Fringe

The Princess Pyunggang – Venue 236 – Greenside @ Infirmary Street – Olive Studio – 11.40am AS A regular consumer of both folklore and Korean dramas, I was somewhat familiar with this tale about the weeping Princess Pyeonggang who turned her husband On Dal – commonly thought of as On Dal the Fool – into…

ON TUESDAY evening, Underbelly brought together eight well-known comedians and raised more than £32,000 for its annual “Big Brain Tumour Benefit”. Comedy variety shows can often be a hit or miss, leaving you with wanting more of some acts and less of others – like any art form, comedy is subjective, after all. However, stand-ups…

This is Not a Show About Hong Kong – Venue 61 – Underbelly Cowgate – Big Belly – 2pm THERE are some shows that you enjoy but leave you as you exit the theatre, and then there are some shows that you’re not sure if “enjoy” is the right word to use, but they linger…

Nyctophilia – Venue 236 – Greenside @ Infirmary Street – Olive Studio – 22.10pm AS SOMEONE who is both afraid and intrigued by the night, I went into this vaguely described show with slight apprehension. Was I about to be spooked? Were there going to be campfire tales told in stage whispers? Was there going…

Sam See: Government Approved Sex – Venue 170: Laughing Horse @ Counting House – The Attic – 7.30pm STOOD in front of a small, cramped, and oppressively-warm room in the Counting House’s Attic was Singaporean comedian Sam See with a half-delighted, half-apologetic smile on his face as he warned people to grab drinks before he…

Afghanistan is Not Funny – Venue 14: Gilded Balloon Teviot – Dining Room – 4pm I CAN’T think of any occasion that, in this case, the sole actor of a production has left the stage at the end of a performance as the lights dim and there is a total silence in the auditorium.  Not…

Hiya Dolly! – Venue 53: theSpace @ Surgeons Hall – Grand Theatre – 8pm ONE of my abiding memories of work experience with The Scotsman newspaper was visiting the Roslin Institute, the research centre that created Dolly the Sheep, the first mammal to be cloned from an adult cell. There’s something magic about the place,…

Thor and Freya: Norse as F*ck – Venue 85: Laughing Horse @ City Cafe – Nineties – 9.55pm SUDDENLY, I feel very old. Not only because I’m about to qualify to do stand-up at “Ageing Folks Telling Jokes: The Best Comics over 40” (Ageing? Forty!) but because I’ve glimpsed the future – and that future…