Fringe Review: The Dreamer

Fiona Tenneb praises James Phelan’s awe-inspiring show. ★★★★ ‘Surround yourself with the dreamers. The doers, the believers and the thinkers. But most of all surround yourself with those that see the greatness within you, even when you don’t see it yourself.’ Unlikely but beautiful words to start a thought provoking magic show that got my…

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Fringe Review: It’s Not My Body/This Is

Megan Amato enjoys this titillating duo of performances. ★★★★ A tale of two contrasting shows, one that moved quickly and involved virtually every muscle in the human body and the second that paced itself, drawing from our consciousness. It’s Not My Body Chapter 3.5 came out with a bang. The simple stage with a singular…

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Fringe Review: PALS

This production is ‘a wonderful way to be entertained and laugh’, says Jeremy Welch. ★★★ This is a funny, slightly chaotic play that will leave you uplifted. PALS is the tale of four Edinburgh girlfriends. Their natural milieu is nail bars, All Bar One and nightclubs so a camping trip organised by the protagonist, Sadie,…

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Fringe Review: Gamble

A bittersweet multimedia show about addiction and its effect on families, friends and communities, says Jeremy Welch. ★★★ This play is dealing with a weighty matter, the consequences of gambling. Not the Grand National once a year flutter gamble but the compulsive, corrosive and ultimately destructive result of gambling addiction. It’s difficult to get the…

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Fringe Review: 1984

Jeremy Welch praises Sofia Barvsevich’s near sell-out production as ‘brave, brutal, disturbing and absolutely relevant’. ★★★★★ ‘War is peace, freedom is slavery and ignorance is strength.’ George Orwell. Almost everyone knows this dyspotian quote from Big Brother. This production is quite remarkable as in one hour it condenses Orwell’s 1984 novel perfectly. There is almost…

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Fringe Review: Forging the Swords

Adapted from Lu Xun’s novel, Forging the Swords tells the story of a naturally kind-hearted child, who is suddenly entrusted with the monumental task of avenging his father’s murder, says Megan Amato. ★★★★ One way actors can prove their mettle is to carry on in the face of adversity – and that is exactly what…

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Fringe Review: Liminal

Megan Amato enjoys this contemporary dance production. ★★★★ If you didn’t see this show, I’m sad to say that you missed out on a gem. Combining traditional Erhu music with jazz dance, this blend of east meets west was nearly seamless as musician and dancer worked in conjunction to deliver a story about an astronomer’s…

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Fringe Review: Alison Larkin, Grief… A Comedy

Alison Larkin grips the audience with this production, says Jeremy Welch. ★★★★ Alison Larkin was adopted from America by an English family and grew up in England. Deciding to find her birth mother she returned to America, found her, got married to an American, started a family and then got divorced. In her middle years…

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Fringe Review: Nina Gilligan, Goldfish

Ailsa Bath finds Nina Gilligan ‘achingly relatable and effortlessly funny’ in her performance Goldfish. ★★★ Nina Gilligan’s Goldfish was a humorous meander through the life of a middle aged woman. She openly acknowledged that her target audience were women above 40 and men under thirty which meant several references flew right over my twentysomething head…

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Fringe Review: Rouge

Jeremy Welch samples the circus for grown-ups, with the award-winning Australian circus cabaret sensation Rouge. ★★★★ Rouge is an Australian production with a professional and talented troupe of artists. The show is advertised as ‘….a celebration of the astonishing, surprising, subversive and supremely sexy.’ It is all of the above featuring – circus acts with…

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