Summerhall, EdinburghGregory Nussen spins Italo Calvino’s surrealist authorial intrusions into a fascinating, playful and political showHow to adapt an unadaptable novel famed for its post…
The Mad King may bring more dynastic disputes and dotty despots to the RSC – but a ‘mayhap’ or a riddling aphorism does not a Shakespeare play makeAs a latecomer to Game of Thrones, I …
With its marching bands, billowing flags and precision drills, the Tattoo has never exactly been cutting edge. But now an experimental theatre-maker has been let loose on it … Dusk has set…
Traverse theatre, EdinburghA grandmother welcomes her family to a birthday bash in a muddled play that addresses its key theme too lateA celebratory family get-together leads to an almighty …
Gilded Balloon TeviotPerformer cleared of death of her roommate in Italy uses new motherhood as framework for her defiant comedy show‘Welcome to the most controversial show on the fringe!�…
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghWith the air of a hungover postmortem, Richardson gives a head-spinning account of an encounter with an older comedianIf you’re partial to a bit of gossip and…
Summerhall, EdinburghJessica Aszkenasy rages and wrestles with daddy issues in a show that combines feminist analysis with outrageous humour and tendernessAfter the 2025 debut of her breast-…
The writer, director and star of Hedwig and the Angry Inch on turning down David Bowie, falling off a Broadway stage, and a cringeworthy moment with Nicole KidmanThe film adaptation of Hedwi…
Traverse theatre, EdinburghWriter-director Eilidh Loan takes inspiration from her grandmother for this portrait of grief and religionEilidh Loan marked her arrival as a playwright with Moorc…
A growing wave of Palestinian performers are using comedy to tell their stories of occupation, exile and warThe war in Gaza is a topic many avoid discussing, let alone joke about. But for Pa…
Summerhall, EdinburghHannah Reilly is a bold and deft performer in a knotty solo show that questions whether sexual empowerment can survive its commodificationIt is hard to ignore the buzz a…
Domestic dramas, bodily fluids, drink, drugs, rudeness and worse … ushers and box office staff have seen it all. So much for the myth of the ‘genteel’ theatregoer‘Theatre still has a…
Pleasance Dome, EdinburghJacob Sparrow’s award-winning two-hander finds hope and humanity amid the prejudice and loss of the 1990sOne of the highlights of the Edinburgh international festi…
She started standup at 17 playing ‘unsafe basements’ and braving revolting hecklers – and even worse headline acts. Now she writes for SNL and is giving Edinburgh a blast of her surrea…
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe fast-talking comic considers fraternity culture, gender discrimination and an unrequited crush in a cleverly engineered showFrom the outset, Olga Koch’s s…
Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonThis prequel to the TV series has one joust after another, spectacular stagecraft and plenty of modern resonanceDuring the RSC’s 65 years, num…
Zoo Playground, EdinburghVeering from confident to crumbling, Verona Verbakel delivers a vivid show mixing humour with traumaWe are all familiar with the cliche of the influencer narrating t…
Assembly Roxy, EdinburghA researcher encounters an isolated community in thrall to a mysterious religious leader in Jack MacGregor’s atmospheric but elusive dramaWhat impresses about Jack …
Monkey Barrel, EdinburghThe SNL UK star’s romantic failures and house-share humiliations make for a fun hour of downbeat yet twinkling comedyA recent star of Saturday Night Live UK, Paddy …
Pleasance Courtyard, EdinburghThe standup is on sparkling form as she mines a lifetime of baffling and alarming experiences for a smart, purposeful and very funny hourSophie Duker is done wi…
Versatile actor whose career spanned The Liver Birds, Doctor Who and an Edward Bond season at the Royal Court theatreThe actor Tom Chadbon, who has died aged 80, was a deft character player,…
Church Hill theatre, EdinburghAt the Edinburgh international festival, Olivier Rannou’s lone cowboy encounters desert dangers in a mix of clowning, mime and visual trickeryThe lone ranger …
Summerhall, EdinburghSohrab Haghverdi takes pleasure at winding up the audience in a subversively funny ‘anti-comedy’ of autobiographical insight and political provocationSohrab Haghverd…
How do you deal with nerves or bad reviews? What if you don’t sell any tickets? For debutants, the list of potential worries is huge. So we paired a few up with veterans to talk past mista…
Traverse theatre, EdinburghMilly Sweeney’s award-winning two-hander about an art student and a kitchen porter draws power from its clever structure and light touchIt is rare to come out of…