Edinburgh Festival

Every comedian dreams of their big break, the one gig that will change their life. What if that gig is in Cirque de Soleil’s new show in Las Vegas, Mad Apple? What if they want you to fly out to Vegas with your wife and newborn baby? Then, the dream gig might be a bit more complicated than you first thought.

If you know me, you know that I have a deep love for Segways. Whenever there is a chance to take a Segway tour, I immediately hope on it (yes, pun fully intended). So as soon as I saw a show with the description, “A show dedicated to Mr Segway, the man who invented the segway, all performed entirely on segways,” I knew I had to go.

While I wanted to love Benjamin Alborough: Absolute Monopoly, the lack of control over the audience led to a disappointing show. Absolutely Monopoly has the potential to be a fantastic show, especially with Alborough’s insane game-host energy, but audience control needs to be established from the beginning in order to keep things going.

Gary is dying, the rest of the brain cells have evacuated, and only #12 and Clive are left, leaving them to try to save Gary. They are, literally, the last two brain cells, and God help Gary if these are the two who are meant to save him.

A sexy fairy, goats, and a river of blood in a place known as Elfland. Sounds crazy, no? But, in the world created by storyteller Niall Moorjani, nothing is too crazy. Moorjani returns to the Scottish Storytelling Centre to tell the tale of a person who wants to find themselves and is whisked away to a magical land to help find their place.

Drew Michael is losing his hearing, and he’s ready to tell the world about it. Drew Michael: Drew’s Adventures is a comedy show in which Michael describes his journey with hearing loss and how it has affected him as a person.

There are many different ways to express and get through your grief after losing a friend. Some people go through their phones, fondly looking back at photos and videos of times spent with that person. Some people reach out to other friends so they can help each other through the grief. And some make an hour-long comedy show for the Fringe.

Rob Auton: The Rob Auton Show may be slow, but it is powerful. You will leave having had the human experience, which is exactly what Auton is striving for, making his show effective in its mission. It is wonderful to hear a comedian talk about life and its simple pleasures with such joy and I look forward to seeing more of his work in the future.

MC Hammersmith: Straight Outta Brompton is a delightful hour of freestyle rapping that will leave you in awe of Naameh’s skills and clapping along to his sharp and hilarious raps.

The Trials of Galileo is a beautiful reflection on one man’s struggle between mathematical truth and his devotion to God without being too heavy on either math or faith. Hardy feels as though he is born to play Galileo.

Following the success of Don’t Say MacBeth! and Sex with Friends, GOYA Theatre returns to Edinburgh Fringe with the music theatre piece Actually, Love. A funny, touching two-hander that interrogates how art and identity intersect, it will definitely make you laugh and may even make you cry. 

5 stars! Showstopper! The Improvised Musical is a spontaneous musical theatre comedy, featuring professional performers, enviably talented in their creativity skills in improvisation #edfringe #improv #musicaltheatre

Breakups are never fun… but they do lead to fun theatre. In Break Up With Your Boyfriend, heartbreak leads us on a sleepover odyssey of wine, yoga, red flags, and hinge dates. Company Scylla’s Bite have created a warm, touching hour of theatre that will resonate with many.

Hutson is musically multi-talented, a master of a myriad of instruments, including a digital sampler, a vocal transformer and various egg shakers and tambourines.

Mamoun Elagab is a geek-chic comedian, with a passion for slang-interpreting, whilst musing the implications of his identity and roots. Fun, current, understated and confident, Elagab is a rising star in the comedy arena, with a promising future.

Based in a Men's Shed in East Lothian, The Collie's Shed follows four retired miners as they discover how a review into the policing of the '80s mining strikes and a potential Miners' Pardon Bill by the Scottish Government suddenly affects them, their friendships and their relationships. Journey with us through time as we hear how one unforgettable and violent day of striking at Bilston Glen Colliery leaves our characters wrestling with what is right and wrong. Learn who our characters are, who they once were and where they stand on the picket line...

The performance has a short run-time but it’s powerful, and something Crawford should be incredibly proud of. It’s educational but also uplifting to hear her journey go from her lowest points to a point of not only self-acceptance but one of pride. Those with similar experiences will undoubtedly feel a sense of connection with this show, and those who don’t will learn something important from it.

The Hunger provides enough detail to shock and withholds just enough to let the audience’s imagination run to its worst conclusions. It’s well-directed and well-written, never in danger of being a simple re-hashing of a formulaic zombie horror.

An irresistibly charming homage to the magnificent circus horses and the silent movie era. Inspired by the history of traditional horse circuses, the skilful ringmaster performs acrobatics, juggling and balancing with an amazing cast of hobby horses. As the horses take centre stage, part of the story is told in short silent movies. The artist's innovative and playful work with the hobby horses brings the magic of circus alive!

Watching Lucy and Friends is how I imagine a halluncinatory drug trip. From smothering her body with tomato puree to exposing naked truths (literally) to maiming a piñata and cutting a strip-pole with a disc saw, Lucy challenges the limits of art in an absurd combination of comedy, theatre and performance installations. 

Over 100 years after Stan & Ollie were first paired on screen together, Jeffrey Holland celebrates the lives and laughs of two of Hollywood's funniest men.

As teenagers, Emma, Joe and Polko thought they’d never grow apart. Then time passed. When Emma returns to the suburb of their childhood 10 years later she discovers nothing, and everything, has changed. Joe is stuck, living with his mum while working part-time in a hotel; and Polko has vanished, leaving a cloud of stories and misremembered nights in his wake. Set in the front seats of a parked car, Polko is a modern memory play about the places we call home, and the people we leave behind.

Stuart McPherson uses his latest hour of stand up to hilariously explore self love and why his generation (and himself) find it so hard to love themselves.

Tamsyn Kelly provides not only a solid hour of stand up but also the best show title of the Fringe.

Fresh from the Soho transfer of his last show Colossal, Patrick McPherson is back at the Fringe with a new one man show. The Way Way Deep dives into male friendship and self-identity with the writer/performer’s trademark storytelling flair. McPherson is a master storyteller, holding the audience’s attention from start to finish with constant energy and passion. He manages to balance brash confidence and stage presence with moments of vulnerability