Edinburgh Fringe Archives - North West End UK

With The Possible Exception of Abraham Lincoln –Greenside @ George Street

18Aug

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Scotland

With The Possible Exception of Abraham Lincoln –Greenside @ George Street

2026 – we are experiencing a change in the world order. The United States of America were always thought of as the good guys, joining with their allies to promote democracy, and fighting against regimes who bring terror to our shores. In 2016, Donald J Trump won the election to be President of the US, and it would be fair to say that the thought that he would become President was unexpected. Most people laughed it off as being absurd, but here we are in 2026, two years into his second Presidency, and the absurd is now the world’s normal. The idea for the play came to writer David Chocron from the lips of Donald Trump himself. During his battle to win a second term in 2020, at a press conference Trump said, ‘I’ve done more for Black Americans than anybody, wit...

Andrew White (What A Life) – Edinburgh Cab Vol 2

15Aug

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

Andrew White (What A Life) – Edinburgh Cab Vol 2

Wasn’t he lovely? Just ask Phil the celebrant. But seriously, he was. OK, funnily, he was. Very Funnily as it happens, nicely illustrating how to compose an hour of laughs with few swear words or much fabricated controversy in sight. But he didn’t neglect dark. There was plenty about death and what’s one to expect when you were reared by a mother obsessed with murder documentaries and the idea that bad things (death, chiefly) come in threes? Or insisting that any track from the radio meeting approval be added to the ‘I want that at my funeral’ list. In this potted account of his life Andrew’s inspirational Mum took top billing, co-stars being his partner, sundry friends and mentors from teenage years when White’s social circle consisted of 60-year-olds. Precocious, him? Johnathan...

Our Town Needs a Nandos – theSpace on the Mile

10Aug

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

Our Town Needs a Nandos – theSpace on the Mile

Up and coming Edinburgh-based theatre company Hot Mess Productions, brings their rendition of Samantha O’Rourke’s, Our Town Needs a Nandos to the Edinburgh Fringe. The play sees a group of young girls in high school work on creating a devised piece for their drama exam. In a run-down town with not much to do, this is a coming-of-age story where friendships are tested, sexuality is explored, and the girls shared experience of sexual violence is at the forefront. Each girl faces a sense of displacement, whether that be down to emigration, isolation, or repression. The cast of five work well together, clearly taking their strong bonds from the rehearsal room to the stage. Each cast member is believable as an unruly teenager finding their feet in the world, hitting ...

9Aug

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

The Best of Burlesque – Assembly Rooms

There are occasions at the Edinburgh Fringe when sitting in the front row feels like a privilege. There are others like, several minutes into Best of Burlesque, you begin to wonder whether you have made a serious tactical error. You live and learn. The problem is not burlesque. Quite the opposite. Burlesque has enormous theatrical possibilities. It can be funny, provocative, sensual, satirical, beautiful and absurd. There can be character, storytelling and invention in the simple act of appearing on stage and gradually removing what you arrived with. But there has to be an idea. Too often tonight, Best of Burlesque seems to consist of people taking their clothes off to music. There isn't enough artistic interpretation or theatrical imagination to turn the act of undressing ...

Colin Cloud: Hoax – Pleasance Courtyard Grand

9Aug

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Colin Cloud: Hoax – Pleasance Courtyard Grand

If illusions and magic are your thing or you just fancy a good mind-boggle, Colin Cloud has you covered. From guessing the names and dates of people’s first kisses to getting an audience member to read the audiences’ minds, this show is sure to have you leaving more confused than you started. Cloud has an incredible stage presents: Funny, trustworthy and somewhat other worldly. He is incredible skilled at what he does and despite there being 700 plus people in the room, he made sure to make the whole room feel included. Now I don’t want to spoil too much so the tricks themselves will remain a secret, but the show is well paced and has you on the edge of your seat throughout. Audience participation is guaranteed with a large number of audience being chosen for set tricks or ...

CQD to SOS: A Titanic Story Sails into Edinburgh Fringe

1Aug

By NewsdeskNo Comments

NEWS

CQD to SOS: A Titanic Story Sails into Edinburgh Fringe

This reimagining of the last hours in the Titanic’s communications room is taut with desperate hope on the part of the radio operators: Jack Phillips and Harold Bride on the Titanic and Harold Cottam who heard the distress messages on The Carpathia. The narrative details the quiet heroism of men doing their job to the very best of their ability in the face of futile hope. It paints duty and despair in the context that the RMS Titanic is, to this day, cradled on the floor of the North Atlantic Ocean, lying 3,800 metres deep. The slow engulfment of this vessel and the loss of life is as immutable as the icebergs the ship encountered. The three actors, Daniel Drever, Stephen McParland and Declan John Anthony are well cast. They embody tension in very different ways...

Aarian Mehrabani: How’s your Head? – The Lowry

1Aug

By Angela KellyNo Comments

North West

Aarian Mehrabani: How’s your Head? – The Lowry

The comedian Aarian Mehrabani premieres ‘How’s Your Head?’ at the Lowry Theatre this week. Directed by Dec Munro and commissioned by The Lowry, with support from the Arts Council England, this performance was the perfect preparation for Mehrabani’s upcoming Edinburgh Fringe Performance later this year. Having had previous success with his company ‘FlawBored’, he won awards for his debut show, ‘It’s a motherf***ing pleasure’ that completed with a three week run on Broadway. Describing himself as a ‘triple threat’: Brown, Bisexual and Blind, Mehrabani is certainly one interesting guy. He relays funny tales including his experiences of having an STI, his thoughts on the children’s story ‘Elemer the Elephant’ and in dramatic contrast to much of his tales, he bravely discusses having sur...

12Jul

By Alan Stuart MalinNo Comments

London

Princess Sparkles – Museum of Comedy

If Disney ever collided with a psychological breakdown, the result might look something like ‘Princess Sparkles’. Lily Maryon's debut solo show is gloriously unhinged, unapologetically absurd, and one of the most confidently bonkers princess character comedies I've seen in quite some time. The premise is deceptively simple, Princess Sparkles is a princess-for-hire expecting a room full of excited five-year-olds. Instead, the audience becomes those children, willingly swept into an increasingly chaotic birthday party as reality slowly unravels beneath the glitter. Her repeated insistence that she is "definitely not a Disney princess", something that is totally believable, only makes the comparison even funnier. Maryon demonstrates remarkable command of the room throughout the hour...

9Jun

By Alan Stuart MalinNo Comments

London

Shantify – Underbelly Boulevard Soho

Some theatre productions are clever; others are musically impressive. The truly special ones manage to be both, while embracing an utterly absurd premise with complete confidence. ‘Shantify’ [jazz hands essential] is one of those rare productions. It is utterly joyous, inventive and irresistibly entertaining, and will leave you grinning long after the curtain falls, with its brilliantly reimagined sea shanties still playing on repeat in your head for days afterwards! The premise alone sounds improbable: take chart-topping pop hits, musical theatre favourites and traditional sea shanties, throw them together aboard a nautical adventure, and somehow make it all work. Yet against all odds, it works brilliantly, from Beyoncé to Taylor Swift, from the Spice Girls to Hamilton and Six, familia...

Lorna Rose Treen: 24 Hour Diner People – Soho Theatre

10Sep

By Eleanor HallNo Comments

London

Lorna Rose Treen: 24 Hour Diner People – Soho Theatre

Fresh from a run at Edinburgh Fringe at Pleasance, Lorna Rose Treen is an agile one-woman show, consistently humorous and wonderfully well-rounded. Belly laughs are a guarantee at this Diner! Opening with an original song, akin to a Studio Ghibli tune, Treen takes us on a masterclass in audience interaction, perfectly integrated within the show and the narrative. Even where playing with the audience was at its riskiest (with one audience member being asked to read lines for several scenes) Treen did not drop the ball once. The spirit of madness is infused into this show, from a poem underscored by ratatouille soundtrack, to the ridiculously long-limbed trucker, to the pre-show mock menu offering a taste of what’s to come. Each character inhabiting the diner is joined up to the ne...