Well kids, we’ve crossed the halfway line of this glorious festival and we’re finally getting to the point where we are able to start planning which shows to see, aside from the ones we’re working on.
Obviously, we’d love for you to go and see CHALK, I’m Coming, INTERBEING, Jock Tamson’s Bairns, Lovecraft (Not the Sex Shop in Cardiff), The Gray Cat and the Flounder and Young Night Though first and foremost, but here is our wish list of 2019 Edinburgh Fringe shows that we would really love to catch before the festival closes in 10 days time.
There are of course many, many more that we could add to this (in fact, the list is practically endless, ’cause there’s so much good stuff to take in), but given that we have our own show (Jock Tamson’s Bairns) opening next week, plus rehearsals, the below is probably already pushing it.
Brandi Alexander
By Tatiana Pavela
Gilded Balloon Rose Theatre (Attic)
18-25 August 2019 (not 19)
21:45 (60 minutes)|
Get tickets @ edfringe.com
The year is 1987 and Brandi’s on the first night of her comeback tour, eager to dish out the secret to her success: she got raped! Emerging from a long hiatus of self-loathing and chicken nuggets, Brandi finally lets loose. With cheap liquor burning her throat and a protective layer of Aqua Net, Brandi takes centre stage and dares to be a woman in the man’s world of comedy. Combining performance art, 80s culture, and an absurd sense of humour, Brandi Alexander is ‘a caustic and explicit berserker rage of a confessional’ from American artist Tatiana Pavela.
CLAW: The Confederation of Lady Arm Wrestlers
By CLAW / Ingenious Fools
Heroes @ Boteco (Basement)
17-25 August 2019 (not 20)
21:20 (90 minutes)
Get tickets @ edfringe.com
Are you ready for some serious competition?! Welcome to the stage, the phenomenal, the whimsical, the international movement of Ladies Arm Wrestling currently sweeping the globe! Over-the-top characters, ringmasters, referees, musical intros, lights, glitz, glamour, superfans and screaming audiences. Two-time karate champion Christina Gulick and her collective of femmes source the best competitors and celebrity guests for 90 minutes of jam-packed entertainment. CLAW joins a global network of theatrical allies, passionate about enabling a performance platform for femmes by femmes. We want more CLAW, grrrrrrr!
Confirmation
By Xnthony
Pleasance Dome (JackDome)
17-26 August 2019
16:10 (60 minutes)
Get tickets @ edfringe.com
This is not a story about the status quo. This is a story about making a change. Xnthony was 12 when he made his confirmation. He was 26 when his home town voted against Ireland’s marriage equality referendum. Gig meets theatre in a moving and hilarious look at how a vote can change the way we view ourselves. Direct from a sell-out run at the Dublin Fringe Festival, this is a poignant pop concert from an award-winning company exploring the relationships we have with the places we call home and the stories they hold. ‘Captivating’ * (TheReviewsHub.com).
Daddy Drag
By Leyla Josephine
Summerhall (Cairns Lecture Theatre)
17-25 August 2019 (not 19)
17:45 (60 minutes)
Get tickets @ edfringe.com
This is a show about dads. Good dads, daft dads, dads who wear slogan t-shirts, dads that put on barbecues, dads that tell dad jokes, dads that are bad at dancing. This is a show about dads who are absent and dads who are not very good dads at all. Daddy Drag asks us to consider how the relationships with our fathers affect us for the rest of our lives. Leyla Josephine attempts to understand what it means to be a father through her witty performance style, drag costumes and complex but unconditional love for her dad.
Desiree Burch: Desiree’s Coming Early
By Desiree Burch / Ebdon Management
Heroes @ The Hive (The Big Cave)
17-25 August 2019 (not 20)
19:40 (60 minutes)
Get tickets @ edfringe.com
Have you ever been caught in a loop? Does every revision require a friggin’ revolution? Does pushing too hard only get you right back to the beginning? What if everything really is just the same thing forever? At a time when progress has given way to authoritarianism and disintegration, comedian and storyteller Desiree Burch (Netflix, Live at the Apollo, Radio 4) embarks on a soul-searching journey of mythically ridiculous proportions in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, to learn something deeper about how she, and all of us, have gotten here. Directed by Sarah Chew.
Despite Everything, Price Still Includes Biscuits
By Naomi Paul
theSpace @ Surgeons Hall (Theatre 3)
17-24 August 2019 (not 18)
17:05 (50 minutes)
Get tickets @ edfringe.com
Satirical four-star solo show with original songs, topical stories and Jewish humour. Set sail on a surreal journey – sometimes poignant, always funny and ultimately uplifting. With biscuits. Of course. ‘Terrific deadpan delivery of material… topical and relevant. Audiences loved it!’ (Alexa Kelly, Pulse Ensemble Theatre). ‘A sprinkling of nicely observed Victoria Wood-style songs adds to the charm’ **** (Chloe Alexander, Ludlow Fringe 2017). ‘Fabulous – sharp, cultural, witty, poignant and very, very funny’ (Audience member, Birmingham Fest). ‘A fine comic celebration of modern Britain’ **** (BritishTheatreGuide.info, 2015). ‘Outstanding’ **** (Edinburgh49.org, 2016).
Fempire: Cleo, Theo & Wu
By Kirsten Vangsness / Theatre of NOTE
Assembly Rooms (Powder Room)
17, 19, 22-23 August 2019
20:15 (60 minutes)
Get tickets @ edfringe.com
Lucy (Kirsten Vangsness of Criminal Minds) is just trying to work out how to be the best cool girl, lady boss, and all around woman she can be when suddenly, the fate of universe is in her hands. Never fear! Space creatures and the forgotten women of history are teaming up to get Lucy on track. Careening through time and place on a heroine’s journey with the women who are more than what the HIStorians have you believe.
Frisky & Mannish’s PopLab
By Frisky & Mannish
Assembly George Square Gardens (Palais du Variete)
17-25 August 2019 (not 19)
19:00 (60 minutes)
Get tickets @ edfringe.com
Ten years since they burst onto the scene with their wildly popular brand of musical infotainment, Frisky & Mannish are officially Pop PhDs, fully qualified to conduct scientific analyses of the molecular intersections between every pop song ever. Shameless Edinburgh Fringe sell-outs since 2009. International jet-setters from Shepherd’s Bush Empire to Sydney Opera House. Adelaide and Brighton prize winners. Featured on BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 2 and BBC Three. And they have a podcast, obvs.
It’s Miss Hope Springs
By Vaudelesque ProductionsBy
Assembly Rooms (Bijou)
17-24 August 2019
20:20 (60 minutes)
Get tickets @ edfringe.com
Join comedy cabaret superstar Miss Hope Springs at the piano, presenting original musical numbers from her vintage repertoire of toe-tapping show tunes, finger-snapping pop and heart-rending ballads, interspersed with scandalous stories from her ‘Ritz-to-the-pits’ showbiz life in LA, Paris and… Dungeness! Still in the sequins she fled the Pink Pelican Casino wearing in 1972, let Hope (once the toast of Vegas, now down on her luck and heavily medicated) take you on a trip down ‘mammary lane’ in this ‘smash hit laugh-out-loud-move-you to-tears show’ (BroadwayWorld.com).
Late Night Lip Service
By Gilded Balloon, hosted by Gingzilla
Gilded Balloon Rose Theatre (Main Theatre)
18, 22-24 August 2019
23:30 (120 minutes)
Get tickets @ edfringe.com
Global sensation Gingzilla – the award-winning, bearded belle of the Fringe’s most debaucherous ball – and the utterly iconic Late Night Lip Service are back! Featuring heart-stopping live performances, the Fringe’s wildest stars, lip-sync battles, midnight madness and much, much more from the giant, ginger, Glamonster herself! Open wide my loves and take in the Gospel of Ginge. New lineups every night. ‘A big performer with big talent and big personality… there’s no other night like it’ **** (EdFestMag.com). ‘I left on a giant high’ ***** (ScotsGay.co.uk). ‘This is a seriously uplifting show’ ***** (TheWeeReview.com).
Little Death Club
By Underbelly and Dead Man Label
17-24 August 2019
20:00 (60 minutes)
Get tickets @ edfringe.com
Winner: Pick of the Fringe Award, Adelaide Weekly 2017, 2018. The darkest, funniest and most debauched kabarett club this side of Berlin! A gin-soaked, Weimar-punk jazz band soundtracks a hazy night of dangerously funny kabarett, breathtaking circus and fire-breathing sideshow at its most inappropriate, provocative and hilarious best. Join über award-winning mistress of mayhem, Bernie Dieter (star of La Clique) and her degenerate family of misfits for ‘the best night you’ll have in 2019’ (TheReviewsHub.com). ‘Wickedly funny, deliciously defiant punk cabaret’ (Fest).
Lucie Pohl: Really, Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Real
By Lucie Pohl
Gilded Balloon Teviot (Turret)
17-26 August 2019
21:00 (60 minutes)
Get tickets @ edfringe.com
NYC comedian Lucie Pohl creator of Edinburgh and off-Broadway hits Hi, Hitler, Cry Me A Liver, Apohlcalypse Now! and voice of Overwatch’s Mercy wants to be really really real and brings you a show about being a video game celebrity with a bathtub in her kitchen. As seen on Red Dwarf XI, Homeland, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them. ‘I love Lucie!’ (Steve Coogan). ‘Crazily funny!’ * (BroadwayBaby.com). ‘Destined for stardom!’ **** (Metro). ‘Absolutely hilarious!’ ***** (Mirror). ‘Delightful!’ (New York Times). Times Critic’s Pick.
Marrow
By Craig MacArthur with Flying Solo Productions
theSpace @ Surgeons Hall (Haldane Theatre)
20, 22, 24 August 2019
12:05 (65 minutes)
Get tickets @ edfringe.com
Welcome into the hallucinogenic and feverish mind of a physically traumatised dancer struggling to make sense of his horrific brutalisation and the aftermath. A visceral and poetic condemnation of LGBTQ violence, Marrow is a homage to the countless queer artists who make a positive impact on the world and those we know and love. You, the audience, are asked to witness the aftermath of violence and encouraged to access your power to condemn and prevent similar acts of hatred.
Meatball Seance
By John Michael
PBH’s Free Fringe @ Bar Bados Complex (Room 3)
17-24 August 2019
19:00 (50 minutes)
Get tickets @ edfringe.com
John Michael cooks his mum’s meatballs onstage, summoning her from the dead to meet his boyfriend in this interactive comedy. ‘If the mention of audience participation makes you clench up, Meatball Séance is going to change your whole theatre-going world… raucous… silly, subversive and powerful’ (Dallas Observer). ‘Endearingly unhinged… The only way to avoid participating is to cross your arms. (Pro tip: do not cross your arms. You want to be a part of this)’ (St Louis Limelight). ‘Fast-Paced, zany, hilarious and heartfelt’ (Grab Magazine). ‘Sends us home elated and eager for a late-night snack’ (Windy City Times).
Melinda Hughes: Off the Scale
By Melinda Hughes / Cheyne Productions Ltd
Assembly Rooms (Drawing Room)
17-25 August 2019 (not 19)
16:50 (60 minutes)
Get tickets @ edfringe.com
Backed by a live jazz trio, Melinda’s show is a sophisticated romp through social and political satire, packed with provocative original songs on internet trolling, cougars, hipsters, sex-pest cowboys as well as an appearance by Melania Trump. Melinda has been a sell-out success at Crazy Coqs (London) and The Metropolitan Room (New York). ‘So clever… every pun hit the mark’ **** (Times). ‘Delightfully playful, devastatingly funny and deliciously entertaining’ ***** (LondonTheatre1.com). ‘Scandalous and timely’ (Vanity Fair). ‘A brilliant cabaret goddess, a satirist of high order’ (NewYorkSocialDiary.com).
Misfit Warrior
By Stuart Saint
theSpace on North Bridge (Argyll Theatre)
17-24 August 2019
21:20 (50 minutes)
Get tickets @ edfringe.com
Electrifying synths, beats and casual choreography generate Stuart Saint’s resplendent testimonial gig, where Misfit and Warrior collide. His autobiographical story of HIV and cancer manifest a domino effect of destruction, leaving survivor-in-crisis Stuart rescuing his mortality. As writer/director his radical productions at Leicester Square Theatre and Stockwell Playhouse garnered critical praise for Princess, De Profundis, Saucy Jack and the Space Vixens, and The World Goes Round. ‘Immaculate direction’ (Stage). ‘A Force to be reckoned with’ (MusicalTheatreReview.com). Saint, influenced by Fosse, presents an evocative, queer gig inspired by Soft Cell, Fischerspooner, Depeche Mode and Bowie.
Vampire Hospital Waiting Room
By Beach Comet
Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose (Doonstairs)
17-19, 21, 23-25 August 2019
Times vary (75 minutes)
Get tickets @ edfringe.com
Beach Comet return with a double bill of batshit smash-hit B-musical comedy featuring never-before-seen material, a live band and the Vampire Lord himself. The award-winning prequel to critically acclaimed Apocalypse Cruise Ship Love Affair follows handsome billionaire Arty as a horrific accident leaves him comatose yet conscious in Dr Bloom’s waiting room. Convinced he’s found the Vampire Lord, the good doctor sets about awakening his true master so that he too might join the ranks of the immortals. ‘Utterly, utterly brilliant’ (PlaysToSee.com). ‘Whirlwind musical comedy’ (ThreeWeeks).
Rose McGowan: Planet 9
By Cloud9 Management / Rose McGowan
Assembly Hall (Main Hall)
17-18 August 2019
13:00 (60 minutes)
Get tickets @ edfringe.com
Best-selling author, actress and activist Rose McGowan makes her debut at the Fringe. Through memoir, music, storytelling, projections and performance Rose creates a new world of possibilities: Planet 9. She invites the audience on a healing journey of discovery to this new planet. The antidote to all that is earthbound, from here we can see Earth from a new perspective and learn how to create a liberated, fairer society for ourselves. Like moon dust, Rose hopes you will take a little piece of Planet 9 with you wherever you go.
Sex Education
By Harry Clayton-Wright
Summerhall (TechCube 0)
17-25 August 2019 (not 19)
19:10 (60 minutes)
Get tickets @ edfringe.com
One parent refuses to talk about sex. The other buys their child gay porn DVDs. Sex Education blends startling performance, moving storytelling, a no-holds-barred interview with Harry’s mum and some good old-fashioned gay porn that his dad bought when he was 14. A show for anyone who’s wondered why they want what they want. Delivered with the candour and charm that have made him an acclaimed international touring success (Briefs: Close Encounters, Miss Behave’s Gameshow), join Harry as he delves into his sexual past, live on stage. Winner of the LGBTQ Brighton Fringe Award (2017).
The Heresy Machine
By §175
Greenside @ Royal Terrace (Jade Studio)
17-24 August 2019 (not 18)
11:25 / 14:55 (55 minutes)
Get tickets @ edfringe.com
‘Darling sweetheart, you are my avid fellow feeling. My affection curiously clings to your passionate wish. My liking yearns for your heart. You are my wistful sympathy: my tender liking. Yours beautifully, Manchester University Computer.’ ❤ ;-] A queer love story between mathematician Alan Turing and his computer creation; an original machine-ballet from five-star international collective §175.
xoxo moongirl
By Almanac Dance Circus Theatre
17-25 August 2019 (not 19)
Assembly Checkpoint
19:50 (60 minutes)
Get tickets @ edfringe.com
Almanac Dance Circus Theatre blends physical theatre, live music, world-class circus, aerial performance and audience interaction in xoxo moongirl; the hilarious, heart-wrenching and breathtaking story of one woman processing a family life riddled with domestic abuse. Almanac’s first ever ensemble-devised, full-length solo show features Nicole Burgio and award-winning composer Melanie Hsu in a semi-autobiographical, aerial and acrobatic exploration of escaping the gravitational pull of trauma, navigating complicated relationships, and always believing you’ll end up on the moon. Created and produced by Almanac, a Philadelphia-based contemporary circus company. This is their European debut.Despite Everything, Price Still Includes BiscuitsThe Heresy Machine
Phew!
We reckon that’s enough to get on with…and in all honesty, it’s probably unlikely we’ll be lucky enough to catch all of these, because FRINGE (it has a way of throwing you curveballs or exhausting you to the point where you just HAVE TO SLEEP when you have a few hours to spare)! But we think it’s a pretty solid wish list. If you have any other hot tips, feel free to get in touch.
wearecivildisobedience.com 