EDINBURGH 2018: Pick Of The Programme - Cabaret

With over 3,000 shows in the Edinburgh Festival Fringe programme it can be overwhelming choosing what to see, so we've selected our top picks from the cabaret section.

2018 is an incredibly strong year for cabaret at the Fringe and this was one of our hardest categories to narrow down!

Courtney Act - Under The Covers

Courtney has been under the covers with many, but not usually in front of a live audience. It's time to get tucked in, lay back and enjoy the caress of those satin sheets as she strips songs down and flips others on their back to show you just how gender-fluid and genre-fluid a great song can be! It will leave you pillow-fighting and pillow-biting.

Michael Griffiths- Songs By Kylie

He's been Annie Lennox, Madonna and Cole Porter to great acclaim. Now Helpmann Award winner Michael Griffiths explores the songs, stories and locomotion of pop princess, Kylie Minogue. Put your hand on your heart and step back in time - Kylie wouldn't change a thing!

John Partridge- Stripped

Stripped is a new beginning. A reintroduction of myself. Life has a way of hardening you, at least mine has. This is my attempt at shedding those skins, saying goodbye to part of myself and embracing someone I knew a long time ago. Through film, music, poetry, song and dance, I share my story and in turn ask the audience to consider theirs. From boy to man, sexuality, sobriety, success, love and loss. My pictures, memories, moments. Featuring original music and choreography alongside the soundtrack of my life. Bowie, Bush, Buckley and more...

Hot Brown Honey turn up the heat with lashings of sass and a hot pinch of empowerment in the smash-hit, genre-defying, award-winning firecracker of a show that's taken the world by storm.

Briefs - Close Encounters

Briefs are back with a brand-new show. They've come from the future to test the limits of masculinity and decency with their iconic brand of circus, drag, burlesque and comedy. Expect interstellar aerials, incredible artistry, sharp social commentary and warp-speed strippers from outer space. Prepare yourselves for a close encounter.

Iconic: A Brief History of Drag

A triple threat of heavenly vocals, theatrical swagger and razor-sharp wit. Direct from sell-out performances, Velma Celli celebrates the iconic drag moments of film, stage and popular culture. Join Velma, her voluptuous backing singers and band for an electrifying cabaret featuring the music of Queen, Bowie, Lady Gaga, Tina Turner and more. Forget lip-synching for your life, this is singing for your soul - from one of the West End's top performers.

Jason Donovan and His Amazing Midlife Crisis

Join Jason in conversation as he shares moments from the last four decades that he wasn't able to tell us about on daytime television! Jason has many guises - star of stage and screen, radio DJ, actor, performer, friend, father, husband, brother, son and confirmed national treasure. Here he tells us about the highlights and challenges, the opportunities and obstacles of being all those things with a few of the songs we all love thrown in for good measure.

Smashing together 1950s films like Godzilla, Swamp Monster and King Kong, Glamonster subverts the idea that Gingzilla can only be either glamorous or monstrous. Witness this iconic 7ft ginger-bearded drag queen tear up the stage, question your orientation and leave you gagging for more!!

Australia's favourite feather-ruffling, rabble-rousing, cabaret anarchist and neo-punk diva, Yana Alana bares all in this bent night of blues, boobs and blame. Exposing mental health, sexual politics, feminism and identity.