acclaimed Irish crime drama 'Love/Hate' on Channel 5.

You get the impression that resistance is futile: from the dimly-lit entrance of Le Gat (that's what I'm calling him), certain corners of the audience are filled with yelps of delight, gleeful whoops and just general joy at his arrival.

In the post-ANTM age (if that doesn't make immediate sense, I won't explain it for fear of embarrassment), the word fierce has become a bit overused but it's the only description for the five 'Starlets' in this new production by Theatre Ad Infinitum, darlings of the Fringe after their previous show, the quietly devastating 'Translunar Paradise'. This group of immensely talented physical performers has energy for days, and they are just hugely watchable for the entire running time, thanks in no small part to the twitchy, spiky choreography of Orian Michaeli (one of the five).

A cast of young people performing in a Fringe musical that isn't 'Spring Awakening' is a thing to treasure, and when it's in fact Stephen Sondheim's glorious 'Merrily We Roll Along', it's an even greater cause for celebration. The programme is scant on information on where this company, The Red Oak Theatre, originates, but nobody in the cast looks anywhere near their mid-twenties, which makes the fact that they've tackled this decades-spanning piece all the more interesting - not to mention admirable.

At the end of this performance of 'Bath Time', the actor/writer Ruaraidh Murray (it's a one-man show) shook hands with everyone in the front row, and very sincerely thanked everyone for coming - the venue is called the Wee Room so there was plenty of scope to make eye contact with the whole audience, and all in all, he came across as a genuinely lovely and grateful chap.

I don't know much about Shakespeare, and I knew even less about Titus Andronicus before seeing this version by Smooth Faced Gentlemen, the UK's only all-female Shakespeare company. But one would hope the work of 'the Bard' should be accessible without much prior knowledge, and it's to the company's credit that this production very much is.

'Blood Ties', by cast members Anika Johnson and Barbara Johnston, seems to have had quite a journey pre-Fringe. Written when the two were at theatre school, the musical has since featured in various festivals and five years later, its fourth draft arrives in Edinburgh in what appears to be a final hurrah for the show.

'Between' is packing them in. Its poster design is a fine example of how to attract your intended audience, with two nubile young men in a topless clinch. And indeed, the audience is almost exclusively male, and it's a capacity crowd, so full marks to the marketing.

A magic show with a twist, "Morgan And West: A Grand Adventure" features a duo of Victorian magicians on an epic quest in an era of hot air balloons, gentleman thieves and fantastic facial hair. Morgan and West make an endearing double act, adding plenty of personality to even the most classic of tricks, and it is their personalities that drive the story around which the show is structured.

An exciting and engaging piece of political theatre, 'How To Occupy An Oil Rig' is a show that leads its audience from fun interaction with plasticine to serious advice on the most dangerous protest situations, through strong performances and a largely effective script.

The European Premiere of Stephen Cole and David Krane's autobiographical musical The Road to Qatar has been shortlisted for a coveted Musical Theatre Network 2013 Award.

"Life isn't your oyster - it's your lobster and it's being boiled alive." It's probably the most memorable quote from Undeb Theatre's shed-based hot ticket - so hot they're all gone - and it gives an indication of the kind of mood this gardener is in.

Picking a musical to see at the Fringe is always tricky, especially with brand new shows, and lack of name recognition must be something of a liability here, but it also helps to make Between Empires the immensely enjoyable surprise it is.

Written in 1979, Martin Sherman's spotlight on the persecution of gay people by the Nazis still packs a punch today. Table 9's latest take on BENT confirms that this tale of love and self-acceptance still has the power to move audiences.

"Brendon Burns and Colt Cabana Sit in a Fifty-Seater Around Midnight and Provide the Commentary to Bad Wrestling Matches" may be the longest show title on the Fringe this year, but it certainly ensures that you know what you are getting with your ticket. Brendon Burns, Australian stand-up comic and Fringe veteran, has formed a comedy tag-team of sorts with Colt Cabana, one of the best-known independent professional wrestlers in the world. Together, they are spending an hour each night mocking some of the very worst clips of pro-wrestling, as shown on a big screen in The Stand 2.

Tom Paine - a famous political author, a source of inspiration during the American War of Independence, the supporter and later prisoner of the French Revolution, and now the subject of a new one-man show. In "The Bridge That Tom Built", Dominic Allen portrays Paine from his youth in Thetford through to his death, as well as the influential figures that crossed his path, including Benjamin Franklin and Georges Jacques Danton.

Altered Skin/Escalator East to Edinburgh present: Power Games, an interactive, narrative dance-theatre from exciting new company. Think you're in control of your life? Think again. Power Games is the debut Fringe show from Altered Skin, the new company created by Shane Shambhu.

Christmas came early for Childrens' Theatre company Talegate Theatre who are performing 'Father Christmas Needs A Wee! The Musical at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.