Tag: Theatre
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The Very Best of the Edinburgh Festivals 2025
Our continually updated round-up of all the four and five star shows seen by our writing team
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Review: Faustus in Africa!
Witty and sometimes harrowing display of puppet power
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Review: Tom at the Farm
A tedious exploration of important issues, despite its epic scale
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Review: The Quiet Earth Beneath
Personal story of memory and bereavement that is visually transporting
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Review: A Small Town Northern Tale
Heartfelt solo piece from writer/performer Nathan Jonathan
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Review: Athens of the North
Interlinked tales of Scots’ inner lives recall Greek tragedies
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Review: The Alchemy of Sadness
A fascinating conversation around power imbalances that feels stilted
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Review: JEEZUS!
Fun and filthy musical theatre from Latin America
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Review: Is There Work on Mars?
Imperfect but delightfully absurd sci-fi storytelling
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Review: The Green Knight (But It’s Gay)
Delightfully silly retelling of the medieval classic
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Interview: Emma Frankland
Cover story: In No Apologies, Emma Frankland delves deep into the long-running internet discourse around Kurt Cobain’s gender identity. The writer-performer speaks to Arusa Qureshi about the mythology that surrounds celebrities, the current climate for trans people in the UK and the importance of community
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Review: Tell Me Where Home Is (I’m Starting to Forget)
Slick, self exposing one person show
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Review: Book of Mountains and Seas
Minimalist opera that is meditative and soothing
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Interview: Khalid Abdalla
Actor and activist Khalid Abdalla discusses his intricate and playful solo show, inspired by his involvement in the Egyptian revolution of 2011
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Interview: Jess Robinson and Henry Naylor on Elton John
Jess Robinson and Henry Naylor pay homage to the icon that is Elton John at this year’s Fringe
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Review: I’m Ready to Talk Now
Oliver Ayres’ solo piece is calm, reflective and unsettling
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Review: Thanks for Being Here
Ontroerend Goed’s latest show places emphasis on the camaraderie of collective experience
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Review: The Ego
A well-pitched exploration of the cut-throat world of screen entertainment
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Review: The Insider
Sonically and visually stunning theatre
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Review: Elysium
A remarkable theatrical and musical exploration of personal relationships
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Review: The Nature of Forgetting
Valuable physical theatre with a novel approach to our perception of dementia
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Review: Youth in Flames
A formidable debut from Mimi Martin
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Review: Jonah Non Grata
Simon Kane revives his 20-year-old clown show for its Fringe debut
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Review: Managed Approach
Moving and original drama based on the UK’s first legalised red-light district
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Review: Giselle: Remix
Fresh update of classic ballet explores importance of queer visibility
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Review: Little Squirt
Darby James’ sperm donation musical has it all
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Interview: Basil Jones and Caden Scott on Faustus
Two plays, one at the Fringe and one at the EIF, take on Marlowe’s tragic Faustus, but in contrasting and confronting ways
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Review: Kanpur: 1857
Effortless and enchanting storytelling from Niall Moorjani
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Review: Because
Measured, clean, and masterful performance from Hassan Govia
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Review: Float
A rich galaxy of complicated emotions in this debut solo show
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Review: The Beautiful Future is Coming
Compassionate but gloomy play about the climate crisis
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Review: The Boy from Bantay
Poignant exploration of despair and loss
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Interview: Ivo Graham
Making multiple appearances at the Fringe and Book Festival this year, Ivo Graham talks through his busy schedule
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Review: Alright Sunshine
Isla Cowan tackles big topics with a light touch and realistic characters for a hauntingly powerful piece of writing
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Review: The Burns Project
Warts-and-all telling of Robert Burns’ life makes great use of its unique setting
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Review: Adele Cliff: Adele, Adele, Adele… Cliff It Isn’t the Consequences of My Own Actions
Deftly delivered trove of reliable, if unspectacular, anecdotes from self-professed comedy nerd
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Review: Strangewife
Frazier Bailey’s play intrigues with its unpacking of artifice and modern love
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Review: In the Land of Eagles
Alex Reynolds parses her Albanian ancestry in debut play
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Review: Refuse
Lucy McIlgorm’s tale of a Ukrainian refuse worker is a mixed bag
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Review: Cecilia Gentili’s Red Ink
New take on Red Ink honours its author’s revolutionary legacy
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Review: Ohio
Haunting harmonies give way to moving exploration of hearing loss
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Review: Dream Space
Escapist four-part fantasy for all ages
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Review: Strangers and Revelations
Chiedza Rwodzi’s debut play features flawless performances
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Review: Down to Chance
Makeshift tale of earthquake rescue is surprisingly feel-good
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Review: MARIUPOL
Katia Haddad’s play emphasises the human impact of war
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Review: Works and Days
Impressive, epic rumination on humanity’s quest to conquer nature
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Review: Copla: A Spanish Cabaret
Dr Alejandro Postigo presents powerful renditions of the songs that made him
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Review: K Mak at the Planetarium
Dreamlike soundscapes meet underwhelming visuals
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Review: When Billy Met Alasdair
Speculative tribute to two Glasgow icons
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Review: Club NVRLND
A queer-pop fuelled restaging of Peter Pan, full of nostalgic club bangers
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Review: MILES.
A striking play which affirms the complex and brilliant legacy of the artist
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Review: Blaze FM
A moving insight into a significant UK subculture
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Review: Up! by Visible Fictions
All-ages show does a lot with a little
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Review: Another Sight
An immersive piece of theatre in the dark
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Review: Scaramouche Jones
Fringe veteran Thom Tuck revives clown in Justin Butcher’s 20-year-old play
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Review: Anthem for Dissatisfaction
An electrifying reminder of the power of music in trying times
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Review: SKYE: A Thriller
Sophisticated suspense story from debut playwright Ellie Keel
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Review: She’s Behind You
Scottish panto royalty Johnny McKnight dissects and celebrates the artform
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Review: Mind How You Go
Warm, whimsical but frustratingly scattered musical hour
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Review: Paldem
Writing with the electric chemistry and quickfire wit of a great romcom
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Recipe For Success: Polenta with Carne De Sol
What’s in the Kitchen chef Alejandro Huerta offers up a recipe for a dish that captures the essence of Brazil
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Review: Amazons
A trenchant critique of the silencing of women’s voices
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Review: AETHER
Ambitious hour that celebrates the dizzying, vertiginous joy of the unknown
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Review: Pigs Fly Easy Ryan
Anarchic side-swipe at climate offenders is an energetic oddity
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Review: Lady Macbeth Played Wing Defence
Contemporary spin on Shakespeare’s Macbeth trades in the battlefield for the netball court
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Review: Scatter: A Horror Play
A florid script with a mixture of sinister folklore and contemporary male anxiety
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Review: Chat Sh*t, Get Hit
Warmly rousing interrogation of female rage
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Review: The Horse of Jenin
Comedian and theatre maker Alaa Shehada presents his poignant story with irresistible warmth
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Review: A Drag is Born
Edu Díaz’s show is a fun, if underpowered, drag origin story
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Review: BITCH
One of the most committed and acerbic performers at this year’s festival
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Review: The Queen is Mad
An impeccably polished musical theatre three-hander
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Review: Standing in the Shadows of Giants
An intriguing autobiographical portrait of having a superstar sibling
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Review: Betty Grumble’s Enemies of Grooviness Eat Sh!t
A statement of power, collective catharsis and radical joy
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Review: Consumed
Birthday party-set play is heightened and heavy on cliché
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Review: Lost Lear
An accomplished, slippery production by Dan Colley that goes beyond the classic
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Review: Karen Houge: DREAMGIRL
A burlesque show about collective mistrust that is somewhat misjudged
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Review: PHILOSOPHY OF THE WORLD
A brilliantly bonkers, metatextual and high-octane take on outsider artists The Shaggs
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Review: Dreamscape
A work of hip-hop theatre that is a powerful piece of writing
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Review: Space Hippo
A striking feat of artistry, Space Hippo’s lack of structure nevertheless leaves it feeling a little dull
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Review: THIS IS NOT ABOUT ME.
This compelling love-story is brought to life by a pair of magnetic performances
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Review: Jonny Woo: Suburbia
Suburbia is a rip-roaring hour of cabaret, memoir and drag from the London stalwart
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Review: KINDER
Reflections on drag, family and kindness make up Ryan Stewart’s complex and graceful show
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Review: I Dream in Colour
A semi-autobiographical, solo snapshot raising questions of bodily autonomy
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Review: Sugar
Smutty millennial solo cabaret show with heart and exuberance
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Review: Derek Mitchell: Goblin
A pitch-black character comedy from Derek Mitchell that nails its period details
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Review: Rift
Gabriel Jason Dean’s play is an intriguing condemnation of liberal failure
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Review: Her Raving Mind
A gritty three-hander that is at times unfocused, but leaves a lasting impression
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Review: Lucky Tonight!
Afreena Islam-Wright looks back on her British-Bangladeshi upbringing via an interactive pub quiz-cum-theatre show
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Review: No Apologies
A defiant and arresting show from Emma Frankland about wishful thinking
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Review: Red Like Fruit
A captivating and challenging 75 minutes from Canadian playwright Hannah Moscovitch
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Review: Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares
A cathartic, confessional and self-deprecating hour from the Tony Award winner
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Review: Chunky Jewellery
Nuts and touching in equal measure, longtime friends Natasha Gilmore and Jude Williams deliver a bittersweet delight
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Review: Make It Happen
James Graham’s tale of cataclysmic collapse is both spectacular and highly memorable
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Review: #CHARLOTTESVILLE
A passionate and stirring docudrama from Priyanka Shetty
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Edinburgh Fringe Q&A: Farah Saleh
Farah Saleh’s Balfour Reparations examines the UK’s colonial legacy in Palestine, using a mix of speculative choreography and Afrofuturism
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Interview: All Together Now
Writer/performer Oliver Ayres, Ghent-based company Ontroerend Goed and NYC’s Dutch Kills Theater present shows that blur the boundaries between audience and performer with care and compassion
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Review: Chokeslam
A detailed, unfiltered one-woman dive into pro-wrestling interwoven with personal insights
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Edinburgh Fringe Q&A: Sutara Gayle (Hackney Showroom)
Powered by high-octane musical numbers, The Legends of Them chronicles Sutara Gayle’s singular, extraordinary life. She answers a few of our questions
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Interview: Circa’s Yaron Lifschitz and Wright&Grainger
At the Fringe and EIF, two productions take on the classical myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, but in two very different ways
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Interview: Crash Theatre Company, Crow Theatre and Song of the Goat
The three companies discuss their new interpretations of Shakespeare
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Edinburgh Fringe Q&A: Lucy McIlgorm
Lucy McIlgorm, one of the stars of Refuse, gives us the rundown on the drama inspired by real stories from Ukraine and shortlisted for BBC Radio 4
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Edinburgh Fringe Q&A: Sam Kissajukian
In 2021, Sam Kissajukian quit stand-up to become a painter. Four years later, he tells us about his new show 300 Paintings
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Interview: Indra Wilson and Róisín Sheridan-Bryson
With shows that centre LGBTQ+ experience, Indra Wilson and Róisín Sheridan-Bryson explain how queer theatre is the future of the Fringe
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Interview: Mairi Campbell
As she prepares to perform her acclaimed Pendulum Trilogy in its entirety for the first time, Mairi Campbell talks through the process involved in bringing the shows together
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Interview: Hannah Moscovitch, Kylie Westerbeck and fish in a dress
Three shows explore consent, complicity and control when it comes to women’s bodies
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Interview: Francesca Moody
The producer discusses this year’s Shedinburgh programme and the ethos behind the project
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Interview: Elisabeth Gunawan and Alfrun Rose
The two creatives discuss how their theatre shows interrogate the possibilities and limits of AI technology
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Edinburgh Fringe Q&A: Frazier Bailey
The Strangewife director answers our questions on the debut production of the play, with its Yorgos Lanthimos-style blend of gallows humour and drama
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Edinburgh Fringe Q&A: Ad Infinitum
George Mann and Ramesh Meyyappan, co-creators of Ad Infinitum’s Last Rites, answer our questions about the show, which is part of the Here & Now Showcase
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Interview: Betty Grumble & Suhui Hee
Placing the body at the centre of their art, Betty Grumble and Suhui Hee explore how it becomes a tool for performance, activism, pleasure and more
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Interview: Welcome to the Fringe, Palestine
With Welcome to the Fringe, Palestine arriving at Portobello Town Hall this August, festival co-organiser Sara Shaarawi tells us more about the vital showcase
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A Day at the Fringe with Miriam Margolyes
As she returns to Edinburgh with more Dickens and more characters, the iconic actress and author takes us through a typical day at the Fringe
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Interview: Let’s Talk About Sex
Comedian Chloe Petts, podcast duo Poppy Jay and Rubina Pabani, and playwright Jules Coyle on inclusive discussions about sex on stage
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Edinburgh International Festival 2025: Top Picks
The best music, dance and theatre arriving at the International Festival
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Edinburgh Fringe 2025 – Top Picks: Theatre
The best theatre at the Fringe, from eco-sexual rebellion to the history of panto
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Edinburgh Fringe Q&A: Alex Reynolds
In the Land of Eagles sees playwright Alex Reynolds take inspiration from her relationship with her grandfather, whose native Albania backdrops her Edinburgh debut
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Edinburgh Fringe Q&A: Eleanor Higgins
Two girls from opposite worlds are fated to meet in Eleanor Higgins’ powerful theatre piece set in the Noughties queer scene. She answers a few of our questions
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Space Hippo’s Interstellar Mixtape
Featuring David Bowie, The Byrds, Leonard Nimoy and more
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Derek Mitchell’s Emo Mixtape
Featuring My Chemical Romance, Green Day, blink-182 and more
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Edinburgh Fringe Q&A: World’s Greatest Lover
The creative team behind the musical World’s Greatest Lover come together to answer our burning questions
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Edinburgh Fringe Q&A: Rose Coogan
Ros + Bud is the heartfelt and heartbreaking tale of transitioning in Northern Ireland. We put some questions to its creator Rose Coogan
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Opinion: In LA, We Talk About the Fringe Like It’s Narnia
Ahead of her debut, US comedian Laurie Magers gives us the Los Angeles perspective on the festival as a fabled, fairytale place
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Edinburgh Fringe Q&A: Hayley Edwards
Hayley Edwards describes their debut Edinburgh show as ‘Fleabag but about Crohn’s Disease’. We speak to them about their path from hapless drama graduate to critical acclaim in their home country of Australia
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Edinburgh Fringe Q&A: Suzy Crothers
Northern Irish actor and playwright Suzy Crothers tells us about Troubled, ‘a tale of love, death, and division – told with tea and biscuits’
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Opinion: Disability isn’t a Genre
Aaron Pang on his own experiences confronting the sensationalism around disabled narratives and rehabilitation stories
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Edinburgh Fringe Q&A: Lewis Ian Bray (Cartoonopolis)
Cartoonopolis, the hit one-man show from Lewis Ian Bray, is back after a decade. He talks to us about the new-and-improved production
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Edinburgh Fringe Q&A: Ismael Loutfi
A stand-up for 15 years, Ismael Loutfi is doing something he’s never done before with Heavenly Baba: A deeper, more complex hour-long reflection on his roots
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Edinburgh Fringe Q&A: Toby Thompson
Toby Thompson tells us about his stage adaptation of The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s beloved family classic
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Laurie Stevens’ Teen Angst Mixtape
Featuring Green Day, My Chemical Romance, Nirvana and more
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Edinburgh Fringe Q&A: Patrick McPherson
One half of sketch duo Pear, Patrick McPherson returns to the Fringe with a solo horror play about a man travelling to a Welsh village to scatter his father’s ashes
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Edinburgh Fringe Q&A: Tom Bailey (Mechanimal)
Tom Bailey, one half of Mechanimal, answers questions about their new show Wild Thing!, a sequel to 2019’s Vigil
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Edinburgh Fringe Q&A: Jules Chan
Jules Chan tells us about his work of autobiographical diaspora fiction: a solo show about a Filipino boy growing up in Britain
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Edinburgh Fringe Q&A: Ozzy Algar
Speed Queen is a carnival of dark, subversive comedy steeped in folk horror and set on the Isle of Wight. Its creator, Ozzy Algar, answers a few questions about their debut show
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Jay Eddy’s Road Trip Mixtape
Featuring Garbage, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Donna Summer and more
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Nathan Jonathan’s Y2K Mixtape
Featuring Cascada, DJ Otzi, The Kooks and more
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Adelaide Festival Q&A: Big Name, No Blankets
Big Name, No Blankets is an epic rock musical celebrating the legacy of Australian music legends Warumpi Band. Co-director Dr Rachael Maza from ILBIJERRI Theatre Company shares what the show means to her ahead of its Adelaide debut
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Fringe on a Theme: Shakespeare with a Twist
From netball courts to paranormal investigations these productions look at the Bard’s work through a kaleidoscope
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Director Sam Strong on bringing Trent Dalton’s Love Stories to the stage
The Adelaide Festival theatre show recognises the power of love to heal
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Hedwig and the Angry Inch
A tender exploration of identity, transformation and the nature of love
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Krapp’s Last Tape
A version of Beckett’s classic that is bereft of the vigour and confidence
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Dear Diary
A comedic, vulnerable recollection of girlhood and what we hold onto
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Shellshocked
A powerful, soul-stirring play that confronts the horrors of war
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Top Picks: Theatre and Physical Theatre
Don’t miss these gripping performances that delve into football, feminism and f**king
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Pecking Order
Eva O’Connor on her bird-brained, award-winning play Chicken
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Shedding Tears
What story should we tell about our loved one once they’re gone? Delia Olam reflects on the uncertainties of grief, myth-making and letting go ahead of her solo show
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Decisions, Decisions
Asian-Australian actor, theatre maker and producer Danielle Lim shares a unique concept correlating with decision-making and mental health for her upcoming show, The Good Decisions Project
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Horror Show
What horrors lie within our subconscious? Ritual Events co-director Robbie Jones delves into the blend of arts, psychology and spirituality in their upcoming Adelaide Fringe show, Ritual
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Spilling the Tea
Theatre actor and producer, Juanita Navas-Nguyen opens up about her childhood as a multicultural kid
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A Walk on the Wild Side
Horny for Decriminalisation? Let Whore Walk take you on a journey through time
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Queer and Now
Arusa Qureshi speaks to Filipino-Australian artist Seann Miley Moore as they prepare to take on the title role in a new iteration of cult rock musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch