Having been rather underwhelmed by my previous excursion into burlesque at this year’s Fringe, I am pleased to report that Sexy Circus Sideshow 3.0 is a considerable improvement.
Perhaps the clue is in the title. This is less a burlesque show with circus attached than a late night circus and variety show which happens to have rather fewer clothes than usual.
And that distinction matters.
The International Fringe Burlesque Festival is new to Edinburgh this year, bringing more than 100 international artists together across five daily shows. Sexy Circus Sideshow 3.0, playing at the Piccolo tent in George Square Gardens, is its most ambitious offering, and certainly the most entertaining I have encountered so far.
What works is that the entertainment comes first. These performers have acts, proper skills and, importantly, variety. The removal of clothing becomes almost incidental to what they are actually capable of doing.
An American performer does wonderful things with hula hoops. Elsewhere there is fire eating, sword swallowing, juggling and balancing, all delivered with the slightly dangerous atmosphere that a midnight circus ought to possess.
And then there is the Florida clown.
I am not going to spoil this one. Suffice to say that she has some cookies, requires some milk to accompany them and devises a method of obtaining it which had a considerable proportion of the audience wondering whether to laugh, applaud or look away.
It is stomach-churning, ridiculous and quite unforgettable.
There is also a girl with a whip of sorts which, at a particularly unfortunate moment, appears to run out of batteries. I shall leave the rest entirely to your imagination.
But underneath all the sauciness there is genuine circus ability here, and the show’s best act is saved until last.
The Piccolo tent suddenly becomes an important part of the performance as its full height is exploited for a spectacular aerial finale. An entertaining collection of sideshow turns finishes with something genuinely impressive.
That is ultimately why this works considerably better for me than the more conventional burlesque show I saw previously. Titillation alone has a fairly limited shelf life. Give it humour, danger, surprise and genuine physical skill and you have something altogether more interesting.
Sexy Circus Sideshow 3.0 is funny, occasionally alarming and frequently surprising.
And yes, there are not many clothes.
But this time, that is almost beside the point.
Playing until 30th August, https://www.edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/2026SEXYCIR
Reviewer: Greg Holstead
Reviewed: 13th August 2026
North West End UK / Theatre Muse UK Rating:
Running time – 1hr