Edinburgh Festival

BWW catches up with Joe White to chat about bringing Joe White: Ethiopian and Still Not Hungry to the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

BWW reviewer Natalie O'Donoghue highlights her top theatre shows of the 2023 Edinburgh Festival Fringe programme

What did our critic think of STOP THE WORLD, WE'RE GETTING OFF at theSpace?

Scottish Comedian of the Year winner, viral video star and regular panellist on BBC Scotland's Breaking the News, Marc Jennings returns to the Fringe following his sold-out debut in 2019. In this new show Marc tackles the topics dominating our cultural conversation today, shares his experience of an ill-fated lockdown relationship and discusses the difficulties of modern dating.

A worldwide sensation from Montreal to Beijing, Fills Monkey return with an exhilarating new show. Blending pure joy and comedy with extraordinary musicianship, these two exceptional drummers fuse musical styles from rock to heavy metal, and Latin to jazz. Creating percussive heaven they also play tribute to their favourite artists: AC/DC, Metallica, The Rolling Stones, U2, Phil Collins and more. Their drumsticks are magic and their irresistible beats go straight to the heart! A fun-packed experience to delight the whole family.

Since leaving home in Birmingham, Rinkoo Barpaga has been determined to find somewhere to settle. Along the way he's encountered racism, discrimination and has begun asking himself: 'Where do I belong?' Join him as he delves deep into past experiences in order to discover his true self and a place he can finally call home.

In Vegas, a magician performs a final disappearing act. The end of the world is a magic trick – are you watching closely? Ghosts of the Near Future is a cowboy-noir fever dream about extinction. Colliding music, storytelling and live micro-cinema, it is a hallucinatory road-trip through a vanishing landscape, a haunting collage of miracles and misdirection. It takes us to the brink of disaster and asks whether we’re ready for what comes next. At high noon, emma + pj present a final encore for a world living one minute to midnight.

Teacher-by-trade Jack's guide to everything the classroom may throw at you. Difficult questions. Problem pupils. Chairs. A jam-packed hour of gags, multimedia and, of course, teacher training. Writer for BBC One’s Have I Got News For You and BBC Scotland’s Scot Squad.

'There's no access guide to sex; how to consensually sh*g your blind girlfriend.' Undateable? Laura is funny, creative and sexy. She wishes she could move out of her parents' house occasionally, but being visually impaired is not a flaw, even if some people treat it as one. But when you're disabled, the lines of consent get a bit... tinted. Originally written as a disabled response to #MeToo, Tinted examines bodily autonomy in the group society often leaves behind.

Written and performed by Rachel Stockdale. Meet Rachel – a Northern, 20-something actress whose funny, celebratory and politically powerful one-woman play explores her true-life experience of weight gain from size 8 to 18. From audition nerves and throwaway comments to literally breaking a leg, this unconventional play is for: Anyone who's put on or lost weight; Anyone who had free school meals; Anyone who's tried to have it all.

What did our critic think of HIYA DOLLY! at TheSpace @ Surgeon's Hall?

Are friendships the greatest love affairs of our lives? Join us to celebrate the publication of Michael Pedersen’s much-anticipated prose debut and intimate memoir Boy Friends. Along with two pioneering artists, Shirley Manson and Charlotte Church, Pedersen explores friendship, grief, love and the realms beyond. An evening of readings, performance and exuberance, this is an artists’ conversation not to be missed.

The Dead Ducks return to the Fringe and Edinburgh is all the better for it.

Sportsperson is written and performed by Cerys Bradley (Soho Theatre Young Company, Amused Moose semi-finalist, 2020). It's a show about playing sport and fitting in and how Cerys is quite bad at both of those things. It's also a show about being non-binary, embarrassed about wearing lycra and how spending your childhood in a car whilst your parents watch your brother play football (and rugby and tennis and cricket) definitely doesn't leave you with a massive chip on your shoulder.

Crazy Canadian circus for the young, premiering in Edinburgh after visiting 16 countries! The art of giving each other a chance and collaborating when the right time comes is what the Brotipos will have to learn! Two clowns touch the hearts of the audience and make them laugh through their quarrels, their acrobatics and their lonely moments. A show filled with handstands, diabolo and a hand-to-hand act that will make you sing and dance with them! Hilarious and comical, that's Brotipo. For the young and old! Winner of eight public choice awards!

A show about mental health, not just mental illness. From number-one, best-selling author, award-winning comedian and presenter Dave Chawner.

This dark-comedy love letter to Britney Spears is a nostalgia-fest for anyone who has ever dropped to that Hit Me Baby One More Time beat and for anyone who came of age against the pernicious backdrop of 90s/00s misogyny.

What did our critic think of MY LOVER WAS A SALMON IN THE CLIMATE APOCALYPSE at Pleasance Courtyard?

What did our critic think of SHE WOLF at Assemly Roxy?

It is 1871 and the seductive Vampyre Carmilla has chosen her next victim, the gentle and innocent Laura. Can the love of the young doctor and her father be enough to save Laura from Carmilla's clutches? And will anyone listen to the fears and predictions of villager Susan when she encounters her in the marketplace, for this is not the first time Carmilla has walked this earth?

Rachel Jackson is an award-winning, Scottish comedian with TV credits such as The Stand Up Sketch Show (ITV) and Edinburgh Unlocked (BBC). Almost Famous is about all the times she thought she was so damn close… The Rock tweeted her three times ffs! Also deals with her debilitating illness, OCD, but this show doesn’t have a sad bit and is wet-your-pants funny.

Nothing I can write will truly describe the brilliance of this stand-up show. There simply isn't enough hyperbole. 

Best Sketch Show (Time Out New York). BriTANicK is the comedy duo of Nick Kocher and Brian McElhaney. They have written for Saturday Night Live and It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia, were named Variety's Top 10 Comics To Watch and spent six years as the official voices of Cartoon Network. Their online videos have amassed over 50 million views and they regularly perform to sold-out crowds in New York and Los Angeles.

A new show about private things, public things and trying to wrap your big sexy arms around time to keep it still. You’ve seen Jessica on Live at the Apollo and QI, amongst other telly shows.

Success demands sacrifice. So does Svengali. Gripping, intimate monologue exposing the dark heart of a dynamic of power, desire, and control. A promising young woman rises to supernatural heights on the tennis circuit under the hypnotic thrall of a master coach. Mentor and protégé battle for dominance – on the courts and off. Channels sports stories and 1980s erotic thrillers to reimagine a classic character for the #MeToo era.