The Edinburgh Fringe festival, a kaleidoscope of human experience, invites you to immerse yourself in a world of untold stories, where laughter, tears, and everything in between collide on stage. Part One here. Part Two here.
Peter McCormick and Barton Road Productions
Beyond Krapp
Venue: Pleasance Courtyard, Cellar,
Date: 31 July – 26 Aug (not 13 & 19)
Time: 13:45 (14:45)
Tickets: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/beyond-krapp
Exploring the existential reckoning of ego and the brutal landscape of unrequited love, Beyond Krapp is a dark comedy that follows Cormac, a dead man, in the black void of purgatory as he’s taunted by snippets of his own funeral. Inspired by Samuel Beckett’s absurdist works, Krapp’s Last Tape and Eh Joe, Cormac catches glimpses of his eulogy, conversations between loved ones and receives shattering voicemails from his ex-girlfriend, sent after his death, that tear apart his character and force a reappraisal of his life on earth. Cutting humour powers the emotional odyssey of Cormac’s reckoning, with a ‘Spotify Wrapped’ playlist of his life blasting from the speakers, as he confronts the past with stoicism, poignancy and all the revelry that comes with an Irish wake. It’s a quest about finding light, love and laughter when there’s seemingly nothing but darkness.
Jane Elias & A/Park Productions
Do This One Thing for Me
Venue: Bedlam Theatre
Dates: 31 July – 26 Aug (not 12 & 19)
Time: 15:30 (16:45)
Tickets: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/do-this-one-thing-for-me
Based on the writer and performer’s own relationship with her father, a Sephardic Jew from Greece who survived Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen, Jane Elias asks what it is to live with generational trauma. Do This One Thing for Me is a storytelling solo show with elements of tender humour, as Jane honours her father’s legacy and past trauma once he has passed away. Told simply with just a chair, a black backdrop, original music, and lighting design by Renée Molina, Jane brings to life various characters, multi-rolling between herself at different ages, her father and a range of characters from her life.
Hannah Walker
Gamble
Venue: Summerhall, Cairns Lecture Theatre
Dates: 1 – 26 Aug 2024 (not 12 & 19)
Time: 16:30 (17:25)
Tickets: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/gamble
Based on Hannah Walker’s personal experiences of being in a relationship with a compulsive gambler, Gamble is a bittersweet multimedia theatre production that peers behind the glittery curtain of jackpots and big wins to explore the complexities of addiction and the effects it has on themselves and their loved ones. From changes of personality, living with secrecy, and a loss of tens of thousands of pounds, Hannah talks about how living with a compulsive gambler affected them both, aiming to raise awareness and de-stigmatise addiction and the pre-judgements of those who struggle with it.
Julie Flower
Grandma’s Shop
Venue: Gilded Balloon, Patter Hoose (Snug)
Dates: 31 Jul – 26 Aug 2024 (not 12)
Time: 12.20 – 13.20
Tickets: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/julie-flower-grandma-s-shop
In 1980s Sheffield, behind the vintage dresses, buttons and carrier bags in what appears to be an ordinary second-hand store in the city’s trendy Devonshire Street is its extraordinary owner, Hilda, a local eccentric who looks after stray cats with the shop’s takings. Written and performed by Hilda’s granddaughter Julie, Grandma’s Shop tells the story of Hilda and her shop with no name, which became one of the mainstays of the local counterculture scene, with many punk musicians and creatives regularly stopping by for items they couldn’t find anywhere else, as well as a chat with ‘Auntie Hilda’ as she was affectionally known in the community. This one woman show looks at family, memories, celebrating difference and the stories items in second hand shops have to tell.
Wong Tan-ki and Dick Wong
It’s Not My Body: Chapter 3.5 / This Is
Venue: Assembly @ Dance Base, Dance Base 1
Dates: 2 – 11 Aug (not 5)
Time: 16:05 (17:05)
Tickets: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/it-s-not-my-body-chapter-3-5-this-is
In a double-bill performance that uses different approaches to interpret the body and dance, two contemporary choreographers grapple with existential questions. In It’s Not My Body: Chapter 3.5, Wong Tan-ki wrestles with his own shadow. The dancer’s every move, pause and limbo on stage builds a picture of the effect a life in dance has on the artist and their body. A show that has been developed and revised over eight years, the latest chapter sees Wong Tan-ki on stage with just himself and his frenetic, precisely performed movement. This Is by Dick Wong looks to visual art – from Duchamp to Kosuth to Lewitt – asking what an idea would look like if translated from image to live performance. An interplay of tableau, bodily movement, lighting, sound, text, and space, it plays with the different interpretations of visual art works and the idea that it changes with its wider context.
Theatre du Pif
Must I Cry
Venue: Paradise in Augustine’s, The Sanctuary
Dates: 19 – 25 Aug
Time: 20:45 (21:45)
Tickets: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/must-i-cry
From a Hong Kong based company originally founded in Scotland comes a tale of memory, moving away from British rule, and a rhino called Sudan. Inspired by the writings of renowned Hong Kong author Xi Xi, Must I Cry is a story of three sides: a defining portrait of a city transitioning away from British rule and the loss that comes with a city that constantly changes; a daughter dealing with the loss of her father; and the story of the last male northern white rhinoceros, Sudan, whose death marked the end of a species on the brink of extinction. Through the interweaving of texts and narratives presented in a poetic form, accompanied by live music and projections, this performance aims to explore the themes of memory and disappearance in an ever-changing urban city. The show is directed by celebrated director and performer Bonni Chan, who last appeared in at the Fringe more than 20 years ago in The Overcoat.
A Cabbage
Spy Movie: The Play!
Venue: Pleasance Courtyard, Beneath
Dates: 31 July – 26 Aug 2024 (not 6, 13 & 20)
Time: 12.00 (12.50)
Tickets: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/spy-movie-the-play
In a parody of Bond movies and fringe theatre, a rejected, frustrated screenwriter invites an audience of producers to a one-night-only showing of her spy movie masterpiece… if only it had received the funding. On a fringe theatre budget, Agent Blonde has 24 hours to save the world, facing villains, high-speed chases and outrageous plot devices. ‘Backstage’, the production team use any creative, low-budget trick available to capture every close-up and every wide angle shot, to make every pyrotechnic pop feel like a cataclysmic explosion and every puppeteered toy an epic car chase. From two Mischief Theatre alumni comes Spy Movie: The Play, the Greatest Spy Movie (n)Ever Made.
Jamie Sykes
The Last Incel
Venue: Underbelly, Bristo Square Jersey
Dates: 31 July – 25 Aug 2024 (not 12)
Time: 17.30 – 18.30
Tickets: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/last-incel
Inspired by 2014’s ‘Gamergate’ scandal of a misogynistic online harassment campaign against feminism in video games and the Elliot Rogers attacks in California from the same year, The Last Incel is a dark satire that explores the toxic world of Incels – an online community of “involuntarily celibate” men who blame women and society for keeping sex from them – and what happens when their ideology and bond is challenged. When one of the members of an Incel group chat admits he’s had a one-night stand with a journalist who later invades the group chat, some of the men are forced to question their beliefs, and the unthinkable idea that women might just be people after all creates havoc in their tight-knit cell.
ATG Productions and Gavin Kalin Productions with Dudley Hinton Productions
Who Do Ya Love?
Venue: Assembly George Square Studios, Studio One
Dates: July 31 – 25 Aug (not 12, 19)
Time: 16:50 (17:50)
Tickets: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/who-do-ya-love
Inspired by the early years of singer, songwriter, producer and musician Harry Wayne Casey (KC), Who Do Ya Love? follows KC at the start of his journey to global superstardom with his group KC and the Sunshine Band. This feelgood musical transports the audience to 1970’s Miami and celebrates the music, friendships and relationships that helped KC find his true self and create the signature ‘Sunshine Sound’, a blend of Disco, Funk, R&B and more, that continues to inspire artists from all genres and fans of all ages today. Developed with Harry Wayne Casey and written by J.F Lawton (Pretty Woman, Under Siege), this world premiere is packed with over 20 of the band’s most iconic hits including ‘Give It Up’, ‘That’s The Way (I Like It)’ and ‘Get Down Tonight’, performed by a cast of eight including West End stars Paige Fenlon (Pretty Woman) and Fionan O’Carroll (Rocky Horror Show, Urine Town), and is full of nostalgia, humour and infectious music from a landmark cultural movement.
Katie Hurley
You’re So F**king Croydon
Venue: Underbelly Cowgate, Belly Dancer
Dates: 1 – 25 Aug 2024 (not 13)
Time: 16.10 (17.10)
Tickets: https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/you-re-so-f-king-croydon
Inspired by and challenging the famous David Bowie quote about how much he hated Croydon, Katie Hurley delves into its local culture to find out why it’s actually great. Featuring an AI-generated, projected Bowie and celebrating other celebrities who were shaped by her hometown – including Kate Moss, Raye and Stormzy – Katie remembers growing up there in the noughties, her community and club culture. Blending music, dance, comedy, spoken word and audience interaction, You’re SO F**king Croydon is a homage to a town and a time, exploring how it can shape you and aims to dispel the notion that being from a particular place diminishes someone’s worth.
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