The world’s biggest art festival is back in town. Edinburgh Fringe Festival has such an expansive list of performances, it can be hard to pick out which ones to attend. Here’s a list of ten shows not to be missed:
WRoNGHEADED
A politically urgent dance work performed by the Liz Roche Company, WRoNGHEADED is about Irish women’s struggle for autonomy of their bodies, arriving on the heels of the real-life landslide vote to widen access to abortion in Ireland.
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3-5, 7-12, 14-19 August, Dance Base - Studio 1, from £13
Circa: Wolfgang
Mozart fans will love this acrobatic performance set against the great composer’s music. Performed by the Australian company Circa, the show has frequently appeared at the festival to a great turnout.
4-7, 9-12, 14-19, 21-25 August, Underbelly’s Circus Hub on the Meadows - The Beauty, from £12
Natalie Palamides: Nate
After centuries of male actors playing women for comic effect, the tables have turned with Natalie Palamides in character as Nate. “For the first time in history,” she declares, “it’s hard to be a man.” The comic is directed by cult fringe favourite Doctor Brown.
1-12, 14-26 August, Pleasance Courtyard - Beside, from £12
Underground Railroad Game
This darkly comic performance takes on race relations in the most entertaining way. It follows two teachers who deliver a lesson at a school where they don’t teach history by reading books. “For a course on the American civil war, the pair divide the audience into armies and then all hell breaks loose,” writes The Guardian.
2, 4-5, 7-12, 14-19, 21-24, 26 August, Traverse Theatre - Traverse 1, from £21.50
Duckie
Cabaret star Le Gateau Chocolat has performed Shakespeare at the Globe, opera at Glyndebourne and addressed his depression in an intimate fringe show, Black. Now he takes on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Ugly Duckling, where he draws on his difficulties at school in a show aimed at children. “Duckie isn’t just about standing up to your bullies,” he says, “it’s about making sure that you don’t become a bully yourself.”
1, 3-12 August, Summerhall - Main Hall, from £12
Lost Voice Guy: Inspiration Porn
Britain’s Got Talent winner Lee Ridley, aka Lost Voice Guy, whose cerebral palsy affects his ability to speak, performs a new show expressing scepticism of the “inspiration porn” he identifies in media depictions of disabled people.
1-12, 14-26 August, Gilded Balloon Teviot - The Turret, currently sold out
Sitting by Katherine Parkinson
The IT Crowd star Katherine Parkinson has written this play about three people posing for a painting in an artist’s studio years apart from one other.
1-26 August, Gilded Balloon Teviot - The Dining Room, from £14
We’ve Got Each Other
This comedy is a Bon Jovi musical re-imagined each night with the help of the audience, retelling the love story of Tommy and Gina.
1-13, 15-20, 22-27 August, Pleasance Dome - JackDome, from £10
Jonny Woo’s All-Star Brexit Cabaret
Drag queen Jonny Woo and composer Richard Thomas bring you this "sequin-spangled musical ripped straight from the headlines". Comedian Jayde Adams plays Boris Johnson in this glittering musical satire.
2-12, 14-19, 21-27 August, Assembly George Square Gardens - Piccolo, from £14
Vertical Influences
Canadian ice-skating troupe Le Patin Libre returns with its double-bill performance, in which the cast glide around each other, their blades cutting striking designs into the ice rink. Audiences watch the first part from the stands, then sit down on the ice for the second, where the gang thrillingly skate straight towards you.
8-12, 15-19, 24-25 August, Assembly at Murrayfield Ice Rink - The Ice Rink, from £17.50
