Fest 2012 issue 5

!

EE FR

WWW.FESTMAG.CO.UK

MED NICK MOHATM HLETE

OLYMPIC MA

3: COMEDY, THEATRE, MUSIC AND MORE – YOUR DEFINITIVE GUIDE TO THE FESTIVAL ISSUE 5:

pAul imp merTon

Just for comedy

pleAsArov Chum ’s nCe - G s rAnd

eAven AsheredTrBAellloon - 4.30pm

CATrionA Knox 5.40pm

Gild ns sporTsmA

rd lloyd lAnGfo 7.45pm sTudio 2 AssemBly rooms

simo

n

The AmsTel BonG l o Cl uB

noAh TrevorsAnC e - 7.15pm

Just for the Fringe

underBelly - dAisy

4pm

pleA rs upsTAi

Ard lle w .20pm dAnplieeAsAnCem-e 8

8.30p m

o

Ten d

GAl douG sBAelloon 7pm GildedinG room - din

nTi ninA CoCe -

8.30pm

pleAsAn KinG dome

Bren

Just for Edinburgh dylAn mor edinBu An rG plAyhouseh

ple don B KinGAsAnCe urns dom e 10pm

miTmT iChAel ple ermei BAB AsAnCe er

reGinA ld pleA d hunT CABArsAnCe - er eT BAr 9.2 0pm

y Gr And

9.30pm

8pm

Just for Laugh s!

sArAh KendAll pleAsAnCe pleAsAnCe 2 8.30pm

JArr e

Gilde d Chri s dinind BAlloo TmAs G roo n 9.30p m

m

lloyd CAriAeAdsAnCe - 4.45pm pl

MICK PERRIN FOR

all k out Chec ails at et the d rin.com per k c i m

CellAr

arfringe.com 0844 693 3008

gildedballoon.co.uk 0131 622 6552

edinburghplayhouse.org.uk 0844 871 3014

underbelly.co.uk 0844 545 8252

pleasance.co.uk 0131 556 6550

edfringe.com 0131 226 0000

productions Underbelly Productions and Strut & Fret Production House present

HHHH HHHH HHHH

THREE HOURS OF IMMERSIVE LATE-NIGHT REVELRY IN THE UNDERBELLY vaults

‘GLORIOUS’ TIME OUT

‘AUDIENCE GRABBING’

Beatboxing virtuoso and star of Edinburgh hit Tom Tom Crew

TOM THUM

‘BRILLIANT’ EVENING STANDARD

THE TIMES

‘TRAIL BLAZING, HELL-RAISING CABARET’ TIME OUT

BOOM BOOM CLUB

THE

VOCAL

5.15PM 2-27 AUGUST

“Thum is truly phenomenal” The Independent

ORCHESTRA

12.30AM 8-26 AUGUST

“Tom Thum appears to have swallowed an entire orchestra and several backing singers”

CREATED BY SHLOMO

The Guardian

6.45PM 2-27 AUGUST

E TUMBLCIRCUS

UNDERBELLY PRODUCTIONS AND TUMBLE CIRCUS PRESENT

BRIEFS

£83

11.15pm 1 - 27 August

£52

WINNER OF THE CANADIAN SPOKEN WORD OLYMPICS

LATE SHOW

£52

12.15am 3-26 Aug (Thu - Sun)

Full line-ups at underbelly.co.uk/lateshow

ONE MAN LORD OF THE RINGS

ONE MAN STAR WARS

£52

£52 , HEATH FRANKLIN S

CHOPPER A HARD

TALK ROCKER LATE NIGHT LAUGHS HAND-PICKED BY UNDERBELLY

www.briefsboys.com | www.facebook.com/briefsallmalecircuscabaret

SPANK

SUSAN CALMAN

NOW IN ITS 11TH STELLAR YEAR!

£83

All Male ~ All Vaudeville ~ All Trash

3.40pm 2-27 August

£52 THE INTERNATIONAL HIT COMEDY

ER

FRINGE FIRST AWARD WINN KAHLIL ASHANTI IN

8.50pm , 1-19 Aug BASTARD S

BEST POETRY READING

SHAYNE KOYCZAN

The Scotsman

HE HAS AN ABILITY TO TAKE YOU STRAIGHT TO THE HEART....

GUIDE TO

BASIC TRAINING

LIFE (OR HOW TO BE LESS

OF A FUCKTARD)

Guardian

, AUSTRALIA S FUNNIEST

7.30PM 13-27 AUG

COMEDY CHARACTER

HHHHH SUNDAY MAIL

more info: www.laughingstock.com.au

B*tch Boxer

Chapel Street

4pm 2-26 August

2.50pm 2-26 August

YOU CAN’T CHOOSE YOUR FAMILY... BUT YOU CAN CHANGE IT...

HHHHH The Scotsman

6.10PM 1-27 AUG

www.kahlilashanti.com

Glory Dazed

One Hour Only

Strong Arm

5pm 2-26 August

5.20pm 2-26 August

4.10pm 2-26 August

BUY TICKETS ON FACEBOOK UNDERBELLYEDINBURGH

AT BRISTO SQUARE AND COWGATE

Welcome to

Fest

FEST IS YOUR FREE GUIDE TO THE EDINBURGH FESTIVALS Pick us up from venues across Edinburgh PUBLISHER Sam Friedman EDITORIAL

Editor Ben Judge Deputy Editor Charlotte Lytton Comedy Editor Stevie Martin Theatre Editor Caroline Bishop Kids Editor Caroline Black Editorial Consultant Evan Beswick

PRODUCTION

Creative Director Matthew MacLeod Photography Editor Claudine Quinn Office Manager Hannah Putsey Web Editor Anna Feintuck

SALES TEAM

Lara Moloney, George Sully, Tom McCarthy, Michaela Hall CONTACT FEST hello@festmag.co.uk PUBLISHED BY FEST MEDIA LIMITED Registered in Scotland number SC344852

Cover Photo Claudine Quinn, www.lensonlegs.co.uk

REGISTERED ADDRESS 3 Coates Place, Edinburgh, EH3 7AA Every effort has been made to check the accuracy of the information in this magazine, but the publisher cannot accept liability for information which is inaccurate.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without the explicit permission of the publisher. The views and opinions expressed within this publication do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the printer or the publisher. Š Fest Media Limited 2012

4 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012

festcontents

SHAPING the fringe

festival acts to describe what the Fest asks some top Fringe viously.

Ob . ine stic the medium of pla means to them, through

(by Othello the Remix) Pegacorn the Remix e,

s, wine cap, lov , plasticine, whisky top Ingredients: cardboard chopstick. asus. Charlie the corn made love with a peg Description: Once, a uni on a magical n me ny born. She brought ma rapping pegacorn twas Hype, the the by ied pan om Hawk and acc journey. Overseen by the alti s at this tude that unknown heights. It wa crew flew to previously heart. re "ninjas for life." Also, poo the boys realised they we

festcontents 8 FEATURES

8 Nick Mohammed

He's a maths whizz with an A+ in standup and a rip roaring new character comic show.

12 Agony and Ecstacy of Steve Jobs

Grant O'Rourke stages Mike Daisey's controversial monologue about computing giant Apple.

16 Claudia O'Doherty

The new Fringe favourite is ditching comedy with hilarious consequences.

21 COMEDY 26 The Rubberbandits

These hip hop heroes are Ireland's answer to Goldie Lookin' Chain.

27 Paul Foot

It's business at the front, party at the back for everyone's favourite mullet-toting comic.

37 Simon Munnery's La Concepta

Lunchtime goes loony with standup's king of experimental comedy.

38 Bridget Christie

Christie makes an ass of herself in her latest donkey themed show.

43 THEATRE 47 Alan Bisset's The Red Hourglass

Arachnophobes beware - things are going to get hairy in this venture from Alan Bisset.

53 Still Life

Painter's muse Henrietta Moraes is the star of this accomplished one-woman show.

59 Songs of Lear

Polish theatre makers Polska Arts bring their innovative choral take on King Lear to the festival.

60 Metamorphoses

This all female cast bring Ovid's classic to life with startling poignancy.

64 MUSIC

64 Frisky and Mannish

Get ready for a kitsch explosion as the Fringe veterans make their return.

69 The Les Clรถchards

These boho hobos have gone from the mean streets of Corsica to the the Royal Mile.

70 KIDS

70 Kid reviewers festival round-up

Our esteemed kiddie critics tell us the highs and lows of their Edinburgh experience.

73 Horrible Histories

Knowledge gets gnarly in this award winning treat for all the family.

76 LISTINGS

Your essential what's on guide to the world's biggest arts festival.

Advertise in fest www.festmag.co.uk

Contact sales@festmag.co.uk for more information

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 5

perfectday

y a d t c e f r e p e h t

ing that the ing to see or do everyth n at least Face it: you're never go a bit of planning, you ca th wi t Bu er. off to ve festivals ha perfect day e fest team plan your th let ll, sti r tte Be st. see the be Bridget Christie: War Donkey THE ASSEMBLY ROOMS

Snax BUCCLEUCH STREET weeks and You've been at the Festival for two without bacon the thought of starting the day greasy spoon—a makes you feel ill. Head to this road from favourite of locals—just along the Bristo Square.

l In this bold, barmy yet thoughtfu her brew, Christie has really found comic voice.

13:30 0 :3 2 1

10 :0 0

15 :15

e Tony Law: Maximum Nonsens THE STAND doing it Whatever he's trying to do, he's aching. right.You'll leave with your face And that's not hyperbole.

6 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

Mess TRAVERSE a curious An eating disorder may sound like many are there but dy, come for e sourc which are light moments during the piece remarkably self-aware.

www.festmag.co.uk

perfectday Markus Birdman THE STAND

The Grain Store VICTORIA STREET Just off of the Royal Mile, this cosy restaurant offers a mouthwatering selection of meals using the best local produce.

21 :20

22 :4 0

There’s no shying away from ly life’s big questions in this fierce sh personal standup set from Engli comic Markus Birdman.

19 :30

Re-Animator: The Musical ASSEMBLY GEORGE SQ. A slick, professional and spectacularly messy stage adaptation of the cult zombie classic.

17 :0 0

Letter of Last Resort and Good With People TRAVERSE Few productions offer better value for money than this Traverse double-header from two of Scotland's leading playwrights.

www.festmag.co.uk

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 7

+

+

NUMB3R CRUNCH3R

+

Photos: Claudine Quinn

+

Comedian, maths genius and all-round top class le estimator of quantifiab med situations, Nick Moham st. is put to the ultimate te Stevie Martin finds out how he gets on.

Nick Mohammed is more than just a character comedian; his latest show, Mr Swallow 2012, displays some serious mathematical genius. From guessing your age, to solving a rubix cube, to pulling off a Countdown-style number heist with jaw dropping consequences, we just had to put him to the test.

Every year countless punters wonder around Edinburgh not knowing, for example, how many mimes are flyering at any one point, or the quantity of Romeo and Juliet being simultaneously performed in C Venues at 2.30pm. We boiled such numerical musings down, streamlined them into a quickfire mathematical obstacle course, and invited Mohammed to try and complete it. Sure, the answers can’t be verified but who needs cold hard fact when you have estimations from a mathematical genius?

Question one

The number of modern adaptations of classic plays put on by students per Fringe?

“Hmm, I’d probably say around the 178 mark. You have to understand that is a complete guess. It could easily be 179. No, I’m going to stick to my guns (weird phrase isn’t it?!) and settle on 178. There – done.”

Nick’s estimation: 178

8 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

www.festmag.co.uk

Question two

The number of instances per week the average person snaps and behaves violently towards a flyerer?

“Well I suspect the number amplifies as the festival nears the end and so I’ve averaged this out somewhat so that it’s not bias towards either end of the month.”

Nick’s estimation: 20

Question three

The number of times the average person goes to the wrong Assembly

"I genuinely don’t even know how many different Assembly venues there are now. Last time I checked the Fringe Guide it was around the 1,083,103 mark. They’re doing really well."

Nick’s estimation: 6

Question four

The number of shows an average performer sees on his day off "The number promised is inversely proportional to the number physically attended. I’ve tried to avoid the dilemma by not having a day off at all this year. But if I did have a day off, I’d promise to see 4 shows I reckon. All of which clash – keeps everyone on their toes. "

Nick’s estimation: 4 www.festmag.co.uk

Question five

How many litres of condensation/ drippy goo will be inhaled by the average audience member/performer at the Underbelly on Cowgate?

"Yuck!"

Nick’s estimation: 0.75 Litres

But that’s not all. Using his super-sharp maths skills, Mohammed takes things a step further. Using these answers to make up the sum total of Fringe shows on this year: 2,695. Can he do it?

Nick gets it ALMOST spot-on. Consider the Fringe well and truly calculated.

Pleasance Courtyard, 6:00pm – 7:00pm, 1–26 Aug, £6.00 – £12.00

10 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

www.festmag.co.uk

www.festmag.co.uk

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 11

A BITE OUT OF THE

APPLE

Shortlisted for the Amnesty International Freedom of Expression Award, The Agony & Ecstasy of Steve Jobs tells an uncomfortable truth about our favourite computing brands, writes Caroline Bishop.

A

CTOR GRANT O’Rourke isn’t a devotee of electronics giant Apple. “I had an iPod about five years after everyone else. I don’t have any [other] Apple products, I just can’t afford them.” Later, he adds: “I bought my first phone in 14 years just last year.” It was a Blackberry.

He’s a rare breed. These days most of us upgrade our phone once a year at least. Thousands queue outside Apple stores to buy the latest product the day it’s released. According to a March 2012 report

by CNBC, half of American households own at least one Apple product: that’s a staggering 55 million homes.

Mike Daisey was one of the obsessed: a tech geek who worshipped at the altar of Apple, until the American actor and writer took a trip to the Foxconn factory in Shenzhen, China, where Apple and many other major electronic brands make their products. His resultant monologue, The Agony & Ecstasy of Steve Jobs—which premiered in the US in 2010—told of fre-

quent suicides, punishing working hours and cramped dorms in the estimated 430,000-worker factory.

After performing it himself to much acclaim and no small amount of controversy, Daisey has now made his play available for anyone to stage. This production at the Gilded Balloon was initially adapted

by Andy Arnold, Artistic Director of Glasgow’s Tron theatre, for O’Rourke and director Marcus Roche, who further cut the original two-hour monologue to fit an hour-long festival slot. It’s shaped around a dual premise, says O’Rourke: “It’s a guy who has a crisis of faith, almost, about these products that he loves and all the things that he does as a result, like going to China, and then…about [late Apple boss] Steve Jobs being a genius of design and vision. Those were the two contrasting angles we wanted to play.”

It’s a hard-hitting hour, and an “uncomfortable truth,” says O’Rourke, for anyone who owns an Apple product – or indeed, any other brand manufactured by

12 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

Foxconn: “The play isn’t about Steve Jobs being responsible for all this stuff happening,” says O’Rourke. “It’s the entire industry.

Almost all the electronics are being made in one city, and it’s because of the pressure from the markets, our desire to have these new products all the time, as well as these margins they have to push.”

But Daisey’s claims about Foxconn’s working conditions came under fire when, following a retracted broadcast of the monologue on US radio show This American Life, it emerged that some of what Daisey said he experienced first-hand in Shenzhen were actually stories borrowed from others. The subsequent media storm led New York’s Public Theater, where the show was then playing, to issue a statement reading: “Mike is an artist, not a journalist. Nevertheless, we wish he had been more precise with us and our audiences about what was and wasn’t his personal experience in the piece.”

Daisey admitted this blurred line between reportage and theatre, and u

www.festmag.co.uk

www.festmag.co.uk

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 13

festfeature “The play isn’t about Steve Jobs being responsible for all this stuff happening... it’s the entire industry." t excised the material in question, while his claims about Foxconn have since been corroborated by news outlets including The Guardian and The New York Times.

“At the end of the day all the things that are in our production are true, they have happened,” says O’Rourke. “If you research the subject of Foxconn, there are some awful, harrowing reports that we found. A lot of cynical people have just researched the play and it’s led them down this alley way of all this controversy that surrounded it in America. But nobody’s actually researched the subject itself.

What’s incredibly vindicating for the play is if Amnesty have noticed that this is a story worth telling.”

Though they stress they’re no activists and were “hired for the job,” it’s clear the play has become important to O’Rourke and Roche. “It’s very rewarding to be able to do something where it does actually make a difference to some people,” says O’Rourke. “If everyone came to see it and just went ‘well that’s a bunch of bollocks and I’m not going to do anything,’ I’d be disappointed.”

A handout distributed at the end of the show details some of the ways you can act on what you’ve heard – by emailing Apple, for example, or not upgrading your phone every year. “It’s a call for people not just to accept everything,” says Roche.

“It sows the seeds. If you know your computer is handmade then you start to question what else is handmade.”

Strangely though, both say working on the play has given them a “massive respect” for Jobs, for his vision and genius.

“He cared so passionately about design,” says O’Rourke. “He created these incredible products but he blinded himself to the fact that the way in which a thing is made is part of the design itself.” f

14 fest edinburgh festival guide

THE AMNESTY NOMINEES Five other productions have made the Freedom of Expression Award shortlist.

All That Is Wrong Performing in near-silence, 18 year-old Koba Ryckewaert creates a mind-map on the floor, writing words in chalk on a blackboard which is gradually enlarged to contain the complexities of the teenager’s personal and social anxieties. Whether those concern familial relationships, physical insecurities or fears on a more global scale, this unusual production shows the teenage mind to be crammed with worries, large and small.

Theatre Uncut Theatre Uncut returns—and makes its Edinburgh debut—with a second series of short plays by wellknown writers, this time with a global perspective. The Eurozone crisis, the Occupy movement and the state of global capitalism are addressed by international writers including Neil LaBute, David Greig, Anders Lustgarten, Mohammad Al Attar and Lena Kitsopoulou.

The Two Worlds of Charlie F Devised by Masterclass, an educational initiative of London’s Theatre Royal Haymarket, this production was borne out of a desire to help rehabilitate and inspire injured soldiers returning from Afghanistan. Derived from interviews conducted with service personnel, and starring wounded soldiers themselves, Charlie F addresses, in unambiguous terms, both the physical and mental fallout suffered by men and women returning from war.

Why Do You Stand There in the Rain?

Peter Arnott’s new play tells the story of the Bonus Army, a group of US WWI veterans who marched on Washington during the Great Depression to demand work and the payment of promised bonuses. They remained for three months, until they were forcefully, violently removed. The young student cast illuminates this powerful story exploring the consequences of financial crisis on individuals and the strength it takes to affect political change.

Mies Julie Mies Julie is director Yael Farber’s reimagining of Strindberg’s Miss Julie, set in a contemporary South Africa where violence and injustice remain 20 years after the end of apartheid. Fully making Strindberg’s work her own, Farber has created a powerful, intensely sexual production simmering with erotic tension. Deeply affecting, and at times brutal, Farber’s production ingeniously makes a classic play pertinent for our times.

www.festmag.co.uk

COMEDY NEEDS A NEW ICON. Discover Southampton Solent University’s Comedy and Performance Degree www.solent.ac.uk/comedy E: fcis.registry@solent.ac.uk Tel: +44 (0)23 8031 9536

CLAUDIA O’DOHERTY AFTER THE LAUGHTER Photos: Claudine Quinn

Aussie standup Claudia O'Doherty is leaving comedy behind; she's decided to get into Serious Theatre. Only her new show, The Telescope, keeps going horribly wrong. Lyle Brennan investigates.

S

HE’S HAD a good run: two successful Fringes, a clutch of awards and respect from peers and punters alike. But as it turns out, Claudia O’Doherty has hated every moment of it, and this year she’s throwing in the towel. She’s almost out of contract with the ruthless commercial comedy agency that’s held her hostage for three years, and now the time is ripe for change.

Welcome to her audacious first step into what she portentously terms “Difficult Theatre.”

Its name is The Telescope. It is black and white and red. It is serious. There is blood.

“No more jokes,” goes the tagline. So why does everyone keep laughing?

Well, last night, The Telescope went calamitously, risibly wrong. A technical meltdown saw this most ambitious of productions reduced to snatches of pre-recorded dialogue and malfunctioning props as the artist was eaten alive by her own creation. O’Doherty flapped and winced, the audience cackled back.

The thing is, precisely this sort of disaster has struck the show with alarming regularity. Every night, in fact – it’s almost as if it were deliberate…

Today O’Doherty has come to the Traverse, Edinburgh’s home of challenging new drama, to talk about dipping her toe into these unknown waters.

“I think I’m still getting across the spirit of the work,” she insists. “The integrity of the work stays intact.” But, she concedes: “There’s been a lot of technical blunders – every single night.”

The Telescope tells a story of suicide and secrets, of murder and monks, a cursed spyglass and star-crossed soulmates doomed to live centuries apart. At least, it might do – if only O’Doherty could stop it falling to pieces. Just how did an entertainer come up with such a grand, nightmarish vision?

“Well… I had to register a title,” she says.

“I felt like The Telescope could come across as a serious theatre show title. And then I had to think of the show.

“I was like: ‘Well, I know there’s going to be a telescope in it. And I think I’d like to be a New York City cop for a bit and I’d like to do karate kicks. But I’d also like to be a convict washerwoman, so how can I do that?’

Well, if this telescope can communicate through time, all that stuff is achievable!”

Word has got out about the spectacle of half-baked incompetence; among those

16 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

queuing stood examples of the world O’Doherty claims to be sidestepping, and that which she aspires to conquer.

First was Mock the Week host Dara Ó Briain, an upper-echelon standup whose star status found him trying to keep a low profile under a black baseball cap. No such luck. A few feet behind him, barely noticed, was a fellow comic and friend of O’Doherty’s, the venerable Daniel Kitson.

He’s one of that rare breed who has made the leap from standup to sincere drama

www.festmag.co.uk

"I was 14 and I had to do a monologue about getting an abortion. I could not have been more ill-equipped to do something like that."

and come out smelling of roses, now reigning in the venue where his friend sits today.

Faced with a choice between Ó Briain’s over-exposure and Kitson’s indie acclaim, it would be easy to see why O’Doherty might try for a slice of the Difficult Theatre action.

That is, of course, if she had any real intention of doing so. For it’s no secret that The Telescope is not a sincere venture into dramatic territory, but O’Doherty’s

www.festmag.co.uk

latest attempt yet at what she calls “high-concept stupidity.” Like her previous adventures, Monster of the Deep 3D and What is Soil Erosion?, the idea is to begin with an outlandish or obscure premise, then veer sharply off course.

At its heart is her inability to keep a straight face in the presence of earnest performance. It is inspired partly by friends in the Difficult Theatre business, partly by the acting classes she suffered as a teenager.

“I had to do a monologue from Sweet Bird of Youth,” she recalls, “and I’m not saying Tennessee Williams is bad at all—he’s very good—but I was 14 and I had to do a monologue about getting an abortion. I could not have been more ill-equipped to do something like that.

“I got quite a talking to from my teacher.

He was like: ‘You have to do it. You have to do it properly.’”

Now free of adolescent self-consciousness, she’s still not able to take these things seriously. Not that she’s out to attack anyone – she respects both the serious drama she bungles and the mainstream comedy of her show’s “standup

factory” backstory. As ever, the only butt of the joke is her.

Incredibly, the set-up for The Telescope is based very much on a real-life Fringe nightmare. Last year’s What is Soil Erosion? hinged precariously on some 85 technical cues, and so when a stand-in tech turned up to cover for the usual guy, the gremlins readied to pounce.

“During the finale the tech just stopped the video,” she says. “It was the sound and the vision for the entire finale and so everybody thought it was a joke. And he just turned the lights on and was like: ‘I can’t get it going again’.

“It was incredibly awkward because I just had to say that that was the end of the show. And people still thought: ‘Oh, we get it. This is just a really intense joke.’ And I was like: ‘Nope. Not a joke… OK, so… that’s it. You have to go now… sorry.’”

And so here she is, having taken that horror and made it her own. She derives great comedy from bad theatre. She trips up like a consummate pro. f Underbelly, Cowgate, 7:45pm – 8:45pm, 19–26 Aug, £9.00 – £10.00

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 17

THE STAND COMEDY CLUB

0131 558 7272 | thestand.co.uk

THE ASSEMBLY ROOMS

54 George Street 0844 693 3008 www.arfringe.com

CtheFestival Bonnie Davies

I’m High On Life: What Are You On? 1 – 27 Aug 9.45pm C eca

C presents... & Showdown Productions

News Smash

C theatre

Shakespeare for Breakfast 1 – 27 Aug 10.00am C

Showdown Productions

CW Productions & C theatre

Giddy Goat

1 – 27 Aug 5.30pm C

1 – 27 Aug 12.15pm C

Kipper Tie Theatre & C theatre

Light in the Dark Storytellers

19 – 27 Aug 2.00pm C nova

Xavier Toby: Binge Thinking

The Ugly Duckling

2 – 27 Aug 6.00pm C nova

1 – 27 Aug 10.00am C

C theatre

C theatre

Dead Posh Productions

1 – 27 Aug 1.15pm C

1 – 27 Aug 11.15am C

2 – 27 Aug 3.20pm C aquila

2 – 27 Aug 10.00pm C nova

This Is Soap

Hansel and Gretel

C theatre

The Madness of King Lear

Still Life (also known as Brief Encounter)

Forgotten Heroes

Lewis Barlow

Return of the Close Up Magician 19 – 27 Aug 8.00pm C nova

With more than 210 shows and events across our venues in the heart of Edinburgh, we celebrate our 21st year with a huge programme of theatre, musicals, and international work at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. See it all with C venues.

HHHHH

Studied, controlled and absolutely sublime surrealism Page 27 Photo: Claudine Quinn

www.festmag.co.uk

festcomedy

PAUL FOOT

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 21

festcomedy Sean Hughes: Life Becomes Noises

HHHHH

The veteran comic returns to the Fringe with two shows this year. Sean Hughes Stands Up, as its title suggests, is what we’ve come to expect from him in recent times, a relatively conventional set tackling the usual staples of comedy. Life Becomes Noises, by contrast, is a thematically unified and theatrically staged work which frequently delves into disconcertingly personal territory. Though basing shows around paternal bereavement is something of a trend at present, no one else has had the nerve to deal with the subject in such frank and unsentimental terms.

Concerned that we take death too seriously, Hughes gallops on stage dressed as a jockey. He comments on our lacklustre reaction to what we discover is a dream sequence and insists that we play along with more enthusiasm. He goes on to interact with glove puppets, chat conversationally

Late Night Gimp Fight

HHHHH

Opening a show by projecting your worst reviews onto a large screen might seem a brave business. In reality, it’s a risk-free but rather clever way of hauling an audience onside from the start – a shortcut to blitz the dull arbiters of taste who would insist that the smut the audience are giggling uncontrollably at isn’t, in fact, funny. It’s not the only smart choice this foursome make: in an hour which is all about fun rather than close-to-the-bone comedy, this collection of sketches doesn’t really demonstrate the claimed commitment to the “depraved” so much as to bawdy toilet humour. It’s all the excitement of feeling part of a

with his sound technician and have the front row create a distraction during a costume change. As these self-aware antics recur throughout the hour, one is reminded of Sean’s Show, his third-wall breaking meta-sitcom from the early 90s. Where once these were whimsical moments of anarchic innocence, they now seem like a form of desperate escapism and contrast starkly with the man’s newly acquired age, wisdom and experience.

What makes Life Becomes Noises so affecting is that darkness seeps into it despite Hughes’ best intentions. For every jocular recollection of his father’s confused answer phone etiquette is a candid memory that the performer acknowledges will haunt him for the rest of his life. Certainly, an audience member could make the same claim about this innovative and hugely accomplished show. [Lewis Porteous] Pleasance Courtyard, 5:30pm – 6:30pm, 19–27 Aug, £13.00 – £14.00

subversive comedy movement, without actually needing to leave feeling “dirty and used” – a fact of which I am extremely thankful. One does, however, leave feeling pretty drained on account of laughing for the large part of an hour – again, a positive in my book.

What Late Night Gimp Fight serves up here is a pacy, slick and largely original whirlwind of sketches. Crediting their audience with some degree of intelligence (another smart move), the group are freed from the need to spell out setups or punchlines. The result is a set which errs on the side of grabbing the laughs and sprinting on, rather than on the side of indulgence. Indeed, those few longer sketches—presumably added to vary the pace—feel laboured by comparison, say, to

22 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

a 10 second visual joke about the Kamikaze Pilots Reunion 2012. Much more exciting variation is provided by mixing punchlines so obvious you can see them lumbering for miles with ones that creep up and

crack you in the side of the head. Smart choices; big laughs.

[Evan Beswick] Pleasance Courtyard, 10:00pm – 11:00pm, 18–27 Aug, £12.50 – £14.00

THE ASSEMBLY ROOMS

54 George Street 0844 693 3008 www.arfringe.com

festcomedy

Oyster Eyes: Some Rice

HHHHH

Hedgehogs off to Oyster Eyes for deciding on a style, and furiously committing to it. No, that wasn’t a typo, but a nonsequitur. Something the foursome have latched onto and are, quite frankly, proceeding to pound their audience over the head with.

This is loud, fast, energetically performed and very silly stuff. Saying it’s too silly would

Deborah Frances White: The Cult Following

HHHHH

By this point into the Fringe you will have lost count of how many times you have been assailed by flyerers, but is it more or less tiresome than being bothered by Jehovah’s Witnesses? It apparently takes 5000 hours for this religious group to convert someone (making one wonder what the ratio stats are for flyers to audience members), one of the many intriguing facts you will learn from Deborah Frances-White.

Given that we have all been door-stepped by the members of the Watch Tower

be like pointing out Richard Herring shouldn’t talk so much about cocks; they’ve made their choice, and that’s that. If you like it, you like it. If it’s not your thing, then prepare for a painful hour.

Out-of-context gags have been kind to Fringe shows over the years but it’s another thing altogether when every line is left-field and every phrase is a self contained joke. There’s nothing to latch on to and it doesn’t help that, while there are some

nice concepts there’s also far too much reliance on cheap laughs. As in, people shitting themselves, wearing wigs and then shitting themselves again. A Chicago spoof is refreshing (finally something we can recognise as normal) and particularly well-executed, before descending into unnecessary cheapness once more. The lowpoint comes early—a skit on polygamy where volume and looking weird are substitutes for humour—and it’s difficult to get back in

once you’ve been lost. Also, putting a man in a dress and having him stare and shout non-sequiturs is about as lazy as comedy gets.

However, a good three quarters of the foursome give good performances and much of the audience had a bloody riot. Why not take a gamble and see which side you fall on? [Stevie Martin]

Bible and Tract Society, it is as, Frances-White points out, surprising how little we know about these doom-mongering vegans, as she portrays them, with their very specific concept of heaven. FrancesWhite herself speaks from considerable experience.

Vulnerable and lonely in her childhood she was ripe for recruitment into a cult, but she soon started having her doubts, especially after she was persuaded against going to university. The story of how she finally dropped out is one of two anecdotes told as monologue flashbacks interspersed with her more free-form, and occasionally interactive, delve into the Jehovah’s Witness psyche.

It’s a study that remembers to see the lighter side and there is much deliberation the religion’s apparent reverence of fruit. Smart, funny and interesting, Frances-White’s problem is that she has too much to say, trying to get a

two-for-one out of the monologue conceit and elsewhere telling her story in too much of a scrapbook form. [Julian Hall]

24 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

Underbelly, Cowgate, 10:25pm – 11:25pm, 19–26 Aug, £9.00 – £10.00

Assembly Roxy, 4:15pm – 5:15pm, 19–27 Aug, £10.00 – £11.00

BY SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT WITH LISA WHITE AT GLORIOUS MANAGEMENT ARE PROUD TO PRESENT

“You’re in the presence of a potential megastar” THE GUARDIAN

“One of the funniest shows you’ll see all year, anywhere” THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

“A wonderfully crazy funny hour” THE SCOTSMAN

ED EXT RA SHO WS ADD 7.50 AUG 21 @ 5.10PM & AUG 23 @

DIRECTED BY MATT PEOVER

PM

www.gloriousmanagement.com www.nickhelm.co.uk

www.boundandgaggedcomedy.com

BoundAndGaggedComedy

@BandGComedy

festcomedy The Rubberbandits

HHHHH

The Rubberbandits are already hip hop heroes in their homeland thanks to a winning combination of their Limerick twang and the ability to drop references to Dr Dre and hurling in the same breath. The easiest point of reference would be Goldie Lookin’ Chain, South Wales’s answer to the Wu-Tang Clan. But this would do the ‘Bandits little justice – and you wouldn’t dare say it to their faces.

Mr Chrome and Blindboy Boat Club are a fearsome pair – hubcap-stealing, glue-huffing scumbags wearing balaclavas fashioned from plastic bags.

Behind them on the decks, in a moustachioed rubber mask, is DJ Willie O’Dea-J; it seems Ireland’s former Minister for Defence has found his true calling and is even more of a reprobate than his bandmates. Attention drifts to the sight of Willie slowly, mutely losing his mind on a deadly mix of Class-As.

Tonight it’s standing room only, a wise move that fosters a suitably riotous atmosphere.

Beefed up with big beats and slick visuals, the songs are tightly written – pleasingly juvenile but shot through with daft satire and character, and never a forced rhyme.

‘Spastic Hawk’ and ‘Black

Man’, as the titles suggest, dice with shockingly bad taste, while ‘Up the RA’ is a hopelessly misinformed lesson in Irish history. But it’s ‘Spoiling Ivan’ that proves the highlight, a touching story of what happens when a bag-faced lunatic falls for a six year-old boy. It’s a delicate

balance of platonic innocence and implied menace that, crucially, never ventures into the truly wrong, and shows the Rubberbandits at their finest. [Lyle Brennan]

has unwittingly become an alien host, but dashing Oscar Rocketteer (think Rick Mayall’s Lord Flashheart in Blackadder) is too cocky to notice, leaving his brother Derek, a farmer, with the task of saving the world.

The Beta Males quartet— John Henry Falle, Richard Soames, Jon Gracey and Guy

Kelly—throw themselves into the performance; all possess more than enough wit, charm and exuberance to ensure that the energy levels rarely dip below full-throttle.

There are one too many routines—particularly a lengthy segment about animals in space—that feel tangential and just not quite

funny enough, but overall there are sufficient laughs, high jinks and general whimsy to keep the audience engaged throughout. It’s space Jim, but not as we know it. [Peter Geoghegan]

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 10:30pm – 11:30pm, 19–26 Aug, not 20, 21, 22, 23, £14

The Beta Males in...

The Space Race

HHHHH

It’s May 1969 and all is not quite right in the village of Lower Birchley. Beneath the bucolic façade, scientists in a secret bunker are working furiously on a plan to send a man to the Moon. But when a test flight goes awry, crash landing in nearby Upper Birchley, Britain’s hopes of winning the space race – and, indeed, the future of mankind – are left hanging in the balance.

One part James Bond, one part Space Odyssey and ten parts Plan 9 From Outer Space, The Beta Males In…The Space Race is a wonderfully goodnatured take on the classic B-movie romp. As a result of his accident, test flight pilot Professor Brian Brilliance

26 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

Pleasance Courtyard, 5:45pm – 6:45pm, 19–27 Aug, £10.00 – £11.00

www.festmag.co.uk

festcomedy Paul Foot: Kenny Larch is Dead

HHHHH

For many years a fixture on the comedy circuit, Paul Foot has endured something of a marginalized presence.

Standing by his surrealism in the days before the success of Stewart Lee expanded the market for alternative comedy in the UK and provided the antidote to Michael McIntyrestyle easily digestible observational humour.

Indeed, because Foot’s particular approach to standup stands resolutely in the world of the surreal, he has often been dismissed as alienating. But this year’s offering, Kenny Larch is Dead, is a consistently brilliant and truly accomplished example of his finely-honed skill, not to mention a joyously refreshing departure from the TV-ready comedy that Edinburgh audiences are drowning in this year.

In typically esoteric fashion, Foot offers up musings on topics as wildly diverse as a cheddar collection and lesbian salmon via an inspired imagining of actress Sue Johnston bouncing around on a trampoline. But this table of contents doesn’t do justice to the mastery at work here; Foot’s delivery and mannerisms are sometimes wild, sometimes more subtle, but always expertly controlled and utterly hilarious.

Indeed, the great skill of Paul Foot is that, whether he is fumbling to open a bag to find a note confirming his absurd punch lines or screaming ferociously in the face of an audience member, there’s a sense of subtly constructed synchronicity, finding laughter in every inch of the material.

There are not-so-subtle suggestions in Kenny Larch is Dead that Foot is well aware of his reputation for inhabit-

www.festmag.co.uk

ing the most extreme alternative end of the spectrum. At one point he wryly proclaims: “I know how to play the game” and proceeds to placate his supposedly disappointed managers with a segment on supermarket anagrams.

Of course, with the Paul Foot treatment it’s a showstopper, but it’s also a slap in the face

for those who might argue that taking the less-travelled route in looking for a laugh is in some way inferior.

The finale sees him comfortably push the boundaries of the form further, abandoning whole sentences altogether and merely saying individual words. Foot’s control of intonation and cadence

is masterful, the tone and pitch of his voice providing the laughs. There is nothing random about Foot’s surrealism; it is studied and controlled. It is, frankly, sublime. [Gemma Flynn] Underbelly, Cowgate, 7:30pm – 8:30pm, 19–26 Aug, £10.50 – £12.00

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 27

festcomedy Rick Shapiro: Rebirth Jarred Christmas: Let’s Go MoFo HHHHH It’s clear from the moment Rick Shapiro shuffles onto the stage that he shouldn’t be here. A recent coronary condition has left him weak and shaky, while he’s still suffering from amnesia caused by a car accident four years ago.

He’s barely able to get through two consecutive lines for the first five minutes of the show, never mind deliver a fully-formed joke. Stuttering non sequiturs give way to baffling rants and pointless misanthropy, punctuated by apologetic mutterings about his health. “Stay with me,” he pleads. “I had a heart attack and I’m on more drugs now than when I did drugs”.

In many ways it’s comedy at its most tragic, yet as the show progresses he gains in confidence and delivers sparks of inspiration – even if he’s incapable of following them up.

Shapiro would no doubt loathe the description, but it’s a performance of tremendous bravery which, between the numerous references to oral sex, often sees him bare his soul.

His description of leaning against the shower wall “like a broken down Spiderman” while a nurse washes him is just one of the poignant moments which unexpectedly crop up.

Ultimately, in a world where standup is constantly accused of bland homogenisation, Shapiro is still a true original fighting against the system (and his own doctor).

“I used to be afraid of nothing,” he confides when contemplating his own death.

“Now I’m afraid of nothingness”.

Here’s hoping this newfound respect for life will see him take a much-needed extended holiday and return angrier and better than ever next year.

[David Hepburn] Assembly George Sq, 6:10pm – 7:10pm, 22, 24 & 25 Aug, £13 – £14

HHHHH

If there’s one thing Jarred Christmas loves more than comedy, it’s dance. So deep runs this love, in fact, that his new show fuses his standup routine with random bursts of the stuff, with some pretty serious shapes being thrown in between anecdotes about World War II and fatherhood.

His set may not be wildly outlandish, but it does have the occasional element of surprise, and this is not to be underestimated.

Christmas covers reasonably safe ground: his “sexy” Kiwi accent, life with two young children and the early days of courtship between his grandparents. This isn’t earth shatteringly new territory, but for the most part it works, particularly the material centring on his own familial life. Revealing his criteria for the perfect mate (“someone who eats cheeseburgers and can protect me in a fight”) and a distaste for waxed men, Christmas is engaging in his vitriol. Where things slow down, though, are during the repeated anecdotes about WWII, which interrupt

Elis James: Speaking as a Mother

HHHHH

Elis James struggles with rough audiences. The critical reception of his 2011 show Do You Remember the First Time was somewhat marred by a gang of 25 Glasgow Rangers fans on a stag do– one of the perils of inviting the entire Fringe press-pack on the same night. Unfortunately there are a couple of tricky customers in tonight, a gaggle of drunk women who chatter throughout, heckle (albeit politely) and generally put James off his stride.

28 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

an otherwise linear narrative.

The links made between present and past feel tenuous at times, and this hinders the pace of what is otherwise an incredibly energetic set.

A gag (literally) about accidentally fellating an Irish setter as a teen soon sees the laughs rolling back in, and the finale is undeniably amongst the greatest to ever grace the

Fringe (just make sure you’re sitting in the front two rows).

Christmas is well on par with a number of his comic contemporaries, and a few more years on the circuit should see him receiving the acclaim he deserves. [Charlotte Lytton]

James perhaps struggles with assertiveness, a characteristic that manifests itself in his stories about being mugged by boys on bikes, and sexually harassed by teenage girls. But this put-upon quality is key to his charm: the Welsh valley-boy, seemingly out of his depth in the big bad world.

Speaking As A Mother is his collection of stories borne of life as a fish out of water.

It should be pointed out that James is a naturally funny comedian. His gentle Welsh lilt—like that once adopted by Mark Watson in years gone by—imbues each sentence with a joyous charm that can’t help but be infectious. His

whole demeanour conveys a boyish innocence, and it can’t pass unnoticed that one or two older ladies in the audience look protectively upon him with a motherly affection.

Unfortunately, though, this is a by-product of there being no edge to the show. Nothing in his material is particularly new or fresh, nothing particularly dangerous or exciting.

For a comedian consistently lauded as an exciting up-andcomer, this is disappointingly middle-of-the-road stuff. [Ben Judge]

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 9:30pm – 10:30pm, 19–26 Aug, £10.50 – £11.50

Pleasance Courtyard, 7:00pm – 8:00pm, 19–27 Aug, £10.00 – £12.00

www.festmag.co.uk

THE ASSEMBLY ROOMS

54 George Street 0844 693 3008 www.arfringe.com

Beatboxing virtuoso and star of Edinburgh hit Tom Tom Crew Underbelly Productions and Strut & Fret Production House present

Frontman of Australia’s TOM TOM CREW and beatbox addict Tom Thum returns to Edinburgh for his highly anticipated solo debut.

“Thum is truly phenomenal” “True larynx magic” THE INDEPENDENT

EVENING STANDARD

“Tom Thum appears to have swallowed an entire orchestra and several backing singers” THE GUARDIAN

– WINNER –

UNDERBELLY AWARD ADELAIDE FRINGE 2012

6.45PM (7.45PM)

2-27 AUGUST 2012 (not 8, 13 or 20)

30 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

www.festmag.co.uk

festcomedy Alfie Brown: Soul For Sale

HHHHH

Since his death in 1994, comedy has been haunted by Bill Hicks. As his image loomed larger in popular culture, countless other comedians who fuel their jokes with articulate rage have risked being unfairly branded ‘Hicks-lite.’

Alfie Brown has broken that cycle; he completely owns his anger, forges a distinct philosophy, and succeeds in making his roaring, profane, crusading humour feel entirely unique and very funny.

Take a random sampling of Fringe standups this year, and you’ll find more than a few peddling familiar, storebought ire at easy targets like celebrity culture and the Tory government. But a very necessary element of this comedy of rage is to identify those sacred cows which need a dose of verbal napalm, but which seem to be a blind spot for everyone else. Luckily, this is second nature to Brown, as demonstrated by an opening which destroys the cult of Adele, before moving on to other deserving targets.

respect for Michael McIntyre as a human being will find it obliterated by Brown’s merciless impression of his grinning vapidity. At one point, Brown relates the story of an industry scumbag giving him the following unsolicited advice:

“Be funny, not clever. No one cares that you’re clever.” We can all be grateful that Brown is, in fact, both. [Sean Bell]

Seann Walsh is like a sexy fan-fiction spin-off of Michael McIntyre. He refracts similar mannerisms and material through an attractive figure of a shaggy-haired Brighton blonde. The telly regular’s fame has even been bolstered by his viral impression of McIntyre and can only grow.

Like his contemporary, Walsh bounds back and forth across the stage throughout Seann To Be Wild as if completing an observational comedy bleep test, at each end hitting typical topics in impressively original ways. A vajazzle jibe,

despite drawing applause, is unrepeatable for its overhashed subject matter.

The challenge of rendering tired material interesting seems the source of Walsh’s energy.

When the show’s underlying theme of his own binge drinking hijinks kicks in, it also lags. A taxonomy of vomits and drunken dances doesn’t build to the same comic crescendo as a more generic evening out in a restaurant does.

Yet his delivery remains wonderfully spontaneous; a bombast undercut by vulnerability that means whenever anyone pops out for a piss he pursues them like a needy child.

Walsh is also a physical comedian, mastering the ‘show

don’t tell’ school of narrative in ways that show the audience themselves up. Impressions of subconscious reactions to smoke alarms, snooze buttons, and bus seating arrangements are so unsettlingly familiar you may fear for your own individuality.

But Walsh becomes swaggeringly sure of his targets as the show continues. When a final Jägerbomb gag is more brash than accurate he doesn’t appear to notice. Those enamoured by his stadium charm may not too. [Catherine Sylvain]

www.festmag.co.uk

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 31

Seann Walsh: Seann To Be Wild

HHHHH

What makes Brown special is the fact he trades in ideas as well as anger. He cares deeply about the artistic possibilities of comedy, which is why he’s so disgusted by the “cartoon nightmare” it’s become anyone with any lingering

Underbelly, Cowgate, 6:25pm – 7:25pm, 19–26 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

Pleasance Courtyard, 7:50pm – 8:50pm, 19–26 Aug, not 23, £11.00 – £12.00

festcomedy Seymour Mace: Squeg

HHHHH

Basing half an hour of your show on topics the audience suggests means that, obviously, some days work better than others. Unfortunately this particular day, while a perfectly genial way to spend half an hour, didn’t exactly blow the roof off Stand 2. Combining whimsical tangents, homemade fans and cartoons drawn by Mace himself (a definite highlight) the material he has prepared is odd but pleasant, delivered in an unintimidating, funny-guydown-the-pub style.

The suggestions from the audience are patchy, however, with Mace mining strong stuff from a couple of people, while struggling with the others; it’s rarely a good sign when a comic has to resort to telling people to fuck off for laughs. It’s also rarely particularly funny. However, he’s a likeable guy with some seriously amusing doodles of bizarre contexts and strange scenarios; it’s a shame the audience participation section drags so much. But that’s the point of the hour as he himself announces at the top- it’s not prepared, it’s not tightly written, it’s just a guy having some fun with people in a room.

By the end, everyone’s chipping in- we learn a new riddle, a woman tells us she’s from Newcastle- and while Mace keeps the conversation fairly interesting, you can’t help feeling you’ve paid for jokes. So where are the jokes? Riffing may be an exciting concept, but when there’s not much to riff from, it just looks lazy. And there are enough quality moments to hint that when this works, it works well. Today, it doesn’t quite work but, thankfully, the weirdly wonderful cartoons and Mace’s charm just about rescue it. [Stevie Martin] The Stand II, 7:00pm – 8:00pm, 19–26 Aug, £8.00

Fred MacAulay

HHHHH

“If there’s anyone here to see that nice man on the radio then strap in,” Fred MacAulay warns the packed house in the Lothian and Borders Police Club (aka Stand 3). Macaulay, who presents a regular show on Radio Scotland and is a stalwart of Radio 4’s News Quiz, needn’t have worried: the, er, mature crowd (“the oldest demographic on the Fringe”) know exactly what to expect, and appear to love every minute of it.

Legally Bald 2 is less a show and more a collection of funny anecdotes about everything from Scottish trains and the Olympics, to getting old, all delivered with a wry smile, effortless comic timing and enough punchlines to keep everyone satisfied. MacAulay’s rapport with his overwhelmingly Scottish audience is excellent, and it’s easy to see why so many hands are raised when he asked who saw last year’s show.

Smiling a bit too often for his bona fide grumpy old git schtick, his tirades against corporate “bland shite” are admittedly well aimed and

Vikki Stone: Hot Mess

HHHHH

Vikki Stone is hardly a hot mess. Sure, she mentions it a couple of times at the top of the show before the rest of the hour becomes an unconnected series of songs on popular culture, bits of standup and a fair few parodies, but there’s nothing messy about her.

She’s got a strong voice, can play the shit out of a piano and her standup is well rehearsed without much of the promised chaos. Coming across as slick and likeable, unfortunately there just aren’t enough jokes.

32 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

the overwhelmingly goodnatured atmosphere (thanks to the adoring audience) also allows him to push the envelope occasionally, such as when he asks for a show of hands on that most divisive of subjects, Scottish independence.

He might not be cutting edge, but Fred MacAulay remains one of the most amiable acts on the Fringe. [Peter Geoghegan]

And the parodies—those of Hilary Devay and an especially long, drawn out Deal or No Deal routine—are more wacky than full-on belly laugh inducing.

Such observations on pop culture are intentionally silly, but go no further than cartoonish, rather obvious lampooning and the songs themselves do all sound remarkably similar. One that talks of a well endowed lover is probably the strongest, but it’s still far from comedy gold, despite her energetic delivery.

In terms of the show as a whole, well yes it’s a bit of a structural mess – which is how Stone wants it. Putting in

a song about how reviewers hate how vulgar she is (despite there being very little vulgarity in the hour) and complaining about the fact that comics always need to have a structure means she gets away with it – or so she tells us. But, whether this was intentional or not, it just looks like a lazy way of excusing incoherence.

She is certainly talented, but this hour isn’t a worthy showcase of what Vikki Stone is truly capable of. [Stevie Martin]

The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 7:45pm – 8:45pm, 19–26 Aug, not 20, £10.00

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 8:10pm – 9:10pm, 19–26 Aug, £10.00 – £11.00

www.festmag.co.uk

festcomedy Craig Hill: Jock’s Trap

Pretending things are a Cock

It must be pretty galling as a young comedian, risking everything to bust a gut at the largest festival of arts in the world, to see Craig Hill filling big venues night after night after night. Self-professed ringmaster of “the poofiest show” at the Fringe, Hill is blessed with audiences who hang on his every word. And to audiences most comics couldn’t dream of, night after night, he delivers the most complacent hour of standup going.

So, Hill draws confidently and repeatedly from his tried and tested box of tricks.

Ostensibly, this involves asking audience members where they are from, making a derogatory remark about the location, then optionally following this up with a catty remark about the respondent (“I see you came dressed as a cleaner tonight”). It’s all very friendly stuff, and he is an undoubtedly slick performer, whose unparalleled ability to build rapport with an audience is by far his strongest suit. But, at times, even chinks in that red leather armour appear. A man from Australia tells him Perth is “a boring hellhole,” yet Hill ploughs on regardless with his 10 minutes on how chirpy Australians are.

“Sometimes it just comes out of my mooth!” he protests, after deriding a head of un-conditioned hair. He’s not wrong: Hill could do about 50 minutes of tonight’s set on autopilot. But, ultimately none of this matters. Craig Hill has something money can’t buy: enough charisma to fill Bristo Square and beyond.

And, damnit, that sells. [Evan Beswick]

In a long and increasingly amusing introduction, Aussie Jon Bennett demonstrates an intense preoccupation with audience expectations of his show. It’s an entirely reasonable preoccupation: a show about a man travelling the world for three years, taking over 300 photos of various objects protruding from his groin could easily be an hour of unattractive laddishness. It could conform to the boorish stereotype of the hypermacho white, Australian male, stomping the globe on a relentlessly depraved tour of the hospitality industry.

In fact, the younger brother to a fairly rotten-sounding school bully, Bennett couldn’t be less laddish if he tried. As he tells us in a quote dubiously attributed to Plato, “behind every cock is a story.” It’s these stories that are his focus – the cocks serving as metaphorical hooks over which he drapes his narratives. So, for instance, “Machu Picchu cock” thrusts us into a lovely little story about the blossoming of a friendship with a Swedish

HHHHH

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 7:30pm – 8:30pm, 19–27 Aug, not 20, £12.50 – £14.50

HHHHH

Nina Conti: Dolly Mixtures

HHHHH

Nina Conti’s recent BBC Four documentaries used her ventriloquism for some startling and touching self-analysis.

Dolly Mixtures continues in this vein, bringing to life new characters based on people from her past or aspects of her personality.

This means that Monk the monkey, her partner of over a decade, makes only a fleeting appearance. More explicitly playing Conti’s id than ever before, the cheeky chimp proves a natural compere, loosening up the audience with his blunt

34 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

man he met in South America; “door snake cock” provides the seed for a tale about the day he bested his brother.

Part travelogue, part personal adventure, Bennett tells these stories engagingly, swinging nicely between the hilarious and the sublime.

So what about puerile?

It’s a criticism Pretending Things are a C*ck struggles a little more to escape from,

and every so often Bennett permits a peek at the childishness which has largely driven the escapade. But, then again, there’s a fiver here for anyone who doesn’t raise a smile at the majestic “New York City skyline sunset cock.” [Evan Beswick]

jibes. Yet soon he’s back in his bag and it’s time to meet the new cast.

Dolly Mixtures is commendably ambitious. A more versatile and skilled ventriloquist than her years with Monk would suggest, seeing Conti stretch herself is one of the great pleasures of the show. Occasionally riotously funny and imaginative, it is fun meeting the new faces.

That said, some characters are underdeveloped and too much time is spent simply playing with Conti’s new toys.

Indeed, while Monk looks more like a teddy bear than a mannequin, many of the new puppets have an ugly

joke-shop aesthetic that makes them hard to like. Also the psychological themes often have to be explained rather than revealed. Yet much as Conti has always disguised dark humour with a sunny persona, Dolly Mixture’s sombre moments have a way of sneaking up on you.

Dolly Mixtures isn’t a triumph, but fans will love its balance of sweet and bitter moments. Most exciting is the sense that Conti has finally found her own voice. [Jonathan Holmes]

Pleasance Courtyard, 9:45pm – 10:45pm, 19–27 Aug, not 20, £9.00 – £10.00

Pleasance Dome, times vary, 19–27 Aug, not 20, £13.00 – £14.00

www.festmag.co.uk

Star of ITV Mad Mad World & Murray from Flight of the Conchords

WINNER

Fred Award Best Show, 2012 NZ Comedy Festival

8PM www.rhysdarby.com |

www.festmag.co.uk

“He’s just absolutely brilliant.

He’s got that Peter Sellers madness inside him”

1-27 AUGUST

Jim Carrey

AVAILABLE NOW

Except 8, 14 Previews 1, 2, 3

0131 556 6550 | www.pleasance.co.uk

@rhysiedarby |

rhysdarby

www.boundandgaggedcomedy.com

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 35

festcomedy Sheeps: Dancing with Lisa

HHHHH

Youth, health and wealth: assets we all yearn to keep hold of, unless you’re in a sketch troupe at the Fringe, where, frankly, they’re frowned upon.

Sheeps are relatively recent graduates from Cambridge Footlights, that illustrious comedy conveyer belt, and you can’t help but wonder if some of this curiously divided crowd have come with arms readyfolded. More fool them, as the well-honed trio are fabulously funny.

They’re far from the poshest troupe, in truth, and their roles are nicely defined here.

Liam Williams brings northern grit, the lanky Alastair Roberts boasts a haughty hint of Joe Cornish, and if Sheeps were Ghostbusters, Daran Johnson would definitely be Ray. In fact

Patrick Monahan: Shooting From The Lip!

HHHHH

Many comedians promise the earth. Your jaw or ass, or both, will fall off with laughter. Your side will need suturing. Universal hyperbole makes most claims seem like white noise and yet Patrick Monahan—yes, unfashionably pre-watershed friendly standup Patrick Monahan— actually delivers his unlikely pledge.

“By the end of tonight’s show you will hug complete strangers,” he says offstage in his Teeside squeal. And he’s right. Within the hour your reviewer hugged at least three random people.

Like a good cuddle, there is something charmingly unreconstructed about Monahan.

After half an hour of waiting for the show to really start— he just chats to the audience, getting them on stage to

Cornish is a useful reference point, as Sheeps are cut from a similar cloth to the much-loved (but once sneered at for their schooling) Adam and Joe: lots of ingenious but unpretentious wordplay and an air of saucy niceness.

The show begins with a simple but convention-busting visual gag and continues in that vein, actively testing the tropes of sketch comedy.

There’s a running mystical

thread about an ethereal riddle and an iconic eagle—“the owl of the night,” says a portentous but bewildered Williams—and the pacing is all but perfect. Bar a slight late dip, it’s a controlled torrent of sly silliness that often leaves you marvelling at their inventiveness.

Not that everyone in this particular audience would agree. While the vast majority are in delirious hysterics, a small but noticeable faction

watch on stony-faced. This includes one of TV’s bestknown comedians, perhaps envying their youthful vigour.

But even he eventually cracks, and it’s intriguing to watch other steadfast frowns melt along the way. These cunning clowns will wear you down eventually. [Si Hawkins] Pleasance Courtyard, 5:10pm – 6:10pm, 19–26 Aug, £10.00 – £11.00

demonstrate the art of the perfect hug, gently ribbing two male friends for wearing the same checked shirt—you realise that this is, in fact, the show. There is no theme, no gimmick, no political message.

It is a reminder of why most go to see comedy: to encounter someone with charisma to burn who can brighten an hour of their life.

Most are content not to go beyond that, and Monahan delivers for them in spades.

When he does revert to a script it is clear where his strength lies – the hour sags.

At heart he is a people person, almost pathologically so; at points the show feels like an elaborate excuse for him to spoon strangers. Weirdly, this isn’t creepy. Instead, like a lingering hug, Monahan oozes feel-good endorphins.

[Edd McCracken] Gilded Balloon Teviot, 8:00pm – 9:00pm, 19–26 Aug, £10.50 – £12.50

36 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

www.festmag.co.uk

festcomedy Simon Munnery’s La Concepta

HHHHH

Any show where an audience comprises of only eight members might indicate that the artist has a dud on their hands. But this is a feature of design for Simon Munnery’s La Concepta, “le restaurant conceptuel” where dining out comes “without the shame of eating.” This anti-culinary adventure begins on a quiet residential road tucked away in New Town, where prospective diners form an orderly queue at the behest of the bouncer (Munnery). Whittling away the minutes spent in line by telling a succession of doorman jokes (“how many doormen does it take to screw in a light bulb?” etc etc), diners are soon shut into

a narrow hallway, eagerly awaiting their foodless feast.

After being screamed at by a neo-Nazi in a contamination suit, we are welcomed into La Concepta, where a moustachioed Munnery flits between the roles of maitre d’, chef and waiter.

This is an impossibly unusual experience, but an experience it is. After being seated at the table, each participant must select an item off the menu, perhaps the Plat Belgique, where the entire country is fitted onto one plate, or the Pasta for One, which contains no pasta but a lot of swearing. Abstract, whimsical madness doesn’t even begin to cover it.

Munnery’s energy is unwavering, and his stint as the maitre d’ is where he really shines. But one can’t help but question what he is trying

to achieve in this madcap 40 minutes – is this supposed to be an out and out farce, or an informed polemic on the absurdity of haute cuisine? It’s quite impossible to tell. Then

again, I expect that may be the point. [Charlotte Lytton] La Concepta @ Whitespace, times vary, 19–25 Aug, £11.50 – £13.50

HHHHH

‘A NEW MUSICAL EVERY TIME. TOP CLASS.’ TIME OUT CRITICS’ CHOICE

BEST MUSIC/VARIETY CHORTLE AWARDS NOMINEE GILDED BALLOON TEVIOT 11PM WWW.THESHOWSTOPPERS.ORG BOX OFFICE 0131 622 6552

www.festmag.co.uk

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 37

festcomedy Bridget Christie: War Donkey

HHHHH

Bridget Christie has been riffing on the pigeonholing of female comedians for some time now. In 2010 she donned an ant costume and complained about how “ant comedians” are treated as novelty acts on the circuit, expected only to joke about ant issues. She pulls off the same trick this year by arriving, even more surreally, dressed as a “war donkey,” with a similar roster of complaints on behalf of the “donkeyhood.”

So it’s with seemingly genuine embarrassment that she reveals that this show is a feminist one, directly and sincerely tackling “women’s issues.”

It’s a great credit to Christie’s rapidly increasing maturity and skill as a comic that this mixture of daft surrealism and political rhetoric works so well.

She spends much of the gig in a series of silly costumes and

David Trent: Spontaneous Comedian

HHHHH

As an unlikely primary school teacher, David Trent has endured 16 years of his superiors urging him to bring his lessons “to life.” For tonight’s class, the solution is a multimedia mashup of scrawled flashcards and offbeat video snippets. A grand assertion sets up this much-hyped Edinburgh debut: “Comedy is the only truly spontaneous art form.” But with a rigid, pre-programmed format, Trent debunks this premise in no time.

From the moment he comes roaring and stomping on, his lines tie up with what’s on screen, and at first it seems this irony will lead into a meditation on the white lies that make “authentic” standup tick. For the most part, though, Trent just uses

still manages to convince us of the breathtaking mendacity of “Tory women” such as Louise Mensch. She has some brilliantly immature fart jokes and still makes us pause at the true horror of a labia minora reduction. Very occasionally the subject matter is too serious for a joke to be made; at

these points, Christie makes her own discomfort the source of humour, a neat trick that not many comics could pull off as well as she does here.

Almost inevitably in such a bold, barmy yet thoughtful brew, there are points where it doesn’t quite come together.

But Christie has really found

her comic voice this year: she’s refusing to be anyone else’s idea of a ‘comedienne’, and carving out a highly original and entertaining niche in the process. [Tom Hackett]

it to frame bastardised footage from the weirder, dirtier corners of the web.

He throws his all into every routine. When it works, it heightens pleasingly gauche, quick-cut sequences on a rockstar’s struggle to master the ‘guitar spin’ or Chris Rock’s attempt at midwifery.

But when it comes to his weaker ideas—particularly a trite number about God’s Facebook—Trent oversells them with that same zeal, and the laughs peter out while he’s still hammering the point home.

A stale persona doesn’t help matters: the braggart failing to mask his insecurities; the charmless man making clammy-palmed advances on his audience.

Ultimately, the fact that Trent’s self-conscious script anticipates a chilly response— by pointing out his reliance on gimmicks over more honest

techniques—comes as little compensation.

This debut boasts ambition and vigour, incorporating some neat surprises and an intriguing mix of highconcept and low-brow. Yet, on

this evidence, the fuss over Trent is less than wholly justified. [Lyle Brennan]

38 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

The Assembly Rooms, 1:30pm – 2:30pm, 19–26 Aug, £10.00

Pleasance Courtyard, 10:45pm – 11:45pm, 19–27 Aug, £9.50 – £12.00

www.festmag.co.uk

festcomedy The Magical Adventures of Pete Heat

HHHHH

If there was ever a niche in the market for hip twentysomething fans of minimalist stage magic, it is now well and truly filled. Pete Heat (Pete Hathway) is surely the Channel 4 generation’s Houdini, and his Fringe run should absolutely not be missed.

By interweaving absurdly shit non-tricks into an otherwise legitimately impressive line-up of actual tricks, Hathway’s audience is artfully bewitched into an altogether unusual state of goofy awe. If at times that conceit means that the ‘real’ magic pops up too abruptly for its audience to register what’s happened, it should not be at the cost of those absurd non-magic gems (something to do with a loaf of bread and an angry weasel).

Hathway, in a nutshell, may very well be the most charming magician you’ll come across at the Fringe. An argument could be made that he is the most likeable magician working today, full-stop, but that may not sound like much amid the cocaine-crusted Criss Angels and borderlinesmarmy Derren Browns of the world. He’s Noel Fielding performing sleight of hand, some lanky, cuddly love-child of Demitri Martin and Mitch Hedberg, and a welcome

alternative to straight standup and/or that particular type of laboured punk-magic that’s been cropping up since the early noughties. Even when he botches a trick toward the

end of the performance, his man-pixie demeanour alleviates any awkwardness and, frankly, prods our curiosity about the actual execution of these tricks in a way that

shiny Vegas-magic never really does. [Arianna Reiche] Gilded Balloon at Third Door, 5:45pm – 6:45pm, 19–27 Aug, £10.00 – £12.00

AT THE FRINGE

CElEbRATING 10 yEARs oF FEmAlE ComEdy Specially curated ShowS with complimentary goodieS from the BENEFIT COSMETICS BENEBUS

Supported by

2012 funny women awardS Semi-finalS lara a king - people pleaSer WINNEr OF 2011 FUNNy WOMEN AWArdS

www.festmag.co.uk

3-26 AuG 2.00pm

funnywomen.com wearefunnywomen

@funnywomen

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 39

festcomedy Markus Birdman: Love, Life and Death

HHHHH

There’s no shying away from life’s big questions in this fiercely personal standup set from English comic Markus Birdman.

The generously quiffed vicar’s son was moved to contemplate his place in the world after suffering an unexplained stroke shortly after his 40th birthday — a birthday he celebrated by getting a large Mexican Day of the Dead skull tattooed onto his arm.

The same skull motif is repeated on a large, intricately hand-drawn poster used as a stage backdrop, such impressive artwork including illustrations and key words and phrases from the set. It’s a meaningful backdrop for a comic with a lot to say.

Birdman’s illness makes up the first half of the show and he talks in great detail about losing a quarter of his vision as a result of the stroke. Sure, it all sounds a little heavy, but it’s testament to his talents that even brain scans and injections of radioactive dye provide fertile ground for jokes.

A short section on religion, which includes some of his most razor-sharp barbs, makes way for a second half which is basically a self-help seminar with gags. He lists his recommended ‘tips for living’ which appear trite in isolation (take pleasure in the little things, don’t be scared, do what you love) but are made just about palatable by Birdman’s easy-going charm and obvious sincerity.

A rousing finish, sticking two fingers up to death, concludes a solidly satisfying hour. [David Hepburn] The Stand Comedy Club II, 9:20pm – 10:20pm, 19–26 Aug, not 20, £8.00

Sarah Kendall: Get Up, Stand Up

HHHHH

Sarah Kendall doesn’t do improvisation. She doesn’t like it; she doesn’t feel comfortable doing it. Well, fair enough – it’s a brave admission in a comedy world where ruining hecklers is taken as the mark of a humourist’s stature, or at least the size of their cojones. It also goes some way to explaining why her first 20 minutes feel distinctly lacklustre. Yes, toddlers can be naughty; obviously that’s a bit of a nightmare on planes; sure, being flyered by your own flyering team is faintly amusing. It’s perfectly pleasant, conversational comedy – the sort that’s designed to sound like off-the-cuff observations made between last night’s show and tonight’s.

Before long, however, one starts to sense that Kendall hasn’t opened with her strongest suit. A long scene about a rapper, Pitbull, and his latest video involving three hotel employees “lezzing it up” in a hotel room for his delectation could easily be mindless grumbling about what trash the youth are listening to today. Instead, it’s

Greg Proops

HHHHH Sassy and sarcastic San Franciscan comedian Greg Proops is known by many for his dry and quirky contributions to Whose Line Is It Anyway? back in the nineties. In his standup he’s more reminiscent of a camp male version of a Valley Girl, snide and cutting and taking no prisoners.

For the first part of tonight it feels like he’s here, but his UK material has failed to greet him at the airport. References to life in Delaware have parallels on this side of the pond, but Proops takes his time landing

40 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

a nicely weighted set piece which develops unexpectedly and sets the scene for a running theme about perceptions of women in the arts industry. It’s refreshing to hear an eloquent female voice jamming home some truths about an industry with a record for exploitation. It’s also pretty clear that Kendall is steadily moving towards ground upon which she is

more comfortable. And then, with a melodramatic—yet oddly hard-hitting—”I have a dream” speech, Kendall hits her stride. Tightly scripted, unashamedly righteous and beautifully performed, Kendall ends big and clever.

[Evan Beswick]

on a direct target, despite a caustic and acerbic attitude in full flow. As you have gathered, Proops is a man that many adjectives can be ascribed to, and a utiliser of many too. Sometimes his descriptive rhythm makes his routines sound almost poetic, bordering on conceited. He’s certainly uncharitable when it comes to Ireland, the subject of an extended section that begins “for the purposes of this joke I went to Ireland,” an example of his occasional deconstruction.

While his take on how the potato famine may have started is something everyone can enjoy, his character

assassination of the country as lacking “gumption” and “ambition” is surprisingly harsh and devoid of any irony.

While many of his waspish remarks surprise rather than smart, there’s a detachment about Proops that makes him intermittently impenetrable tonight. Leaving his more accessible material on the US—namely the presidential race—as a closing post-script; Proops leaves on a high note, but it’s been a puzzling journey at times. [Julian Hall]

Pleasance Courtyard, 8:30pm – 9:30pm, 19–27 Aug, £10.00 – £11.00

Assembly George Square, 6:15pm – 7:15pm, 19–25 Aug, £15.00 – £16.00

www.festmag.co.uk

festcomedy Sammy J and Randy: The Inheritance

Chris McCausland: Not Blind Enough

Sammy J and his foul-mouthed foam friend Randy (voiced and brought to life by formidable puppeteer Heath McIvor) are back in town for another musical adventure – and it’s arguably their best yet.

Last time we saw the unusual double act they were dealing with tax avoidance in the sublime Rickett’s Lane.

Now, in The Inheritance, the Aussie twosome are once more on the money trail following the death of Randy’s wealthy 107 year-old uncle.

A clever false start fills newcomers in on the simple dynamic between Sammy (innocent, skinny) and Randy (vulgar, purple). Then it’s swiftly onto the opening number – a hyperactive ditty about filling in the census which, were it not for the filthy language, would not sound out of place on Broadway.

A trip to Uncle Edgar’s haunted house in England follows, where mysteries are investigated, swords are swung and puns are milked within an inch of their lives.

Chris McCausland has never defined his comedy by his blindness. However, a recent encounter with a TV executive who told him that he was not blind enough for TV, that he should take advantage of this ‘unique selling point’, has pushed him to address the issue head on.

The result is a thoughtful hour which reveals as much about the comedy industry as it does about issues of disability, but tends towards sombre reflection rather than consistent laughter.

Much of McCausland’s show is a personal reflection on what he, as a comedian who happens to be blind, should discuss in standup. He sends up the idea of constructing an entire hour around blindness, likening his plight to that of female comedians—in that there is material to be found in his particular ‘USP’—and commenting on how oversaturation on a subject can yield diminishing returns.

He bemoans the ethos behind the Paralympics, arguing that it’s a shame for anyone to be defined as ‘less than Olympic’ when they can, in many cases, compete in sport unaffected by their disability. These are all good points, carefully made, if noticeably without considerable laughter.

But there is much to reflect on in Not Blind Enough. McCausland’s depiction of the standup world as increasingly television-centred and, as a result, dangerously reductive, is particularly apt and nicely encapsulates some of the problems of the shifting roles of the Edinburgh Fringe. The relative lack of laughter is an issue here, however McCausland compensates by demonstrating a keen reflexivity and a promising ability to grapple with important subjects. [Gemma Flynn]

HHHHH

Shappi Khorsandi: Dirty Looks and Hopscotch

HHHHH

I was going to begin by asking, with a mixture of rhetoric and cattiness, am I interested in Shappi Khorsandi’s love life? This is what the veteran of the Fringe and Radio 4 brings on a platter, spun out in explicit detail over an hour.

After years of being dismissive of trashy women’s magazines obsessing over the private lives of celebrities, my gut reaction was ‘not at all’. And then I found myself vainly spending an hour on the internet trying to work out who the mysterious

www.festmag.co.uk

HHHHH

There’s a wealth of ideas, all tightly-scripted and performed with glee. It would be easy to be over-reliant on the simple pleasures of a swearing puppet but there’s real depth here. Shadow-puppetry, selfreverential asides and more of those wonderful songs combine to produce a daftly entertaining hour.

The Inheritance should be

a hit with both Randy virgins and hardcore fans. Admittedly some of the more visual jokes have made appearances in previous outings, but when the gags are this good they can be forgiven for a little recycling.

[David Hepburn]

two-timing rock star was that she dated for eight months last year.

This late night Google session is testament to Khorsandi’s storytelling ability.

She makes the tale of her destructive, potentially nasty breakup with a sociopathic indie musician something most of the audience can relate to.

Basically, she’s a great gossip.

She drip feeds enough details to keep us hooked—a text here, a threesome there— but also weaves in some finely tuned observations on growing older and the infantilising myths women tell themselves. She complains about how young girls never get over their encouragement

to be princesses, hence their choice of wedding attire. She praises men for getting over their childhood obsessions, otherwise grooms would be at the altar dressed as cowboys and astronauts.

But for all her home truths for the women, ultimately this show is Khorsandi’s takedown of her odious ex-boyfriend. As a comedy show, it just about works. Her charisma carries proceedings on the odd occasion when the material flags.

As a two-fingered salute, however, it is pretty damn satisfying. [Edd McCracken]

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 6:05pm – 7:05pm, 19–27 Aug, £13.00 – £15.00

Pleasance Courtyard, 8:30pm – 9:30pm, 19–26 Aug, £11.00 – £12.00

Pleasance Courtyard, 4:30pm – 5:30pm, 19–26 Aug, £11 – £12

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 41

42 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

www.festmag.co.uk

HHHHH

An amusing anthropomorphisation of six eight-legged creepy crawlies Page 47 Photo: Kate Edwards

www.festmag.co.uk

festtheatre

ALAN BISSETT: THE RED HOURGLASS

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 43

festtheatre Mother to Mother

HHHHH

Mother to Mother’s title may imply a broad theme: motherhood, and the shared experience of mothers worldwide.

And to some extent the universality of motherhood does play into Sindiwe Magona’s one-woman show, performed powerfully by South African actress Thembi Mtshali-Jones.

But Mother to Mother’s focus is far narrower than it might seem at first glance. The show is specifically about one mother on one particular day in Cape Town’s Gugulethu township. Mandisa (Magona), a mother of three, is addressing the mother of Amy Biehl, an anti-apartheid activist who was murdered by a violent mob in 1993. As Mandisa’s story becomes tied to Biehl’s, we witness a heart-wrenching unravelling of a family against the backdrop of an already volatile refugee society.

Mtshali-Jones delivers a performance balanced between colourful theatricality and sombre restraint.

Mandisa’s descent into the tragic truth of her family is one

The Lonely One

HHHHH

Using light manipulation and shadow puppetry techniques, the four performers in The Lonely One weave a suspenseful tale with inflections of Agatha Christie and Edgar Allan Poe. It’s actually based on an extract from Dandelion Wine, a collection of short stories by Ray Bradbury, but it’s a simple story so there’s no need to be familiar with the book before you see this show.

Set in a town in the American Midwest in 1928, it’s a slow burner: two young ladies, Francine and Lavinia, are on their way to see a Charlie Chaplin film when they decide to cross the dark ravine that

which requires its performer to have a keen awareness of both African history and the personal stories of the families in order to pull it off tastefully.

The women involved in Mother to Mother clearly have both in spades.

It is those moments when Mandisa addresses Biehl’s

mother directly, caught somewhere between attrition and self-defence, when we are given glimpses of the complexity of modern African identity.

It may have lent more depth to Mandisa’s story to know more about her son, implicated in Biehl’s murder. But perhaps it’s our own tired tendency to cast

that wide aperture on history – and Magona’s story truly is about one (maybe two) mothers, their individual stories and their ill-fated children.

[Arianna Reiche]

divides Lavinia’s house from the movie theatre. It’s an inadvisable move, considering that one young girl from the town is missing, and a dangerous strangler—known as The Lonely One—is still on the loose.

There’s just the right level of murder mystery hamminess at work in this first production from Dotted Line Theatre. Rachel Warr’s Lavinia is elegantly played, though her American accent needs some work. A company co-founder, Warr also wrote the script and directed the play, and it’s a promising debut. But while this particular show has some lovely moments—like its splendid shadow puppetry—the story is so slow that it loses momentum sev-

eral times throughout the hour.

It still comes to a satisfying conclusion but generally The Lonely One needs a sharper narrative and slicker execution.

All the same, Dotted Line Theatre certainly seem like a

company capable of making arresting work in the future.

[Yasmin Sulaiman]

44 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

Assembly George Square, 4:00pm – 5:00pm, 18–27 Aug, £14.00 – £15.00

Underbelly, Cowgate, 6:50pm – 7:50pm, 18–26 Aug, £10.00 – £11.00

www.festmag.co.uk

festtheatre The Prize

HHHHH It’s not the winning, it’s the taking part that counts, right? Maybe not for the hundreds of determined Olympic hopefuls we have anxiously watched compete during London 2012. It is this passion and intense desire to succeed that is explored in this delicately constructed verbatim piece from Murmur and Live Theatre, drawing on interviews with British athletes past, present and future.

For them, failing is simply not an option.

Performed by a cast of five on an almost bare stage, the power and the poignancy rightly lies with the voices of those interviewed, their experiences communicated through the actors. Murmur

Monkey Bars

HHHHH

According to almost every major indicator, the UK is—so far as the developed world is concerned—a particularly difficult place to be a child. Be it a lack of things to do, a highly materialistic culture, demonisation by the tabloid press or the fact that, statistically speaking, those under 18 are the age group most likely to be victims of violent crime, UNICEF has placed the UK bottom of its child happiness league table.

Chris Goode wants to give a voice to these unheard children.

His latest production, Monkey Bars, is verbatim theatre with a twist. In preparing the show, Goode commissioned Karl James to interview children aged eight to 10 years old about the issues affecting them: their hopes, their dreams, their fears.

But, on stage, these children’s words are spoken by adult actors, a conceit designed to make us pay attention to what they are saying, to treat them seriously.

www.festmag.co.uk

has spoken to a huge range of athletes, from a female diver who competed in the 1950s, when the honour really was the taking part, to athletes with ambitions for this year’s Olympics and Paralympics.

The carefully selected and assembled snatches of the resulting interviews reveal the athletes’ drive, dedication and struggles without ever tipping into the trite sentimentalism that the media around the Games has often fallen prey to. The principal emotional manipulation comes courtesy of projected text revealing whether or not those speaking qualified for the Games, a device that could be intrusive and heavy handed but is here executed with heartbreaking simplicity.

Propelled by the energy of the Games’ success and look-

ing towards the Paralympics, The Prize resonates perfectly with current national feeling.

But by being so of the moment, it is difficult to envisage much of a future life for the piece. Beautifully formed

though it is, it feels—much like the sporting triumph it revolves around—fleetingly ephemeral. [Catherine Love] Underbelly, Bristo Sq, 2:50pm – 4pm, 19–26 Aug, £11 – £12

Unfortunately, however, the effect is rather different.

As the adults converse in a number of settings—delivering speeches on the political pulpit, facing a grilling during a job interview, discussing celebrity around the office water-cooler—the children’s naïveté of language and simplicity of thought is played for laughs. It’s a jarring experience, which seems to be mocking the children, rather than siding with them.

Of course, there are a few poignant moments—particularly when James is talking to two young Muslim boys—but these segments make up only a small portion of the play.

Goode sets out to give children a voice, but the extent to which these voices are undermined throughout seems to suggest that, actually, they don’t have much to say. This, one suspects, isn’t quite the point he was trying to make.

[Ben Judge] Traverse Theatre, times vary, 18–26 Aug, not 20, £17 – £19

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 45

festtheatre Confessions of a Grindr Addict

HHHHH

For those who have never come across it, Grindr is a location-based social networking app for gay men. It enables users to locate, chat to, and meet up with other guys within a given proximity. This year the application hit four million users across 192 countries, with over one million logging on every day. Put simply, where homosexual dating is concerned, it’s a pretty big deal.

It’s also an absolutely fascinating topic for theatre, opening up possibilites for interesting takes on a popular, highly technologised, mechanised form of human interaction.

Unfortunately, it’s the one area Confessions of a Grindr Addict steadfastly refuses to go, preferring instead to indulge in camp titillation regarding various Grindr escapades.

So, we learn that Felix, our protagonist, met a foot fetishist using the app, and that it once helped him haul in 10 men in 14 days. There’s plenty more, but I won’t spoil the excitement any further. Needless to say, beyond a throwaway line about Grindr’s one-tap potential to “strip away all the mess” of meeting partners, and a moment’s reflection on the fact that it is indeed different to normal, face-to-face dating, it’s hard to see what it is that lifts this into the realms of drama. Gavin Roach provides a confident and sassy one-man performance, though relies heavily on repetitious mannerisms – taking a slurp of wine, for instance, just before choking out a particularly gossipy oneliner. Then again, it’s gossip that takes centre stage in a slightly vacuous piece which seems far more interested in the idea of anonymous sex than in its implications. [Evan Beswick] Assembly Hall, 9pm – 10pm, 18–26 Aug, £11.00 – £12.00

Uninvited

HHHHH In the festering heart of suburbia, behind the neatly trimmed privet hedge, an intruder lurks.

Or does he? This new piece by Fat Git Theatre, adapted from Peter Mortimer’s novella of the same name, prods at human neuroses with the blackest of humour, as one man finds his secure haven gradually transfigured into an anarchic nightmare.

Fat Git’s surreal and grotesque performance aesthetic finds its perfect partner in the swirling, dreamlike paranoia of Mortimer’s protagonist.

Managing his single household

Uncoupled

HHHHH Louise Templeton certainly hasn’t picked an easy topic for her first Fringe acting role.

Uncoupled is a tale of a troubled marriage, with a novel issue at the root of the distress: porn addiction. An over-reliance on porn is probably a common factor in many modern break-ups but isn’t a subject that regularly crops up on stage or screen, as a chap furtively browsing the web offers less potential for drama than a clandestine fling.

Or so you may think.

This one-woman show— written by regular Fringe scribe Richard Bickley—is

46 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

with obsessively meticulous care, his control-crazed movements are watched with boredom and amusement by the wallpaper, until a distraction is found in the sudden appearance of a whistling stranger. As the lone bachelor struggles to maintain the order he clings to, things progressively fall apart.

The care taken in the crafting of this piece is evident, from the precisely judged looks with which the three wallpaper figures curiously regard the audience to the sinisterly dissonant sound effect of a finger skimming the edge of a wine glass. Menace infects the piece, generated

by both the oddly ominous nonsense of the text and the choreographed strangeness of the performances.

As suffocatingly strange as Fat Git’s bizarre creation can be, this peculiarity traps the audience within the same unsettling nightmare world as the unravelling man at its centre.

It also makes us think. Despite the dreamlike unreality of this world, it taps into something psychologically, uncannily true about loneliness and anxiety, remaining wedged in the mind long after it departs.

[Catherine Love]

testing relatively uncharted waters then, and takes a light, often humorous, if sometimes achingly sad approach to the subject. Rather than dwell grimly on the pornography, this is really a show about a woman’s journey through a marriage, a union that suffers from both a lack of communication and, significantly in this case, copulation.

Templeton is wonderfully believable as Suzanne, who develops a deeper understanding of her own psyche while uncovering husband Adam’s burgeoning obsession.

Suzanne’s reaction to the initial revelation is intriguing—that stumbling upon a secret stash

of pornographic magazines is somehow worse than finding out about an affair—and Bickley’s play offers an interesting insight into the apportioning of blame in such situations.

There are a couple of dramatic set pieces along the way that don’t quite ring true, and their telling is an unnecessary detour from Suzanne’s emotional travels. Overall, though, this is a beautifully realised production and the hankies are out in force come the conclusion. Thankfully these are the only soiled tissues on show. [Si Hawkins]

Bedlam Theatre, 2:00pm – 3:00pm, 19–25 Aug, £8.00

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 12:45pm – 1:35pm, 19–27 Aug, £9 – £10

www.festmag.co.uk

festtheatre Alan Bissett: The Red Hourglass

HHHHH

If you, like me, are involuntarily appointed spider catcher in a home where you can be called into service at any moment by a distinctive petrified scream from your other half, then you too will probably be given to grumpily re-treading arachnid truisms like: “it’s tiny” and “it’s more scared of you.”

Scottish Writer of the Year Alan Bissett—his household’s spider siren—here amusingly anthropomorphises six eightlegged creepy crawlies as a study of the irrationality of certain human fears, without concealing the discomforting and in some cases even dangerous habits to which arachnids are naturally predisposed.

Held captive in a St Andrews laboratory, there’s a bantering Glaswegian house spider, a

www.festmag.co.uk

jumpy New Yoiker recluse spider, a macho revolutionary Venezuelan tarantula, a black widow—the lethal female arachnid, imagined as a nasty temptress in kinky black boots—and a hawk wasp, played as a passive-aggressive blabbermouth counsellor.

As in the critically lauded Moira Monologues, Bissett’s a joy to watch as a solo actor, skilfully giving life to each

character through versatility of voice and mannerisms. His language is crisply economic, and punctuated by whip-smart, distinctly Scottish humour – be it when he pokes fun at himself by making the hawk wasp question the tarantula’s dodgy accent, or when the house spider takes political umbrage at being called “common.”

We’re forced to confront socially constructed fear in the

human world, and the frightening immutability of nature, which for all our efforts to control it through science always finds a way of creeping back up on us. As, at the end, our stomachs nervously tighten at footage of a scurrying black widow in close-up, it’s us that feel small. [Malcolm Jack] National Library of Scotland, 7pm – 8pm, 18–25 Aug, £12

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 47

festtheatre The Shit

Unhappy Birthday

Before Summerhall was an arts venue, it was part of Edinburgh’s Veterinary College and in the austere white space of its high-ceilinged Demonstration Room students would have sat on the hard benches and made notes as they watched animals being dissected – each incision revealing more bone and muscle.

There could be no room more appropriate for a performance of the violent and physical satire The Shit.

Cristian Ceresoli’s The Shit is doubly satiric. On the one level it is a satire about a young woman’s pursuit of fame. On another her body is made to represent Italy’s modern consumerist bunga, bunga society.

It is not, however, the satire which is memorable – but rather the physical presence of its performer, actress Silvia Gallerano. It is the way she perches naked on a makeshift wooden platform, looking almost diabolical, with a crimson clown mouth and hair wrenched back into two horn-like buns on either side of her head. It is the way she shudders and jerks continuously. It is the way she incants the stream-of-consciousness monologue – the petulant voice rhythmically punctuated by nervous half laughs. And it’s the way that every so often, in the manner of a Victorian medium, she shouts out in a deep rasping voice.

The Shit is one of the more discussed works on the fringe.

And yet, the satirical dismemberment is never especially illuminating and there is something terribly old-fashioned, almost troubling, in making the permeable, dehumanised female body a metaphor for the nation-state. [Miranda Kiek]

A long-established nightclub hostess­—of the much-loved London bash Duckie—Amy Lamé knows how to throw a good party. She’s also pretty adept at throwing an unhappy one, which is a less celebrated skill but proves a potent platform for her latest solo venture.

A word of warning though: Unhappy Birthday very much relies on audience participation. It’s seated in the round and revolves around an elaborate version of pass-the-parcel, to a soundtrack from The Smiths, whose old frontman Morrissey is the show’s focal figure. One seat is reserved in his honour.

Fans of Lamé’s witty, matronly broadcasting work may be taken aback by the tone of this show: it soon becomes apparent that we’re witnessing an extreme, almost unhinged version of the New Jersey native. It’s an extraordinary, uncompromising performance, watched in open-mouthed wonder by the party guests, when we aren’t being launched into a bizarrely elaborate parlour game.

HHHHH

Summerhall, 9:15pm – 10:15pm, 19–26 Aug, £10.00

HHHHH

NOLA

HHHHH Since December 2010, Londonbased company Look Left Look Right has been visiting New Orleans and the Gulf of Mexico to interview those affected by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

In this, a piece of “documentary theatre,” a selection of these interviews are delivered verbatim by actors. But while the group has had success with this technique in the past, one can’t help but wonder here what exactly the distancing presence of actors adds.

In a large part, the issue seems to be that the cast of four can’t resist hamming up the folksy dignity of the Gulf

48 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

It isn’t the jolly hour you might expect, then. There are lingering, sometimes excruciating periods where our hostess determinedly undertakes some laboriously arcane task, and the room itself is rather dark and stark for a party.

But then that gloom suits the subject matter, as Morrissey has always been a poster boy for lonely bedroom-dwellers.

Unhappy Birthday is really an exploration of obsessive fandom, Lamé parading the excesses of such behaviour in

an increasingly manic fashion, as the unresponsive Manc star tests her loyalty.

It’s a fascinating project to be a part of—more of an installation than a celebration—and clearly a bonding experience for the attendees, who stagger blinking back into the light like recently-released hostages.

Safety, here we come. [Si Hawkins]

residents, while officials and academics, by contrast, are played lazily for laughs. The voice of a BBC journalist, for instance, is camped up – a seemingly aimless pop when, in fact, his description of the humbling of the hyperconfident oilmen is fascinating.

Where it works best—the moving testimony of a civil litigator whose son died in the explosion—it’s because the delivery is understated and the mannerisms tightly restrained.

Overall, though, one wishes the voices of the real people were allowed to ring through unmediated.

But if the theatrics are clunky, the documentary aspect of this piece is anything

but. What’s impressive is the care with which the team has selected participants, and the sensitivity with which they have been interviewed. In conversations with riggers, conservationists and fishing boat owners, the interviewers allow the victims of big oil’s negligence to speak eloquently, digging deeply yet tactfully, all the while keeping the interviewer’s voice largely hidden. NOLA is largely saved by the importance of the story it tells, rather than the manner in which it tells it. [Evan Beswick]

Assembly George Square, 6:40pm – 7:40pm, 18–26 Aug, not 20, £10.00 – £12.00

Underbelly, Cowgate, 3:30pm – 4:40pm, 19–26 Aug, £10.00 – £11.00

www.festmag.co.uk

n Quee

t tree ver S Hano

32

t tree ver S Hano

1 Street Rose

33

Street Rose

reet es St Princ nd Mou The

St. hope

s rden a G t ee s Str e c n i Pr

rket nma Law

ce rra Te

ton ns Joh

race Ter

Assembly Hall

The Mound

23 Liquid Room

Victoria St

3

Assembly George Sqw

4

Assembly Roxy

n so w La

Street Sq BreadGeorge

24 Meadows Festival Big Top

ge Potterrow brid tain un Fo Forrest Road

BBC @ Potterrow

6

Bedlam Theatre

7

The Bongo Club

go Holyrood Road

8

C Venues

Chambers St

9

C Nova

ey Gr rl Ea

Bristo Sq

27 Pleasance @ Essential Edinburgh

George St

28 Queen’s Hall

Clerk St

The Space @ Surgeon’s Hall

Nicolson St

The Space @ Symposium Hall

Hill Sq York Place

s os llcr To st We

ro Johnstone u Terrace

33 The Stand II

York Place

Blair St

34 The Stand III & IV

Th orny bank

Grassmarket

B

gh a

Geo

York Place Summerhall

18 Gilded Balloon Teviot

Home Street

35 Summerhall

19 Jazz Bar

Chambers St

40 Venue 150 @ EICC

Morrison St

20 Just the Tonic @ the Caves

Cowgate

41 Zoo

St Leonards St

21

Hunter Sq

42 Zoo Southside

Nicolson St

16 Electric Circus Gilded Balloon @ Third Door

Lothian St Bristo Sq

reet Tarvit St

Grassmarket

37 Traverse Theatre

Cambridge St

38 Underbelly

Cowgate

39 Udderbelly’s Pasture

Bristo Sq

ce le Terra Lonsda

rr. leven Te

Just the Tonic @ The Tron

Market St

36 Sweet Grassmarket

e ac Pl

17

Leith Walk

Leven Street

Edinburgh Playhouse

am gh ou Br

15

Place Panmure

e ac t Pl Tevio

reet ers St Chalm

32 The Stand

30

Lauriston Place

Jeffrey St

Johnstone Terrace

Br ist oP la ce

6

10

The Space @ Jury’s Inn

31

et re St

14 Dance Base

26 Pleasance Dome

ens Gard ston Lauri

Cabaret Voltaire

The Pleasance

Lauriston Place

m

13

Victoria St

25 Pleasance Courtyard

29ce n Pla risto Lau 30

et re St

C Aquilla

Hig hR igg s

e Ri

eet Str ple Sem

5

The Meadows

et re St

Roxburgh Pl

m Cha

Forest Ro ad

George St

2

12

Can dle m ak

36

Sp itt al St ree t

W 22 Le Monde

dy La

George St

38

w Ro er

ort est P

Assembly Rooms

10 C gECA e

12

et ark ssm Gra t rke a ssm Gra

14

1

id br 11ntain C Too u Fo

11

23 9

ge brid

Ca m br id ge St .

a Street tori Vic

King Stables Road Grin dla yS Tre et

m

ill Castleh

IV rge Geo

le st Ca

n Road Lothia

37

Cockb

al M / Roy street High

st.

Bank

lace nd P Mou

h burg Edinastle C Ki ng St ab les Ro ad

rle Wavetio a St

et Stre ket Mar

2

40

34

Sq. drew St An

ridge rley B Wave

et Stre erick fred

eet le Str Cast

Street Rose

Sq. lotte Char

Street Rose

eet e Str thistl

22

eet e Str Georg

Sq. lotte Char 27

eet e Str thistl

et Stre erick fred

eet g Str Youn

ad h Ro oac pr Ap

t

treet Hill S

et Stre stle h Ca Nort

treet lme S St Co

drew St An eet n Str Quee

The Meadows

24

Terrace Glengyle

ld tsfie Brun nks Li

Melv ille Dr ive e park terrac warrender

M

Lei t 15

Place rloo Wate d Regent Roa

dge h Bri Nort

ey on

Calton Roa d

et Stre New

16

t East Market Stree Jeffrey Street

29

burn Street

e ngat Cano

31

n lso ho Nic

Lo th ian

treet ton S Crich

el ap Ch

3

t es W

n so ol ch Ni

.

St

et re St

42 West Crossc auseway

reet uch St Buccle

Place leuch Bucc

et tre dS on m ich tr es W

eet Str

w erro pott

18

ce d Pla mon Rich

ce l Pla Hil

26

are e Squ Georg

25

st.

t. ge S Colle

30

5

Pleasance

et tre dS on m m Dru 4

et tre

39

re Squa orge

41

ce Pla

South

Road Holyrood

St

gh bur Rox

27

ary irm Inf

h urg xb Ro

. ge St Colle West S

se ’s clo rtson Robe

t

t tree rs S mbe

20

8 19

7

e Cowgat

e Bridg South

Cowgate

tree Gu thrie s

et stre friars Black

eet ry Str Nidd

Street Blair

se Old fis market Clo

13

se ’s Clo Gray South

21

Mile

et Stre ary’s St M

Mile Royal reet / High st

35

auseway EAST Crossc

et tre rk S Cle

28

et Stre lor keil ran

gue nta mo

et Stre

Park pe Ho

eet Str lerk th C Sou

Terrace melville

festtheatre The Pride

HHHHH Three, as they say, is a crowd.

This observation is certainly true for married couple Bruce and Linda, whose over-friendly next door neighbour James gradually wedges his way between them. So far, so familiar. The only difference being that Bruce, Linda and James are lions.

This funny little oddity from Australian company Perth Theatre is a surprising comedic treat. It only takes the performers to emerge in their fur-adorned onesies to conjure a grin, and from thereon in the quirky comedy carries the piece through. Initially arriving as an extra hand for Bruce’s home renovations, James shows an increasing interest in his neighbour’s life, leaving the alpha male scrapping for his pride in every sense of the word. It is—a lot like the increasingly desperate Bruce—a bit rough around the edges, but its charm begs forgiveness for its faults.

The offbeat humour also reveals small, quietly poignant truths. As newlywed infatuation melts into dull routine, something as simple as the transition from energetic high fives to resigned handshakes speaks powerfully of the fading shine of marriage. The seeming obsession with the feature wall jointly assembled by Bruce and James, meanwhile, is a hilarious but acutely observed comment on our impulse to acquire and improve, and a warning against DIY if there ever was one.

There is little particularly new or memorable being said here, and the running time could easily be tightened without much loss. But even if its only lasting image is of a grown man moonwalking in a lion onesie, it’s an image worth the flaws. [Catherine Love] Underbelly, Cowgate, 6:20pm – 7:25pm, 18–26 Aug, £10.00 – £12.50

Oh, The Humanity And Other Good Intentions

HHHHH

Will Eno’s Oh, The Humanity And Other Good Intentions is a quintet of short plays about what it is to be human.

Something akin to The LoveSong of Alfred J Prufrock, life is set out in all its pathos and absurdity and in such a way as to create a sort of hyperreality, more true to life than life itself. The Prufrocks we encounter in Eno’s play include a football coach facing the reality of ageing, a man and a woman recording profiles for a dating website—collaps-

Mon Droit

HHHHH This curious two-hander is inspired by the real-life discovery of royal-obsessive Robert Moore’s body on an island in London’s St James’s Park in 2011.

Mike McShane (still perhaps best known for improv comedy show Whose Line is it Anyway?) both writes and stars as Moore in the play, working backwards from the grim find to imagine how the mentally ill American met his fate.

It opens with Moore in Kansas discussing a complex “protocol” of drugs with his doctor (played by Suki Webster

52 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

ing themselves into a list of their likes and dislikes—and a spokesperson who addresses the relatives of those who died in a plane crash with more honesty than formality.

Eno’s writing has the effect of making each line—even the most throwaway—seem to be imbued with deep meaning.

Simple requests, such as that for a name: “And who are you, my love,” take on a double life as existential queries.

A script so deliberately off-kilter, so self-consciously profound, could easily seem pretentious. But such is the restraint of Erica Whyman’s direction, and the understated exactitude of her actors,

that for the most part this is avoided. Lucy Ellinson, in particular, is always recognisably human in the face of all the ramped up surrealism of the writing.

Between each short play, the simple white screens which form the backdrop of the stage open wide and the audience is given an unobstructed view of backstage: the ropes, the pulleys, the stage-hands. Sometimes in destroying the illusion of reality, you achieve something more real. [Miranda Kiek]

who gamely takes on multiple roles). Carrying a shopping bag with the Queen’s face emblazoned across it and sporting a homemade badge of the monarch he cuts a comic figure, unconvincingly insisting he has his condition under control.

A stressful day at work causes his fragile sanity to slip.

He leaves his job as a manager in a car hire business, hits the bottle and flies to London to follow his imagined destiny: to usurp the Duke of Edinburgh and take up his rightful place at the side of Elizabeth II. Setting himself up in a hotel overlooking Buckingham Palace he meets a homeless

girl and a prostitute, who each play a role in guiding him on his “pilgrimage.”

As an examination of mental illness it’s a little shallow, and some of the humour seems incongruous with the central plot, particularly the emotive ending. That Mon Droit—part of the Royal Family’s motto, literally meaning “my right”— is successful as a piece of entertainment is testament to the two actors who both give fine, committed performances. [David Hepburn]

Northern Stage at St Stephen’s, 6:40pm – 8:00pm, 18–25 Aug, not 21, £14.00

Pleasance Courtyard, 2:00pm – 3:00pm, 19–27 Aug, £10.00 – £11.00

www.festmag.co.uk

festtheatre DDLE´S

WINSTON RU

CIRQUE

www.festmag.co.uk

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 53

festtheatre A Soldier’s Song

HHHHH

In 1992, Ken Lukowiak published A Soldier’s Song: True Stories from the Falklands to critical acclaim. In 1998, Guy Masterson’s one-man theatrical adaptation of the book wowed critics and won him a Stage Award nomination for Best Actor. And now, in 2012—which marks the 30th anniversary of the Falklands War—Masterson has revived the show, with Lukowiak himself replacing him as the sole performer.

It’s a simple premise: Lukowiak simply stands on stage and tells us about his experiences as a soldier in the Falklands through flashbacks to fierce fighting at Goose Green. His story doesn’t shy away from the contradictions inherent in being a soldier and a human being; how it feels to want someone dead, but simultaneously to want not to kill them.

There’s no sympathy for the military here, and every opportunity to underline incompetence in the upper ranks is justly taken. But it’s not a sob story either; Lukowiak faces his contrary wartime emotions with courage and honesty and one scene in which he shoots an Argentine soldier after a ceasefire has been called is particularly affecting.

Masterson’s adapted script

One Hour Only

HHHHH

“There’s people like people everywhere,” says Marley to AJ. Marley is a sex-worker who keeps not needles, but textbooks on forensic biology beneath her pillow. AJ, her almost-client, is a Muslim youth who would rather learn how to build bridges at Cardiff University than how to build bombs in the Yemen.

is first-rate too, exuding raw, gritty humour. But if anything hampers A Soldier’s Song, it’s Lukowiak’s delivery. His ability to re-enact—to essentially re-live—his own experiences

in the Falklands is hugely admirable, but his stiff movements and slightly awkward physicality detracts from its potency just a touch. Still, it’s an electrifying piece of writing

that shows no sign of losing its relevancy. [Yasmin Sulaiman]

Sometimes the subversion of a stereotype can be just as predictable as the stereotype itself.

One Hour Only, part of the Old Vic New Voices Edinburgh season, is a sex comedy without the sex. First-time prostitute Marley and putative punter AJ end up foregoing sexual intercourse in favour of the verbal sort. They discuss everything from London to their home life to their aca-

demic ambitions. They even build a bridge together, an activity so fraught with meaning it’s a minor miracle the bridge does not collapse under its own symbolic weight.

Written by performance poet Sabrina Mahfouz (who is such an old hand at bringing plays to the Fringe as to make her inclusion in the New Voices season mystifying), One Hour Only has more laughs than much of the rest of New

Voices season. However, although its two performers prove themselves competent at comedy (Faraz Ayub as AJ in particular) their characters struggle to convince. The strained cockney accent Nadia Clifford gives Marley slips more frequently than her sexy, silky dressing gown. [Miranda Kiek]

54 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

Assembly Roxy, 5:05pm – 6:10pm, 18–26 Aug, £11.00 – £13.00

Underbelly, Cowgate, 5:20pm – 6:20pm, 18–26 Aug, £10.00 – £11.00

www.festmag.co.uk

Me & Mr C GARY KITCHING with Greyscale, Northern Stage & The Empty Space

★★★★

The Telegraph

★★★★

Broadway Baby

UNTIL 25 AUGUST 8:15pm Venue 73 NORTHERN STAGE AT ST STEPHEN’S 4 - 25 AUGUST Box Office 0131 558 3047 Book Online northernstage.co.uk

ns_festadvert_06.indd 1

August 20-27 0131 662 6892

www.zoofestival.co.uk www.edfringe.com

9:50 PM

www.metartmorphose.blogspot.fr

17/08/2012 16:20

THE STORY OF WOODY GUTHRIE

www.festmag.co.uk

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 55

festtheatre Still Life: an Audience with Henrietta Moraes

HHHHH

“This is what we’ll be working with today. The raw materials,” begins Sue MacLaine, writer and performer of this one-woman show about Henrietta Moraes, the model and muse for artists such as Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud. It’s an unsettling start: delivered with wide-eyed glee by a nude MacLaine, it places the small audience in precisely the same position as the (mostly male) painters who repeatedly “stole her soul” for art – a soul which, with self-destructive nonchalance, Moraes repeatedly offered up. Armed with paper and pencils, we revisit the invasive acts which, in Bacon paintings such as Lying Figure with Hypodermic Syringe, saw Moraes used as artistic material rather than human flesh.

If there’s a small niggle,

it’s that at times MacLaine preaches in the impenetrable argot of the art school set (“the non-being negates the being it negates”), a language which feels designed to mystify rather than to be understood. But when she turns this language against herself the results are quite wonderful, sparking looping avenues of enquiry on the technical and emotional relationship between the artist and the subject of art. “Am I giving the illusion of depth?” she asks, adopting a pose which this reviewer’s drawing skills summarily fail to tackle. The question is beautifully rhetorical: in a slow, thoughtful work, MacLaine once again makes Henrietta Moraes the subject of art, but in a manner which gives her a voice to whisper back at the artist, the audience and, indeed, the critic. [Evan Beswick] Whitespace, 5:15pm – 6:15pm, 18–26 Aug, not 21, £12

The Price of Everything

HHHHH As a performance lecture, The Price of Everything is “more culturally valuable, but less enjoyable, than a piece of theatre,” according to creator Daniel Bye. And perhaps he’s right: gone is the spectator’s ability to simply sit back and immerse themselves in the drama onstage, and in its place, an impulse to internally question the information we are given.

Putting an exact monetary figure on things that play a role in our day to day lives, such as a pint of milk (51p) or our bone marrow (£13.8m), this is a thoughtful hour which challenges how we ascertain the value of all we encounter.The nub of the piece concerns the fictional tale of Bye’s attempts at random acts of kindness, and the ways in which society

might be reshaped if this self-sacrificing caught on. But here it begins to feel somewhat derivative, namely of Danny Wallace’s 2002 ‘Join Me’ initiative, where the writer/ comedian asked for people who were willing to perform good deeds to then inform him of how their selflessness prevailed. Bye’s closing speech, in which he asks a random

56 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

audience member to take an envelope containing £20 and use it to treat a stranger, seems virtually indistinguishable.The show’s premise is certainly interesting, but it doesn’t feel provocative enough in its current form.

Indeed, the best measure of its influence is how many people bothered to return their empty glasses (of complimentary

milk bought by Bye) after the show had ended. Judging by the number left strewn over seats as everyone filed out, it appears the piece makes for thought-provoking, but ultimately ineffectual, viewing.

[Charlotte Lytton] Northern Stage at St Stephen’s, 11:30am – 12:30pm, 19–25 Aug, not 20, £10.00

www.festmag.co.uk

T THE GIN JOINT CU

festtheatre

Molly Naylor and the Middle Ones: My Robot Heart

HHHHH

A complete lack of robots is just about the only disappointment in this charming storytelling show which turns the whimsy up to 11.

The magnetic Molly Naylor precedes her tall tales with an explanation of their genesis: a period of her life when she was miserable after dumping her boyfriend. She returns to her personal story throughout

Hitler’s Li’l Abomination

HHHHH

American actress Annette Roman brings her debut solo show to the Fringe in the provocatively-named Hitler’s Li’l Abomination. This title, along with her swastika-emblazoned publicity material, make it pretty clear—as she readily admits—that she’s aiming to put bums on seats with a little bit of sensationalist promotion. In truth, there’s nothing notably offensive about her performance, and

the show, musically accompanied by two-piece indie twee band The Middle Ones.

Naylor describes the three main characters in the overlapping tales as imaginary robots created by her to run the programme of love – something science has shown to last only around 18 months.

It’s a slightly clunky conceit which is the only weak link in the entire monologue. She draws parallels between her imaginary automatons and a robot designed by a Japanese scientist to experience love

which was scrapped after it behaved “illogically.” It’s an irony not wasted on Naylor.

The three interlocking stories introduce a young woman facing uncertainty on the eve of her wedding, her younger step-brother who has to choose between popularity and morality, and her wayward father who left his wife “for the love of Glasgow’s folk music scene.”

It’s all wonderful, lyrical stuff, which effortlessly includes more than enough decent jokes to keep the

momentum going. The affectionate interplay between the performer and her musicians is a particular comedic highlight.

The combination of the live music and Naylor’s playful delivery draws the audience into the world of robotic hearts so completely that the hour passes with something close to indecent haste. [David Hepburn]

instead she presents a quirky and potentially interesting look at the emotional and psychological impact of WWII on those involved.

On the surface, this is an interesting premise for a show. Roman’s father is a Hungarian Holocaust survivor, and her mother a former member of Bund Deutscher Mädel – “Hitler Youth for girls.” Hence the title – Roman reasonably considers herself to be the embodiment of what Hitler would have found abominable.

A mostly autobiographical

tale, Roman recounts several stories from both her childhood and adulthood—such as her father’s Holocaust bedtime stories, and an aunt’s swastika-adorned kitchen knife—in the form of reasonably arresting characterisations, interspersed with some deliberations on the philosophical nature of these events. Her parents make up the bulk of her performance, and she manages to paint a fairly vivid picture of them.

Unfortunately, the show is also littered with throwaway minor characters who seem

wholly unnecessary. Coupled with the nonlinear timeline— Roman frequently flips between her present life in California and arbitrary points in her past—the narrative becomes unclear and difficult to follow.

There’s no doubt Roman has an interesting tale to tell.

But without a solid sense of story and structure, we’re left with little idea of what it is.

[Matthew MacLeod]

58 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

Pleasance Courtyard, 3:25pm – 4:25pm, 19–27 Aug, £9.00 – £10.50

theSpace @ Jury’s Inn, 7:05pm – 7:55pm, 18–25 Aug, not 19, £9.50

www.festmag.co.uk

festtheatre

5

FEST BEST

Songs of Lear

HHHHH

Polish company Song of the Goat is renowned for pulling theatre apart at the seams and fearlessly reassembling its components in new and exciting ways. This year, the company’s ongoing research project takes a massive stride forward with Songs of Lear, an experimental triumph that sees them using choral song to retell Shakespeare’s King Lear.

The idea behind Songs of Lear, shaven-headed Company Director Grzegorz Bral explains early on, is to see Lear as a painting where the music represents the paint, where the songs conjure vivid pictures and where vocal harmony can invoke the rhythm of tragedy.

Each of the 10 choral pieces that follow represent small but perfectly formed jigsaw pieces in the Lear plot: the summoning of Lear’s harmonious

kingdom; the king’s painful estrangement from Cordelia; and his eventul spiralling descent into madness. After each recital the agitated Bral jumps from his seat and strides centre stage to interject, imparting pivotal nuggets of context and narration like a professor lecturing to students.

It is a powerful, arresting approach to theatrical storytelling and it perfectly adumbrates the complexity of Lear. Yet the performance’s formidable power resides largely in the intensity of the music itself.

The 10-strong choir possess remarkable vocal dexterity, and their harmonies expertly manoeuvre the audience through the contours of Cordelia’s weeping lament before building to a frightening crescendo, as Lear’s kingdom dissolves into ruin. Innovative, ambitious and expertly realised, this is majestic theatre that will reverberate inside you long after the last song. [Sam Friedman] Summerhall, 7:15pm – 8:15pm, 19–24 Aug, £11.00

Four new operas packed full of emotion

+

The Lady from the Sea In the Locked Room & Ghost Patrol

Clemency Wed 29 Aug to Sun 2 Sep PART OF THE EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL Traverse Theatre Edinburgh/ King’s Theatre, Edinburgh Call 0131 473 2000 to book

SPECIAL

TICKET

OFFER Book for all 3 shows & save 20%!

www.festmag.co.uk

Thu 6 Sep to Sun 9 Sep

Theatre Royal Glasgow | Call 0844 871 7647 to book

Book online at scottishopera.org.uk Registered in Scotland Number SCO37531 Scottish Charity Number SCO19787 Registered Office: 39 Elmbank Crescent, Glasgow G2 4PT

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 59

festtheatre Metamorphoses: Fables from Ovid

HHHHH

In a boarding school dormitory, four girls lie giggling and singing. Tomorrow is their debutante ball, and they are too excited to sleep. Their matron, apparently fearsome but actually played with a subtle warmth by Gemma Reynolds, is persuaded to tell them a story, which the girls act out, each then telling her own tale.

And what tales they are.

We hear, in graphic detail, tales of a father-daughter sexual relationship; a husband who rapes his wife’s sister and cuts out her tongue, inciting the wife to murder her only son and feed him to the husband; men turning into women and women turning into trees; a young girl transformed into a

Oliver Reed: Wild Thing

HHHHH

Oliver Reed sits in a pub and, in a manner which manages to bridge the gap between thespian raconteur and the Ancient Mariner, fixes the audience with a glittering eye and proceeds to recount his life story. With extraordinary frequency he pauses to down a bottle of beer, a glass of wine,

The Most Dangerous Toy

HHHHH

Working from original texts, Playades theatre company has devised this interesting piece exploring the events of 1882, the year Friedrich Nietzsche spent with Lou Salomé, an intellectual and fiercely independent woman. Interesting in the sense that it grapples with the legacy of one of the most complex thinkers of Western thought. But in the end, the piece can’t support the grav-

spider by a jealous goddess...

Each member of this young, all-female company shines individually, bringing, by turns, an unsettling innocence and a vivacious enthusiasm to their characters. The fables all speak of the challenges of being female, but the girlish glee with which they are performed is infectious, and what could have

been a disturbing 45 minutes is, in fact, strangely uplifting.

There is a beautiful simplicity to the production: they use bedsheets as props, by turns twisting them into snakes and ropes and wearing them as billowing cloaks. When Philomela is raped, a silhouette looms over her behind a backlit, hung sheet – a cheap trick, perhaps,

but a lot more threatening than watching two schoolgirls act it out.

Pared-down Metamorphoses it may be, but it’s full of charisma and completely engaging. [Anna Feintuck]

a large whisky, another beer...

Not least admirable about Rob Crouch’s performance as Reed is his bladder capacity. He is also superb at capturing Reed in all his fallibility, vulnerability and rabble-rousing monumentalism.

It is the type of theatre that catches you out. Reed enters in a gorilla suit – you laugh, it is a reference to his Wild Thing. He regales you with anecdotes and you laugh. In the grandiloquent

tones of a great actor he says things of such staggering egotism – you laugh again. But gradually you realise that all this grandeur, all this solipsistic insistence on being the “last of the shit-kickers” is a terrible defiant bravado; an attempt to prove to himself and anyone else that might be listening that although it became a tragic spectator sport, his life—like that of an ancient Roman gladiator—was still glorious.

The script has been adapted with admirable dexterity by Mark Davis and Rob Crouch from Reed’s out-of-print autobiography and archive film footage of interviews. The play loses pace in the last 15 minutes, however Crouch’s bravura realisation of the role more than compensates. [Miranda Kiek]

ity of the task it undertakes, sinking under the weight of intellectual simplification and dramatic shortcuts.

To take the first point, The Most Dangerous Toy seeks to make the case that the events of 1882 directly led to the production of Also Spracht Zarathustra. But, in fact, between 1882 and his death in 1889, Nietzsche completed eight books touching on a range of interests so broad that to draw a straight line from 1882 to his madness and death seems careless. Nor can

the philosopher’s rejection by Salomé be used to account for his misogyny – a strain demonstrated throughout his life’s work, just as it was in that of one of his earliest influences, Arthur Schopenhauer.

The second issue concerns the characterisation of Nietzsche himself, a man whom Freud said had “a more penetrating knowledge of himself than any other man who lived or was ever likely to live.” The Most Dangerous Toy tries to grapple with the man as a shorthand philosophical

concept, a dialectic between passionate, Dionysian impulses and the clearer calmer Appolonian intellect. Jamie Laird performs the character with commitment (as does Maria Alexe playing Salomé). But the result is an infuriating, somewhat pathetic fool – the mesmerising teacher Lou Salomé travelled to Germany to share a flat with remains largely hidden. [Evan Beswick]

60 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, 4:25pm – 5:10pm, 20–25 Aug, £9

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 3:30pm – 4:35pm, 19–27 Aug, £10.00 – £11.00

theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, 7:05pm – 7:55pm, 18 Aug, £8.00

www.festmag.co.uk

Best of the Fests 2012 2-26 August

14:15

23:59

23:59

Assembly George Square Spiegeltent – Teatro (Tuesday to Sunday)

Assembly George Square Spiegeltent – Teatro (Thursday to Sunday)

Assembly Hall Main Hall (Thursday to Sunday)

The perfect way to kick start your day sampling the very

Hosted by the sensational Miss Behave, this late night

The biggest and best line-ups in Edinburgh! This Festival

Best of the Fest! Suitable for

extravaganza is a Pandora’s

favourite maintains its status

all the family.

box full of comedy, cabaret, music, circus and all the wonderful worlds in between.

as the place to be ‘round midnight. Stellar line-ups listed daily.

festtheatre Punch & Judy

HHHHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 12:45pm – 1:45pm, 19–27 Aug, £9.00 – £10.00

US Beef

HHHHH Ever wondered how your burger got from cow to cardboard container? It’s certainly not the first time the ethically dubious practices of fast food corporations have been on the agenda, but Missing String Theatre Company manages to broach such issues with fresh laughter in this satirical take on America’s fiercely consumerist obsession with cheap meat.

Central character Buck, our narrator of sorts, starts at the bottom of the fat-oiled corporate ladder as a door to door meat salesman for the oddly

The School of Night

HHHHH

It’s an odd clash of cultural genres, but audience-wise The School of Night is curiously reminiscent of a Silent Disco, the popular festival event where punters wear headphones, listen to a choice of different songs and thus all dance, chant and cheer at different junctures.

This is how the laughs work at The School of Night, in which five modern dandies create a new Shakespearean play each afternoon. A snatch of seemingly impenetrable dialogue elicits a knowing chuckle from one chap at the back; a larger faction guffaws at a broader bit of physical

62 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

unsavoury sounding Meatbox, a corporate monster promising a pseudo-democratic vision of meat for the masses. Through his personal story of grubby corporate climbing, Missing String deploys its satirical barbs using a wacky blend of comedy, drama and country music. From soulless marketing speak to the hypocrisy of the supposedly ethical consumer, little emerges unscathed.

This is also a satire in which the consumer, and therefore the audience, is deeply implicated. As one fast food outlet employee accusatorily tells us, we are “the cog that turns this

machine,” the demand that drives the increasingly unethical supply.

This dirty complicity, however, is not taken as far as it could be. By making only half-hearted attempts at addressing spectators, Missing String neglects an opportunity to make the audience squirm and, as a result of that discomfort, think. It might make you pause before tearing off that next chunk of meat, but this is unlikely to create many vegetarians. [Catherine Love]

humour, and a younger fellow goes into paroxysms as they pastiche a specific facet of the Bard’s work which passes the rest of us by.

This show evidently isn’t for everyone. Originally (re) convened by the late Ken Campbell, the assembled players are a modern embodiment of a 16th century sect rumoured to have written Shakespeare’s plays by channelling various muses.

Knowledge of that backstory is useful as this collective also makes much of channelling ethereal sources, without ever explicitly explaining what’s going on.

The main muse for their new play is the audience, who is encouraged to offer a

standard array of improv suggestions: themes, memories, even modern authors. They make an active attempt to explain their in-construction plot by reinterpreting it via more recent writers, but the show is most rewarding when one of them breaks character and explains, without flounce, what Shakespearean theme his colleague is currently attempting.

The School of Night is frequently bewildering and teeters perilously on the precipice of smugness, but you might just learn something, like it or not. [Si Hawkins]

Pleasance Dome, 12:20pm – 1:10pm, 19–27 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Pleasance Courtyard, 3:05pm – 4:15pm, 19–26 Aug, £10.00 – £11.00 Charity NoNo SC004694.

Charity SC004694.

Photo: Gadi Dagon Photo: Gadi Dagon

In the midst of a festival where puppetry is back in vogue, Tea Break Theatre is pushing against the tide.

This ramshackle rendition of the traditional seaside favourite trades puppets for actors, with three performers taking on the roles of Punch, his put-upon wife and the wide cast of supporting players.

All the usual suspects are present, from the sausageguzzling crocodile to the incompetent constable, rolled out in a constant, chaotic merry-go-round of costume changes. Making little attempt to break away from the show’s groaningly recognisable conventions, Punch encounters these characters one by one in an anarchic succession of scenes, piling up the bodies as he goes but achieving little else along the way. Even the sitting duck of the banker gets off with the lightest of satires.

If, by swapping puppets for humans, Tea Break Theatre has aimed to give this sprawling farce any real life contemporary resonance, it is almost impossible to detect.

The early scenes are so packed with below-par slapstick and strained humour that when events do take a turn for the darker, any sense of menace is unearned.

Only in the dying moments, as desperation cracks his pasted on smile, does the image of Punch gain anything approaching potency.

“If you be happy,” Punch says to the audience as the show opens, “me be happy too.” By these standards, Punch’s smile is not about to return any time soon.

[Catherine Love]

www.festmag.co.uk

Charity No SC004694.

Photo: Gadi Dagon

2012

Hora

Hora Batsheva Dance Dance Company Company Batsheva Choreographer Ohad Ohad Naharin Naharin Choreographer Science fiction, fiction, martial martial arts arts and and classical classical Science music collide in dance that’s out of this this world world music collide in dance that’s out of

Thursday 30 30 August August –– Batsheva Dance CompanyThursday Saturday 1 September 7.30pm Saturday 1 September 7.30pm

Choreographer Ohad Naharin

‘highly intelligent, intelligent, superbly superbly ‘highly Book now at articulate dancers’ dancers’ Science fiction, martial arts and classical articulate eif.co.uk/hora Los Angeles Times music collide in dance that’s out of this world Los Angeles Times 0131 473 2000 Thursday 30 August – Saturday 1 September 7.30pm

‘superb’ ‘superb’

The Daily Daily Telegraph Telegraph on on Batsheva Batsheva The Dance Company, Company, Festival Festival 2008 2008 Dance

Tickets from £10

festmusic&cabaret Re-Animator: The Musical

HHHHH

The turn of the millennium heralded something of a renaissance of the zombie horror genre. But even amid this, and the current trend for adapting every film going into a musical, a stage adaptation of cult gore flick Re-Animator is an unexpected surprise.

As a pretty faithful adaptation of the screenplay—itself based on the the H.P. Lovecraft story Herbert West - Reanimator—this is a slick, professional and spectacularly messy achievement.

Medical student Herbert West discovers a serum capable of returning the dead to life – but the process is far from perfect, leading to some gory outcomes for characters and audience alike.

Stuart Gordon—director of the 1985 film—reprises his role here, as do the writing team of Norris and Paoli. The cast are uniformly excellent: lead couple Dan and Meg portray a convincing deadpan romance, West’s bug-eyed exhorta-

Frisky and Mannish: Extra-Curricular Activities

HHHHH

Fringe stalwarts Frisky and Mannish have invaded Scotland once more, and if the half mile queue outside Assembly Hall is anything to go by, the duo haven’t lost their ability to pack out the festival’s largest venues. Extra-Curricular Activities is their latest kitsch offering, and whilst evidently still a commercial hit, it feels like something of a let-down.

The gags are too obvious, and the lack of any kind of premise or plot cheapens what could be, and has in the past been, a good show.

Frisky’s voice remains the

tions are genuinely creepy, and Dean Halsey—played by George Wendt, better known as Norm from Cheers—provides barrels of laughs as he’s torn limb from limb. Composer Mark Nutter’s original score is a pitch perfect mash-up of a classic horror soundtrack with Gilbert and Sullivan, although the production’s heavy reliance

on spectacular mess, splatter and special effects does leave choreographer Cynthia Carle with relatively little to do.

While there’s not much more to this than a straight-up retelling of the film, fans of the cult classic will get real enjoyment out of the often startling faithfulness to it’s source, and there’s a spectacle

on offer here for all gorelovers. Just remember, if you’re sitting in the front few rows, you’d be well advised to wear some old clothes – things are going to get messy. [Matthew MacLeod]

real star, and the pair compliment each other well over the course of the hour. But there is nothing much to their material, and many of the numbers lack the amusing rewrites of their past performances.

The medleys seem to be plucked at random, and the songs selected to riff on are unvaried, which does not help the narrow feel of the piece.

A number about the clichéd lyrics of “elephant in the room” Kelly Clarkson, which replaces her phrases with well worn proverbs, seems too basic to be ironic, and simply guilty of the banality they are supposedly parodying.

Their audience engagement is second to none, and the speed with which they

have the 700 seater venue dancing in the aisles is impressive. It is this fun loving, frou frou schtick that has earned them such a vast following, and their prancing does make for an amusing spectacle.

Ultimately, though, the piece is just too vacuous to cause a stir.

[Charlotte Lytton]

64 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

Assembly George Square, 10:40pm – 12:00am, 19–27 Aug, not 20, £12.00 – £14.00

Assembly Hall, 7:30pm – 8:30pm, 19–26 Aug, not 20, 21, 22, £16.00

www.festmag.co.uk

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 65

festmusic&cabaret

Vocal is Lekka

HHHHH

An elderly man, suited and booted in white, stalks onto the stage and winks flirtatiously at the audience before performing ‘It Must be Love,’ giving a virtuoso air trumpet and then, with a little wiggle of his hips, prowling off. The audience is bemused but amused. A state in which it stays for much of the time during the South African

Facehunters

HHHHH

Set amidst the trendy young arty types of east London, the ambitious musical Facehunters is a clever reimagining of Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. But instead of a Victorian dandy remaining ever youthful while his image on a portrait in his attic grows horrifyingly older, it’s two young hipster girls who retain their place on the east London scene over passing decades while a Polaroid taken

a capella group’s performance.

The band speak only Afrikaans.

What they say must be pretty funny – one person keeps guffawing loudly. That in itself has its comic side, of course, and Vocal is Lekka do prove themselves able to mine the communication gap for humour. As it happens, it’s the upbeat Afrikaans songs which are the most enjoyable.

In the future it could be an idea to focus more on these songs when performing in the UK.

The group are done a disservice by the time and venue of their act—4.55pm in the large 1920s night club-style space of Elegance in The Assembly at George Square—meaning the audience sits in daylight while a heavily-miked Vocal is Lekka perform on a stage lit in dark moody blues. The aesthetic is appropriate for a large, boozy audience late at night, and not for a sunny tent populated by a dozen odd stone cold sober

festival-goers in the midafternoon.

But this quibble is one of mechanics, and although the act still has a long way to go—especially in terms of choreography and staging— their vocal range makes for a pleasingly harmonious blend.

[Miranda Kiek]

30 years previously ages in their place.

It’s a neat updating from Leeds-based theatre company The Hungry Bitches, and the large-scale, energetic production—with a cast of almost 20 and a five-piece band which plays the show’s original music pretty much throughout—sets its sights very high. The choreography of the 15-strong chorus is particularly impressive, with tight moves and formations that gather and disperse with well-reheased slickness.

Many of the leads are strong: the angelic Sweetie has a fine voice, and her ex-boyfriend Bruce has a good stage presence. The ever-youthful duo of Katherine and Juliette are well-matched and naturally charismatic.But there’s also the feeling that the company may have overstretched itself. Apart from a couple of exceptions, the songs are generally unmemorable, and their American soft-rock style feels somewhat at odds with the contemporary hipster setting. The energetic

chorus is an almost constant presence on stage, leaving us begging for moments of quiet and calm – there’s little light and shade in the piece. And despite the good performances, the lead characters lack depth, and we feel little emotional connection with them. It’s an enjoyable show, but it could have been so much stronger. [Benjamin Edwards]

66 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

Assembly George Square, 4:55pm – 5:55pm, 19–27 Aug, not 20, £15.00 – £16.00

C venues - C, 8:50pm – 10:05pm, 19–27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

www.festmag.co.uk

festmusic&cabaret Kate Daisy Grant with Nick Pynn

HHHHH

As the first part of a double bill of sorts, with both artists taking it in turns to play backing musician to the other’s songs in back-to-back sets, Kate Daisy Grant’s catchy pop is the more straightforward half compared to Nick Pynn’s mesmerising avant-folk. That’s not to say, however, that there’s anything routine about this singer-songwriter’s material, as her simple, accessible melodies are set against wonderfully inventive arrangements making use of toy pianos, brightly coloured miniature bells, Pynn’s theremin, violin, guitar and at one point, a set of wine glasses used to surprising effect, alongside Grant’s strong and emotive voice.

Managing to make an intimate setting that exudes warmth from a rather plain room in a language school in

the West End, the set looks impressive on arrival, with an array of acoustic instruments and novel percussion devices packed into the small space.

Grant is a cheery and winning personality on stage, whilst Pynn is a masterful backing player, adding colour and mood to Grant’s largely piano-led songs. Grant is at her best

when in upbeat pop mode, with Pynn decorating the tunes with his excellent violin work, achieving a sound that seems larger than the sum of its parts.

With comedy and theatre taking centre stage at the Fringe, musicians are often forgotten amidst the frantic promotion and fevered hype

surrounding the major venues.

This is a show that encapsulates what the Fringe should be all about, and it deserves an audience as much as anything happening this August. [Andrew Chadwick] Inlingua Edinburgh, 8:15pm – 9:15pm, 19–26 Aug, not 20, £8.00

“Now’s the time to bow down at the altar of four-strong a cappella group FORK” METRO

AWARD-WINNING

REVIEWS

COVERING EVERY INCH OF

THE WORLD’S

BIGGEST ARTS FESTIVAL

EDINBURGH'S BIGGEST AND BEST FESTIVAL MAGAZINE IS BACK FOR 2012 Get the latest reviews online

WWW.FESTMAG.CO.UK www.festmag.co.uk

2-26 AUG (NO SHOW 14) AT 22.25 (1 HR) GEORGE SQUARE - SPIEGELTENT TEATRO August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 67

festmusic&cabaret Bereavement: the Musical

HHHHH

An unapologetic Broadway pastiche, Bereavement: the Musical seeks to present a weighty subject through an unconventional frame of lighthearted humour. Six musical vignettes of individuals dealing with the fallout of recent bereavements are interspersed with some general ruminations on “life’s unavoidable tragedy,” and while the show makes a spirited attempt to explore the complex personal effects of grief, it’s ultimately hard to discern an overall narrative.

An uncomfortably believable portrayal of a businesswoman relying on work to distract her from her mother’s death is both funny and touching, while a 15 year-old boy wondering ‘Is it wrong to have a wank when your mum’s dead?’ may evoke a few cheap laughs, but manages to be almost agonisingly honest.

However, some characters rely too heavily on shallow sentimentality and lack the

Chaz Royal presents the Sexy Circus Sideshow

HHHHH

“This floor’s covered in jewels, sparkles and blood,” muses a dapper dwarf, as he surveys the post-show carnage. “That’s the sign of a good night.”

Indeed, this sexy circus even comes complete with pre-show safety instructions, due to the presence of whirling naked flames.

There are naked bodies too, of course, or near enough. Burlesque has become an acceptable middle-class evening-out in recent years, a bit of gentle titillation before settling down with another few chapters of 50 Shades of Grey. Chaz Royal’s affair is from the darker side of the tracks, however, some-

irreverence which makes others more entertaining and memorable.

Composer Jeff Carpenter’s original piano score is sparkling and engaging throughout, conveying a well-balanced sense of playfulness and sentiment, and is certainly the most polished element of this production. This is supported

by good use of the bare set, minimal props and skillful lighting. But while the cast are broadly able to hold a tune, some seem to struggle during their solo pieces, and the group numbers lack a sense of co-ordination and balance. But stand-out vocal performances

by Rosie Brown and Will Karani are genuinely spine-tingling.

This is an innovative, unusual and engaging production featuring some excellent technical achievements, unfortunately let down slightly by a muddled narrative which fails to play to its own strengths.

[Matthew Macleod]

where between Cabaret-era Berlin, Freaks and The Rocky Horror Show.

This evening’s main act are the Monsters of Schlock, two heavy metal dudes who hold several world records and tell bad jokes while inserting sharp things into themselves, with the assistance of female audience members. A giggly girl called Roxanne steals the show here, twisting herself like a trainee contortionist as she extracts a large nail while pointing everything in the opposite direction.

Then it’s time for the showgirls, and a varied array of shapes and skills. The ‘stripping is empowering’ argument doesn’t appease everyone but there is something oddly heart-warming about a cellulite-heavy backside

jiggling proudly, to whoops and hollers, without the input of Gok Wan. But the show’s real hero emerges when the Monsters of Schlock then reappear. As they scour the back row for a volunteer after 40 minutes

of thoroughly entertaining onstage mayhem, one chap is clearly asleep. Now that really is impressive. [Si Hawkins]

68 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

C venues, 6:40pm – 7:40pm, 19–27 Aug, £9.50 – £11.50

Assembly George Square, 11:45pm – 12:45am, 19–26 Aug, not 20, £10.00 – £13.00

www.festmag.co.uk

festmusic&cabaret Les Clöchards: Dirty But Nice

HHHHH

Imagine if The Libertines, Les Negresses Vertes and The Wurzels exploded their various body parts and were reanimated into five people, complete with random hat wear, and you have a mental image of boho band The Les Clöchards.

Legend—or at least their PR material—has it that these buskers played their way from an island off Corsica to the mainland. Their subsequent renown rests on energetic reworkings of classic (mainly 80s) rock and pop hits. Of the various pleasing examples in their canon is a raunchy version of Roxette’s already raunchy ‘You’ve Got The Look’, but if you doubt they have range then try their flamenco twist to Dirty Dancing anthem ‘(I’ve Had) The Time Of My Life,’ or their

Dr Quimpugh’s Compendium of Peculiar Afflictions

HHHHH

Treading the line somewhere between opera and musical theatre, this strange little piece by Martin Ward and Phil Porter concerns legacy and what it means to make the most of a life. Nearing the end of his days, the eponymous Dr Quimpugh worries about what he is leaving behind, prompting his two nurses to remind him of his life’s work and trigger a musical skip down memory lane.

The doctor’s speciality, it emerges, is odd and unusual ailments. As hallucinatory memories form before him in his study, the piece takes us back through a category of increasingly bizarre complaints, from one woman whose hand has a mind of its own to another determined to eat every object she can lay her hands on. Embarrassing Bodies

www.festmag.co.uk

initially coy ballad version of Madonna’s ‘Like A Virgin’, which increases in tempo with a little help from a refrain of Michael Jackson’s ‘Earth Song’.

There’s a dash of Sinatra, both Frank and Nancy, in the mix as well as the Renato Carsone jazz standard ‘Tu Vuò

Fà L’Americano’. It’s great fun and ultimately irresistible. The clowning from the band might well be limited to gurning, posturing and some brief patter (for example, how everyone at the Fringe seems to have five stars), but it’s their musical dexterity that brings a smile to

your face. A cabaret act and not a comedy one for sure, but no less enjoyable for that, The Les Clöchards make for a refreshing and somewhat nostalgic Fringe diversion. [Julian Hall] Assembly George Sq, 7:30pm – 8:30pm, 21–27 Aug, £10 – £11

has nothing on Dr Quimpugh’s clientele.

A musical freak show of sorts, this succession of strangeness muddles on with little purpose. Peculiar it certainly is, but even peculiarity can become dull. While Ward’s score is skilfully sung by the cast, accompanied by a trio of onstage musicians, the eccentric charm that the piece reaches for remains just out of its grasp.

Despite this, there is something intriguing and potentially moving about the piece’s central question; as Quimpugh despairingly sings, “what will they write on my grave?” the doctor doubts the worth of a career essentially fed by the misfortune of others, questioning the value of the knowledge he has accrued. It is just a shame that such questions are not more engagingly interrogated. [Catherine Love] Summerhall, 5pm – 6:10pm, 19–26 Aug, not 21, £12

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 69

festkids

2012 Festival Round-up up with Kids Editor Caroline Black meets d out what fin her team of mini reviewers to festival. they’ve enjoyed about this year’s Eleanor Smith (age 9)

Eleanor is clear about what has been the best bit of her school holidays; her “summer job” reviewing for Fest. “I’ve enjoyed going to see all of the shows as I don’t normally go to loads of the Fringe stuff.

Crazy Dr Brown was the funniest thing I saw. He didn’t speak; he only mimed.” Not one single word in the whole show? “Well he did say "OOOOO" and "EEEEE" when he was playing tennis. But apart from that the singing tiger did everything.”

And with two five star shows—Dr Brown and The Curious Scrapbook of Josephine Bean—under her belt, which of the two was her favourite? “Oh no. I don’t know.

No. It’s impossible to choose.”

So, were there any parts that she really didn’t enjoy? “The worst bit was in the Pleasance. It was a nice setting but the toilets were really hard to find. You had to go down the stairs and then there were two pathways and you didn’t know which way to go.” Venues, take note.

Ross Salters (age 11)

This was the second year being a Fest Kids Reviewer for Ross Salters, a seasoned hack. “I think it was definitely better this year as I felt like I knew what I was doing. I took notes during the show and then I’d write my review straight after the show so the ideas were still fresh.”

Below (L-R): Max, Ben, Ross, Eleanor, Ailis, Lois & Billy

Lois Black (age 6)

“After the show Nanny I had a hot chocolate and a chocolate brownie with icecream, but I didn’t like the ice cream.” It seems that Lois Black was less impressed by the shows and more by what followed them. But were there any shows that she will remember? “I liked Andy and Mike’s Tick Tock Show the best, Mike was crazy.

But I didn’t like Polly; the drawing pencils were rubbish. We also saw people just standing in the street next to Greyfriars Bobby playing guitar and singing a nice song. When we walked past they were just finishing so we got to see them curtsey and go ‘Ta Da’.”

But what was the best bit about being a Fest Kids Reviewer? “I like having the pass. I like the wee picture of a fox with a walking stick. I’ll put it in my special drawer.”

70 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

www.festmag.co.uk

festkids Ross lives and goes to school in Fife so coming into Edinburgh when it is so busy was part of the fun. “There were loads of things going on when I went down the High Street. There were a couple of girls playing guitars and singing. There was a really freaky one with a little girl pretending to be dead on the street. It was very life-like but a bit, well, yuck. I didn’t stay long but she’d probably been there for quite a while.”

Billy Salters (age 6)

Above: Eleanor with Dr Brown & His Signing Tiger

According to his mum, Billy Salters was a bit miffed last year when he was too little to be a Fest Kids Reviewer. “Yeah, I was a bit sad that I didn’t get to do it but my big brothers did.” But this year lived up to expectations. “I really enjoyed the shows, it was quite new as I don’t normally go to the theatre.”

“Captain Codless and the Legend of Plunge Island was my favourite, it was really funny. I liked when they went to the Olympics. Did you watch the Olympics?

Did you see the high jump? There was this lady and she nearly made it, it was just her foot that knocked it off. If she didn’t have any feet then she’d have been fine.”

So, in Edinburgh 2013 would Billy like to be a Fest Kids Reviewer again?

“Hmm, no thank you. When I did it this time I didn’t really have a choice as Mum just signed me up.”

Ben Salters (age 11)

I suspect that we might just see Ben Salters involved in future Edinburgh Festivals. “When I grow up I’d like to be a photographer or a journalist. And after watching Comedy 4 Kids I’d quite like to try being a comedian.”

Ben obviously loved the whole atmosphere of the Fringe and being involved. “I really loved being in Edinburgh when it was so busy. I also quite liked having my Fringe Reviewer pass on. Everyone would look at you and be like ‘How has he got one?’”

“I took notes during the show and wrote some of my reviews just afterwards when I was waiting for the bus. I do enjoy writing; I just don’t like the thought of it.

But writing is my favourite subject at school.

Would he join us again? “Yeah, I’d love to!”

www.festmag.co.uk

Ailis Black (age 6)

“I just liked the bubbles. The best one was the one that went up to the ceiling and then popped,” Ailis Black says of her favourite bubble in her favourite show, The Amazing Bubble Man. Ailis lives in the seaside town of North Berwick so coming into Edinburgh itself was quite a treat. “I got the train with Mum which was fun. And I got to go for lunch in Pizza Express, just Mum and me.

It was fun because I got to eat pizza. It was nice not to be in North Berwick. I like Edinburgh best.”

Of all the things that Ailis saw on her travels—the double dutch skipping team, a man juggling chainsaws—none tickled her quite like the hilarity of seeing “a boy in a tutu.” This was her favourite. “It was difficult being a Fest Kids Reviewer, but it was fun. I would like to do it. So would my brother.”

Maxwell Stephenson (age 9)

“I normally see loads of shows in the festival. Deciding how many stars the show should get was the easy part, it was thinking what to say in the review that was hard.”

Maxwell Stephenson might be an experienced Fringe visitor but writing about shows didn’t always come easily. “I took notes during the show but it was still hard.” His Dad came up with a good way to encourage him: “After the show my Dad said we could go to McDonalds as long as I wrote a bit of a practice review. It was nice when I finally finished them and I’ve already taken them in to show my teacher.”

Edinburgh based Maxwell might be used to street entertainment, but even he was surprised this year. “I got given £10. I was asked to join the show and had to stand holding two balloons whilst the performer told jokes and whipped real lion-whips in front of me. I was shivering and laughing at his jokes. I was happy but extremely scared.” f

fest 71

festkids

By kids, for kids! ...

Fest calls in the miniature experts Superjohn

HHHHH The venue that I went to had good seats and was big enough for all the people but you could hear the show next door which is very distracting when you are trying to enjoy a show.

The show itself is about a boy named John who is in hospital. He imagines he’s a super hero, Super John. John imagines he must get the Orb of Invincibility to become strong again. Meanwhile his sister Star is getting very frustrated at all the attention her brother is getting. Neither of them get along but can they join forces to defeat the evil Heema.

The actors were very good at switching characters and doing facial expressions. I felt it

probably had a good storyline, but I didn’t have a clue what was going on half the time.

Also some bits were a bit boring. I think children eight and under would enjoy this more.

[Ross Salters, age 11] Pleasance Courtyard, 11:25am – 12:40pm, 20–27 Aug, £9.00 – £10.00

Comedy Club 4 Kids

Horrible Histories: Barmy Britain

HHHHH

The Bongo Club is a place where comedians can try and make children laugh and they certainly did a good job.

There were three comedians and one compere, all of whom were hilariously funny. These comedians put the fun into funny.

The venue was very big and there was lots of space for the comedians to perform.

There was one comedian who was only 16 and I think that they should have more jokers and jesters that age because it’s a lot more inspirational.

The compere was a bit crazy and he got the audience to throw their jumpers onto the stage. He ended up with 15 jumpers on at one point. He was definitely the second fun-

HHHHH

niest. The last comedian was the funniest whose jokes were about his children and what they get up to with him.

Go see this show and you’ll have sore cheeks from laughing. [Ben Salters, age 11] The Bongo Club, 5:30pm – 6:30pm, 19–26 Aug, £7.00 – £9.00

72 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

Horrible Histories was lots of different stories. There was a lady and a man on stage.

They had lots of costumes that they wore and changed in front of you. I liked the man best. He was very funny when he threw the baby away.

My favourite story was about the King and the Queen. The King was very fussy and wanted a baby boy not a baby girl. He killed his wife which was funny.

The funniest bit was when the lady thought she was going to sneeze and went ‘ah ah ah..’ but then she didn’t sneeze. Then she went ‘choo’ all over the baby. I didn’t like

the bit with the blood stuff on the sheets.

I liked the show but think older children would like it a lot. It was quite loud and they talked very quickly. [Lois Black, age 6] Pleasance Courtyard, 12:00pm – 1:00pm, 21–26 Aug, £11.50

www.festmag.co.uk

festkids

Scamp Theatre & Watford Palace Theatre present:

The Freedom Family Circus

Untitled-2 1

27/07/2012 15:3

HHHHH

This show was amazingly jaw dropping, extraordinarily brilliant. The amount of skill, balance and bravery was superb! From Phoenix to Arizona—and not forgetting Wales—these actors are spectacular. I cannot stress enough how surprising this is. I especially liked Hermy the Clown who was very funny.

This show is full of street performers; knife jugglers, unicyclists and lots of other hair raising daredevil acts. One of the performers even balanced a sword—pointed end down— on his forehead! Another balanced a bowling pin on his head while spinning a football with one hand and juggling tennis balls with the other. There was also a band that played Mexican style music and I really liked the girl in it who played the trumpet.

www.festmag.co.uk

& other terrific tales from

Julia Donaldson & Axel Scheffler Reviews for Stick Man - Live on Stage!

HHHHH

‘Wonderfully exuberant & imaginative’

HHHHH

Time Out Critics’ Choice

‘Zesty and delightful’ Independent

HHHHH

Sunday Express

They have different acts on each time so the audience will always be surprised. I found the staff very friendly as were the performers and volunteers. The venue was a good size too, it had a good vibe about it.

I would rate The Freedom Family Circus four stars as they dropped a few items while performing. But this is easily done under tense circumstances. [Ben Salters, age 11]

11.15AM (12.05PM)

Point Hotel, 1:40pm – 2:40pm, 20–25 Aug, £7.00

2 - 27 AUG 2012 (not 9th)

19/04/2012 August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 73

AD277_Print_ChildrensShows.indd 1

12:48

festkids

The Magician’s Daughter

HHHHH

Shakespeare’s The Tempest is given a colourful re-telling for tots in this Royal Shakespeare Company collaboration with London puppet maestros, Little Angel Theatre, aimed at children aged three and upwards.

It’s years since Prospero left the island and Miranda now has a daughter, Isabella,

Cloud Man

HHHHH A million miles from the brightly coloured, noisy spectacle of Sesame Street Live or Mother Africa, this quiet, lyrical play for young children takes place in a pale world of cotton wool clouds, beige-green mountains and tiny, chalk-white men. A beautiful piece of set design as well as an intriguing piece of storytelling, it had the children at the performance I saw

who loves to hear stories of her late grandfather’s magic.

As a never-ending rainstorm hits their Italian village, Isabella, unable to sleep, opens Prospero’s famous book and finds herself transported to the isle where a green big-bellied Caliban and blue feather-haired Ariel still reside, each in possession of half of their former master’s broken staff. If there’s a villain to the piece, it’s Caliban who wants to take control of the

island but really he is the most adorable wannabe-tyrant, forgetting Isabella’s name, cursing in nonsense language and constantly coveting Ariel’s tree of “fruity fruit.”

This is a big-hearted, vibrant production full of eccentric instruments and gentle audience involvement. Michael Rosen’s text weaves in some of Shakespeare’s best loved lines, through song or repetition, making it a lovely first encounter with Shakespeare

for the very young. Older children might find the telling style a little over-emphasised, but the message of sharing and cooperation is sweet and nicely put across, and seeing Prospero’s staff with a carrot nose singing songs about being broken in half will bring a smile to the grown-ups’ faces.

[Lucy Ribchester]

rapt with concentration and wonder throughout.

Our heroine is a scientist who has devoted her life to finding the elusive “cloud men” that live in the sky. Dressed stereotypically in large glasses and an anorak, but sympathetically portrayed in a subtle performance by Jen Edgar, she sets up camp at the top of “the cloudiest mountain in the world.” There, she sets about taking measurements with tiny instruments, sometimes

finding a possession of the cloud man’s: a miniature sock, a little vest.

The tale evokes the slowburn thrill of scientific discovery, whilst gently sending up its main character’s insistence on recording and cataloguing every small detail of this apparently magical phenomenon.

The cloud man himself is tantalisingly absent for a good 20 minutes, making his eventual appearance—a series of personable puppets inside a

large cotton-wool cloud, operated by Edgar herself—all the more magical.

The moral dilemma of the final section is interesting, but glossed over a little too quickly: children could have coped with a little more dramatic tension before the happy ending.

Nevertheless, this pastel world will linger in their imaginations long after they’ve left the theatre. [Tom Hackett]

74 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 1:15pm – 2:00pm, 20–27 Aug, £11.00 – £12.00

Run Ended

www.festmag.co.uk

www.festmag.co.uk

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 75

comedylistings

FESTIVAL

LISTINGS When it's this time...

...this show is on...

❤ Richard Herring HHHH

...on these dates...

10:00 1000 Years of Scotland’s Dark Past

The Edinburgh Dungeon, 20 Aug - 2 Sep, £10.50

10:15 BBC: Front Row

BBC @ Potterrow, 22 Aug, £free

10:30 1000 Years of Scotland’s Dark Past

The Edinburgh Dungeon, 20 Aug - 2 Sep, £10.50

11:00 1000 Years of Scotland’s Dark Past

The Edinburgh Dungeon, 20 Aug - 2 Sep, £10.50

11:20 Card Ninja: ReDeal

Assembly George Square, 21-26 Aug, £9

11:30 Mind Reading for Breakfast

Sweet Grassmarket, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £9

... at this place...

...for this price

11:50 Graters: Julian Ignores his Friend and Talks to a Pretty Girl

Underbelly, Cowgate, 2026 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

12:00 FunBags present Unusual Suspects

Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-25 Aug, £5

Austerity Pleasures

Laughing Horse @ Finnegan’s Wake, 20-25 Aug, £free

Cheese-Badger presents... Midge (a Two-Man Musical) - Free

Laughing Horse @ The Newsroom, 21-26 Aug, £free

Sally-Anne Hayward: The Inbetweeny Lady

The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 20-26 Aug, £8

Aaaand Now for Something Completely Improvised - Free Laughing Horse @ Meadow Bar, 20-26 Aug, £free

Ivo Graham and Liam Williams

The listings are arranged by type - Comedy or Theatre - and then by time. We've listed the dates that each show is running, but remember that it might be on at different times too - check our website for more information.

Dates and times can sometimes change, so check with the venue before planning ahead.

20:15 Underbelly, Bristo Square 7-26 Aug, £14 – £16

Fest is the only place you can get daily listings for all of the comedy and theatre shows at the Fringe.

If you're looking for a show to see right now, visit festmag.co.uk on your smartphone to find out what's coming up near your current location.

Croft & Pearce Do It Like A Lady HHH

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 2027 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Lucy Cox: Attractive Audience Required - Free Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-26 Aug, £free

Juliet Meyers: Raised By Fridge Magnets

The Stand Comedy Club II, 20-26 Aug, £8

Jerry Bucham: Freelance Activist

Laughing Horse @ Jekyll & Hyde, 20-26 Aug, £free

The Cradle of Comedy

Hill Street Theatre, 2026 Aug, £5

Introducing Stu Introducing Will - Free

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20-26 Aug, £free

The Aspidistras - Hi Noon! HH Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £5

Eggball

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-26 Aug, £free

1000 Years of Scotland’s Dark Past

Laughing Horse @ Captain Taylor’s Coffee House, 20-26 Aug, £free

1000 Years of Scotland’s Dark Past

11:40

James Redmond and Ellie Taylor - Free Festival

The Tourists - A Free Festival Sketch Show

The Edinburgh Dungeon, 20 Aug - 2 Sep, £10.50

The Durham Revue

Underbelly, Cowgate, 2226 Aug, £9 – £10

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20-26 Aug, £free

The Edinburgh Dungeon, 20 Aug - 2 Sep, £10.50

Laughing Horse @ Edinburgh City Football Club, 20-26 Aug, £free

12:05 Gareth Morinan Presents A Wilmops Good Improv Show The Cabaret Voltaire, 20-25 Aug, £free

Failure and How to Achieve It The Voodoo Rooms, 20-25 Aug, £free

12:10 ❤ Simon Munnery’s La Concepta HHHH La Concepta @ Whitespace, 20-25 Aug, £11.50 – £13.50

Richard Wiseman: Psychobabble The Canons’ Gait, 22 Aug, £free

Graham Rex

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £8 – £9

Domestic Science

The Canons’ Gait, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

Politics Now. Politics Wow! Scottish Comedy Festival @ The Beehive Inn, 2026 Aug, £free

Anne Edmonds in My Banjo’s Name is Steven HHH

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £8 – £9

12:15 Stu and Garry in The Lunchtime Show The Assembly Rooms, 20-26 Aug, £10

About Comedy Stand-up Comedy Courses

Laughing Horse @ Edinburgh City Football Club, 21 Aug, 25 Aug, £99

Cucu-rucu-cu in the French Alps

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20-26 Aug, £free

Nick Hayman: Middle Aged, Useless and Talented! - Free

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

The Comedian’s Comedian Live with Stuart Goldsmith Gilded Balloon Teviot, 24-26 Aug, £7.50

12:20 Bob and Jim - Go

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £8 – £9

12:30 Ted & Co The Dinner Show Hilton Edinburgh Grosvenor, 25 Aug, £39

Rock N Roll Politics presented by Steve Richards

Assembly George Square, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £10 – £12.50

❤ Tony Law Maximum Nonsense HHHH The Stand Comedy Club, 20-27 Aug, £8

BUY TICKETS ON

76 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

FACEBOOK.COM/UNDERBELLYEDINBURGH

FOR ALL UNDERBELLY SHOWS

One in a Million - Free

Laughing Horse @ City Cafe, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

Sam Fletcher - Good on Paper Bannermans, 20-25 Aug, £free

Cirque du Charlie Chuck SpaceCabaret @ 54, 20-25 Aug, £8

1000 Years of Scotland’s Dark Past

The Edinburgh Dungeon, 20 Aug - 2 Sep, £10.50

Big Value Comedy’s Lunchtime Club Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £5 – £6

Fragments of Monotony / An Audience With Sir Dickie Benson

Whynot? , 20-25 Aug, £free

12:35 Man Feelings

Laughing Horse @ Jekyll & Hyde, 20-26 Aug, £free

12:50 Jenny Fawcett

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £8 – £8.50

12:55 Funk Rocket 5000 Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £5 – £6

Horse & Louis: The Curse of...

Underbelly, Cowgate, 2026 Aug, £9 – £9.50

comedylistings 13:00 E4 Udderbelly Podcalf 2012

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 22-26 Aug, £6

The Temps

Pleasance Courtyard, 21-27 Aug, £8 – £9

The Comedy Sandwich

Laughing Horse @ Finnegan’s Wake, 20-25 Aug, £free

Anthony King: Songs of Love and Death Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £8 – £9.50

Short & Curly: A Captive Audience

Ciao Roma, 20-25 Aug, £free

Mervyn Stutter’s Pick of the Fringe

Pleasance Courtyard, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £9 – £10

Sad Faces Remember It Differently

Underbelly, Cowgate, 2026 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Jim Smallman’s Group Therapy

Just the Tonic at The Tron, 20-26 Aug, £5

Mr Susan’s ‘Cheeky Flippin’ Nice’ - Free

Laughing Horse @ The Newsroom, 20-26 Aug, £free

This Arthur’s Seat Belongs to Lionel Richie

Summit of Arthur’s Seat, 20-27 Aug, £free

1000 Years of Scotland’s Dark Past

The Edinburgh Dungeon, 20 Aug - 2 Sep, £10.50

The Human Condition - Free

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 21-26 Aug, £free

Amnesty’s Secret Comedy Podcast

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20 Aug, 21 Aug, 27 Aug, £free

13:05 Frankie from the Valley - Free

Laughing Horse @ Jekyll & Hyde, 20-26 Aug, £free

Revill’s Selection - Free

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 21-26 Aug, £free

Cracking Yolks - Free Range Comedy Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-26 Aug, £free

Life, the Universe, Whatever...

Laughing Horse @ Jekyll & Hyde, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

The Three Half Pints

Laughing Horse @ Edinburgh City Football Club, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

Mike Sheer in Undergod - Free

Laughing Horse @ The Counting House, 20-26 Aug, £free

BDOOL (Best Days of Our Lives) - Free Laughing Horse @ The Phoenix, 20-26 Aug, £free

13:10 Bless You In Advance

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-26 Aug, £free

❤ Simon Munnery’s La Concepta HHHH La Concepta @ Whitespace, 20-25 Aug, £11.50 – £13.50

They’re Gonna Crucify Me

The Banshee Labyrinth, 20-25 Aug, £free

Tony Jameson and Katie Mulgrew Tell Tales

The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 20-26 Aug, £8

Best of Edinburgh The Showcase Show

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Iszi Lawrence’s Wotnot

The Stand Comedy Club II, 20-26 Aug, £8

13:15 BBC: The Richard Bacon Show

BBC @ Potterrow, 22-23 Aug, £free

Soap Box - The Comedy Debate Slam

Scottish Comedy Festival @ The Beehive Inn, 2026 Aug, £free

Austentatious: An Improvised Jane Austen Novel

Kieran Hodgson: Supervillain

Gareth Morinan: Truth Doodler

The Canons’ Gait, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

The Voodoo Rooms, 20-25 Aug, £free

Adam Larter: Happy New Year - A Free Comedy Show Laughing Horse @ Captain Taylor’s Coffee House, 20-26 Aug, £free

This Is Soap

C venues - C, 20-27 Aug, £6.50 – £8.50

13:20 Will Marsh’s Ruination

Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £5 – £8

Three for Free

Belushi’s, 20-25 Aug, £free

Bowling and Todd +1 The Cabaret Voltaire, 20-25 Aug, £free

13:25 Jay Foreman’s Mixtape

Underbelly, Cowgate, 2026 Aug, £9 – £10

The Look of an Angel on the Devil Himself Sweet Grassmarket, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £7

Bob Graham Work Ethic

A Coach Load of Lesley

The Voodoo Rooms, 20-25 Aug, £free

Kelly Kingham: Goody Two-Shoes - Free

The Royal Mile Tavern, 20-25 Aug, £free

Back to School

Pleasance at Braidwood Centre, 24-26 Aug, £15

1000 Years of Scotland’s Dark Past

The Edinburgh Dungeon, 20 Aug - 2 Sep, £10.50

❤ Bridget Christie: War Donkey HHHH The Assembly Rooms, 20-26 Aug, £10

13:40 Jessica Pidsley’s I Can Make You Thin(k)

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £8 – £9

13:45 Giant Talking Cat Free Festival

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-26 Aug, £free

13:30

Free Footlights

Gentlemen Bears

The Hudson Hotel, 2025 Aug, £free

Ian Smith and Tom Toal

Afternoon Delight

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 21-26 Aug, £free

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-26 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

George Ryegold’s God-In-A-Bag HH

❤ Chris Corcoran and Elis James - The Committee Meeting HHHH

Working Men’s Club

Laughing Horse @ The Counting House, 20-26 Aug, £free

Scottish Comedy Festival @ The Beehive Inn, 2126 Aug, £free

Whistlebinkies, 20-25 Aug, £free

Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £5

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20-26 Aug, £free

Mace and Burton: Rom Com Con

Mugging Chickens

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-26 Aug, £free

Pam Ford Salon Secrets - Free

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £9 – £10 Le Monde, 20-25 Aug, £free

Josh Richards: Keith Looks Back in Anger - Free

Alternative Fringe @ The Hive, 20-26 Aug, £free

Control Alt Delete - The Funny Side of Computers

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £9 – £10

Laughing Horse @ City Cafe, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

California Beach Bungalow

Speak Easy with Kristen and Kurt

C venues - C aquila, 2027 Aug, £6.50 – £8.50

The Jam House, 21-22 Aug, £free

14:00 Hannah Gadsby Mary. Contrary.

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 23-26 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

Bristol Revunions: Destination Adventure Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £7.50 – £8.50

The Early Edition

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-25 Aug, £11 – £13

Dixon of Fogg Green - Free

Alternative Fringe @ The Hive, 20-26 Aug, £free

Luke and Harry’s Dot Dot Dot Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £8 – £9

Phil Buckley - Simple Things - Free Laughing Horse @ The Counting House, 20-26 Aug, £free

Gagging for Attention

Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £3

Activism Is Fun

Globe, 20-25 Aug, £free

Nutters of the British Isles: The Complete Field Guide - Free

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20-26 Aug, £free

Best of the Fest Daytime

Assembly George Square, 21-26 Aug, £10 – £12.50

Roland Rides The Rail’s! (again) - Free

Fliss Russell - Life is Fliss

Laughing Horse @ Finnegan’s Wake, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £free

Lara A King - People Pleaser

Richard Herring’s Edinburgh Fringe Podcast

Dragonfly, 20-25 Aug, £free

Assembly George Square, 20-26 Aug, £10

Sandi Toksvig Live: My Valentine Pleasance Courtyard, 20-23 Aug, £14

The Two O’Clock Show

The Banshee Labyrinth, 20-25 Aug, £free

1000 Years of Scotland’s Dark Past

The Edinburgh Dungeon, 20 Aug - 2 Sep, £10.50

All the Fun of the Unfair 2012

Siglo, 20-25 Aug, £free

14:05 AAA Batteries (Not Included) - Free Laughing Horse @ Meadow Bar, 20-26 Aug, £free

The Stand Comedy Club, 20-27 Aug, £10

14:20 Eric’s Tales of the Sea - A Submariner’s Yarn Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £9 – £10.50

Jack Jerome’s Journey of Life

Just the Tonic at The Tron, 20-26 Aug, £8

Eleanor Tiernan Rogue H

The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 20-26 Aug, £8

Silky: Nut Allegory

The Stand Comedy Club II, 20-26 Aug, £8

Tom Lauri: Good With His Fingers

Under Your Feet

Southsider, 20-25 Aug, £free

Sweet Grassmarket, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £7

Helsinki

The One Hour Plays

Laughing Horse @ Jekyll & Hyde, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

Underbelly, Cowgate, 2026 Aug, £8 – £9.50

14:15

Sarah Jones: Does Not Play Well With Others

It’s Not Us, It’s You - Free

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-26 Aug, £free

BEASTS

Pleasance Courtyard, 20-27 Aug, £8 – £9

14:30 C venues - C aquila, 2027 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

Angela Barnes and Matt Richardson

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20-26 Aug, £free

COMEDY, THEATRE, CABARET AND MORE www.festmag.co.uk

OPEN 'TIL 5AM

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 77

comedylistings Jessie Cave: Bookworm HHH

Underbelly, Cowgate, 2026 Aug, £9 – £10

Ian Fox - Shutter Monkey (The Comedy Show With Pictures) - Free

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20-26 Aug, £free

The One-Eyed Men’s Friendship Formula - Free Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-26 Aug, £free

The Edinburgh Revue Stand Up Show

Scottish Comedy Festival @ The Beehive Inn, 2026 Aug, £free

Tennyson Hanbury’s Condensed Cabaret Belushi’s, 20-25 Aug, £free

This Comedy Mob Belongs to Lionel Richie

The Scott Monument, 25 Aug, £free

Barbara Nice: Mrs Nice HH

The Assembly Rooms, 20-25 Aug, £10

Square Eye Pair

Gilded Balloon Teviot, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

1000 Years of Scotland’s Dark Past

The Edinburgh Dungeon, 20 Aug - 2 Sep, £10.50

14:35 Convicted

The Cabaret Voltaire, 20 Aug, 21 Aug, 23 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, £free

14:40 Billy Kirkwood’s - Show Me Your Tattoo 2012

Scottish Comedy Festival @ The Beehive Inn, 2125 Aug, £free

Vinegar Knickers: On The Edge HH Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £8 – £9.50

10 Films With My Dad The Voodoo Rooms, 20-25 Aug, £free

14:45 Bec Hill is More Afraid of You Than You Are of Her! HHH Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20-26 Aug, £8 – £9

Slap and Giggle: Retrial

Opium, 20-25 Aug, £free

Best of Waterloo Comedy Club

Laughing Horse @ The Counting House, 20-26 Aug, £free

Someone, Somewhere

The Royal Mile Tavern, 20-25 Aug, £free

American Girlfriend: Laura Levites

Alternative Fringe @ The Hive, 20-26 Aug, £free

In Vino Veritas - Free Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

And Still Rarely Rong

Whistlebinkies, 20-25 Aug, £free

14:50 Hennessy & Friends: A History of Violence

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £9 – £10

Fran Moulds: Significant Human Error HHH Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-26 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

15:00 RadioHead Redux 2012

Ship of Fools: Children of Twelchford

Bannermans, 20 Aug, 21 Aug, 23 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, £free

Mitch Benn: Reduced Circumstances HHH

The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 20-26 Aug, £10

The Cradle of Comedy

Destiny Church Gorgie, 20-26 Aug, £5

2012: An Improv Odyssey

Rush Bar, 20-25 Aug, £free

15:05 Men of Character - Free

Laughing Horse @ Jekyll & Hyde, 20-26 Aug, £free

Kaput

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 21-27 Aug, £11 – £13

15:10 Jamie Demetriou’s People Day (and Special Guests)

Dragonfly, 20 Aug, 22 Aug, 23 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, £free

Parris and Dowler Know What They’re Doing

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

Laughing Horse @ City Cafe, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

My Stepson Stole My Sonic Screwdriver

BBC: Crossing the Media

It’s Grimm Up North

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 2026 Aug, £10 – £11

BBC @ Potterrow, 26 Aug, £free

theSpace @ Symposium Hall, 20-25 Aug, £6 – £8

Gemma Arrowsmith: Defender of Earth

15:15

Le Monde, 20-25 Aug, £free

Rachel Stubbings Is Stubbing Out Problems

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £8 – £9

Bristol Improv for Hire

Whynot? , 20 Aug, 22 Aug, 23 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, £free

What a Weird and Wonderful Festival!

The Voodoo Rooms, 25 Aug, £free

1000 Years of Scotland’s Dark Past

The Edinburgh Dungeon, 20 Aug - 2 Sep, £10.50

Comedy Brass - Free Laughing Horse @ Meadow Bar, 20-26 Aug, £free

❤ Kieran and Joe: Friends of Steel HHHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Stand-Up at the Jekyll & Hyde - Free Laughing Horse @ Jekyll & Hyde, 20-26 Aug, £free

Katherine Ryan: Nature’s Candy HHH Gilded Balloon at Third Door, 20-25 Aug, £9.50 – £10

Ford and Akram: Bamp! HH

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £9 – £9.50

Luke Milford Things I Like Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-26 Aug, £free

Plenty More Fish (But I Don’t Have a Fish Fetish) The Fiddler’s Elbow, 20-25 Aug, £free

The Intimate Strangers

Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

The Oxford Imps

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 2027 Aug, £10.50 – £12

Forget Therapy - Just Drink - Free Laughing Horse @ The Phoenix, 21-26 Aug, £free

15:20 Kevin Tomlinson: Seven Ages!

Just The Tonic at the Caves, 21 Aug, 23 Aug, 25 Aug, £10 – £11

Four Screws Loose in #screwtheworld Assembly George Square, 20-27 Aug, £9 – £10

The Comedy Manifesto

Ciao Roma, 20-25 Aug, £free

Kevin Tomlinson: Crazy Little Thing Called Love!

Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20 Aug, 22 Aug, 24 Aug, 26 Aug, £10 – £11

15:25 The Silky Pair: Happy to Help (Plus Special Guests) Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £6

15:30 Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Awards Show

Pleasance Courtyard, 26 Aug, £14

Dave McNeill: Canoe Ride 3000

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £8 – £10

No Turn Unstoned

The Banshee Labyrinth, 20-25 Aug, £free

Chris Henry: We Need to Talk!

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, Various

dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

LOLympics Live - Free

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20-26 Aug, £free

Patterson and Ranganathan

Laughing Horse @ The White Horse, 20-26 Aug, £free

Max and Ivan Are...

Con Artists

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £9.50 – £12

Ladies and Gentlemen - Free

Laughing Horse @ The Counting House, 20-26 Aug, £free

Michael Legge: What a Shame HHH The Stand Comedy Club II, 20-26 Aug, £8

Helen Keen: Robot Woman of Tomorrow HHH Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Ladies Live Longer: Ladylike

C venues - C nova, 20-27 Aug, £7.50 – £9.50

RH: Live

C venues - C aquila, 2027 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

BBC: Four Thought BBC @ Potterrow, 20 Aug, £free

Nick Page: My Glorious Hypothetical Life As a Eunuch The Shack Comedy Club & Nightclub, 20-25 Aug, £8

Liam Mullone: A Land Fit For F*ckwits HHH

The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 20-26 Aug, £8

1000 Years of Scotland’s Dark Past

The Edinburgh Dungeon, 20 Aug - 2 Sep, £10.50

Monumental Information’s Product of the Year 2017

Laughing Horse @ Edinburgh City Football Club, 20-26 Aug, £free

15:35 Peter Antoniou’s Psychic Circus

Sweet Grassmarket, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £8

Bruce Hammers’ Bananapocalypse Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £5 – £6

BUY TICKETS ON

78 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

FACEBOOK.COM/UNDERBELLYEDINBURGH

FOR ALL UNDERBELLY SHOWS

Through the Looking Screen Underbelly, Cowgate, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £10 – £11

15:40 An Indie Boy’s Guide to Sex and Girls Chiquito, 20-25 Aug, £free

Tom Goodliffe: All in Good Time Just the Tonic at The Tron, 20-26 Aug, £6 – £7

Thea-Skot’s Miss Adventures

Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £7 – £8

Phil O’Shea

Belushi’s, 20-25 Aug, £free

Sharron Matthews Superstar: Gold

Pleasance Courtyard, 2127 Aug, £12.50 – £14

Owen Niblock: Codemaker

The Voodoo Rooms, 20-25 Aug, £free

15:45 David Mills is Smart Casual - Free

Alternative Fringe @ The Hive, 20-27 Aug, £free

The Tim Vine Chat Show

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £14 – £15

Sean Hegarty and Tom O’Mahoney Live - Free

Laughing Horse @ Captain Taylor’s Coffee House, 20-26 Aug, £free

❤ Sarfraz Manzoor: The Boss Rules HHHH The Assembly Rooms, 20-26 Aug, £10

Munfred Bernstein’s Cabinet of Wonder

Gilded Balloon Teviot, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Fark

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-26 Aug, £free

Discograffiti - Free

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20-26 Aug, £free

Simon Munnery: Fylm-Makker HHH

The Stand Comedy Club, 20-27 Aug, £10

comedylistings I Am Google

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

15:50 Dec Munro’s Got Chutzpah

The Royal Mile Tavern, 20-25 Aug, £free

❤ Mark CooperJones: Geography Teacher - Free HHHH The Cabaret Voltaire, 21-24 Aug, £free

Loughborough Players: Athletes of Comedy

GHQ, 20-25 Aug, £free

Quiz in My Pants

The Cabaret Voltaire, 20-25 Aug, £free

The Dog-Eared Collective: You’re Amazing, Now Look at Me HH

Underbelly, Cowgate, 2026 Aug, £10 – £11

15:55 Niall McCamley: Lemon Jousting and Other Shenanigans

Scottish Comedy Festival @ The Beehive Inn, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

Dolly Mixture

The Voodoo Rooms, 20-25 Aug, £free

16:00 Jody Kamali: Dirty Filthy Rich - Free

Laughing Horse @ The Counting House, 20-26 Aug, £free

Phill Jupitus is Porky the Poet in 27 Years On The Jam House, 20-25 Aug, £free

The Cambridge Footlights: Perfect Strangers

Pleasance Dome, 20-27 Aug, £9 – £10

Fred Cooke: Standing, tilted HH

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 2027 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

The Oxford Revue Prattle Royale

Underbelly, Cowgate, 2026 Aug, £9 – £10

Back to School

Pleasance at Braidwood Centre, 21-26 Aug, £10 – £15

Beard

Assembly Hall, 20-27 Aug, £8 – £10

Damien Crow: The World According to Damien Crow HH The Assembly Rooms, 20-26 Aug, £10

Rob Auton: The Yellow Show

The Banshee Labyrinth, 20-25 Aug, £free

Constant Craving - Free

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

1000 Years of Scotland’s Dark Past

The Edinburgh Dungeon, 20 Aug - 2 Sep, £10.50

Arguments and Nosebleeds - Free

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 26 Aug, £free

Paul Merton’s Impro Chums

Occupied

Mae Day HHH

16:05

Pleasance Courtyard, 2025 Aug, £13 – £14.50 Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £7

Matthew Crosby is Matthew Crosby in Matthew Crosby (The Show) HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £10 – £12

The Quadrantines Opium, 20-25 Aug, £free

Daniel-Ryan Spaulding: How Dare You!

53 Frederick St Guest House, 21-25 Aug, £free

Matt Forde: Eyes to the Right, Nose to the Left HHH Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-26 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

16:10 Shirley and Shirley Unleashed

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £10 – £11

The Hudson Hotel, 2025 Aug, £free

16:15

This Barry Ferns Belongs to Lionel Richie

Deborah Frances-White: Cult Following

Alternative Fringe @ The Hive, 20-27 Aug, £free

Assembly Roxy, 20-27 Aug, £10 – £11

John Hastings: UnRelentless

Laughing Horse @ City Cafe, 20-26 Aug, £free

Genevieve Swallow is Sharing Le Monde, 20-25 Aug, £free

Gerry Howell: Glorious Invention Bannermans, 20-24 Aug, £free

The Pigeon Hole Presents: Stand-Up Comedy - PBH’s Free Fringe Mood Nightclub, 20-25 Aug, £free

Making Life Taste Funnier

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-26 Aug, £free

Rory O’Hanlon: A Bit of Craic in the Afternoon

Rush Bar, 20-25 Aug, £free

Do Not Adjust Your Stage

Whynot? , 20 Aug, 22 Aug, 23 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, £free

16:20 Gráinne Maguire: Where Are All the Fun Places and Are Lots of People There Having Better Fun? Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-26 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Gravity Boots

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20-26 Aug, £8 – £9

An Austrian and Someone from Slough

Laughing Horse @ Jekyll & Hyde, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

Half of Next Year’s Show - Free Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-26 Aug, £free

16:30 The McLough-Hess Monster

Laughing Horse @ Jekyll & Hyde, 20-26 Aug, £free

Lead Pencil

The Fiddler’s Elbow, 20-25 Aug, £free

Thomas Nelstrop: Great(ish) Hits HH

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £10 – £11

McNeil and Pamphilon

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £10 – £11

Aberdeen vs.

Glasgow vs. The World II - Free

Laughing Horse @ The Newsroom, 20-26 Aug, £free

Asher Treleaven: Troubadour HHH

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20-26 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

Kevin Dewsbury: In...Sane - Free Laughing Horse @ Meadow Bar, 20-26 Aug, £free

Fresh Faces at the Free Fringe

Southsider, 20-25 Aug, £free

BBC: In Tune

BBC @ Potterrow, 24 Aug, £free

Morgan & West: Clockwork Miracles Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20-27 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

16:45 The Pin HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 2127 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Jackson Voorhaar’s One True Love(s) - Free Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-26 Aug, £free

Lewis Schaffer: No YOU Shut Up! - Free

Alternative Fringe @ The Hive, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

Erich McElroy: The Brit Identity

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £11 – £12

The Ginge, the Geordie and the Geek- All New Show 2012 Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £9.50 – £12

Cariad Lloyd - The Freewheelin’ Cariad Lloyd HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £9 – £10

Jim Smallman: Let’s Be Friends HHH

Jigsaw: Gettin’ Jiggy HHH

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20-26 Aug, £9

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

1000 Years of Scotland’s Dark Past

Dissecting Comedy - Free

The Edinburgh Dungeon, 20 Aug - 2 Sep, £10.50

Chris McCausland: Not Blind Enough

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £11 – £12

Paul Dennis’s Inappropriate Bits - Free

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-26 Aug, £free

16:40 ❤ Mary Bourke: Hail Mary! HHHH

The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 20-26 Aug, £8

Otto Kuhnle: Ich Bin Ein Berliner HH

Assembly George Square, 20-26 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

David Longley: My Favourite Things HHH

The Stand Comedy Club II, 20-26 Aug, £8

Holly Burn: The H Club

Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £7 – £8

Laughing Horse @ The Counting House, 20-26 Aug, £free

Jem Brookes: Thumbs Up - Free

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20-26 Aug, £free

Not Treasure Island Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £5

Computer Programmer Extraordinaire

Globe, 20-25 Aug, £free

The Edinburgh Revue Sketch Show

The Banshee Labyrinth, 20 Aug, 21 Aug, 23 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, £free

16:50 Michelle de Swarte Belushi’s, 20-25 Aug, £free

16:55 ❤ Discover Ben Target HHHH

Underbelly, Cowgate, 2026 Aug, £9 – £10

Yianni: Numb and Number - Free

The Canons’ Gait, 20-25 Aug, £free

Simply the Jest presents Middle Class Tripe

Chiquito, 20-25 Aug, £free

Alan Hudson’s Not So Secret World of Magic Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £7 – £9

17:00 Bad Musical

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 2027 Aug, £10 – £11

Leads & Stern HH

Underbelly, Cowgate, 2026 Aug, £9 – £10

End of the World Show 2012

Ryan’s Cellar Bar, 20-25 Aug, £free

The Pauly Show Episode One HHH Just the Tonic at The Tron, 20-26 Aug, £7 – £10

The Tim and Pat Show

The Cabaret Voltaire, 21-25 Aug, £free

The Great Big Comedy Picnic - Free Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20-26 Aug, £free

John Robertson - The Dark Room - Free Alternative Fringe @ The Hive, 20-27 Aug, £free

Geoff Norcott Avoids a Double Dip The Shack Comedy Club & Nightclub, 20-25 Aug, £7

Diane Spencer: Exquisite Bad Taste HHH Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20-26 Aug, £10

One Rogue Reporter HHH

Fat Kitten vs. the World

Pleasance Courtyard, 20-27 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

Lights! Camera!

Improvise!

Jarlath Regan: The Audacity of Hope and the Inspirational Stupidity of Perseverance HHH

The Voodoo Rooms, 20 Aug, 21 Aug, 23 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, £free

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £10 – £11

The Assembly Rooms, 20-26 Aug, £10

COMEDY, THEATRE, CABARET AND MORE www.festmag.co.uk

OPEN 'TIL 5AM

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 79

comedylistings Ferris Bueller’s Way of...

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

Britain’s Got F*ck All Talent!

The Shack Comedy Club & Nightclub, 20-25 Aug, £7

Passion, Pints and Potatoes - An Irish Guide to Life

Dropkick Murphy’s, 2025 Aug, £free

German Comedian

Base Nightclub, 21-25 Aug, £free

The Leeds Tealights: Sexy Chubby Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £7 – £9

The Noise Next Door: Bring The Noise HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £13 – £14

1000 Years of Scotland’s Dark Past

The Edinburgh Dungeon, 20 Aug - 2 Sep, £10.50

17:05 Blind Date Ruined My Life

Sweet Grassmarket, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £7.50

Rosie Thorn and The Patsy Cornish Saga theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, 21-25 Aug, £7

Rory & Tim: Good for Nothing

17:15 Man 1, Bank 0

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20-26 Aug, £10.50 – £12.50

The Thinking Drinkers Guide to Alcohol

The Assembly Rooms, 20-26 Aug, £10

Michael Redmond: Mannequins, Fishmongers, Guacamole and Me ... and Other Things Gilded Balloon Teviot, 2127 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Lucy Porter - People Person HHH The Stand Comedy Club, 21-26 Aug, £10

Do Not Trust the Animals - Free

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20-27 Aug, £free

Gadd and Winning: Well, This is Awkwarder Opium, 20-25 Aug, £free

Birth Order

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-26 Aug, £free

David O’Doherty Presents 403 Second Masterworks Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20 Aug, £11.50

17:20 Laurence Clark: Inspired

The Voodoo Rooms, 20-25 Aug, £free

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £9.50 – £11

17:10

Bad Bread: 2012 The Survival Guide

The Tim Vine Chat Show

Pleasance Courtyard, 21 Aug, £14

Sheeps - Dancing with Lisa

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £10 – £11

Nicholas Parsons’ Happy Hour

Pleasance Courtyard, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £11 – £12

Underbelly, Cowgate, 20-26 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

Hanks and Conran Pigs in Blankets Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £7.50

17:30 Nik Coppin’s Caricatures - Free Festival

Monkey Poet - Potty Mouth The Banshee Labyrinth, 20-25 Aug, £free

Laughing Horse @ City Cafe, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £free

Ben Verth: Alsatian and Chips

Laughing Horse Free Comedy Selection

Scottish Comedy Festival @ The Beehive Inn, 2026 Aug, £free

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-26 Aug, £free

❤ Sean Hughes - Life Becomes Noises HHHH Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £13 – £14

Phil Mann’s Full Mind

Laughing Horse @ The Counting House, 20-26 Aug, £free

Benny Boot: Def-Con 4

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

❤ Nick Helm: This Means War! HHHH

Pleasance Dome, 20-27 Aug, £12.50 – £13.50

Scientist Turned Comedian: Tim Lee HH

Assembly Roxy, 20-27 Aug, £11 – £12

The SomeNews Live Show - Free Laughing Horse @ Captain Taylor’s Coffee House, 20-26 Aug, £free

Cammy’s Teatime The Jazz Bar, 22-26 Aug, £5

Folken Britain

Le Monde, 21-25 Aug, £free

Jennifer Carnovale - Scraping the Barrel - Free

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

1000 Years of Scotland’s Dark Past

The Edinburgh Dungeon, 20 Aug - 2 Sep, £10.50

James Christopher: Bring Me the Head of Russell Kane - Free

The Banshee Labyrinth, 20 Aug, 21 Aug, 23 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, £free

The Great Puppet Horn HHH

Underbelly, Cowgate, 2026 Aug, £9 – £10.50

17:35 Ryan Withers - One Woman Showe - Free Laughing Horse @ Jekyll & Hyde, 20-26 Aug, £free

Milo McCabe: Kenny Moon This Is Your Life

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 2026 Aug, £8.50 – £10

17:40

Hill and Weedon

❤ Catriona Knox Hellcat HHHH

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £9 – £10

The Three Englishmen: Squares

Laughing Horse @ Jekyll & Hyde, 20-26 Aug, £free

3 Days Off Jesus - Free

Pleasance Dome, 20-27 Aug, £9 – £9.50

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

17:45

Chris Dangerfield: Sex Tourist

The Magical Adventures of Pete Heat

Alternative Fringe @ The Hive, 20-26 Aug, £free

Ladystache

Laughing Horse @ Meadow Bar, 20-26 Aug, £free

Gilded Balloon at Third Door, 20-27 Aug, £10 – £12

Laughing Horse @ The Phoenix, 20-26 Aug, £free

Ed Eales-White: Champions HHH

Aaaand Now for Something Completely Wireless - Free

17:50

Pleasance Courtyard, 20-27 Aug, £11.50 – £12.50

Loretta Maine: Bipolar HHH

Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £9 – £10

The Full Irish

Laughing Horse @ Finnegan’s Wake, 20-26 Aug, £free

All Star Stand-Up Showcase - Free

Laughing Horse @ The White Horse, 20-26 Aug, £free

Fresh Faces at the Free Fringe

Belushi’s, 20-25 Aug, £free

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £7.50 – £9

Wil Hodgson: Kidnapped By Catwoman

Billy Watson - Sex, Drugs and Marriage - Free

The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 20-26 Aug, £8

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £11 – £12

Test Tube Comedy

Rob Beckett’s Summer Holiday

Laughing Horse @ The Newsroom, 21-25 Aug, £free

Chris Brain: A Better Place

Gilded Balloon Teviot, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Maff Brown’s Parade of This Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20-26 Aug, £8 – £9

The Fitzrovia Radio Hour

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 2027 Aug, £10 – £11

BBC: The Kitchen Cabinet

BBC @ Potterrow, 26 Aug, £free

The Beta Males in...

The Space Race

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £10 – £11

Well Done You - Free Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-26 Aug, £free

Matthew Highton’s End of the Road

Siglo, 20-26 Aug, £free

Chris Stokes: An Opera Written On Napkins Pleasance Courtyard, 20-27 Aug, £8 – £9

Garrett Millerick: Which One’s Fergal?

Southsider, 20 Aug, 21 Aug, 23 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, £free

Ciao Roma, 20-25 Aug, £free

Gavin Webster: Bill Hicks Wasn’t Very Good HH

The Stand Comedy Club II, 20-26 Aug, £8

18:00 Big Value Comedy Show - Early Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £9 – £10

Nick Mohammed is Mr Swallow: 2012

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £10 – £12

The Six O’Clock Club Kilderkin, 20-25 Aug, £free

Suzi Ruffell: Let’s Get Ready to Ruffell

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £10 – £11

Susan Calman: This Lady’s Not for Turning Either

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £11 – £12

Xavier Toby: Binge Thinking HH

Jimeoin - What?! HH

The Best of Irish Comedy

1000 Years of Scotland’s Dark Past

Ben Hustwayte & Jack Campbell: Get It On

Laughing Horse Free Pick of the Fringe

C venues - C nova, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 20-26 Aug, £10

Globe, 20-25 Aug, £free

Trevor Lock’s Amateur Sex Tape Theory

Alternative Fringe @ The Hive, 20-26 Aug, £5

Dirty Thirties

Laughing Horse @ The Counting House, 20-26 Aug, £free

Stephen Carlin: Pandas vs Penguins HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £11 – £12

BUY TICKETS ON

80 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

❤ Josie Long: Romance and Adventure HHHH

FACEBOOK.COM/UNDERBELLYEDINBURGH

FOR ALL UNDERBELLY SHOWS

Venue150 @ EICC, 20 Aug, 25 Aug, 26 Aug, £13.50 – £15.50

The Edinburgh Dungeon, 20 Aug - 2 Sep, £10.50

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20-26 Aug, £free

18:05 Black Country Cider Lions - Free Laughing Horse @ Bar 50, 20-26 Aug, £free

Richard Wiseman: Psychobabble The Canons’ Gait, 22 Aug, £free

George’s Marvellous Medics theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, 20-25 Aug, £6

comedylistings Stewart Lee - Carpet Remnant World The Assembly Rooms, 21-26 Aug, £15

Oliver Dean and His Fantastic Ego! Live theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, 20-25 Aug, £3

❤ Sammy J and Randy - The Inheritance HHHH

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £13 – £15

10 Films With My Dad

The Voodoo Rooms, 20 Aug, £free

18:10 Rick Shapiro: Rebirth

Assembly George Square, 22 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, £13 – £14

Basic Training

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £11 – £12

Michelle Wormleighton Bewildered

Chiquito, 21-25 Aug, £free

Chris Dugdale’s 2 Faced Deception HHH

Assembly George Square, 20-27 Aug, £11 – £12

Adam Strauss: Varieties of Religious Experience The Royal Mile Tavern, 20-25 Aug, £free

18:15 ❤ Michael Workman - Mercy HHHH

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 2026 Aug, £9 – £10

Nick Beaton Does Not Play Well With Others

Sajeela Kershi: Regret-Me-Nots

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 21-26 Aug, £free

Helen Arney - Voice of an Angle HHH

Underbelly, Cowgate, 2026 Aug, £10 – £11

Sweet Grassmarket, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £8

Greg Proops

Assembly George Square, 20-25 Aug, £15 – £16

Frimston and Rowett: Huge Mistakes

Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £8

BBC: The Philosopher’s Arms BBC @ Potterrow, 21 Aug, £free

Gordon Southern’s A Brief History of History Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20-26 Aug, £12

18:20 WitTank HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Caimh McDonnell: The Art of Conversation Just the Tonic at The Tron, 20-26 Aug, £6 – £7

2 Facedbook 3

Jack Barry and Patrick Turpin: Your New Mild Friends

Marek Larwood Typecast

Billy The Mime HHH Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £8 – £10

You Are Being Lied To 2012

Base Nightclub, 20 Aug, 21 Aug, 23 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, £free

Inspired - Life 101

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

The Harri-Parris - The Leaving Do

Peter Edwards: Love Everyone

Matt and Ian’s Improv Show

The Cabaret Voltaire, 20-25 Aug, £free

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £10 – £12

NewsRevue

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £12.50 – £15

❤ Carl Hutchinson: Acceptable? HHHH Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £6 – £7.50

18:25 Alfie Brown: Soul for Sale Underbelly, Cowgate, 20-26 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

Dan Nightingale: The 11 and a 1/2 Ill-conceived Edinburgh Shows of Dan Nightingale

18:30

Tim FitzHigham: Stop the Pigeon HH Pleasance Courtyard, 25 Aug, £11

18:50

Ian D. Montfort Unbelievable

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £12 – £14

Sex Ed: The Musical!

Scottish Comedy Festival @ The Beehive Inn, 2026 Aug, £free

18:35

Scottish Comedy Festival @ The Beehive Inn, 2026 Aug, £free

Thatcher’s Death Party

The Shack Comedy Club & Nightclub, 20-25 Aug, £7 – £8

Buffs Club (RAOB), 21-25 Aug, £free

Stuart Mitchell Presents ‘It’s Just a Phrase I Am Going Through’

theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, 20-25 Aug, £8 – £9

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

Spring Day: Learn How to Take a Punch - Free

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-26 Aug, £free

Damian Kingsley: Work in Progress - Free

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20-26 Aug, £free

Rookie Mistakes

The Street, 20-25 Aug, £free

The Top Secret Comedy Club

Whistlebinkies, 20-24 Aug, £free

Denise Scott Regrets HH

Assembly Hall, 20-26 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

The Durham Revue Underbelly, Cowgate, 20-21 Aug, £9

Would You Let Your Daughter Marry A Weegie?

The Hudson Hotel, 2025 Aug, £free

Distract and Conquer

18:40 Zoo, 20-26 Aug, £9

Chortle Presents: Fast Fringe

Pleasance Dome, 20-25 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Kerry Gilbert Triumphs

Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £7 – £8.50

Totally Tom

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £10 – £11

Mark Nelson - Under the Radar HHH

Underbelly, Cowgate, 2026 Aug, £10 – £11

Charmian Hughes: Charmageddon!

The Banshee Labyrinth, 20 Aug, 22 Aug, 23 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, £free

18:45 Laughing Horse Free Comedy Selection Laughing Horse @ City Cafe, 20-26 Aug, £free

Aidan Killian: Free to Obey - Free Alternative Fringe @ The Hive, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £free

Absolute Improv!

C venues - C nova, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

Bus-ting to Laugh - Free

Amarone, 20-25 Aug, £free

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-26 Aug, £free

Max Fletcher: Delicious

Alexis Dubus: Cars & Girls HHH

Opium, 20-25 Aug, £free

Daniel Sloss - The Show

Venue150 @ EICC, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £13.50 – £15.50

Celia Pacquola Delayed HHH

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-26 Aug, £9.50 – £11

Would Like to Meet - Free

Laughing Horse @ Jekyll & Hyde, 20-26 Aug, £free

Andrew Bird’s Global Village Fete HH

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 2025 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

19:00 Amateur Transplants: Adam Kay’s Bum Notes

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £12 – £13

Bob Slayer: He’s A Very Naughty Boy

Alternative Fringe @ The Hive, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £5

❤ Jim Campbell: Nine-Year-Old Man HHHH

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £9 – £10

BBC: Tonight With Rory Bremner BBC @ Potterrow, 22 Aug, £free

Barry Castagnola in Where’s Barry

Gilded Balloon at Third Door, 20-26 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

5-Step Guide to Being German 2.0 - Free

Laughing Horse @ The Counting House, 21-26 Aug, £free

101 Comedy Club - Free

1000 Years of Scotland’s Dark Past

The Edinburgh Dungeon, 20 Aug - 2 Sep, £10.50

Alistair Barrie: Urban Fogey HHH

Totally Wired!

Reunion Farewell (Welfare) Tour - A Sperm’s Tail and Other Tales - Free

Phill Jupitus - You’re Probably Wondering Why I’ve Asked You Here...

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 2026 Aug, £8 – £9.50

The Stand Comedy Club, 20-27 Aug, £12

Elis James: Speaking As a Mother...

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £10 – £12

Trevor Browne - I Think ... I Am

❤ Jessica Fostekew: Brave New Word HHHH

Alternative Fringe @ The Hive, 27 Aug, £5

Pleasance Dome, 20-26 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

Assembly Roxy, 20-26 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

Laughing Horse @ Captain Taylor’s Coffee House, 20-26 Aug, £free

Heroes of Alternative Fringe

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 2026 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Laughing Horse @ Meadow Bar, 20-26 Aug, £free

Aaron Twitchen’s Quarter Life Crisis

Southsider, 20-25 Aug, £free

Seymour Mace: Squeg!

The Stand Comedy Club II, 20-26 Aug, £8

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20-27 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

Funny’s Funny: Fantastic Fringe Finale - Free

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-26 Aug, £free

Suggs: My Life Story in Words and Music The Queen’s Hall, 21-24 Aug, £22.50

Vladimir McTavish and Keir McAllister Look at the State of Scotland HHH

The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 20-26 Aug, £8

1000 Years of Scotland’s Dark Past

The Edinburgh Dungeon, 20 Aug - 2 Sep, £10.50

Karma Comedian Stella Graham - Free Laughing Horse @ Jekyll & Hyde, 20-26 Aug, £free

Josh Widdicombe: The Further Adventures of...

HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £11 – £12

❤ Daniel Simonsen Champions HHHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 2127 Aug, £8.50 – £10

Tom Deacon: Deaconator HHH

Pleasance Dome, 20-25 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

This Time It’s Personal

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-26 Aug, £free

Giacinto Palmieri: Pagliaccio

Laughing Horse @ The Newsroom, 20-26 Aug, £free

19:05 Sploshy: A Sketch Show

Ciao Roma, 20 Aug, 21 Aug, 23 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, £free

COMEDY, THEATRE, CABARET AND MORE www.festmag.co.uk

OPEN 'TIL 5AM

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 81

comedylistings 19:15 Upstaging: A Modern Guide to Acting for Gentlemen and Gentleladies - Free Laughing Horse @ The Counting House, 21-26 Aug, £free

19:30 Künt’s on Daytime TV - Free

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20-26 Aug, £free

Ted & Co The Dinner Show

AAA Stand-Up

Hilton Edinburgh Grosvenor, 24-25 Aug, £46

❤ Trevor Noah: The Racist HHHH

Yorkshire Comedy Cabaret IV: Jokers, Born and Interbred - Free

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £9 – £10

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £9 – £10

Light Relief

C venues - C nova, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

Marlon Davis: Enter the Davism

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £10 – £11

Perfectly Bananas

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20-27 Aug, £free

Charlie Baker Freshly Baked HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £10 – £11

Andrew O’Neill and Marc Burrows Do Music and Comedy and Hideous Murders The Canons’ Gait, 20-26 Aug, £free

The 7:15pm StandUp Show - Free Laughing Horse @ The White Horse, 20-26 Aug, £free

Base Nightclub, 20 Aug, 21 Aug, 23 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, £free

❤ Carl-Einar Häckner: Handluggage HHHH Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20-27 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

Born to be Mild

The Shack Comedy Club & Nightclub, 20-25 Aug, £7

Craig Hill - Jock’s Trap!

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 21-27 Aug, £12.50 – £14.50

Bungo Menebla!

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20-26 Aug, £free

The Funeral of Conor O’Toole HHH

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-26 Aug, £8 – £9

Stinky Show

Frisky & Mannish: Extra-Curricular Activities

19:20

DeAnne Smith: Livin’ The Sweet Life HHH

The Banshee Labyrinth, 20-25 Aug, £free

John Robins: Incredible Scenes!

Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £9 – £10

Barry Morgan’s World of Organs HH

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 21-27 Aug, £11.50 – £13.50

❤ David O’Doherty: Seize the David O’Doherty HHHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £14 – £15

Assembly Hall, 23-26 Aug, £16

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 2026 Aug, £9 – £10

Paul Foot - Kenny Larch Is Dead

Lloyd Langford: One Day in the Life of Lloyd Owen Langford HHH

Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £9 – £10

Comedy Gala 2012: In Aid of Waverley Care Festival Theatre Edinburgh, 23 Aug, £25

Mace and Burton: Heartbreak Hotel

Buffs Club (RAOB), 20 Aug, 22 Aug, 23 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, £free

19:35 The Mysterious World of Clovis Van Darkhelm The Cabaret Voltaire, 20-25 Aug, £free

Jen Brister - Now and Then HHH Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £9 – £10

19:40 The Not Quite Quartet

Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £7.50 – £8.50

Raymond Mearns - Rock’n’Roll Comedian - The Therapy Sessions

Scottish Comedy Festival @ The Beehive Inn, 2026 Aug, £free

Andrew Ryan: Ryanopoly

The Assembly Rooms, 20-26 Aug, £10

Can You Put This in the Bin for Me? - Free

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20-26 Aug, £free

Nick Sun: Potty Time!

Alternative Fringe @ The Hive, 21-26 Aug, £free

Catie Wilkins: Joy Is My Middle Name Underbelly, Cowgate, 20-26 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

The Ginge, the Geordie and the Geek- All New Show 2012 Just The Tonic at the Caves, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £9.50 – £12

❤ Claudia O’Doherty - The Telescope HHHH

Underbelly, Cowgate, 2026 Aug, £9 – £10

People Person

Opium, 20-25 Aug, £free

Fred MacAulay: Legally Bald 2 HHH

The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 21-26 Aug, £10

The History Girls Present: A Summary of Things So Far Assembly Hall, 20-27 Aug, £11 – £12

Dan Willis: A Comedian’s Life

Thomas Hardie Presents: Where’s Thomas, Hardie?

❤ Mark Watson: The Information HHHH

Michael Downey Standing Up Again

Tim FitzHigham: Stop the Pigeon HH

School of Comedy

Saskia’s Surprise Party

The Voodoo Rooms, 21-25 Aug, £free

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £11 – £12.50

19:25

Baby Wants Candy: The Completely Improvised Full Band Musical!

Paradise in The Vault, 21-27 Aug, £8

Big Value Comedy Show - Middle

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £9 – £10

Seann Walsh: Seann to be Wild

Just the Tonic at The Tron, 20-26 Aug, £7 – £8.50

Underbelly, Cowgate, 2026 Aug, £10.50 – £12

Owen O’Neill: Struck

By Lightning

Songs, Stories and Downright Lies

19:45

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

Bobby Carroll: Low Voltage - Free The Royal Mile Tavern, 20-25 Aug, £free

Stuart Goldsmith: Pr!ck HHH

The Assembly Rooms, 20-26 Aug, £10

Assembly George Square, 20-27 Aug, £13 – £15

Assembly George Square, 21-27 Aug, £15 Assembly Hall, 20-26 Aug, £10

Rhod Gilbert: The Man With the Flaming Battenberg Tattoo

Venue150 @ EICC, 22-26 Aug, £20

Chris Ramsey: Feeling Lucky HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 21-26 Aug, £8 – £9

Amarone, 20-25 Aug, £free

Brides of Comedy HH

C venues - C aquila, 2027 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

19:50 Pattie Brewster’s Friendship Venture (For Some Friends)

The Banshee Labyrinth, 21-25 Aug, £free

Pleasance Courtyard, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £11 – £12

Tiffany Stevenson: Uncomfortably Numb

Underbelly, Cowgate, 2026 Aug, £10 – £11

Nice People Have Ruined My Life

Dragonfly, 21-25 Aug, £free

20:00 Jimeoin - What?! Extra Shows!

Venue150 @ EICC, 21 Aug, 23 Aug, £13.50

Sound & Fury’s Doc Faustus

Underbelly, Cowgate, 2026 Aug, £9 – £10

Pleasance Courtyard, 20-27 Aug, £17.50 – £18.50

Des Clarke: Final Destination HH

Assembly George Square, 20-27 Aug, £13 – £14

Lie. Cheat. Steal.

Confessions of a Real Hustler Zoo, 20-26 Aug, £10 – £12

Derek Ryan: Time Lord - Free

Laughing Horse @ Captain Taylor’s Coffee House, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

Reshape While Damp

So You Think You’re Funny? FINAL

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-26 Aug, £free

Hyde and Lyons

Assembly Roxy, 20-27 Aug, £11.50 – £12.50

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 23 Aug, £15 Mood Nightclub, 20-25 Aug, £free

Andrew Doyle: Whatever It Takes HHH Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £6.50 – £7.50

Tom Stade Totally Rocks! HH

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £11.50 – £13

The Fringe Comedy Academy: Class of 2012

The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 20 Aug, £6

Daniel Sloss - Extra Shows!

Venue150 @ EICC, 24-25 Aug, £15.50

Him and Me: Sketch Circus - Free

Laughing Horse @ City Cafe, 20-25 Aug, £free

Patrick Monahan – Shooting From The Lip!

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20-26 Aug, £10.50 – £12.50

Bob Downe ...

Smokin’

Gilded Balloon Teviot, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £12.50 – £14

Naz Osmanoglu: Ottoman Without An Empire HHH Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-26 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

BUY TICKETS ON

82 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

Rhys Darby - This Way to Spaceship HHH

FACEBOOK.COM/UNDERBELLYEDINBURGH

FOR ALL UNDERBELLY SHOWS

Kumail Nanjiani

Dylan Moran: Yeah, Yeah

Edinburgh Playhouse, 23 Aug, £24

20:05 All About the Craic

Laughing Horse @ Jekyll & Hyde, 20-26 Aug, £free

Nothing to Show

theSpace on the Mile , 20-25 Aug, £7.50

20:10 Kev Orkian in Concert - The World’s Favourite Foreigner theSpace @ Symposium Hall, 20-25 Aug, £10

Vikki Stone: Hot Mess

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-26 Aug, £10 – £11

Martin Mor: A Man You Don’t Meet Everyday HH

The Stand Comedy Club II, 20-26 Aug, £8

Steve Gribbin: Viva Gribbostania!

The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 20-26 Aug, £8

Hannah Gadsby - Hannah Wants a Wife HHH

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20-26 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

Thom Tuck Flips Out Pleasance Dome, 20-27 Aug, £10 – £11

comedylistings Return of the Lumberjacks (Back

by Poplar Demand) HHH The Assembly Rooms, 21-26 Aug, £15

20:15 FNT Live presents...

The Jingling Lane Family Singers

C venues - C aquila, 2027 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

Jo Caulfield - Thinking Bad Thoughts HH The Stand Comedy Club, 20-26 Aug, £10

Joel Dommett Nunchuck Silver Medallist 2002 HH

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £10 – £12

❤ Richard Herring: Talking C*ck - The Second Coming HHHH Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-26 Aug, £14 – £16

Sean Hughes Stands Up HH

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 2027 Aug, £13 – £14

Rob Deb - the Dork Knight Triumphant - Free

Laughing Horse @ Jekyll & Hyde, 20-26 Aug, £free

Alan Francis Expands

Gilded Balloon at Third Door, 21-26 Aug, £9 – £10

James Acaster Prompt HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £10 – £12

Gearoid Farrelly: Turbulence

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 2026 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Al Pitcher – Tiny Triumphs HHH

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20-26 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

A Good Catholic Boy Laughing Horse @ The Phoenix, 20-26 Aug, £free

Kemsley and Callaghan: Keeping Their Cool

Laughing Horse @ The Newsroom, 21-26 Aug, £free

GirlBand Improv - Free

Laughing Horse @ Meadow Bar, 21-26 Aug, £free

Lewis Schaffer: No YOU Shut Up! - Free

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

Nish Kumar - Who Is Nish Kumar? HHH

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £9 – £10

The News at Kate 2012

Ciao Roma, 20-25 Aug, £free

Danielle Ward - Speakeasy / Playdead

Pleasance Dome, 20-26 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Cardinal Burns

Pleasance Dome, 20-25 Aug, £10 – £11

Rob Deering - The One HH

20:25

Two for None

The Canons’ Gait, 21-26 Aug, £free

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £11 – £12 Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-26 Aug, £free

20:20 ❤ Pappy’s: Last Show Ever! HHHH

Pleasance Dome, 20-27 Aug, £12.50 – £14

Look at This Massive Picture of My Face

20:30 Abigoliah Schamaun: Girl Going to Hell Laughing Horse @ The Counting House, 20-27 Aug, £free

Phil Walker: Is This It?

Laughing Horse @ The White Horse, 20-26 Aug, £free

Danny McLoughlin - The Truth, the Half-Truth and Nothing Like the Truth

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £9.50 – £12

Shappi Khorsandi: Dirty Looks and Hopscotch

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £11 – £12

Tim Roast’s Animals - Free Laughing Horse @ Edinburgh City Football Club, 20-26 Aug, £free

Simon Amstell: Numb

The Bongo Club, 20-26 Aug, £16.50

Playing Politics

Carl Donnelly: Different Gravy HH

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £10 – £12

LOLd on a Minute!

Sweet Grassmarket, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £7

Joe Lycett: Some Lycett Hot HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Nathan Cassidy: Free Pound The Royal Mile Tavern, 20-25 Aug, £free

Pat Burtscher’s Patopotamoose

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £11 – £12

Nina Conti: Dolly Mixtures

Pleasance Dome, 21-27 Aug, £13 – £14

Laughing Horse Free Pick of the Fringe

Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s, 23 Aug, £10

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20-26 Aug, £free

Sarah Kendall - Get Up, Stand-Up

The Cradle of Comedy

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £10 – £11

Destiny Church Gorgie, 20-25 Aug, £5

The Gubernaculum presents

THE EJACULATE CONCEPTION venue 145

C venues vibrant vivacious variety

0845 260 1234

Tickets £8.50 – £10.50 Concessions £6.50 – £8.50

INDIA BUILDINGS VICTORIA STREET

www.CtheFestival.com

19 – 27 Aug 8.40pm (1hr)

fringe box office 0131 226 0000 online sales www.edfringe.com

COMEDY, THEATRE, CABARET AND MORE www.festmag.co.uk

OPEN 'TIL 5AM

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 83

comedylistings 10 Films With My Dad

The Banshee Labyrinth, 25 Aug, £free

20:40 Pete Johansson Utopian Crack Pipe HHH

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £10 – £12.50

The Ejaculate Conception

C venues - C nova, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

The Chris and Paul Show Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £8 – £9

❤ Roisin Conaty: Lifehunter HHHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

20:45 Devvo Dole Queue Hero is Free

Alternative Fringe @ The Hive, 20-26 Aug, £free

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh! It’s the Monster StandUp Show - Free

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20-26 Aug, £free

Pick of the Fringe

Scottish Comedy Festival @ The Beehive Inn, 2126 Aug, £free

Chris Martin - Spot the Difference HHH

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 2027 Aug, £10 – £12

Magnus Betnér Live

The Assembly Rooms, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £10

Sex Money Death

The Shack Comedy Club & Nightclub, 20-25 Aug, £7

An Audience with the King

The Shack Comedy Club & Nightclub, 20-25 Aug, £9 – £10

Luke Benson Backseat Hero HH

Newcastle University Comedy Society Showcase / PBH’s Free Fringe Buffs Club (RAOB), 2025 Aug, £free

20:50 Des Bishop Likes to Bang

Assembly George Square, 21-26 Aug, £11 – £12

Matt Price: Fugly.

Opium, 20 Aug, 21 Aug, 23 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, £free

❤ Jim Jefferies: Fully Functional HHHH

Andrew Lawrence is Coming to Get You

Phil Nichol Rants!

HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £11 – £12.50

The Assembly Rooms, 20-26 Aug, £10

Lord Nelson Presents...

Dr Ettrick-Hogg’s Manly Stand-Ups - Free

GHQ, 20-25 Aug, £free

Max Dickins: This Will Only Take A Moment...

The Cabaret Voltaire, 20-25 Aug, £free

Benny Boot Def-Con 4

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 24 Aug, £10

Susan Calman: This Lady’s Not for Turning Either - EXTRA SHOW

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 25 Aug, £12

20:55 The Sensational Alex Salmond Gastric Band presents Oliver Pissed

Scottish Comedy Festival @ The Beehive Inn, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

The Super Serious Show

Assembly George Square, 20-26 Aug, £10 – £13

Checkley and Bush’s Comedy Riot!

Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £7 – £8

Al Murray - The Pub Landlord: The Only Way is Epic (Special Previews)

Assembly George Square, 20-25 Aug, £12 – £14

We Love Comedy

Aaaaaaaaaaaaarghh! It’s the Greatest Show on Legs

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20-26 Aug, £free

You Have Nothing to Fear...

Assembly Hall, 20-26 Aug, £16 – £17.50

21:00

Alpine Horn with Flange Krammer - Free

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £10 – £11

The Cabaret Voltaire, 20-25 Aug, £free

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £9 – £10 Base Nightclub, 20-25 Aug, £free

❤ Neil Delamere: DelaMere Mortal HHHH

Alternative Fringe @ The Hive, 22-26 Aug, £5

Glorified Disasters

The Banshee Labyrinth, 20-25 Aug, £free

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20-26 Aug, £free

No Pants Thursday: T’il Death Do Us Party Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £7.50 – £8.50

Chris Kent - Plugged In

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 2026 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Dear Dan Brown...

Dragonfly, 20-24 Aug, £free

Heroes of Alternative Fringe

Alternative Fringe @ The Hive, 20-21 Aug, £5

Hurt and Anderson: Scenes of a Vignette-ish Nature - Free

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

The Fairytale Forest Ukrainian Club, 20 Aug, £8

Big Value Comedy Show - Late Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £9 – £10

Russell Kane: Posturing Delivery The Assembly Rooms, 20-24 Aug, £15

Alan Anderson: Whisky For Dafties Just the Tonic at The Tron, 20-26 Aug, £9 – £12

One Track Minds - Free

Amarone, 20-25 Aug, £free

21:05 ❤ Doctor Brown Befrdfgth HHHHH Underbelly, Cowgate, 21-26 Aug, £10.50 – £11.50

Magpie and Stump in Lolitary Confinement

theSpace on the Mile , 20-25 Aug, £5

Luke Toulson - Luke Who’s Talking Underbelly, Cowgate, 20-26 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

Andrew Maxwell: That’s the Spirit

Assembly George Square, 20-27 Aug, £15 – £16

St Andrews Presents - Blind Mirth Improv Comedy theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, 20-25 Aug, £5 – £7

21:10 Barely Legal: The 18-Year-Old Democracy

Assembly Roxy, 20-27 Aug, £13 – £14

Pete Firman Hoodwinker HH

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £12 – £15

Marcus Brigstocke: The Brig Society HHH Assembly Hall, 20-25 Aug, £12 – £14

Jonny & the Baptists

Underbelly, Cowgate, 2026 Aug, £9 – £10

Darkness Rising

theSpace on North Bridge, 20-25 Aug, £7

21:15 Kevin Shepherd: Thus Spoke Kev - Free

Laughing Horse @ Captain Taylor’s Coffee House, 20-26 Aug, £free

Bob Doolally’s Euro Crisis

The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 21 Aug, £9

Laughing Horse Free Comedy Selection Laughing Horse @ City Cafe, 20-26 Aug, £free

Stephen K Amos Work in Progress

The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 22-25 Aug, £10

Owen and Bettesworth: Sung and Unsung

Sweet Grassmarket, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £7

Henning Wehn: Henning Knows Bestest

Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £8.50 – £11.50

Rory Scovel: Illuminati Only CANCELLED

Assembly Roxy, 20-27 Aug, £11.50 – £12.50

❤ Sam Simmons About the Weather HHHH Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20-26 Aug, £10.50 – £11.50

❤ Sara Pascoe - The Musical! HHHH

Assembly George Square, 20-27 Aug, £9.50 – £12

21:20

Laughing Horse @ Meadow Bar, 20-26 Aug, £free

Armageddapocalypse: Threat Level Dead HHH Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Graham Whistler: Stand-Up, Fall Down - Free

Laughing Horse @ The Newsroom, 20-27 Aug, £free

The Blanks’ Big Break HHH

Gilded Balloon Teviot, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £12 – £14

Mark Restuccia: How to Succeed at Internet Dating HH

Geoff the Entertainer HHH

Gilded Balloon at Third Door, 20-27 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

Jimmy Carr: Gagging Order

Pleasance Dome, 21-27 Aug, £8 – £9

Elaine Malcolmson: Relevant Experience

Laughing Horse @ The Phoenix, 20-27 Aug, £free

The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 20-26 Aug, £8

Venue150 @ EICC, 23-25 Aug, £18.50

The Stand Comedy Club II, 20 Aug, £8

Markus Birdman – Love, Life and Death HHH The Stand Comedy Club II, 21-26 Aug, £8

Danny Buckler: The Phantom Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £9

Paul McCaffrey: Pills’n’Thrills and Belly Laughs

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-26 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Sexytime! HHH

Underbelly, Cowgate, 2026 Aug, £9 – £10

Reginald D. Hunter - Work in Progress... and Niggas with John Gordillo Pleasance Courtyard, 20-27 Aug, £13

Always Be Comedy

Laughing Horse @ Jekyll & Hyde, 20-26 Aug, £free

21:25 Truth

Underbelly, Cowgate, 2026 Aug, £10 – £11

BUY TICKETS ON

84 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

21:30 The Jocks and Geordies

FACEBOOK.COM/UNDERBELLYEDINBURGH

FOR ALL UNDERBELLY SHOWS

The Comedy Reserve

Conor Drum - A Sense of Humour

Simon Evans: Friendly Fire

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £11 – £12

Lou Sanders And Now For A Nice Evening With Wallan Pleasance Courtyard, 20-26 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

Applause

Laughing Horse @ Jekyll & Hyde, 20-26 Aug, £free

Jeff Leach: Boyfriend Experience HHH Gilded Balloon Teviot, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £9.50 – £10

Michael Mittermeier: A German on Safari HH Pleasance Courtyard, 21-27 Aug, £9 – £10

Jarred Christmas: Let’s Go MoFo

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20-26 Aug, £10.50 – £11.50

Dan Wright: Michael Jackson Touched Me HH

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 2026 Aug, £9 – £10

comedylistings Swedenborg, the Devil and Me

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-26 Aug, £free

Dan and Tom: Two for the Price of None Southsider, 20-25 Aug, £free

21:35 Gareth Morinan Explains Why David Cameron Should Be Fired for Crimes Against Short People (Among Other Things) Ciao Roma, 20 Aug, 23 Aug, £free

Bogan Bingo / Free Festival

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 21-26 Aug, £free

Peter Buckley Hill and Some Comedians XVI

The Canons’ Gait, 20-25 Aug, £free

Gareth Morinan Presents the Saturday Debates (3+4) Ciao Roma, 25 Aug, £free

21:40 ❤ The Boy With Tape On His Face More Tape HHHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 20-26 Aug, £12.50 – £13.50

Iain Stirling: Happy to Be the Clown?

HHH Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-26 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Michael Winslow Noizeyman

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £12.50 – £14.50

Peacock & Gamble Don’t Even Want To Be On Telly Anyway HH

Pleasance Dome, 20-26 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

John Shuttleworth: Out of Our Sheds Pleasance Dome, 20 Aug, £10

Josh Widdicombe: The Further Adventures of...

Extra Show Pleasance Dome, 22 Aug, £11

21:45 Gareth Richards: Introvert - Never Been To Disneyland HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Eat a Queer Fetus 4 Jesus - Free

Laughing Horse @ The Counting House, 20-26 Aug, £free

Pretending Things Are a C*ck Pleasance Courtyard, 21-27 Aug, £9 – £10

Chilly Gonzales

The Queen’s Hall, 26 Aug, £14

Alan Sharp: Careful What You Wish For

The Banshee Labyrinth, 20-25 Aug, £free

❤ Hannibal Buress: Still Saying Stuff HHHH

Pleasance Courtyard, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £10 – £10.50

My Damage is My Gift! - Free

Laughing Horse @ Edinburgh City Football Club, 20-25 Aug, £free

Abandoman - Party in the Key of C Major Pleasance Dome, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £13 – £14

Marcus Ryan: Home and Away - Free

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20-26 Aug, £free

Laughing Horse’s Funny Fillies

Laughing Horse @ The White Horse, 20-26 Aug, £free

The Best Of Scottish Comedy The Stand Comedy Club, 20-26 Aug, £12

❤ Hal Cruttenden Tough Luvvie HHHH Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £9 – £11

I’m High On Life: What Are You On?

C Venues - C eca, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

21:50 Paul Chowdhry What’s Happening White People

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £11 – £12

Alfie Moore - I Predicted a Riot

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £10 – £12

All My Friends

Laughing Horse @ Bar 50, 20-26 Aug, £free

Jayde Adams is Master of None

Sweet Grassmarket, 20-24 Aug, £9

Colin Mars: A Life Full of Lemons HH

theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, 20-25 Aug, £7.50

22:00 Paul T Eyres: T.Eyres of a Clown / Laughing Horse Pick of the Fringe - Free Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20-27 Aug, £free

❤ Brendon Burns, Home Stretch Baby HHHH

Pleasance Dome, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £12.50 – £14.50

How the World Wags C venues - C aquila, 2026 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

Late Night Gimp Fight

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £12.50 – £14

❤ Felicity Ward: The Hedgehog Dilemma HHHH

from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £8

Bad Advice - Free

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20-26 Aug, £free

22:05 I’m Not Crying in the Bathroom: I’m Crying in the Supply Closet theSpace on the Mile , 20-25 Aug, £free – £8

22:10 Car Crash Comedy 2012

Scottish Comedy Festival @ The Beehive Inn, 2025 Aug, £free

Believe - Starring Shane Dundas from the Umbilical Brothers

Assembly George Square, 20-27 Aug, £12 – £14

It’s Grimm Up North

theSpace @ Symposium Hall, 20-25 Aug, £6 – £8

22:15 Learning to Pray in Front of the Television

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £10 – £12

Gryphon Venues at the Point Hotel, 20 Aug, £8

Storytellers’ Club

David Whitney Struggling to Evolve

Pleasance Courtyard, 23-25 Aug, £10

The Late Night Shack Show

The Shack Comedy Club & Nightclub, 20-25 Aug, £10 – £12

Back to School’s Disco

Pleasance at Braidwood Centre, 25-26 Aug, £10

Suggs: My Life Story in Words and Music The Queen’s Hall, 24 Aug, £22.50

News Smash

C venues - C nova, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

Liam and Owen - A Cracking One Off Show!

Scottish Comedy Festival @ The Beehive Inn, 2026 Aug, £free

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 2027 Aug, £10 – £11

Google / Complex

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-26 Aug, £free

John Robertson: The Old Whore H Assembly Hall, 20-26 Aug, £5

KWAT: Greetings from KWAT Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £8 – £10

Fat Whore HH

The Assembly Rooms, 20-26 Aug, £10

22:20 Paul Ricketts - Ironic Infinity

Nina Conti: Dolly Mixtures

Just The Tonic at the Caves, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £6.50 – £7.50

Casual Violence: A Kick In The Teeth HHH

Mark Little: THEbullsh*tARTIST HH

Pleasance Dome, 23 Aug, £13

Just The Tonic at the Caves, Various dates

Assembly George Square, 20-27 Aug, £15 – £16

Sh*t-faced Shakespeare

C venues - C, 20-27 Aug, £9.50 – £11.50

The Wonderful World of Wilfredo

Just the Tonic at The Tron, 20-26 Aug, £7.50 – £9.50

The Sitcom Double Bill

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £9 – £10

22:25 Jimeoin - What?!

(Whatever...)

The Assembly Rooms, 24 Aug, £15.50

Simon Donald’s School of Swearing HHH The Stand Comedy Club II, 20-26 Aug, £8

Terry Alderton

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20 Aug, 21 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, 26 Aug, £10.50 – £12

Dan Mitchell - Free Egg

Assembly Roxy, 20-27 Aug, £9.50 – £12

Cheap Laughs (Are Better Than No Laughs) - Free

Oyster Eyes Presents: Some Rice

Laughing Horse @ Captain Taylor’s Coffee House, 20-26 Aug, £free

Marcel Lucont: Gallic Symbol HHH

Marcus Brigstocke: The Brig Society EXTRA SHOW

Underbelly, Cowgate, 2026 Aug, £9 – £10

Underbelly, Cowgate, 20-26 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

22:30 John Scott - Totally Fed Up

The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 20-26 Aug, £8

Assembly Hall, 24 Aug, £13

22:35 Things We Did Before Reality

Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £10 – £11

Dead Cat Bounce...

Howl of the She-Leopard HHH

Dana Alexander: Breaking Through

❤ The Imaginary Radio Programme: Drennon Davis Presented by The Pajama Men HHHH

James and Amy: Dysfunctional Legends

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £11 – £12

Assembly Roxy, 20-26 Aug, £10 – £12

Greg Proops Podcast: The Smartest Man in the World Gilded Balloon Teviot, 22 Aug, £13

Künt and the Gang - Free

Laughing Horse @ City Cafe, 20-26 Aug, £free

Foil Arms and Hog - Late Night Sketch Comedy

Underbelly, Cowgate, 2026 Aug, £9 – £10

Rubberbandits

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 24-26 Aug, £14

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

Laughing Horse @ Jekyll & Hyde, 20-25 Aug, £free

Ian Shaw - A Bit of a Mouthful HH

The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 20-26 Aug, £10

22:40 Best of Scottish Comedian of the Year

Underbelly, Cowgate, 2026 Aug, £9.50 – £11.50

Scottish Comedian of the Year 2011 Jamie Dalgleish Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £7 – £9

Idiots of Ants ANThology

The Scottish Falsetto Sock Puppet Theatre - Boo Lingerie

Pleasance Courtyard, 2325 Aug, £11 – £12

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 2026 Aug, £9 – £10

Comedy Film Nights

Comic Strip HHH

Hill Street Theatre, 2326 Aug, £5 – £8

Assembly George Square, 21-26 Aug, £12 – £15

COMEDY, THEATRE, CABARET AND MORE www.festmag.co.uk

OPEN 'TIL 5AM

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 85

comedylistings 22:45 ❤ Andrew O’Neill is Easily Distracted HHHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £11 – £12

Michael Pope is Gay for Pay - Free

Laughing Horse @ The Phoenix, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

Davey Connor, Lucy Beaumont and Ed Patrick - The Big Comedy Showcase Show

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 2127 Aug, £9 – £9.50

The Special Reserve Comedy Benefit Pleasance Courtyard, 22-23 Aug, £10

What Would Beyoncé Do? - Free Laughing Horse @ Meadow Bar, 20-26 Aug, £free

The Comedy Zone

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Late Night Laughs

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 2026 Aug, £9.50 – £12

Splitting the Bill – Michael Workman & Tommy Little Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20-26 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

David Trent Spontaneous Comedian HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £9.50 – £12

Demitris Deech: Stop, Collaborate and Listen - Free

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-25 Aug, £free

The Good, the Bad and the Irish!

Laughing Horse @ Jekyll & Hyde, 20-26 Aug, £free

The Boom Jennies: Mischief

Pleasance Dome, 20-26 Aug, £11 – £12

James Dowdeswell: Urban Wurzel HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 2026 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Tom Cottle’s These Twisted Folk

Underbelly, Cowgate, 2026 Aug, £9 – £10

Alistair Green: Jack Spencer - Why Anything?

Laughing Horse @ The Newsroom, 20-26 Aug, £free

22:50 Tania Edwards Killer Instinct

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-26 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

Eddie Naessens: The Thing Is This...

Ciao Roma, 20-25 Aug, £free

23:00 Mark Watson’s Edinborolympics

Pleasance Courtyard, 20-21 Aug, £8

Aaaaaaaaaaaaarghh! It’s the Malcolm Hardee Comedy Awards Show with Miss Behave - and It’s Free!

Laughing Horse @ The Counting House, 24-25 Aug, £free

Steve Shanyaski’s Life-Survival Bible Pleasance Courtyard, 20-26 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

AAA Stand-Up Late

Pleasance Courtyard, 2027 Aug, £9 – £10

Japanese TerminatoL Laughing Horse @ The White Horse, 20-26 Aug, £free

Bring Me the Head of Adam Riches

Garrett Millerick: Sensible Answers to Stupid Questions HHH Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Laughing Horse Free Pick of the Fringe Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20-26 Aug, £free

Rob Deering’s Beat This Pleasance Courtyard, 24-25 Aug, £10

23:05 Barbershopera: The Three Musketeers HHH Pleasance Courtyard, 21-27 Aug, £11.50 – £12.50

Monkey Toast: The Improvised Chat Show HHH

Pleasance Dome, 20-26 Aug, £10 – £11

Absolute Stripping! theSpace on North Bridge, 20-25 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Heavy Petting

Laughing Horse @ Bar 50, 20-26 Aug, £free

23:15 Tim Key - Masterslut Pleasance Courtyard, 23-25 Aug, £14

I Am, I Am

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 21-27 Aug, £8 – £9

The Horne Section - Live at the Grand!

HHH Pleasance Courtyard, 20-22 Aug, £10

Pleasance Dome, 22-25 Aug, £12 – £14

23:20

BBC: Comedy Presents

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 23-25 Aug, £10

BBC @ Potterrow, 20 Aug, 22 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, 26 Aug, £12

Eric Hutton: Every Other Show in the Fringe Sucks - Free

Laughing Horse @ The Counting House, 20-26 Aug, £free

BBC: Late Junction BBC @ Potterrow, 21 Aug, 23 Aug, £free

Shaggers - Free Festival

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-25 Aug, £free

Voices in Your Head

COMX

Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £8 – £10

23:30 Battle Ducks: Activate!

C venues - C nova, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

LOL-ocaust

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

23:40 Scott Agnew: Tales of the Sauna

The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 20-26 Aug, £8

❤ Eddie Pepitone’s Bloodbath HHHH Just the Tonic at The Tron, 20-26 Aug, £8 – £10

Ro Campbell: Midnight Meltdown The Stand Comedy Club II, 20-26 Aug, £8

Chris Ramsey: Feeling Lucky HHH Pleasance Courtyard, 25-26 Aug, £9.50

23:45 Denis Krasnov’s Hour of Intellectual Filth Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £7 – £9

Joe Munrow: One Big Joke - Free Laughing Horse @ Captain Taylor’s Coffee House, 21-26 Aug, £free

Guilt & Shame: Up All Night HH

Underbelly, Cowgate, 2126 Aug, £8 – £9.50

Guardian Reader HHH Just The Tonic at the Caves, 20-26 Aug, £8 – £9

Frisky & Mannish: 27 Club

Assembly George Square, 20-22 Aug, £12

23:55 The New Conway Dimension

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 2027 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

The Stand Late Show The Stand Comedy Club, 24-25 Aug, £15

Set List: Stand-Up Without a Net Just The Tonic at the Caves, 21-25 Aug, £9 – £11

Edinburgh Comedy Tour

www.walkingheads.net, 20 Aug - 2 Sep, £free

The Assembly Rooms The Very Best of the Fest

The Assembly Rooms, 25-26 Aug, £15

Morgan & West: Lying, Cheating Scoundrels

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 22-26 Aug, £16

Best of the Fest

Assembly Hall, 23-26 Aug, £14 – £15

00:00 Gay Straight Alliance Laughing Horse @ The Phoenix, 21-27 Aug, £free

Me My Selfish Self

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 21-25 Aug, £free

School Night

Just The Tonic at the Caves, 21-23 Aug, £10

Life’s Short. I’m Not! - Free

Laughing Horse @ Meadow Bar, 21-27 Aug, £free

Spank!

Underbelly, Cowgate, 21-27 Aug, £13.50 – £15.50

Just the Tonic Comedy Club’s Midnight Show

23:59

DeadBadgers Sketchy Bits

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £9 – £10

Tim Key - Masterslut Pleasance Dome, 20-21 Aug, £14

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20-27 Aug, £9 – £10

Taylor Glenn Reverse Psycomedy

The Death of Comedy

86 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

The Stand Comedy Club, 20 Aug, 21 Aug, 22 Aug, 23 Aug, 26 Aug, £10

Eleanor Conway’s Midnight Rumble

A Little Perspective with Imaan

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20-26 Aug, £8 – £9

Where Once Was Wonder by Daniel Kitson

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 2226 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Just The Tonic at the Caves, 24-26 Aug, £10

Laughing Horse @ The Newsroom, 21-27 Aug, £free

Midnight Comedy at Genting Club Fountainpark

Genting Club Fountainpark, 21-23 Aug, £free

00:15 The Late Show

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, 26 Aug, 27 Aug, £12.50 – £14.50

Harriet Dyer (Plus the Odd Pal) - What a Palaver!

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20-27 Aug, £free

00:25 The Room

Assembly George Square, 20 Aug, 27 Aug, £8

00:30 Hedluv and Passman: Two Cornish Rappers and a Casiotone HH

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 2028 Aug, £10 – £11

The Improverts

Bedlam Theatre, 21-26 Aug, £7.50

BattleActs!

Presents...

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-28 Aug, £free

00:40 After Hours Comedy Pleasance Dome, 24-26 Aug, £10.50 – £11.50

00:45 Leo and Stephen Go Down On You!

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £free

00:50 Spanktacular!

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 26 Aug, £15.50

01:00 Not the Adventures of Moleman

Laughing Horse @ City Cafe, 20-27 Aug, £free

Late ‘n’ Live

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 2028 Aug, £13 – £15

01:15 Set List: Stand-Up Without a Net

Just The Tonic at the Caves, 25-26 Aug, £11

The only festival website you need Visit festmag.co.uk on your smartphone to get all of the latest reviews and see what’s coming up near you

theatrelistings 10:30

❤ Killing Time HHHH

24h

The Crucible

Bedlam Theatre, 20-25 Aug, £6

Dream Plays (Scenes From a Play I’ll Never Write)

Angels HHH

09:00

Greenside, 20-25 Aug, £8

Summerhall, 22 Aug, 25 Aug, £1

Traverse Theatre, 25 Aug, £19

Traverse Theatre, 21-26 Aug, £12

The Big Bite-Size Breakfast Show

The Stranger

Summerhall, 20 Aug, 21 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, £12

Here! Internet Cafe, 20-27 Aug, £5

10:00

Bullet Catch HHH

The Two Most Perfect Things

Kaya - Dream Interpreter HH

❤ Mess HHHH

Assembly George Square, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £9 – £11

Traverse Theatre, 24 Aug, £19

Monkey Bars HHH Traverse Theatre, 22 Aug, £17

❤ And No More Shall We Part HHHH

❤ Blink HHHH

Traverse Theatre, 22 Aug, 26 Aug, £18

Traverse Theatre, 23 Aug, £17

Shakespeare for Breakfast

C venues - C, 20-27 Aug, £6.50 – £8.50

Theatre Uncut

Traverse Theatre, 20 Aug, £6.50

theSpace on Niddry St, 21 Aug, 23 Aug, 25 Aug, £5

24h

Summerhall, 22 Aug, 25 Aug, £1

11:00

Born to Run

Traverse Theatre, 21 Aug, 25 Aug, £13 – £20

24h

Summerhall, 22 Aug, 25 Aug, £1

Mark Thomas: Bravo Figaro! HHH

Peep HHH

Traverse Theatre, 23 Aug, £18

Pleasance Courtyard, 20-27 Aug, £6

Underbelly, Cowgate, 20-26 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

11:40

11:15 Forever Young

theSpace @ Symposium Hall, 20-24 Aug, £6

Captain Ferguson’s School for Balloon Warfare HH

All in the Timing

Oh, What a Lovely War

Traverse Theatre, 24 Aug, £20

Bye Bye World

Candida

Romeo and Juliet

theSpace on Niddry St, 20 Aug, 22 Aug, 24 Aug, £5

11:35

Assembly Roxy, 21-27 Aug, £13

Assembly Roxy, 21-27 Aug, £10 – £12

Machinal

❤ The Letter of Last Resort and Good With People HHHH

❤ The Letter of Last Resort and Good With People HHHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 25 Aug, £4

theSpace on the Mile , 20-25 Aug, £7 – £9

10:45 theSpace @ Venue45, 21-25 Aug, £5

Seeing Double: Vision HHH

Pleasance Bytes

Pleasance Dome, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £10.50 – £11.50 Traverse Theatre, 21 Aug, 26 Aug, £17

The Life and Sort of Death of Eric Argyle

Northern Stage at St Stephen’s, 21-25 Aug, £10

Pleasance Courtyard, 20-27 Aug, £7 – £8

11:10 The Ride of the Bluebottles

Suzanne

The Price of Everything HHH

Assembly George Square, 20-27 Aug, £10 – £12

11:45 Hell’s Bells by Lynne Truss Pleasance Courtyard, 21-27 Aug, £8 – £9

Female Gothic

Church Hill Theatre, 20 Aug, £5

Assembly George Square, 20-27 Aug, £12 – £13

Thin Ice HHH

11:20

Pleasance Courtyard, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £9 – £10

The Property Known As Garland theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, 20-25 Aug, £8 – £10

12:00 As Ye Sow

11:30

Pleasance Dome, 20-27 Aug, £10 – £11.50

Seeing Double: Figures HHH

An Audience With the Duke of Windsor - Bob Kingdom

Pleasance Courtyard, 20-27 Aug, £7 – £8

Plastic Beach HH

Zoo Southside, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £7

Assembly Hall, 20-27 Aug, £10 – £11

Bigmouth

Summerhall, 20-26 Aug, £10

Pleasance Dome, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Traverse Theatre, 21 Aug, 25 Aug, £18 – £20

❤ The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists HHHH

Assembly George Square, 20-27 Aug, £11 – £12

Churchill HHH

The Assembly Rooms, 20-26 Aug, £10

24h

Summerhall, 22 Aug, 25 Aug, £1

Peep HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 20-27 Aug, £6

Comedy Playhouse - Balloon - Free

Laughing Horse @ The Counting House, 20-26 Aug, £free

Firing Blanks

Zoo, 20-27 Aug, £9 – £10

Tam O’Shanter

Assembly Hall, 21-26 Aug, £14 – £15

12:05 Wild Allegations

theSpace on North Bridge, 20-25 Aug, £6

12:10 Continuous Growth HHH

Pleasance Dome, 21-27 Aug, £10 – £11

12:15 Statements After an Arrest Under the Immorality Act by Athol Fugard HH Assembly Hall, 21-27 Aug, £14 – £16

Virginia Ironside: Growing Old Disgracefully

Gilded Balloon Teviot, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £10 – £11

Wonderland

Church Hill Theatre, 20 Aug, £5

12:20

Hunt & Darton Cafe

Lord of the Flies

BOX

Miss Julie

Hunt & Darton Cafe , 21-26 Aug, £free

C venues - C nova, 2026 Aug, £7.50 – £9.50

❤ Horrible Histories - Barmy Britain HHHHH Pleasance Courtyard, 21-26 Aug, £10.50 – £11.50

Razing Eddie HH

Underbelly, Cowgate, 20-26 Aug, £8.50 – £10

Paradise in Augustine’s, 21-27 Aug, £8.50 theSpace on North Bridge, 20-25 Aug, £10 – £11

The Bravery of Miss Anne and Other Tales of Splendorous Adventure The Voodoo Rooms, 21-25 Aug, £free

Machinal

theSpace on Niddry St, 21 Aug, 23 Aug, 25 Aug, £5

HHHH “Bloody, marvellous stuff!”

D. Express

LIVE ON STAGE!

®

pleasance 12 noon Daily 0131 556 6550

www.festmag.co.uk

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 89

theatrelistings Oh, What a Lovely War

Soldiers’ Wives HHH

theSpace on Niddry St, 20 Aug, 22 Aug, 24 Aug, £5

Assembly Roxy, 20-27 Aug, £10 – £12

The Mermaid of Zennor

Pleasance Courtyard, 21-27 Aug, £9 – £10

C venues - C too, 20-27 Aug, £7.50 – £9.50

US Beef HHH

Pleasance Dome, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

12:25 Ma Biche et Mon Lapin

Institut français d’Ecosse, 20-24 Aug, £5

The Fantasist HHH Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £8 – £9

12:30 ❤ And No More Shall We Part HHHH Traverse Theatre, 23 Aug, £18

Round ‘ere

Venue 13, 20-25 Aug, £free

The Yellow Wallpaper

Gryphon Venues at the Point Hotel, 21-25 Aug, £8

Rut

Bedlam Theatre, 20-25 Aug, £7

Born to Run

Traverse Theatre, 22 Aug, 26 Aug, £18

As You Like It

Zoo, 20-27 Aug, £8

All Turn! - Free

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-26 Aug, £free

My Elevator Days

12:35 Land of the Dead / Helter Skelter Greenside, 20-25 Aug, £9

12:40 The Musicians

theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, 20-25 Aug, £7.50

Jubilate! by Rosalind Adler Pleasance Courtyard, 20-25 Aug, £8 – £9

FAT

Pleasance Courtyard, 23-26 Aug, £9

The Silencer - David Calvitto Pleasance Courtyard, 20-26 Aug, £10 – £11

12:45 Punch & Judy HH

Pleasance Courtyard, 20-27 Aug, £9 – £10

❤ Uncoupled HHHH Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20-27 Aug, £9 – £10

The Boy with the Cuckoo Clock Heart HHH Pleasance Courtyard, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10

The Turn of the Screw

Zoo Southside, 20-27 Aug, £7

❤ Mess HHHH

Traverse Theatre, 25 Aug, £19

Monkey Bars HHH Traverse Theatre, 23 Aug, £17

❤ Best in the World HHHH Northern Stage at St Stephen’s, 21-25 Aug, £14

12:50 Locked In

theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, 20-25 Aug, £10

Monkey Poet’s Murder Mystery

The Banshee Labyrinth, 20-25 Aug, £free

13:00 Eat $h*t: How Our Waste Can Save the World

C venues - C nova, 20-27 Aug, £6.50 – £8.50

Angels HHH

Traverse Theatre, 21 Aug, 26 Aug, £17

My Wrestle Mania

Six and a Tanner

The Assembly Rooms, 20-26 Aug, £15

❤ Slapdash Galaxy HHHHH Underbelly, Cowgate, 20-26 Aug, £10 – £11.50

Everything Else Happened HHH

Assembly Roxy, 20-27 Aug, £10 – £12

Detention HHH

Summerhall, 21-26 Aug, £12

❤ Slice by Mel Giedroyc HHHH

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 21-27 Aug, £9 – £10

❤ Blink HHHH

Traverse Theatre, 24 Aug, £19

Bound

C venues - C aquila, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

Princes Mall, 25 Aug, £free

13:05

Bullet Catch HHH

theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, 20-25 Aug, £6

Traverse Theatre, 22 Aug, £17

Platero Y Yo by Juan Ramon Jimenez Valvona & Crolla, 22-27 Aug, weekdays only, £12

Textually Transmitted

C venues - C nova, 20-27 Aug, £7.50 – £9.50

24h

Summerhall, 22 Aug, 25 Aug, £1

Peep HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 20-27 Aug, £6

Evil

The Bongo Club, 21-25 Aug, £6

Wild Turkey

The Spirit of Frances Wright (Love is an Action Verb)

Sweet Grassmarket, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £8

Shakespeare Didn’t Write This

❤ The Trench HHHHH

Pleasance Courtyard, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £10 – £12

Letter to the Man (from the Boy) Underbelly, Cowgate, 20-26 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Photographing the Dead

Paradise in The Vault, Various dates from 21 Aug to 27 Aug, £7

Pleasance Dome, 20-27 Aug, £9 – £10

13:30 The Economist

13:15

The Lad Himself HHH

C venues - C nova, 20-27 Aug, £7.50 – £9.50

Him

theSpace on the Mile , 21-25 Aug, £7 – £8

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20-26 Aug, £9.50 – £12.50

Educating Ronnie HHH

❤ Camille Claudel HHHH

Assembly George Square, 21-26 Aug, £10 – £12

The Miller’s Tale: Wahala Dey Oh!

C venues - C, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

Night of the Big Wind HHH

Underbelly, Cowgate, 20-25 Aug, £8.50 – £10

Unlucky for Some

Love Child

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 21-27 Aug, £10 – £12

Poe’s Last Night - Free

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20-26 Aug, £free

Mark Thomas: Bravo Figaro! HHH Traverse Theatre, 24 Aug, £20

Mostellaria (The Haunted House)

Church Hill Theatre, 20 Aug, £5

Eastern Angles in association with

***** WHATSONSTAGE.COM, 2011 — WORLD POETRY SLAM CHAMPION

❤ Dirty Great Love Story HHHH

Sweet Grassmarket, 20-24 Aug, £8

Venue 13, 20-25 Aug, £free

13:10

13:20

Pleasance Courtyard, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

As You Like It

Pleasance Dome, 20-27 Aug, £7.50 – £9

Dirty Barbie and other girlhood tales HHH Assembly Hall, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £7 – £9

And the Girls in Their Sunday Dresses HHH

Assembly George Square, 20-27 Aug, £14 – £15

The Good Person of Szechwan

theSpace @ Symposium Hall, 20-25 Aug, £5

Big Sean, Mikey and Me HH Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20-27 Aug, £10

Simple Matters HH Gilded Balloon Teviot, 21-26 Aug, £10 – £11

Key Theatre Peterborough

I PETERBOROUGH

PROPER POP–UP PURPLE PAPER PEOPLE HARRY BAKER

A dark ly ncom ic play by Writte

by Joel

Horwood. Direct Frinedge t win

by Firs Ivan Cuttin g ner & JoelJoel HorwoHor od wood

12.00, 6—24th August (exc. Sundaes) Royal Oak, 1 Infirmary St.

CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE

HHHH Independent

AUGUST 1ST - 27TH AT 5.35PM

Free entry, anytime...

0131 556 6550 WWW.PLEASANCE.CO.UK PLEASANCE COURTYARD/PLEASANCE TWO

ad.indd 1

90 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

08/08/2012 23:22

theatrelistings You Obviously Know What I’m Talking About HHH Underbelly, Cowgate, 20-26 Aug, £9 – £11

Ruthlessness

C Venues - C eca, 21-27 Aug, £7.50 – £9.50

Carnival of Crows

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-24 Aug, £free

13:40 Botallack O’Clock

Gilded Balloon Teviot, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £9

13:55 ❤ Othello - The Remix HHHH

Pleasance Courtyard, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £12.50 – £15

Exterminating Angel - An Improvisation

Pleasance Courtyard, 2127 Aug, £10 – £11

❤ Flâneurs HHHH

Ellipsis

Summerhall, 20-26 Aug, £8

Listen! The River

Pleasance Courtyard, 20-27 Aug, £10 – £11

theSpace @ Jury’s Inn, 20-25 Aug, £5 theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, 20-25 Aug, £8

❤ Hand Over Fist HHHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 20-27 Aug, £10 – £11

Mon Droit HHH

❤ Crypted HHHH

C venues - C nova, 2026 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

The Edinburgh International Circus Festival

14:00

Ocean Terminal Big Top, 25-26 Aug, £free

theSpace on the Mile , 21-25 Aug, £5

The List

Werther’s Sorrows

13:45

❤ Coalition HHHH

Pretty When I’m Drunk

End to End

Bannermans, 20-25 Aug, £free

Perle HHH

Assembly Roxy, 20-26 Aug, £9 – £10

Urban Fairytale

theSpace @ Venue45, 20-25 Aug, £8

Unmythable

Zoo, 20-27 Aug, £10

Theseus and the Minotaur: A Love Story

theSpace on North Bridge, 20-25 Aug, £10

13:50 Irreconcilable Differences

Gryphon Venues at the Point Hotel, 20-25 Aug, £8

Executive Stress / Corporate Retreat

C Venues - C eca, 20-27 Aug, £7.50 – £9.50

www.festmag.co.uk

Summerhall, 21-25 Aug, £12 Pleasance Dome, 20-26 Aug, £13.50 – £14.50

Baby With the Bathwater

theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, 20-25 Aug, £10

Martin Dockery: Wanderlust

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20-27 Aug, £9 – £10

Anything But (A One-Woman Play)

Zoo Southside, 21 Aug, 23 Aug, 25 Aug, 27 Aug, £8

Proof

Pleasance Courtyard, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

Kin

The Playhouse on the Fringe, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £10

Faulty Towers the Dining Experience

Pleasance Courtyard, 20-27 Aug, £8 – £9

B’est Restaurant, 20-28 Aug, not 25, £43 – £46.50

Forgotten Heroes

24h

C venues - C nova, 20-27 Aug, £7.50 – £9.50

The World’s Greatest Walking Tour of Edinburgh Pleasance Dome, Various dates from 21 Aug to 27 Aug, £8 – £9

The Half HHH

Assembly George Square, 20-26 Aug, £12 – £14

Summerhall, 22 Aug, 25 Aug, £1

Peep HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 20-27 Aug, £6

❤ Mies Julie HHHH Assembly Hall, 21-27 Aug, £14 – £16

Salome By Oscar Wilde

Zoo Southside, 22 Aug, 24 Aug, 26 Aug, £8

The Celebrity

PASS (Performing Arts Studio Scotland), 22-25 Aug, £8

A Donkey and a Parrot

Gilded Balloon at Third Door, 21-27 Aug, £8 – £9

My Sister

The Fiddler’s Elbow, 20 Aug, 22 Aug, 23 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, £free

True Colours

Northern Stage at St Stephen’s, 21-25 Aug, £5

Bottleneck HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 20-26 Aug, £9 – £10

Mayday Mayday

Panning for Gold - Free

Laughing Horse @ The Phoenix, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

Cut!

theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, 20-25 Aug, £7.50

When Alice (Cooper) Met (Prince) Harry Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-26 Aug, £free

14:10 The Wheelchair on My Face HHH Pleasance Courtyard, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £8 – £10

Pleasance Dome, 20-27 Aug, £9 – £11

14:15

❤ Uninvited HHHH

Scotsman Best of the Fest

Bedlam Theatre, 20-25 Aug, £8

Shakespeare’s Queens: She-Wolves and Serpents C Venues - C eca, 20-25 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

Couleur Café

C venues - C nova, 20-27 Aug, £12.50 – £14.50

14:05 The Yellow Wallpaper

theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, 20-25 Aug, £5

Comedy Playhouse - Shopping for Bacon - Free

Laughing Horse @ The Newsroom, 20-26 Aug, £free

Now.Here

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-26 Aug, £free

Assembly George Square, 20 Aug, £12

The Pilgrim’s Progress

Palmerston Place Church, 22 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, £10

Sedition

Zoo, 20 Aug, 22 Aug, 24 Aug, 26 Aug, £8

Almost, Maine

Church Hill Theatre, 20 Aug, £5

Village of Idiots

Church Hill Theatre, 21 Aug, £5

Chariot: The Eric Liddell Story

Edinburgh Elim, 24-25 Aug, £10

❤ The Agony and the Ecstasy of Steve Jobs by Mike Daisey HHHH Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20-27 Aug, £10 – £11

Angels in Heels

Laughing Horse @ Edinburgh City Football Club, 21-26 Aug, £free

14:20 Love All HHH

Assembly Roxy, 21-26 Aug, £10 – £12

Satan’s Playground HHH Underbelly, Cowgate, 20-26 Aug, £9 – £10

Sherlock Holmes and the Sound of the Baskervilles

Paradise in Augustine’s, 21-27 Aug, £9.50

14:30 Primer for a Failed Superpower The Hub, 24 Aug, £6

As of 1.52pm GMT on Friday April 27th 2012, This Show Has No Title. HH Traverse Theatre, 22 Aug, 26 Aug, £12

❤ Teach Me HHHH Hill Street Theatre, 2126 Aug, £9 – £12

Miriam Margolyes Dickens’ Women

Pleasance Courtyard, 20 Aug, 22 Aug, 23 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, £16.50 – £17.50

Comedian Dies in the Middle of Joke HH

Pleasance Dome, 20-27 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

Visiting Time

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20-26 Aug, £10 – £12

Cancer Time

Venue 13, 20-25 Aug, £8

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 91

theatrelistings 14:35 Am I Good Friend?

The Cabaret Voltaire, 20 Aug, 22 Aug, 23 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, £free

❤ CountryBoy’s Struggle HHHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 20-27 Aug, £9.50 – £11.50

21A - Free

GHQ, 20 Aug, 22 Aug, 23 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, £free

14:40 The Sewing Machine Assembly George Square, 21-27 Aug, £13 – £14

❤ This Way Up HHHH

C venues - C, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

The Static

Underbelly, Cowgate, 2126 Aug, £10 – £11

Once in a House on Fire HHH Northern Stage at St Stephen’s, 21-25 Aug, £14

Probably the Greatest Goal Ever Scored (and Other Tales) Sweet Grassmarket, 20-24 Aug, £7

14:45 Thread

Assembly St Mark’s, 23 Aug, £10

❤ Dylan Thomas: Return Journey - Bob Kingdom, Original Direction by Anthony Hopkins HHHH Assembly Hall, 20-27 Aug, £10 – £11

Krapp’s Last Tape

The Assembly Rooms, 20-26 Aug, £10

The Good, the Bad and the Extraterrestrials

Laughing Horse @ Espionage, 20-26 Aug, £free

14:50 Jigsy HHH

The Assembly Rooms, 20-26 Aug, £15

❤ The Prize HHHH Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-26 Aug, £11 – £12

The Cagebirds

C Venues - C eca, 20 Aug, 22 Aug, 24 Aug, 26 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

Chapel Street HHH Underbelly, Cowgate, 20-26 Aug, £10 – £11

❤ Peter Panic HHHH

Pleasance Dome, 20-26 Aug, £8 – £10

Besides the Obvious C Venues - C eca, 21 Aug, 23 Aug, 25 Aug, 27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

14:55

Kes

Self-Criticism

Paradise in Augustine’s, 21-27 Aug, £8

Paradise in The Vault, 21-25 Aug, £6

Winston on the Run

A Man for All Times: W. E. B. DuBois

Pleasance Courtyard, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £9 – £10

theSpace @ Jury’s Inn, 20-25 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

15:00 As of 1.52pm GMT on Friday April 27th 2012, This Show Has No Title. HH Traverse Theatre, 23 Aug, £12

Villains, Heroes and Adventurers

Valvona & Crolla Scottish Foodhall@Jenners, 20 Aug, 21 Aug, 22 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, £15

Githa

C venues - C nova, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

Remember Me

Summerhall, 21-26 Aug, £6

Pages from the Book of...

Summerhall, 20-24 Aug, £10

The Dead Memory House HHH Summerhall, 20-26 Aug, £10

24h

Summerhall, 22 Aug, 25 Aug, £1

Peep HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 20-27 Aug, £6

Holmes and Watson: The Farewell Tour Valvona & Crolla, 22 Aug, 23 Aug, 25 Aug, 26 Aug, £12

True Colours

Northern Stage at St Stephen’s, 21-25 Aug, £5

Tokyo Trilogy

C Venues - C eca, 20-27 Aug, £7.50 – £9.50

Miss Havisham’s Expectations

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20-27 Aug, £10 – £11

92 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

The Day the Sky Turned Black

Assembly Roxy, 20-26 Aug, £11 – £12

15:05 Karen’s Way: A Kindertransport Life theSpace @ Venue45, 20-25 Aug, £10

Journos

theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, 20-25 Aug, £6.50

Not My Cup of Tea theSpace on the Mile , 20-25 Aug, £7.50

The School of Night HHH Pleasance Courtyard, 20-26 Aug, £10 – £11

15:10 Appointment With The Wicker Man HHH The Assembly Rooms, 21-26 Aug, £16

Miss Julie

theSpace on North Bridge, 20-25 Aug, £5

15:15 Murder, Marple and Me

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 21-26 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

Porphyria HHH

Zoo Southside, 20 Aug, £7.50

Rubber Dinghy

Zoo Southside, 21-27 Aug, £8

Bullet Catch HHH Traverse Theatre, 23 Aug, £17

I, Tommy HH

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20-27 Aug, £14 – £16

Recent Tragic Events

Sweet Grassmarket, 20-24 Aug, £9

❤ Mess HHHH

Traverse Theatre, 21 Aug, 26 Aug, £17

Monkey Bars HHH Traverse Theatre, 24 Aug, £19

The Darkroom HH

C venues - C nova, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

❤ Blink HHHH

Traverse Theatre, 25 Aug, £19

15:20 Cover HHH

C venues - C nova, 20-27 Aug, £7.50 – £9.50

Maurice Roëves: Just a Gigolo HH

Assembly George Square, 20-27 Aug, £14 – £15

Eurydice

C Venues - C eca, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

Still Life (or Brief Encounter)

C venues - C aquila, 2027 Aug, £9.50 – £11.50

I Never Saw Another Butterfly Church Hill Theatre, 20 Aug, £5

Excuse Me, I’m Trying to Please You Zoo Southside, 20-27 Aug, £8

15:25 The Idiot at the Wall Bedlam Theatre, 20-25 Aug, £9

Ma Biche et Mon Lapin

Institut français d’Ecosse, 20-24 Aug, £5

Rodney Bewes as A Boy Growing Up. An Entertainment from the stories of Dylan Thomas Assembly George Square, 20-27 Aug, £11 – £12

❤ Molly Naylor and the Middle Ones: My Robot Heart HHHH Pleasance Courtyard, 20-27 Aug, £9 – £10.50

15:30 As of 1.52pm GMT on Friday April 27th 2012, This Show Has No Title. HH Traverse Theatre, 21 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, £12

Treasure Island

C venues - C too, 20-27 Aug, £9.50 – £11.50

Nothing Is Really Difficult Assembly George Square, 22-26 Aug, £10

Remember Me

Summerhall, 21-26 Aug, £6

The Softening of MAO-A Summerhall, 20-26 Aug, £10

Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £11 – £12

Angels HHH

Traverse Theatre, 22 Aug, £17

Oliver Reed: Wild Thing

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20-27 Aug, £10 – £11

Cleansed

theSpace on North Bridge, 20-25 Aug, £7

NOLA HHH

Underbelly, Cowgate, 20-26 Aug, £10 – £11

How a Man Crumbled HH

Summerhall, 20-26 Aug, £10

theatrelistings Serve Cold

Gryphon Venues at the Point Hotel, 20-27 Aug, £8

Still Home

Gryphon Venues at the Point Hotel, 23-24 Aug, £10

15:35 Sophie Shadow

Paradise in The Vault, 21-26 Aug, £9

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Attempts on Her Life - Free

The Indescribable Phenomenon

Lingua Frank HH

Paradise in Augustine’s, 21-25 Aug, £8

Greenside, 20-25 Aug, £9

16:00 Elephant Man

15:40

theSpace on Niddry St, 20 Aug, 22 Aug, £10

❤ Tumble Circus: This Is What We Do For a Living HHHH

Institut français d’Ecosse, 20-24 Aug, £10

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £12 – £14

Dirty Hands

Sweet Grassmarket, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £8

After the Rainfall HHH Pleasance Dome, 20-27 Aug, £12 – £13

❤ Punch HHHH

Underbelly, Cowgate, 20-26 Aug, £10 – £11

A Clockwork Orange Pleasance Courtyard, 20-26 Aug, £13.50 – £14.50

15:45 ❤ Waiting for Stanley HHHHH

Assembly Roxy, 20-26 Aug, £10 – £12

15:50 Tagged

C Venues - C eca, 21 Aug, 23 Aug, 25 Aug, 27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

It’s So Nice

Sparkleshark

St Peter’s, 25 Aug, £6

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Assembly George Square, 21-27 Aug, £14 – £15

The Eighth Day Venue 13, 20-25 Aug, £7

❤ Mother to Mother HHHH Assembly George Square, 20-27 Aug, £14 – £15

❤ Woza Albert!

HHHH

Assembly Hall, 20-27 Aug, £14 – £16

Nights at the Circus theSpace on Niddry St, 24 Aug, £10

Kemble’s Riot HH

Pleasance Dome, 20-27 Aug, £11 – £12

The Erpingham Camp

theSpace on Niddry St, 21 Aug, 23 Aug, 25 Aug, £10

Fabled

The Bongo Club, 20-25 Aug, £5

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 21-24 Aug, £free The Playhouse on the Fringe, 20-27 Aug, £10

Angus: Weaver of Grass

Scottish Storytelling Centre, 20-26 Aug, £10

How’s About That Then? HHH

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 20-27 Aug, £11 – £12

❤ An Evening With Dementia HHHH

25: 13 Red, 12 Blue

Maria, 1968

Boy In a Dress HHH

theSpace on the Mile , 20-25 Aug, £9 C venues - C, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

16:10 The House of Shadows

theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, 20-25 Aug, £7

Me Before Marilyn theSpace @ Jury’s Inn, 20-25 Aug, £6

C venues - C aquila, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

The Stand Comedy Club III & IV, 20-26 Aug, £10

16:25 Hervé - A Collection of Songs, Dances and Stories Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £10.50 – £11.50

24h

Subliminal Nonsense

Metamorphoses: Fables from Ovid

theSpace on the Mile , 21-25 Aug, £10

theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, 20-25 Aug, £9

Peep HHH

Strong Arm HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 20-27 Aug, £6

Underbelly, Cowgate, 20-26 Aug, £10 – £11

Maurice’s Jubilee

Rod is God HH

16:15

Summerhall, 22 Aug, 25 Aug, £1

Pleasance Dome, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £9.50 – £12

Edinburgh

Summerhall, 20 Aug, £5

B*tch Boxer HHH

Underbelly, Cowgate, 20-26 Aug, £10 – £11

True Colours

Northern Stage at St Stephen’s, 21-25 Aug, £5

A Modern Town HH Pleasance Courtyard, 20-27 Aug, £9 – £10

East - by Steven Berkoff

Douglas House, 20-25 Aug, £8

16:05 You Left Me in the Dark theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, 20-25 Aug, £8

Thread

Assembly St Mark’s, 23 Aug, £10

Paul Dabek Presents Thurston The Voodoo Rooms, 20-25 Aug, £free

Sister Annunciata’s Secret Hill Street Theatre, 2026 Aug, £10 – £11

Pleasance Courtyard, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £12.50 – £15.50

The Hand-Me-Down People HH

C venues - C nova, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

16:30 Gob Shop

Sapphire Rooms, 22-26 Aug, £7

Wojtek the Bear

❤ Juana in a Million HHHH

Hill Street Theatre, 2026 Aug, £11 – £12

Cubicle Four

Gilded Balloon at Third Door, 21-26 Aug, £9 – £10

Pleasance Dome, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £9 – £10 Paradise in The Vault, 21-27 Aug, £10

16:20 A Thousand Shards of Glass Northern Stage at St Stephen’s, 21-25 Aug, £14

Shopping Centre by Matthew Osborn HHH

A Dirty Martini

Zoo Southside, 20-27 Aug, £8.50

Swamp Juice

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20-27 Aug, £11 – £13

Thinking of you - Free

Laughing Horse @ The Phoenix, 21-26 Aug, £free

Three by Poe

C venues - C nova, 20-27 Aug, £9.50 – £11.50

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Paradise in Augustine’s, 21-27 Aug, £8

Walk Like a Black Man

C Venues - C eca, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

Gilbert and Sullivan in Brief(s) Pleasance Courtyard, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £10 – £12

16:35 Little Women

theSpace @ Venue45, 20-25 Aug, £8

Superheroes

theSpace on North Bridge, 20-25 Aug, £7

16:45 Right Honourable Member HH C venues - C aquila, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

Peter Piper - The Man Behind the Legend Princes Mall, 20-25 Aug, £free

❤ Joyced! HHHH

Assembly George Square, 21-27 Aug, £10 – £12

Formby

Assembly George Square, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £11 – £13

2.20pm @ Just the Tonic at The Tron. £8/£6

www.festmag.co.uk

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 93

theatrelistings Rainbow

Zoo Southside, 20-27 Aug, £9

16:50 Someone Who’ll Watch Over Me

C Venues - C eca, 20 Aug, 22 Aug, 24 Aug, 26 Aug, £9.50 – £11.50

Misanthropy HH

C Venues - C eca, 21 Aug, 23 Aug, 25 Aug, 27 Aug, £9.50 – £11.50

Made for Each Other - Free

Laughing Horse @ Bar 50, 20-26 Aug, £free

Hearts on Fire HHH

C venues - C nova, 20-27 Aug, £9.50 – £11.50

16:55 The Submarine Show

C venues - C too, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

17:00

The Edinburgh International Circus Festival Ocean Terminal Big Top, 21-26 Aug, £free

❤ Glory Dazed HHHH

Underbelly, Cowgate, 20-26 Aug, £10 – £11

Breathing Corpses

by Laura Wade Zoo, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £8

❤ The Letter of Last Resort and Good With People HHHH Traverse Theatre, 22 Aug, 26 Aug, £18

A Brief History of Scotland - We Done Loads!

Sweet Grassmarket, 20-24 Aug, £9.50

There’s Absolutely Nothing Wrong With Oscar Pike Sweet Grassmarket, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £7

Threads

theSpace on the Mile , 20-25 Aug, £8.50 – £9.50

A Sky Burial

theSpace on North Bridge, 20 Aug, 22 Aug, 24 Aug, £7

❤ A Soldier’s Song HHHH

Assembly Roxy, 20-26 Aug, £11 – £13

Marcel Pursued By the Hounds by Michel Tremblay

Summerhall, 22 Aug, 25 Aug, £1

Peep HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 20-27 Aug, £6

The Girl With No Heart

Gryphon Venues at the Point Hotel, 25-26 Aug, £7

theSpace @ Jury’s Inn, 20-25 Aug, £8

24h

Paradise in The Vault, 21-27 Aug, £6

Nothing Is Really Difficult

My City Saturday

Burns: Rough Cut HHH

17:10

Skye

Assembly George Square, 22-26 Aug, £10

theSpace on North Bridge, 21 Aug, 23 Aug, 25 Aug, £7

Rémy

Primer for a Failed Superpower The Hub, 24 Aug, £6

Swordy-Well

Greenside, 20-25 Aug, £5

Bedlam Theatre, 20-25 Aug, £8

True Colours

Northern Stage at St Stephen’s, 21-25 Aug, £5

Bhagwaan Dhoondo - An Indian musical interactive theatre performance Lauriston Halls, 27 Aug, £free

17:05 A Grave Reunion

theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, 20-25 Aug, £7.50

Casablanca: The Gin Joint Cut

17:30

Gilded Balloon Teviot, 21-27 Aug, £12 – £14

Icarus: a Story of Flight HHH

Sealand

Zoo, 20-27 Aug, £9

The Shape of Things

by Neil LaBute theSpace on the Mile , 22 Aug, 25 Aug, £6

17:20 Her Right Mind

Greenside, 20-25 Aug, £7 – £8

One Hour Only HHH Underbelly, Cowgate, 20-26 Aug, £10 – £11

Bane 1, 2 & 3

Pleasance Dome, 20-26 Aug, £10 – £12

theSpace on the Mile , 21 Aug, 24 Aug, £6

17:25

17:15

C venues - C nova, 2026 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

❤ Dirty Paki Lingerie HHHH

Assembly Hall, 20-26 Aug, £8 – £9

❤ Still Life: An Audience With Henrietta Moraes HHHH Whitespace, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £12

Words and Women

The Street, 20-25 Aug, £free

Sinful - Free

Laughing Horse @ The Free Sisters, 20-26 Aug, £free

After the Accident

by Julian Armitstead theSpace on the Mile , 20 Aug, 23 Aug, £6

SOS Courtship

Church Hill Theatre, 20 Aug, £5

94 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

Excess

❤ Translunar Paradise HHHHH

Pleasance Dome, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £10 – £12

Ma Biche et Mon Lapin

C Venues - C eca, 20-27 Aug, £9.50 – £11.50

99.9 Degrees

C Venues - C eca, 20-27 Aug, £7.50 – £9.50

The Madness of King Lear

C venues - C, 20-27 Aug, £9.50 – £11.50

Born to Run

Traverse Theatre, 23 Aug, £18

Monkey Bars HHH Traverse Theatre, 25 Aug, £19

Legs 11

Summerhall, 20-26 Aug, £10

17:35 Swan Song

theSpace on North Bridge, 20-25 Aug, £8.50

I Heart Peterborough HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £10 – £11

17:40 Educating Rita HHH

Institut français d’Ecosse, 20-24 Aug, £5

Assembly George Square, 20-26 Aug, £15 – £16

Tea with the Old Queen

17:45

C venues - C aquila, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

Don Quixote! Don Quixote! HH Pleasance Dome, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £9 – £10

Amusements HHH Summerhall, 20-26 Aug, £8

Angels HHH

Traverse Theatre, 23 Aug, £17

Nights at the Circus theSpace on Niddry St, 22 Aug, £10

Leonce and Lena

C venues - C nova, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

Italia ‘n’ Caledonia Valvona & Crolla, 21 Aug, 22 Aug, 24 Aug, £12

Bullet Catch HHH Traverse Theatre, 24 Aug, £19

Platero Y Yo by Juan Ramon Jimenez Valvona & Crolla, 25 Aug, £12

Holmes and Watson: The Farewell Tour Valvona & Crolla, 20 Aug, 27 Aug, £12

Divine Words

theSpace on Niddry St, 20 Aug, 24 Aug, £10

❤ Mess HHHH

Traverse Theatre, 22 Aug, £17

Minotaur

theSpace on Niddry St, 21 Aug, 23 Aug, 25 Aug, £10

❤ Blink HHHH

Traverse Theatre, 21 Aug, 26 Aug, £17

Unplugged

Zoo Southside, 20-27 Aug, £9 – £10

17:55 Villains, Heroes and Adventurers

Valvona & Crolla Scottish Foodhall@Jenners, 23 Aug, £15

Love and Understanding

C venues - C aquila, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

18:00 Les Naufragés du Fol Espoir (Aurores)

Lowland Hall, Royal Highland Centre, 23 Aug, 24

theatrelistings Aug, 25 Aug, 27 Aug, 28 Aug, £35

Dracula

PASS (Performing Arts Studio Scotland), 21-25 Aug, £7

The World’s Greatest Walking Tour of Edinburgh Pleasance Dome, Various dates from 21 Aug to 27 Aug, £8 – £9

❤ And No More Shall We Part HHHH Traverse Theatre, 24 Aug, £20

The Dead Memory House HHH Summerhall, 20-26 Aug, £10

24h

Summerhall, 22 Aug, 25 Aug, £1

Peep HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 20-27 Aug, £6

Desperately Seeking the Exit - Free

Laughing Horse @ Edinburgh City Football Club, 20-26 Aug, £free

Blackbird

Edinburgh Training and Conference Venue, 2024 Aug, £7

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Princes Mall, 20-25 Aug, £free

18:05

18:20

Built for Two

The Pride HHH

theSpace on the Mile , 20-25 Aug, £6

The Disintegration Loops theSpace @ Venue45, 20 Aug, 22 Aug, 24 Aug, £5

Stick Stock Stone Dead

theSpace on the Mile , 20-25 Aug, £10

Lust in Translation theSpace @ Venue45, 21 Aug, 23 Aug, 25 Aug, £5

18:10 Happy

Greenside, 20-25 Aug, £5

The Music Box

Paradise in The Vault, 21-27 Aug, £7

Pierrepoint - The Hangman’s Tale Sweet Grassmarket, 20-24 Aug, £8.50

18:15 ❤ National Theatre of Scotland Presents Love Letters to the Public Transport System By Molly Taylor HHHH The Assembly Rooms, 21-26 Aug, £10

Underbelly, Cowgate, 20-26 Aug, £10 – £12.50

The Taming of the Shrew Sweet Grassmarket, 20-24 Aug, £7.50

18:25 Mr Braithwaite Has a New Boy

C venues - C aquila, 2127 Aug, £9.50 – £11.50

Tissue

Bedlam Theatre, 20-25 Aug, £6

We Got Rhythm

theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, 20-25 Aug, £5

18:30 Nothing Is Really Difficult

Aug, 23 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, £14

Unhappy Birthday Assembly George Square, 21-26 Aug, £10 – £12

A Real Man’s Guide to Sainthood Underbelly, Cowgate, 20-26 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

1984

Zoo, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £8

18:45 Deirdre and Me

C venues - C nova, 20-27 Aug, £9.50 – £11.50

Thread

Assembly St Mark’s, 21 Aug, 22 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, 26 Aug, £10

Assembly George Square, 22-26 Aug, £10

Don Juan

Belt Up Theatre’s A Little Princess HHH

18:50

C venues - C nova, 20-27 Aug, £10.50 – £12.50

The Boat Factory

Hill Street Theatre, 2026 Aug, £11 – £13

Rubies in the Attic Assembly Roxy, 21-27 Aug, £12 – £13

Bareback Ink

C Venues - C eca, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

The Lonely One HHH

Underbelly, Cowgate, 20-26 Aug, £10 – £11

Back to the Future The Pantomime Paradise in Augustine’s, 21-27 Aug, £9.50

Whitespace, 22-24 Aug, £free

19:00

Hinge Presents: Scooped

18:40

Going Green the Wong Way

Traverse Theatre, 21 Aug, 25 Aug, £18 – £20

Festen

theSpace on North Bridge, 20-25 Aug, £5 – £7

Peer Gynt

Wonderland

❤ Oh, The Humanity and Other Good Intentions HHHH

❤ Mr Carmen HHHH Assembly Roxy, 21-27 Aug, £12 – £14

Mark Thomas: Bravo Figaro! HHH

C Venues - C eca, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

Hill Street Theatre, 2026 Aug, £7 – £8 theSpace on North Bridge, 20-25 Aug, £7 Church Hill Theatre, 21 Aug, £5

The Weigh In

Northern Stage at St Stephen’s, 20 Aug, 22

❤ Caesarean Section - Essays on Suicide HHHH

19:10

Ben Okri’s The Comic Destiny

Hunger

Secret Weapons

On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco / Can Cause Death

Summerhall, 20 Aug, £11

Scottish Storytelling Centre, 20-26 Aug, £10 Gryphon Venues at the Point Hotel, 22-26 Aug, £6

24h

Summerhall, 22 Aug, 25 Aug, £1

Peep HHH

Pleasance Courtyard, 20-27 Aug, £6

❤ Alan Bissett: The Red Hourglass HHHHH National Library of Scotland, 20-25 Aug, £12

19:05 How to Start a Riot theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, 20-25 Aug, £7

Solve

theSpace on the Mile , 20-25 Aug, £6

Hitler’s Li’l Abomination

theSpace @ Jury’s Inn, 20-25 Aug, £9.50

Food For Thought

XXXO HH

Pleasance Courtyard, 20-26 Aug, £9 – £10.50 Paradise in Augustine’s, 21 Aug, 23 Aug, 25 Aug, 27 Aug, £10

C venues - C aquila, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

19:15 Elephant Man

theSpace on Niddry St, 24 Aug, £10

Machinal

C venues - C nova, 2026 Aug, £9.50 – £11.50

The Pilgrim’s Progress

Palmerston Place Church, 22-24 Aug, £10

A Woman Inside

theSpace on the Mile , 21-25 Aug, £7

Small Narration

Summerhall, 21-23 Aug, £9

Nights at the Circus theSpace on Niddry St, 20 Aug, £10

Sir Gawain, the Yellow Knight

Church Hill Theatre, 20 Aug, £5

theSpace @ Venue45, 20 Aug, 22 Aug, 24 Aug, £5

More Light

Venue 13, 20-25 Aug, £8

The Intervention HHH

Remember Me

The Assembly Rooms, 20-26 Aug, £15

theSpace on Niddry St, 22 Aug, £10

Summerhall, 21-26 Aug, £6

La Línea

Lauriston Halls, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, 27 Aug, £7

Dragged Up

theSpace @ Venue45, 21 Aug, 23 Aug, 25 Aug, £5

C Venues - C eca, 20-27 Aug, £9.50 – £11.50

Divine Words

Songs of Lear

Summerhall, 20-24 Aug, £11

Winfamy

Laughing Horse @ Edinburgh City Football

presents:

Other Voices: Spoken Word Cabaret

A whirlwind of sumptuous wit and panache! Come and hear some wonderful words from the other side of the door...

14:50- the venue 15:50 Labyrinth 156 http://bit.ly/othervoicespbh

Banshee

www.festmag.co.uk

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 95

theatrelistings Club, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

Remember Me

Chariot: The Eric Liddell Story

The Proposal

Edinburgh Elim, 21-24 Aug, £10

19:20 Mixed Doubles

The Edinburgh Academy, 20-24 Aug, £8

4.48 Psychosis

theSpace on Niddry St, 21 Aug, 23 Aug, 25 Aug, £10

19:25 The Last Fairytale

Sweet Grassmarket, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £8.50

A Middle-Aged Man’s Uncertainty Theory

C Venues - C eca, 20-27 Aug, £7.50 – £9.50

Montmorency

C venues - C, 20-27 Aug, £9.50 – £11.50

19:30 Wonderland

Royal Lyceum Theatre, 29 Aug - 1 Sep, £10

Villa+Discurso

The Hub, 20-21 Aug, £25

A Midsummer Night’s Dream (As You Like It)

Summerhall, 21-26 Aug, £6 theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, 20-25 Aug, £10

The Original Edinburgh Literary Pub Tour

Outside the Beehive Inn, 20 Aug - 2 Sep, £10

30 Days to Edinburgh

Summerhall, 26 Aug, £8

Ghetto

Greenside, 21-25 Aug, £6

❤ The Letter of Last Resort and Good With People HHHH Traverse Theatre, 23 Aug, £18

The Tragedie of MacClegg

Paradise in The Vault, 22-26 Aug, £5

Dancing at Lughnasa

Duddingston Kirk Manse Garden, 22-26 Aug, £10

People Show 121: The Detective Show Assembly George Square, 20-27 Aug, £10

Treasure in Clay Jars Mayfield Salisbury Church, 20-21 Aug, £free

King’s Theatre, 24-25 Aug, £free – £12

19:35

Sparkleshark

Greenside, 20-25 Aug, £9.50

St Peter’s, 21-25 Aug, £6

Three Cities

Sweet Grassmarket, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £8

A Dastardly Fiction

Half a Person: My Life As Told By The Smiths HH Zoo Southside, 20-27 Aug, £8

Faust/us

Sweet Grassmarket, 20-23 Aug, £9

Hearts on Fire HHH

C venues - C nova, 20-27 Aug, £9.50 – £11.50

20:00 Gulliver’s Travels King’s Theatre, 20 Aug, £12

Elephant Man

Institut français d’Ecosse, 20-24 Aug, £10

Return of the Close-Up Magician

C venues - C nova, 20-27 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

Captain Ko and the Planet of Rice Underbelly, Cowgate, 20-26 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

The Edinburgh International Circus Festival Ocean Terminal Big Top, 24-25 Aug, £free

Faulty Towers the Dining Experience

B’est Restaurant, Various dates from 20 Aug to 28 Aug, £49

Bullet Catch HHH Traverse Theatre, 25 Aug, £19

24h

Summerhall, 22 Aug, 25 Aug, £1

❤ Mess HHHH

19:50

Traverse Theatre, 23 Aug, £17

Death Boogie HHH

❤ Grit HHHH

Assembly Roxy, 21-27 Aug, £10 – £12

Bedlam Theatre, 20-25 Aug, £9

Monkey Bars HHH

Gotcha!

Traverse Theatre, 21 Aug, 26 Aug, £17

theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, 20-25 Aug, £6 – £7

20:05 How to Climb Mount Everest theSpace on North Bridge, 20-25 Aug, £7 – £10

❤ Blink HHHH

Traverse Theatre, 22 Aug, £17

Mark Thomas: Bravo Figaro! HHH Traverse Theatre, 26 Aug, £18

The Tale of Nada

theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, 20-25 Aug, £7.50

One in Three

20:10

Hill Street Theatre, 2026 Aug, £7 – £8

The Beast HHH

20:25

Underbelly, Cowgate, 20-26 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

Mark Thomas: Bravo Figaro! HHH Traverse Theatre, 22 Aug, £18

White Rabbit Red Rabbit

Summerhall, 20 Aug, 22 Aug, £10

20:35 I Heart Hamas: And Other Things I’m Afraid to Tell You HHH Gryphon Venues at the Point Hotel, 21-25 Aug, £10

Tranquility, Serenity, Calm

The Company of Wolves

Zoo, 20-27 Aug, £7.50

C Venues - C eca, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

20:30

20:40

theSpace @ Jury’s Inn, 20-25 Aug, £7

Romeo and Juliet

Dracula: Sex, Sucking and Stardom

20:15

Hinge Presents: Ordinary Things

In a Handbag, Darkly

theSpace on North Bridge, 20-25 Aug, £8

Firebird

Venue 13, 20-25 Aug, £8

Thread

Assembly St Mark’s, 21 Aug, 22 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, 26 Aug, £10

Angels HHH

Traverse Theatre, 24 Aug, £19

❤ And No More Shall We Part HHHH Traverse Theatre, 21 Aug, 25 Aug, £18 – £20

Panga HHH

Hill Street Theatre, 2026 Aug, £11 – £13

Platero Y Yo by Juan Ramon Jimenez Valvona & Crolla, 21 Aug, £12

Holmes and Watson: The Farewell Tour Valvona & Crolla, 24 Aug, £12

Pornography

theSpace @ Venue45, 20-25 Aug, £8

Zelda

Midnight at the Boar’s Head

Greenside, 20-25 Aug, £10

Zoo Southside, 20-27 Aug, £9 – £10

Me and Mr C

Hill Street Theatre, 2026 Aug, £7 – £8

Sancho Panza 2012

Northern Stage at St Stephen’s, 20 Aug, 22 Aug, 23 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, £10

Paradise in The Vault, 21-27 Aug, £8 – £9

Awkward!

theSpace on the Mile , 20-25 Aug, £6 – £7

20:45 Puellae (The truth about chips and other things) Summerhall, 20-26 Aug, £10

Future Tales (Sierakowski)

Summerhall, 20-26 Aug, £10

20:50 Kiss Me and You Will See How Important I Am HHH

theSpaces @ Surgeons Hall, 20-25 Aug, £8

C venues - C aquila, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

Born to Run

Pinch in Love

Traverse Theatre, 24 Aug, £20

Paradise in The Vault, 21-27 Aug, £7

North London Collegiate School present

World Premiere of new Drama & Dance.

96 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

theatrelistings 20:55 One Man Star Wars Trilogy

Underbelly, Bristo Square, 21 Aug, 23 Aug, 25 Aug, 27 Aug, £15 – £16

The Night Porters

Paradise in Augustine’s, 21-27 Aug, £10 – £14

One Man Lord of the Rings Underbelly, Bristo Square, 20 Aug, 22 Aug, 24 Aug, 26 Aug, £15 – £16

21:00 The Rape of Lucrece Royal Lyceum Theatre, 22-26 Aug, £20

Sparkleshark

St Peter’s, 24 Aug, £6

Defunct Pig - Free

The Hudson Hotel, 2025 Aug, £free

Confessions of a Grindr Addict HH

Belt Up Theatre’s Outland

C venues - C nova, 20-27 Aug, £10.50 – £12.50

Macbeth

C venues - C, 20-27 Aug, £9.50 – £11.50

21:10 Peaceful

theSpace @ Jury’s Inn, 20-25 Aug, £7

21:30 Underbelly, Cowgate, 20-26 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

Hitler Alone

Inlingua Edinburgh, 20-23 Aug, £14

Monstrous Acts

Riot Squat

Zoo Southside, 21-26 Aug, £8.50

Whitespace, 22-26 Aug, £9

24h

21:35

Bring the Happy

Northern Stage at St Stephen’s, 21 Aug, £14

21:05

The Bloody Chamber HHH

The Awesome Show theSpace on North Bridge, 20-25 Aug, £8 – £9

Wrecked

theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, 20-25 Aug, £10

Call Me!

Sweet Grassmarket, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £7.50

Question No One

theSpace @ Venue45, 20-25 Aug, £8.50

22:15 Beatle Mal’s Legendary Band

theSpace on Niddry St, 20-22 Aug, £8

Trojan Women

Hinge Presents: Dorian

theSpace on North Bridge, 20-25 Aug, £7

Quantum Battlestar Deep-Space Voyager Tardis Wars: The Million-Dollar Space Epic

21:45 C venues - C, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

Zoo, 20-27 Aug, £8

Hill Street Theatre, 2027 Aug, £7 – £8

C venues - C nova, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

Jack: A Ripper’s Tale

Paradise in The Vault, 21-27 Aug, £8

Vitamin

Leather

Summerhall, 22 Aug, 25 Aug, £1

C Venues - C eca, 20-27 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

The Three Faces of Doctor Crippen

22:25

theSpace on North Bridge, 20-25 Aug, £6

22:10

Tenderpits

Zoo, 23 Aug, 25 Aug, 27 Aug, £8

The World Over

22:05

Summerhall, 20-26 Aug, £10

Centralia

24h

The Sh*t / La Merda HHH

Closer

Old College Quad, 20-26 Aug, £13 – £15

Northern Stage at St Stephen’s, 20 Aug, 22 Aug, 23 Aug, 24 Aug, 25 Aug, £14

Paradise in The Vault, 21-27 Aug, £6.50

C venues - C aquila, 2127 Aug, £8.50 – £10.50

Planet Lem

The Ugly Sisters HHH

21:15

Assembly Hall, 20-26 Aug, £11 – £12

Summerhall, 22 Aug, 25 Aug, £1

22:00

Of Mice and Men

Settimana

Assembly Roxy, 21-27 Aug, £12 – £14

22:20 Piatto Finale

Zoo, 20 Aug, 22 Aug, 24 Aug, 26 Aug, £8

Paradise in Augustine’s, 21-27 Aug, £9.50

22:30 Who’s Your Daddy?

Assembly Hall, 20-26 Aug, £11 – £12

Holmes and Watson: The Farewell Tour Valvona & Crolla, 23 Aug, 25 Aug, £12

The Blind HH

Old College Quad, 20-27 Aug, £13 – £15

DugOut Theatre’s Inheritance Blues HHH

Bedlam Theatre, 20-25 Aug, £8

22:40 Re-Animator The Musical

Assembly George Square, 21-27 Aug, £12 – £14

22:45 A Guide to Second Date Sex HHH Underbelly, Cowgate, 20-26 Aug, £9.50 – £10.50

Belt Up Theatre’s The Boy James

C venues - C nova, 20-27 Aug, £10.50 – £12.50

23:00 Who’s Dorian Gray?

Laughing Horse @ Edinburgh City Football Club, Various dates from 20 Aug to 26 Aug, £free

Tales from Edgar Allan Poe

C Venues - C eca, 20-27 Aug, £9.50 – £11.50

24h

Summerhall, 22 Aug, 25 Aug, £1

Daughters of Lot

theSpace @ Surgeons Hall, 20-25 Aug, £7

Beats

Traverse Theatre, 21-26 Aug, £17 – £19

❤ Boris & Sergey’s Vaudevillian Adventure HHHHH Pleasance Courtyard, Various dates from 20 Aug to 27 Aug, £9 – £10

23:05 Strip Search

SpaceCabaret @ 54, 20-25 Aug, £12

Couleur Café

C venues - C nova, 21-28 Aug, £12.50 – £14.50

01:00 24h

Summerhall, 23 Aug, 26 Aug, £1

02:00 24h

Summerhall, 23 Aug, 26 Aug, £1

03:00 24h

Summerhall, 23 Aug, 26 Aug, £1

04:00 24h

Summerhall, 23 Aug, 26 Aug, £1

05:00 24h

Summerhall, 23 Aug, 26 Aug, £1

06:00 24h

Summerhall, 22 Aug, 25 Aug, £1

23:15

07:00

Medea Hardcore

24h

Assembly Roxy, 22-26 Aug, £12 – £14

Summerhall, 22 Aug, 25 Aug, £1

00:00

08:00

24h

24h

Summerhall, 23 Aug, 26 Aug, £1

Summerhall, 22 Aug, 25 Aug, £1

r. harmonY with Your partne with the intent to live in “You leave the theatre missed!“

not to be

elle magazine

DJ TOm LOUD’S

HOT DUB Time macHine

Underbelly bristo sqUare : ermintrUde 3.30pm

www.festmag.co.uk

August 21 - 27 | edinburgh festival guide 2012 fest 97

festbackpage

Amnesty International Comics vs Critics Football Match Comics 4 v Critics 3 In a hard-fought derby between football's two fiercest rivals, the Comedians—led by Mark Watson—snatched a late victory against the Critics. A hattrick by the Comedians' star player, Kai Humphreys, putting the Critics to the sword.

After going down to an early 2-0 deficit, the Critics pulled things back by half-time courtesy of an own goal and a screamer from Peter Geoghegan.

Ultimately, the Comedians' superior bench—turning up with eleven substitutes to the Critics' two—paid dividends, as two second-half goals secured victory.

This victory brings the Comedians level in the Amnesty International annual series, following last year's 7-3 defeat at the Critics hands.

Comedians squad: Mark Watson (Captain), Joel Dommett, Mark Nelson, Markus Birdman, Paul Sweeney, Chris Martin, Andrew Ryan, Barry Castagnola, Jimeoin, Daniel Sloss, Kai Humphries, Terry Alderton, Owen O'Neill, Tim Key, Richard Lett, Patrick Turpin, Ben Cottam, Jack Hartnell, , Mark Smith, Lloyd Griffith, Ian Stirling.

Critics squad: Edd McCracken (Captain), James Fritz, Gary Flockhart, Malcolm Jack, Tommy Holgate, Peter Geoghegan, Tim Arthur, Evan Beswick, Brian Logan, Ben Judge, Kenny Cavey, Daniel Burg, Tom Martin.

98 fest edinburgh festival guide 2012 | August 21 - 27

www.festmag.co.uk

Congratulations!

You’ve survived the Fringe. So what next?

Whether you want to start planning for next year’s show or keep the momentum from Edinburgh going, we can help.

After Edinburgh – What next?

Make the most of your experiences with free advice from HighTide’s Literary Manager Rob Drummer.

Weds 12th September, 3.30pm - 5.30pm at IdeasTap. For further info visit www.ideastap.com/spa Edinburgh 2013 – Start planning now Tips on how to get ahead from Michael Brazier, Director of National Student Drama Festival, and Mark Makin Programme Manager, house. Online forum and live event.

Weds 10th October, 4.00pm - 6.00pm For further info visit www.ideastap.com/spa Funding Whatever your show, we’ve got pots of performing arts funding to help you make it happen.

For further info visit www.ideastap.com/funding

To view all of our upcoming opportunities sign up for free at www.ideastap.com and follow us @IdeasTap

THE ASSEMBLY ROOMS

&

APPOINTMENT WICKER MAN MOLLY WOBBLY'S TIT FACTORY THE INTERVENTION JIGSY SIX AND A TANNER WITH THE

NATIONAL THEATRE OF SCOTLAND

LYRIC THEATRE BELFAST

COMEDIANS THEATRE COMPANY

CHURCHILL

PIP UTTON

TOM KRAPP'S LAST TAPE OWEN

RETURN LUMBERJACKS STEWART LEE RUSSELL KANE JIMEOIN OWEN JERRY SADOWITZ MICK FOLEY O’NEILL OF THE

STEWART FRANCIS, GLENN WOOL & CRAIG CAMPBELL

MUSIC

LLOYD LANGFORD PHIL NICHOL BRIDGET CHRISTIE STU & GARRY THE THINKING DRINKERS GUIDE SARFRAZ MANZOOR KRISTINE LEVINE MAGNUS BETNÉR MRS BARBARA NICE JARLATH REGAN DAMIEN CROW

COMEDY

DAVID HAYMAN

LES DENNIS

BRAZIL BRAZIL PRESENTS LATIN LIVE THE BIG FAT ELECTRIC CEILIDH PIAF

CAMILLE O’SULLIVAN KAREN MATHESON

SHOOGLENIFTY THE LOST FINGERS SASKWATCH NEW ROPE STRING BAND BREABACH MICHAEL MCGOLDRICK, JOHN MCCUSKER & JOHN DOYLE JAMES GRANT SAFEHOUSE FLAP SONGS OF STRUGGLE JIMMIE MACGREGOR

CLUB SPIEGEL LA CLIQUE VIRGINIA GAY

PLUS LIZ LOCHHEAD KIDS

LADY CAROL MIKELANGELO FLAMENCO HIP HOP THE BOY AND THE BUNNET

CABARET

THEATRE

BACK ON THE FRINGE 2012

54 George St | Edinburgh | 0844 693 3008 | www.arfringe.com