# william shakespeare (news sources) — RSS Amplifier Recent posts from the 1 feeds in the RSS Amplifier directory that cover william shakespeare. Page: Feed: --- ## [Jess Fuchs: Feral review – a debut with tremendous oomph from a future comedy star](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/26/jess-fuchs-feral-comedy-review-edinburgh-fringe-pleasance-courtyard) _2026-08-26 · Brian Logan · Stage | The Guardian_ Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh This motormouth Australian comic fires off tart remarks and home truths then explains why she over-identifies with the Titanic ‘No hugging, no learning” was the writers’ rule on Seinfeld. Jess Fuchs decrees a similar stricture for Feral, in which she will learn nothing about herself whatsoever. “Really, I’m just here to talk shit.” That might get proceedings off to… ## [Sydney Dance Company’s 40 years at the Wharf – in pictures](https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2026/aug/26/sydney-dance-companys-40-years-at-the-wharf-in-pictures) _2026-08-26 · Guardian Staff · Stage | The Guardian_ Sydney Dance Company is marking four decades since it made its home at the Wharf theatres at Walsh Bay. As part of the celebrations, the company is presenting an exhibition in the foyer of its Wharf home, developed in partnership with Museums of History NSW. With photographs, oral histories and archival material, Wharf Stories explores the people, stories and spaces that have shaped the company… ## [Kemah Bob: Love Child review – Miss Fortunate’s follow-up is a superbly playful origin story](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/25/kemah-bob-love-child-review-pleasance-courtyard-edinburgh) _2026-08-25 · Brian Logan · Stage | The Guardian_ Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh With icky and edgy jokes, the comedian offers an authentic inquiry into her childhood in her sophomore show A standup’s debut show usually tells us who they are, then with their follow-up, they branch out. Kemah Bob has done things the other way around. After 2024’s Miss Fortunate , a wild shaggy dog story about a disastrous trip to Thailand, she now delivers that… ## [Camping trips, grief and embarrassing your kids – the fringe shows embracing every facet of fatherhood](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/25/well-balanced-dads-lions-olaf-falafel-helium-balloon-factory-edinburgh-fringe-stage) _2026-08-25 · Chris Wiegand · Stage | The Guardian_ Edinburgh comedies by Whisper Theatre, Lightning Rod Special and Olaf Falafel are exploring what it’s like to be a dad, from the hilarious and melancholic to the devastatingly accurate cringe In a historic masonic lodge in Edinburgh’s New Town I find myself raising my hand. The call has gone out for fathers in the audience and I join our hosts, Dick and Dale, along with another volunteer on stage.… ## [Kate Cheka: The Last Funny Woman review – pregnant standup calls for comedy industry to grow up](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/25/kate-cheka-the-last-funny-woman-review) _2026-08-25 · Anya Ryan · Stage | The Guardian_ Voodoo Rooms, Edinburgh Cheka considers her tendency to ‘live life like a joke’ in a frank hour, with her frustrations leaving a lasting impression Kate Cheka wasn’t supposed to be here. After her debut hour two years ago, she swore she would never do the fringe again. But now she’s back, mic in hand and eight months pregnant, walking us through her life’s greatest romantic escapades, from… ## [Soft Spot review – this wine-glass circus has a lot of bottle](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/25/soft-spot-review) _2026-08-25 · Chris Wiegand · Stage | The Guardian_ Zoo Southside, Edinburgh A handstand artist and a juggler slide, toss, stack and stand on umpteen glasses without a drop of wine in sight This Swedish circus two-hander begins with the performers offstage, and what sounds like the high-pitched notes of a glass harp. But the wine glasses here – first six of them, then dozens – are used for acrobatic tricks rather than music. Stina Otterström is a… ## [The Librarians: A Very Serious Comedy! review – workplace meltdown borrows from classic sitcoms](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/25/the-librarians-a-very-serious-comedy-review-pleasance-courtyard-edinburgh) _2026-08-25 · Chris Wiegand · Stage | The Guardian_ Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Well-tuned performances help along a familiar set of laughs as a rickety library gets a new manager and an inspection The sign says Plumstanton Library but this could be The Brittas Empire’s Whitbury New Town Leisure Centre, The Office’s Wernham Hogg or Torquay fleapit Fawlty Towers. Such is the instant familiarity of a failing workplace whose staff have a new… ## [Goodbye Dandelion review – ode to a fabulous friendship with a 50-year age gap](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/24/goodbye-dandelion-review-ode-to-a-fabulous-friendship-with-a-50-year-age-gap) _2026-08-24 · Mark Fisher · Stage | The Guardian_ Underbelly, Edinburgh Maddie and Marcus Rice relate with words and songs the lessons passed on from one woman to a younger one An unexpected theme on this year’s Edinburgh fringe is assisted dying. It is central to Morna Young’s After Party , about a matriarch who chooses to die after her 80th birthday, and Ben Harrison’s adaptation of Andrew O’Hagan’s Mayflies , in which a terminally ill man… ## [Frankie Thompson: Horrible Things review – a show to make you shudder with laughter](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/24/frankie-thompson-horrible-things-review) _2026-08-24 · Brian Logan · Stage | The Guardian_ Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh From Jacob Rees-Mogg as a child to Frank Sinatra’s ego in space, this is a wild collage of clowning and performance art There are plenty of works-in-progress on the fringe. Frankie Thompson insists (or has the voice of Peppa Pig do so) that her show is a work-in-regress, an expunging of Horrible Things from the deepest recesses of her, and our, recollection.… ## [BBCSSO/Canellakis review – electrifying trio of women unleash the horror in Strauss’s Elektra](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/24/bbcsso-canellakis-review-usher-hall-edinburgh-strauss-elektra) _2026-08-24 · Michael Downes · Stage | The Guardian_ Usher Hall, Edinburgh Making the most of a huge orchestra, conductor Karina Canellakis treated the dissonant score with relish, but the evening belonged to the singers, with even the tiniest role superbly realised Christopher Nolan’s film The Odyssey carries a content warning for “strong violence and intense mythological horror”, but even its goriest scenes do not match the mythological horror… ## [Privacy-first AI-native browser (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/fSfWYcV6kroH) _2026-08-24 · **Sponsored**_ No telemetry or ads — built on Ungoogled Chromium with a built-in AI sidebar and CLI. ## [A supreme being, the nearly naked show and politics with paws: Edinburgh fringe pick’n’mix](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/23/edinburgh-fringe-reviews-pick-n-mix) _2026-08-23 · Brian Logan, Lyndsey Winship, Arifa Akbar, Kate Wyver, Tim Jonze and Chris Wiegand · Stage | The Guardian_ From Taiwanese steampunk dance to Australian climate comedy, here are 13 quick-fire fringe reviews All our Edinburgh festival reviews For new perspective on the strange ways we behave, we all know the thought experiment “if a visitor from space arrived on Earth, what would they think?” In Born Sexy Yesterday, Anna Leong Brophy plays a supreme being implanted into a grown woman’s body to experience… ## [Hang Time review – a chilling picture of the horrors of racial violence](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/22/hang-time-review-royal-lyceum-theatre-edinburgh) _2026-08-22 · Mark Fisher · Stage | The Guardian_ Royal Lyceum theatre, Edinburgh Three men bicker and reflect like they’re chatting at a bar – yet this grimly beautiful piece of theatre at the Edinburgh international festival won’t let you forget their fate Three men are shooting the breeze. “We’re just talking – man to man to man,” says Slim (Kamal Bolden), an ex-con who believes in looking after number one. In a literal sense, he is right.… ## [Elouise Eftos: Aphrodite review – ‘Australia’s first attractive comedian’ asks if love is real](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/22/elouise-eftos-aphrodite-review) _2026-08-22 · Brian Logan · Stage | The Guardian_ Pleasance Dome, Edinburgh Heckling herself in character as the Greek goddess, the standup delivers an intelligent, in-your-face show about sex and expectations You can’t argue with the opening gambit of Aphrodite: “I’ve never been in love and I don’t think it’s real.” Consider me grabbed. This is the follow-up to Elouise Eftos’s fantastically provocative 2025 debut, Australia’s First Attractive… ## [Dirty Dancer review – Swayze stan is like a whirlwind as she replays 80s favourite](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/22/dirty-dancer-review-melissa-firlit) _2026-08-22 · Chris Wiegand · Stage | The Guardian_ Underbelly Cowgate, Edinburgh Melissa Firlit recreates Dirty Dancing in a one-woman show that mixes trivia, personal memories and a singalong Dirty Dancing was the first VHS in our house: snazzy purple box, pure 80s brushstroke title, alluring 15 certificate – and all that slo-mo, black-and-white grinding to the Ronettes before it even begins. I’m not the only one who remembers their first… ## [Courtney Büchner: One of the Girls review – all aboard for a rollercoaster relationship](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/22/courtney-buchner-one-of-the-girls-review-pleasance-edinburgh) _2026-08-22 · Anya Ryan · Stage | The Guardian_ Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh From embarrassing anecdotes to karaoke and lurking on Instagram, this love story sweeps you along Courtney Büchner is here to tell us a love story. Not the type you’re thinking of – even though she has just married her partner, Maddy. This rollercoaster platonic relationship is with Stella, the girl she met at school shortly after moving from South Africa to the UK.… ## [Wiping My Mother’s Arse review – confusion and subterfuge in a care home](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/22/wiping-my-mothers-arse-review-iain-heggie) _2026-08-22 · Mark Fisher · Stage | The Guardian_ Pitlochry Festival theatre Iain Heggie’s rejigged 2001 play – now ensconced in the world of voice notes and vapes – is very funny, but the lighter moments jar with some sobering subtexts These days, shows about care homes, dementia and end of life are very common, but when Iain Heggie’s splendidly named Wiping My Mother’s Arse premiered in 2001 , it was ahead of the curve. It is set in an… ## [Salty Brine: How Strange It Is (The Neutral Milk Hotel Show) review – one of today’s most powerful stage voices](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/21/salty-brine-how-strange-it-is-the-neutral-milk-hotel-show-review-summerhall-edinburgh) _2026-08-21 · Brian Logan · Stage | The Guardian_ Summerhall, Edinburgh Intertwining his diaries with Anne Frank’s gives Brine a tough job, but his passionate performance and force of will combine in a heady brew It’s a hell of a swing to make a show paralleling your first love with Anne Frank’s – the more so for that show about her to end on an uplift. But Salty Brine is nothing if not the man for a big swing. This most overbrimming of cabaret… ## [Fire destroyed Belvoir theatre’s precious ‘library of things’. Now it is rising from the ashes](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/22/belvoir-st-theatre-sydney-stage-the-book-of-everything-after-fire) _2026-08-21 · Dee Jefferson · Stage | The Guardian_ Staff scrambled to pull together a show after their sets, props and costumes were ruined in a huge fire. Ahead of its new production, the team reflects on what was lost – and gained When Neil Armfield heard that Belvoir, the Sydney theatre company he helmed for 17 years, had lost its storage warehouse in a fire, the first thing he thought of was his washing basket, which had recently been borrowed… ## [A History of Paper review – Shirley Henderson and Alan Cumming sing a fragile romance](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/21/a-history-of-paper-review-shirley-henderson-and-alan-cumming-pitlochry-festival-theatre) _2026-08-21 · Mark Fisher · Stage | The Guardian_ Pitlochry Festival theatre Oliver Emanuel’s musical love story between tenement neighbours is told via origami gifts and restaurant receipts It started as a BBC radio drama in 2016, and was reworked as a small-scale musical two years ago. Now, A History of Paper gets the mainstage treatment with two bona fide stars in the leads. The good news is that little is overblown about the production. Stars… ## [Who Killed Marilyn? review – dismal attempt to solve mystery of Monroe with Pixie Lott](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/21/who-killed-marilyn-review-emerald-theatre-london-pixie-lott-monroe) _2026-08-21 · Arifa Akbar · Stage | The Guardian_ Emerald theatre, London An account of the superstar’s life revisits her relationships and considers some conspiracy theories but never gets beyond cliche There have been 600 books written about Marilyn Monroe since she died in 1962. So we are told by Monroe (Pixie Lott) herself in Sharleen Cooper Cohen’s play. The star’s body was discovered by her housekeeper, and her death at the age of 36 has… ## [Sync bookmarks across every browser (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/Qe8I4ThYQ6wh) _2026-08-21 · **Sponsored**_ Two-way sync across Chrome, Firefox and Safari; built-in ad and tracker blocker. ## [Badgers review – the audience investigates in this true-crime podcast yarn](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/21/badgers-review-traverse-theatre-edinburgh-festival) _2026-08-21 · Mark Fisher · Stage | The Guardian_ Traverse theatre, Edinburgh Malaika Kegode delivers a supernatural story about the strange disappearance of a maudlin folk singer Playwright and performer Malaika Kegode tops and tails this show for Theatre Royal Plymouth with a message about the allure of storytelling. In a festival city bursting at the seams with stories, it is an unnecessary observation. A more important question is about which… ## [Crybabies: The Scaring review – chills and laughs abound in twisty tale of demonic possession](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/20/crybabies-the-scaring-review-pleasance-courtyard-edinburgh) _2026-08-20 · Brian Logan · Stage | The Guardian_ Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh This fantastic comic play from the Radio 4 trio unleashes a torrent of great gags and illusions Horror pastiche has a proud lineage at this festival – for example Garth Marenghi , and Andrew Doherty’s hit Gay Witch Sex Cult two summers ago. In that company, Crybabies ’ The Scaring can stand as tall as the demon Haeldrrun towering over its finale: it’s another… ## [Little Animals review – Motherland milquetoast creates a clever climate plea](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/20/little-animals-review-motherland-traverse-at-royal-lyceum-studio-edinburgh) _2026-08-20 · Mark Fisher · Stage | The Guardian_ Traverse at Royal Lyceum Studio, Edinburgh Paul Ready’s playwriting debut expertly utilises his bumbling acting persona to examine what is enough in our response to climate emergency Nobody does self-effacement as well as Paul Ready . The Motherland/Ann Droid actor excels at playing the kind of man who apologises for his own existence, well-meaning, but insecure – often comically so. He hesitates,… ## [Abigail’s Party review – Tamzin Outhwaite’s Bev is Madame Bovary with a Cinzano](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/20/abigails-party-review-tamzin-outhewaite) _2026-08-20 · Arifa Akbar · Stage | The Guardian_ Harold Pinter theatre, London Outhwaite’s performance as Beverly, a precision-tooled showcase in hidden anger and longing, is a triumph in this eternally resonant suburban drama Alison Steadman has cast a long shadow over the suburban gargoyle-cum-bored-housewife in Mike Leigh’s social satire about 1970s social mobility. So much so that her name is almost always invoked in relation to Beverly.… ## [Making Love with David Magidoff review – instant improv musical based on Fran Healy’s teenage infidelity](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/20/making-love-with-david-magidoff-review-fran-healy-assembly-george-square-edinburgh) _2026-08-20 · Brian Logan · Stage | The Guardian_ Assembly George Square, Edinburgh The US comic’s troupe tell the tale of a special guest’s romantic encounter, in this case Travis’s frontman – but their incoherence makes for a scatty if fun show It’s a lovely format for improv: a special guest tells David Magidoff the story of some romantic (mis)adventure from their past, and Magidoff and pals turn it into an extemporised musical. Shades of… ## [‘I painted myself blue – but got skin problems’: how four Edinburgh stars created their weird characters](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/20/how-four-edinburgh-stars-created-their-weird-characters) _2026-08-20 · Interviews by Emine Saner · Stage | The Guardian_ From a cake-baking Elton John to possibly the most horrible man in the world, comedians reveal how they get in character – and how far they can push things In the Covid lockdowns, I was drawing all these silly things, and one day I drew Elton John as a scone. It brought me lots of joy. I love Elton John and everything he’s about – his music and his outfits – and my first job as a musician was in a… ## [How I’ve Tried to Change the World by Alexei Sayle review – does protest make a difference?](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/20/how-ive-tried-to-change-the-world-by-alexei-sayle-review-does-protest-make-a-difference) _2026-08-20 · Andy Beckett · Stage | The Guardian_ The comedian charts his life in demos from 1960s Liverpool to 2020s London in this fiery and addictive book At 74, the comedian Alexei Sayle is approaching a dangerous phase for veteran British leftists: becoming a national treasure. Once described by special branch, in a surveillance file gleefully quoted in this memoir, as an “intellectual thug” who made “foul-mouthed comments about the royal… ## [Magicians and margarine: 10 of the funniest jokes from the Edinburgh fringe 2026](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/20/magicians-and-margarine-10-of-the-funniest-jokes-from-the-edinburgh-fringe-2026) _2026-08-20 · Guardian Staff · Stage | The Guardian_ Every year, hundreds of standups from across the world descend on the venerable festival. Here are some of their finest one-liners 10 of the funniest jokes from the 2025 fringe Olaf Falafel : I remember thinking, as I taped a piranha to my boomerang, this could come back to bite me. Richard Stott : To the person who stole my bank card and spent all my money on ancestry.com – you know who you are.… ## [‘Are you ready for some filth?’ Julian Clary and more on comedy’s great smut explosion](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/20/julian-clary-fully-dilated-smut-edinburgh-fringe-comedy-entendre) _2026-08-20 · Tim Jonze · Stage | The Guardian_ Clary’s back with Fully Dilated, a burlesque star called Entendre Entendre is doing lewd singalongs and there’s an A-Z of very dirty words. Our writer investigates Edinburgh’s smut outbreak – and ends up getting his own fantasies turned into erotica On a street in Edinburgh, a woman I’ve only just met is quizzing me on my sexual fantasies. “Do you want softcore or hardcore? What positions do you… ## [Giraffe review – sparkling one-woman show stands out from the crowd](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/19/giraffe-review-sparkling-one-woman-show-stands-out-from-the-crowd) _2026-08-19 · Mark Fisher · Stage | The Guardian_ Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh An unlikely relationship blossoms in Abigail Weinstock’s compelling and touching solo drama It takes a brave writer/performer to make her character a sociopath. How to keep the audience on board with someone who is callous and indifferent? In Abigail Weinstock’s sparkling one-woman show, 30-year-old Eliana has been caught making clandestine recordings in her… ## [Earn crypto for idle GPUs (Sponsored)](https://crawlproof.com/a/A7We9FrvrJPf) _2026-08-19 · **Sponsored**_ Run one CLI, host Qwen/Llama/Mistral, and earn BTC, ETH, SOL, or USDC ## [My Edinburgh fringe odyssey: ‘The nudity is expressive, shocking – sometimes harrowing’](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/19/my-edinburgh-fringe-odyssey-the-nudity-is-expressive-shocking-sometimes-harrowing) _2026-08-19 · Arifa Akbar · Stage | The Guardian_ There are 3,649 shows at the fringe this year, but how many embody its spirit of radical experimentation? I took a journey through foam, lube and gore to find out ... Somewhere in Edinburgh, a man is drinking his own urine . Elsewhere, the story of a religious sect that commands its followers to use “butt plugs” plays out as a musical. In yet another room, a comedian sings the same song over and… ## [‘I’m not Mr Saturday Night’: the highbrow brilliance of Ahir Shah, past winner of comedy’s top prize](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/19/saturday-night-ahir-shah-edinburgh-festival-comedy-award) _2026-08-19 · Brian Logan · Stage | The Guardian_ Three years ago, he won the Edinburgh comedy award with a work in progress. Now he’s back with a show inspired by Gerard Manley Hopkins and Friedrich Nietzsche. Isn’t this all a bit grownup? Among past winners of the Edinburgh comedy award, few seemed less likely when the starter’s pistol fired than Ahir Shah in 2023 . Not because Shah wasn’t a contender: he had been nominated twice before. But… ## [Larry Dean: Hellbent review – SNL UK star’s cheery riffs on romance and royalty](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/19/larry-dean-hellbent-review-snl-uk-standup-pleasance-courtyard-edinburgh) _2026-08-19 · Brian Logan · Stage | The Guardian_ Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Emotionally open and a little weirder than usual, the Glaswegian comic updates us on his recent marriage When SNL UK hit big earlier this year, it made stars of several comics just starting their careers. That was not the case with Larry Dean , who has been peddling his brand of crowd-pleasing Glasgow comedy for well over a decade. You know what you’re going to get… ## [Ihsane review – Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui leads us from brutal tragedy to euphoric harmony](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/19/ihsane-review-sidi-larbi-cherkaoui-leads-us-from-brutal-tragedy-to-euphoric-harmony) _2026-08-19 · Chris Wiegand · Stage | The Guardian_ Festival theatre, Edinburgh The choreographer combines a homophobic killing from 2012 with a remembrance for his father in an often rapturous show about healing In 2019 at the Edinburgh international festival, the Swiss director Milo Rau staged an intense theatrical investigation, La Reprise: Histoire(s) du Theatre (I) , recreating a homophobic killing in Belgium. The murder of Ihsane Jarfi, seven… ## [Shapes and ladders: Edinburgh fringe’s dance shows reach for the sky](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/19/edinburgh-fringe-dance-shows-circus) _2026-08-19 · Lyndsey Winship · Stage | The Guardian_ With brute strength and beauty, party tricks and personal revelations, this year’s dance and circus programme has ambition and a spirit of togetherness If you want to be wowed by technical prowess, I recommend taking a trip to see a couple of New York pole dancers, Donna Carnow and Gina Alm, in their Edinburgh fringe show Dusk/Night/Dawn. The pair are wildly impressive performers with just one… ## [Exit review – a circus squad who really drive each other up the wall](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/18/exit-review-zoo-southside-edinburgh) _2026-08-18 · Chris Wiegand · Stage | The Guardian_ Zoo Southside, Edinburgh The acrobats in this symphony of ins and outs build and break tension as they clamber over the set together Four performers enter the auditorium and walk among us but they’re sizing up the space not the audience. On stage is a scaffold structure with a cutaway design and a white facade featuring several doors, which soon frame a series of comings and goings. With this much… ## [Phyllida Law obituary](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/18/phyllida-law-obituary) _2026-08-18 · Michael Coveney · Stage | The Guardian_ Actor with a long career in theatre and on television who was known for the subtle quality of her work Although she was perhaps best known as the mother of two outstanding actors, Emma and Sophie Thompson, Phyllida Law, who has died aged 94, was supremely gifted herself – as an actor, costume designer and writer. She was not averse to appearing with either daughter: with Emma in her scabrously… ## [‘Audiences ask to feel my calves!’ The endurance extremists pounding treadmills and pumping pedals at the fringe](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/18/endurance-extremists-edinburgh-fringe) _2026-08-18 · Kate Wyver · Stage | The Guardian_ How do you keep audiences gripped while cycling 27km per show? From the Australian recreating a Tour de France win to a ‘toxically positive’ spin queen, we meet the acts bringing Olympian fitness to Edinburgh Blood and sweat drip to the floor. Tears are on their way. In a small room in Edinburgh, Megan Tomei is cleat-clipped into a stationary bike, yelling above the music as she leads a… ## [By a Thread review – soulful circus with a sprinkle of magic](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/18/by-a-thread-review-one-fell-swoop-edinburgh-assembly-rooms) _2026-08-18 · Lyndsey Winship · Stage | The Guardian_ Assembly Rooms, Edinburgh Emotional group dynamics and individual skills make One Fell Swoop stand out in the crowded circus genre You cannot move at the Edinburgh fringe for circus shows. There are so many people in this city who can climb a rope, hang upside down, swing on a trapeze – so how do you make a show special when plenty of other folks are hawking the same skills? Melbourne company One… ## [Bigfoot Ripped My Dog in Half I Saw It review – Xhloe and Natasha create a monster hit](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/18/bigfoot-ripped-my-dog-in-half-i-saw-it-review-summerhall-edinburgh-xhloe-natasha) _2026-08-18 · Chris Wiegand · Stage | The Guardian_ Summerhall, Edinburgh With physical and vocal agility, the tricksy clown duo trigger an avalanche of misinformation in this feverish treat Here is a show every bit as breathless as its title, stoked by bursts of high-energy 90s chart hits and delivered just as slickly by Xhloe and Natasha . Their physical precision is such that it’s almost as if these camo clowns with their rosy cheeks and… ## [Laughing on the other side: the fringe shows turning painful breakups into comedy](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/18/laughing-on-the-other-side-the-fringe-shows-turning-painful-breakups-into-comedy) _2026-08-18 · Brian Logan · Stage | The Guardian_ Whether Elf Lyons’ high-concept Hollywood throwback, Kate Dehnert’s disorientating rave or Ele McKenzie’s Bob Dylan fantasy, heartbreak fuels fine humour at the festival Breakups. We’ve all been through them. Sometimes they’re mutual, sometimes not. Sometimes agony, sometimes relief. And sometimes, they’re world-shattering bereavements that seem to end, or at least upend, everything. That’s the… ## [Temi Wilkey: Lover Girl review – wildly intimate comedy goes to infinity and beyond](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/18/temi-wilkey-lover-girl-review) _2026-08-18 · Chris Wiegand · Stage | The Guardian_ Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Both outrageous and tender, this stellar follow-up to Main Character Energy gives new meaning to body language Temi Wilkey serenades us, asks if we fancy her and wonders if the love of her life could be here right now. The G spot? Call it the T spot, says Temi, before popping the question: “Do you want to come inside my Infinity Pussy?” It’s seductive stuff and,… ## [‘We are defying the laws of physics!’ How pole dancing exploded into the Edinburgh fringe](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/18/pole-dancing-strip-clubs-serious-art-edinburgh-fringe) _2026-08-18 · Lyndsey Winship · Stage | The Guardian_ With abs like Olympians and skin like hide, pole dancers are besieging the festival. We meet four high-flying, high-octane acts tackling everything from New York’s underbelly to neurodiversity If you tell someone in Edinburgh you’re going to see a pole dancing show, they might direct you towards the so-called Pubic Triangle, where the city’s strip clubs are. But pole dance is actually a big part… ## [Man Sings the Same Song Over and Over Again for an Hour review – fringe gem leaves you ecstatic](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/17/man-sings-the-same-song-over-and-over-again-for-an-hour-review) _2026-08-17 · Brian Logan · Stage | The Guardian_ Summerhall, Edinburgh Connor Dariol, AKA Australian clown Conk, does exactly what he claims – and with such skill and relentless pep we are helpless to resist When I saw the title to the Australian clown Conk’s show Man Sings the Same Song Over and Over Again for an Hour, I thought I knew what the trick would be. Yes, the terms of the show’s billing would be fulfilled, but (I imagined) by twisting… ## [Lara Ricote: Inkling review – this fizzy standup’s smart new set is her best yet](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/17/lara-ricote-inkling-review) _2026-08-17 · Brian Logan · Stage | The Guardian_ Monkey Barrel Comedy, Edinburgh A show about maturing and learning to listen to life’s signals doesn’t stint on tomfoolery and has some great gags What a rich and enjoyable show this is from Lara Ricote , a leap forwards from her already-excellent first two shows . It finds the Mexican-American comic in as endearing fettle as ever, her urge to communicate bubbling over in a show about divining the… ## [Sam Eley Is Basil Crumbwick review – cantankerous cult hit brings laugh after laugh](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/17/sam-eley-is-basil-crumbwick-review-monkey-barrel-edinburgh-festival) _2026-08-17 · Brian Logan · Stage | The Guardian_ Monkey Barrel, Edinburgh There are shades of Vic and Bob as well as Frank Sidebottom when this embittered git with bloodshot eyes holds court Every room in Edinburgh has its ghosts, and its particular character. This one is all about the late-night cult hits, from Rob Kemp’s Evil Dead-meets-Elvis mashup nine years ago to Joe Kent-Walters’ debut as Frankie Monroe – a character whom this year’s… ## [Tether 인연 review – romantic ceilidh skips from Scotland to South Korea](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/17/tether-review-summerhall-edinburgh-festival) _2026-08-17 · Mark Fisher · Stage | The Guardian_ Summerhall, Edinburgh Love stories ring across the generations in this charming fusion of traditional dance and music from two cultures Connections are found in surprising places. You can get from Scotland to South Korea, for example, via the pentatonic scale. The same five-note structure lies behind Arirang, the ancient Korean folk song, and Celtic airs such as Auld Lang Syne. In an international… ## [Taiwan Season: The Wall review – close encounters in a city that never sleeps](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/17/taiwan-season-the-wall-review-summerhall-edinburgh-festival) _2026-08-17 · Chris Wiegand · Stage | The Guardian_ Summerhall, Edinburgh Seed Dance Company deliver a show that builds in intensity as it riffs on imprisonment and estrangement Taiwan’s Seed Dance Company visited the fringe in 2024 with a rather literal yet haunting show about smartphone addiction, Lost Connection . This similarly coolly executed piece could share the same title as its predecessor but is more enigmatic. It makes use of two… ## [I Made You a Mixtape review – frothy fringe fun as dorm mates party like it’s 1999](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/17/i-made-you-a-mixtape-review-90s-nostalgia-edinburgh-festival) _2026-08-17 · Lyndsey Winship · Stage | The Guardian_ TheSpace Triplex, Edinburgh Nine college students fall out and make up as they dance to punk-pop and alt-rock in this lively show This is such a festival show: uncategorisable, buzzing, slightly chaotic and unlike anything else. As director Christie Lee Manning of Response Theatre Company tells us at the outset, I Made You a Mixtape is not a play, not a musical, not (really) a dance show, even… ## [The Jolly Fisherman review – last orders for an east London boozer in tense tale](https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2026/aug/17/the-jolly-fisherman-review-underbelly-george-square-edinburgh) _2026-08-17 · Mark Fisher · Stage | The Guardian_ Underbelly, George Square, Edinburgh A real-life pub closure inspires a sensitive and subtle drama about friendship and community by John Dinneen Two years ago, it was reported that a pub in Barking called The Jolly Fisherman had found a buyer after five years of dereliction. The prospective owner was a Muslim charity, which planned to turn a former business based on alcohol into a place of…