Cult Scots radio series is coming to the festival

A Scots radio show is transferring to the stage as part of this year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Fags, Mags and Bags, the Radio 4 series written and performed by Sanjeev Kohli and Donald McLeary, will be presented live on stage at this year’s Edinburgh Fringe.

With nine series on Radio 4, the show received a Writers’ Guild Award in November 2008 for Radio Comedy of the Year.

The show follows the lives of owner Ramesh Majhu, his best friend and assistant, Dave Legg as well as his two sons Alok and Sanjay who run the local convenience store in the Glasgow suburb Lenzie. In this thriving community – and it is a community – Fags Mags and Bags serves as a microcosm of a volatile world where many nettles are grasped, including racism, politics, fat-shaming and whether or not the Snack-a-Jack can really be classified as a crisp

This specially extended show sees Ramesh, on the 30th anniversary of the opening of Fags Mags & Bags, have a health scare.

The future of the shop he built from scratch, his beloved empire, and the beating heart of the community, is thrown into doubt. Can he trust his son Alok, who has displayed a VERY unorthodox approach to low-to-medium retail (including nicotine crisps) with his legacy? Or will he be forced to do the unthinkable and sell out to the big impersonal convenience store chain Bojo Mojos? Which does NOT stock chocolate tools?

Sanjeev Kohli (Ramesh) is a writer/presenter/actor – he has written for sketch shows Chewin’ The Fat and Goodness Gracious Me, starred in shows such as Look Around You, Meet the Magoons and Fresh Meat, and is an occasional newspaper columnist, but is probably best-known for playing shopkeeper Navid in Still Game.

Donald Mcleary (Dave) is an actor and writer from Rutherglen – he recently appeared in the Netflix thriller Calibre, and has also written Doctor Who audio plays – destroying Edinburgh Castle and Arthur’s Seat in one.

They will be joined on stage by Susheel Kumar (Alok) and Omar Raza (Sanjay) with Julie Wilson Nimmo, Michael Redmond, Kate Brailsford and Marj Hogarth.

LISTING INFORMATION

Dates: 31 July–26 Aug (not 12 August)

Time: 4.40pm (1 hour)

Venue: Underbelly George Square, Udderbelly

Tickets: 31 Jul-2 Aug, £10.00; 7-8, 13–15, 20–22, 26, £13.50 (£12.50) 3–6, 9–11, 16–18, 23–25, £15.50 (£14.50)

Box Office: www.underbellyedinburgh.co.uk