All stories by Mark Fisher on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, August 13, 2025

Lucky Tonight! review – Romeo and Juliet story told in the form of a pub quiz by Mark Fisher

Traverse, EdinburghAfreena Islam-Wright invites the audience into her life by interspersing her version of The Chase with tales from her British-Bangladeshi upbringing There is no shortage o…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:06AM
Tuesday, August 12, 2025

Pickled Republic review – a curious cabaret of jarring vegetables by Mark Fisher

Summerhall, EdinburghRuxandra Cantir’s cast of gherkins, onions and carrots is conceptually funny but lacks bite We can agree that a cabaret involving pickled vegetables is conceptually fu…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:48PM
Monday, August 11, 2025

The Burns Project review – Scotland’s national poet in all his glory and contradictions by Mark Fisher

The Georgian House, EdinburghDrawing on private letters and contemporary criticism, Cora Bissett’s imaginative production offers a rounded picture of a complicated man with a colourful lov…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:06PM

The Ode Islands review – a nightmarish head trip unlike anything on the fringe by Mark Fisher

Pleasance at EICC, EdinburghVisual artist Ornagh conjures a psychedelic, mixed-reality vision preoccupied with identity, sexuality and body image What happens when theatre meets film? It is …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:12AM

Trouble, Struggle, Bubble and Squeak review – a champion of eccentric hobbies and people power by Mark Fisher

Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghVictoria Melody’s passion for other people’s passions is in full bloom in a show that finds delight and inspiration in English civil war reenactments Victor…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:48AM
Sunday, August 10, 2025

Windblown review – haunting elegy for a felled 200-year-old natural wonder by Mark Fisher

Queen’s Hall, EdinburghAn exquisite mix of song, poetry and spoken word, Karine Polwart’s show about the Royal Botanic Garden’s iconic palm tree stands tall If you thought there could …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:32AM
Saturday, August 9, 2025

Ordinary Decent Criminal review – Mark Thomas powers through tense prison drama by Mark Fisher

Summerhall, EdinburghThomas jumps adeptly from terrorist to drug lord in writer Ed Edwards’s gripping and subtle one-man show There is an alarming sense of cogs being wound in this prison …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:06PM

Edinburgh fringe with the family: five shows for kids by Mark Fisher

A lively, wriggly tube creature, mesmerising birds for babies and a joyful take on Joyce’s Ulysses will delight young audiences at this year’s festival Assembly Rooms, 10.10am, until 24 …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:32AM

Standing in the Shadows of Giants review – Lucie Barât looks back at spiral during Libertines’ rise by Mark Fisher

Traverse, EdinburghSibling envy, a stumbling acting career and addiction are covered in an indistinctive show by the sister of Carl There are many urgent topics demanding our attention on th…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:03AM

When Billy Met Alasdair review – two Scottish giants happily collide by Mark Fisher

Scottish Storytelling Centre, Edinburgh Alan Bissett embodies both the expansive Big Yin and the detached author of Lanark in a thoughtful, entertaining search for their conn…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:54AM
Friday, August 8, 2025

Lost Lear review – Shakespeare’s king holds court in a care home by Mark Fisher

Traverse, EdinburghIn Dan Colley’s evocative play, a retired actor with dementia loops through scenes from the classic tragedy A play remains a classic for as long as it continues to yield…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:18PM

No Apologies review – what if Kurt Cobain was transgender? by Mark Fisher

Summerhall, EdinburghIn a poetic performance, former teenage grunge obsessive Emma Frankland takes heart from a fantasy about the Nirvana musician There is a fashionable theory among pop rev…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:12AM
Thursday, August 7, 2025

Hamlet: Wakefulness review – fraught and full-throated musical tragedy by Mark Fisher

Summerhall, Edinburgh Polish company’s musical take on Shakespeare’s death-fixated drama is full of feeling, but its story never really sings It begins with lines from Under the Earth I …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:24PM

Someone Like Me review – moving through the unspeakable toll of war in Ukraine by Mark Fisher

Assembly George Square Studios, EdinburghNina Khyzhna performs a collage of poetic dance-theatre that embodies the everyday trauma of life in Kharkiv In Pokémon lore, the distortion world i…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:32AM
Wednesday, August 6, 2025

From chatbot apocalypse to a bespoke romance about the family cat: Edinburgh gets creative with AI by Mark Fisher

A tech twist on Hamlet, a glimpse into a catastrophic future and a uniquely personalised tale of societal breakdown immerse fringe audiences in the haunting uncertainty of artificial intelli…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:48AM
Tuesday, August 5, 2025

Tom at the Farm review – a staggering study of homophobia by Mark Fisher

Pleasance at EICC, EdinburghIn Michel Marc Bouchard’s play, a young man travels to his boyfriend’s rural funeral and finds his family are unaware of their relationship Socially, you know…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:18PM

Rift review – can a liberal and his white supremacist brother ever see eye to eye? by Mark Fisher

Traverse theatre, EdinburghHumanity and understanding permeate Gabriel Jason Dean’s play inspired by a real-life relationship but awkward questions remain unasked Families fell out over Br…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:18PM

She’s Behind You review – Christmas comes early to Edinburgh with panto songs, sweets and subversive spirit by Mark Fisher

Traverse theatre, EdinburghPanto dame Dorothy Blawna-Gale is sharp-tongued and lovable but the hilarity is underpinned by creator Johnny McKnight’s personal story She stands before us in a…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:02AM

Philosophy of the World review – an anarchic ode to ‘the world’s worst band’ by Mark Fisher

Summerhall, EdinburghIn Bed With My Brother’s story of cult band the Shaggs is a furious and funny rallying cry against patriarchy and perfection If fringe favourites Sh!t Theatre had a mi…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:54AM
Monday, August 4, 2025

Motorhome Marilyn review – Michelle Collins’ Monroe lookalike adrift on river of no return by Mark Fisher

Gilded Balloon, EdinburghMaking her fringe debut, the EastEnders star plays a tribute act to the Hollywood legend in this dreary drama Rarely has the cult of celebrity alighted on someone wi…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:32AM

Eat the Rich (But Maybe Not Me Mates X) review – scorching comedy about class privilege by Mark Fisher

Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThis tremendous solo show by Jade Franks uses deep rage and deadpan wit to skewer the ruling class She has glittery nail extensions and her hair scraped back. O…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:03AM
Sunday, August 3, 2025

Aether review – dazzling lecture about a medium, a magician and a mathematician by Mark Fisher

Summerhall, EdinburghEmma Howlett’s play spins several stories – including those of astronomer Vera Rubin and a PhD student – with a light touch There are known knowns, there are known…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:36AM
Saturday, August 2, 2025

Charlottesville review – urgent voices against the alt-right’s extremist ideology by Mark Fisher

Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghIn a confident verbatim show, Priyanka Shetty snaps from voice to voice to create a rich vision of the social fabric torn by the 2017 Unite the Right rally atta…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:32AM

Why I Stuck a Flare Up My Arse for England review – when macho match-day exuberance goes viral by Mark Fisher

Underbelly Bristo Square, EdinburghAlex Hill’s boisterous one-man show teases a trade-off between the belonging and camaraderie of football fandom and personal stability Football is coming…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:24AM
Friday, August 1, 2025

Kanpur: 1857 review – a British imperial atrocity retold down the barrel of a cannon by Mark Fisher

Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh Niall Moorjani plays a storyteller facing public execution for joining an uprising against India’s colonial rulers When it comes to…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06AM

The City for Incurable Women review – riveting history wrings poetry from medical horrors by Mark Fisher

Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghHalf lecture, half nightmare, this high-precision performance blurs the line between medic and patient in a Victorian asylum for mentally ill women In 19th-cent…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:03AM
Thursday, July 31, 2025

Falling: A Disabled Love Story review – clever comedy provokes our prejudice for happy endings by Mark Fisher

Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghAaron Pang’s sweet yet sharp one-man show about the mismatch between his erotic desire and physical capability needles the audience’s need for comfortable r…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06AM
Monday, July 28, 2025

The Wizard of Oz review – fun Munchkin version with a walk-on-water Dorothy by Mark Fisher

Williamson Park, LancasterColourful adaptation with pretty original songs makes the most of a family promenade in the park, as Hope Yolanda’s energetic hero searches for Toto Who needs E…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:02AM
Sunday, July 27, 2025

The Legend of Rooney’s Ring review – mythical Wayne and Coleen bust-up becomes mythically silly panto by Mark Fisher

Royal Court, LiverpoolMotherland writer Helen Serafinowicz transforms a dubious account about the footballer and his then girlfriend into a storybook tale of broad-stroke comedy Sometimes fa…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:54AM

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes review – strange things afoot in gag-laden crime convention caper by Mark Fisher

Grosvenor Park, ChesterThe debonair detective heads north for this breezily daft mystery featuring a missing masterpiece, vicious nuns and a full-bodied rendition of I Will Survive We think …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:36AM
Monday, July 14, 2025

Cheers to The Weir! What makes Conor McPherson’s mysterious pub drama so mesmerising? by Mark Fisher

As Brendan Gleeson prepares for his role in a revival of the 1997 hit, the stars of earlier productions toast its deceptively moving and profound barfly banter Appearances are deceptive. On…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:18AM