Author Archives: Dan Lentell

‘Dream Space’ (Venue 8, until AUG 24th)

Posted in *EdFestivals 2025, 3*, Rated: Outstanding, Theatre by

“Director Jin-young Son has lost nothing in translation. This is the show that a mummy babel fish would take her fry to.”

Editorial Rating: 3 Stars (Outstanding)

Three stories. A young wizard dreaming of greater powers. Two castaways dreaming of release. A young girl dreaming of swimming with whales and experiencing the world from their perspective. Three stories, each told with dynamic precision by a company of puppeteers who genuinely conjure a truly immersive experience… so long as you aren’t in the wrong seat.

It’s not often that I see the same show in the space of 24hrs in two such very different venues. The day before, I had seen the third half performed in the Ballroom at the Assembly Rooms as part of the Korean Season showcase. It’s fair to say that something of the nuance was lost in the grand unintimacy of John Henderson’s 342m² space. The Crate George Sq., by contrast, is too constricted. The performers are too far forward for punters in the far edge seats of the semi-circle to actually see what is happening. EdFringe tickets are not getting any cheaper, and with children’s tickets being discounted by just £1, producers and promoters urgently need to consider family value for money alongside artistic excellence – which this exquisite production has by the undeniable bucketload.

In three unrelated but totally relatable stories, director Jin-young Son has lost nothing in translation. This is the show that a mummy babel fish would take her fry to. There is a prop gag in the Castaways chapter which flies over the heads of the little ones like a standard size 5 leather indoor volleyball, but which definitely lands with us oldies of a certain vintage. Any show that starts with bubbles is going to be a winner. A show that can go on to be so very chuffing poignant that it has your (not especially) humble correspondent in floods of tears deserves to be lauded with every laurel. There are deep moral lessons in each of the stories, reflections on wants and needs, maturity and growth, loss and discovery.

I’m not going to lie, I was worried about Daughter 2.0 (7yrs)’s reaction. She’s not the best at sitting still in every circumstance, but Dream Space had her truly enchanted right up until the end. She likes logic, and the internal logic of the Dream Space vision had her attention hooked all the way through. The show is promoted to ages 5+, which, for British kids, is too big a stretch. In a better-fitting space, with wiggle room for those whose grip on concentration is prone to lapse, this show would be perfection itself. It might also be kinder to allow the kinder space to rest and draw breath between the intensity of each marvelously meticulous monograph. Shows for kids need to be designed in every detail for kids. The creative content was astounding, the framing… not so much.

Like Goldilocks, this production needs – this production deserves – a venue space that is neither too big nor too small but one that is just right with space and permission for young minds and little bodies to dip in and out, especially if it is being sold to the very young.

Come for an all-star team delivering touchdown after touchdown. Stay if you’re in a good seat. Get your Joseon-era gwanboks on and go see this!

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‘Doktor Kaboom: Under Pressure!’ (Venue 33, until AUG 25th)

Posted in *EdFestivals 2025, 5*, Rated: Outstanding by

“I really recommend this show and I hope to see it next EdFringe.”

Editorial Rating: 7 Stars (Outstanding)

In the (hopefully) unlikely event that Doktor Kaboom decides he’s not going to come to Edinburgh in August anymore, I would genuinely be left wondering if there would be any point in EdFringe continuing. If only one of the thousands of shows on offer could be beamed out into the universe to tell alien life something about ourselves, I’d want it to be this one. This is a deeply sensitive show for young people about the pressures of the world we let ourselves build for them. It’s also a crazy, madcap science show that has our little ones bouncing in their seats with the unfiltered joy of knowing they were right to be soooooo excited about seeing this again.

We enter to discover a stage covered in scientific apparatus. There’s the table tennis vacuum cannon. There’s a smiling balloon on a Zimmer Frame walker, the latex of which keeps popping from the chill of a nearby beaker of dry ice – much to the comic annoyance of the stagehand. There’s something behind laboratory-grade shatter-proof perspex. And, is that, yes, I think it is the latest edition of the poker table hovercraft peaking from out the back? The demonstrations we are about to witness explain the scientific process. They amplify even the most latent interest in how and why the material world works. They create a soulful bedrock on which parents and carers can build the scaffolds which will support, guide, and nurture the young hearts and minds entrusted to our care.

In her EdFringe notebook, the one with Dame Katherine Grainger DBE on the cover, Daughter 1.0 (10yrs) wrote: “I really enjoyed Doktor Kabom under pressure. I thought how he got the audience to interact was amazing. He was funny and clever and made sure he (and everyone else) was safe. My favourite bit was when he got someone to ride his home-made hovercraft, made out of a plastic garden table-top and a shower curtain with three holes in it. I really recommend this show and I hope to see it next EdFringe.”

There is a moment on stage with one of the young audience members which best explains just how Doktor Kaboom has earned 21 stars from us in just 3 years. It’s got a little too much for the wee volunteer, and she wants out. Doktor Kaboom validates and celebrates her choice to stop. No fuss. No recriminations. No cheap laughs. The whole point of this show is to tell and retell kids that they have agency, they get to make choices about themselves and their space. It’s a powerful lesson not lost amid the mayhem and fun. In the lower half of Auld Father Time’s hourglass, Grandad, the Edinburgh University professor who would certainly open an airlock and vent the Fringe into space if he could, is delighted. He’s never seen liquid Carbon Dioxide before – apparently that is very cool.

Come for the rehearsed spontaneity of a show and persona that keep getting better and better. Stay for the crowd, it’s the best audience in the city. Get your Jeeves-unapproved orange tux jackets on and go see this!

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‘Ginger’s Problem Area’ (Venue 17, until AUG 24th)

Posted in *EdFestivals 2025, 4*, Rated: Nae Bad, Stand-Up, Theatre by

“Aunty Ginger is a deadpan whirlwind of good auld-fashioned filth and innuendo – in your endo.”

Editorial Rating: 4 Stars (Nae Bad)

What is there left to say about Aunty Ginger that hasn’t already been splashed across the red tops, scrawled on bathroom walls, or said through tears in a witness impact statement?

Manchester’s leading pansexual Dragony Aunt takes to the stage like a pack of boozehounds takes to a vodka fountain and with all the caution of a cockapoodle on a trampoline. This is a no-holds-barred experience not recommended for the coy or nervous. Aunty Ginger is a deadpan whirlwind of good auld-fashioned filth and innuendo – in your endo.

From a confident blend of audience work and audiovisual, sixty minutes of laugh-out-loud funny entertainment emerge, spotlighting a performer with a rising reputation – or is she just pleased to see me? Ginger is lightning fast. Already naturally well endowed, Ginger’s mind is as quick as her tongue is sharp. She is professionally trained, well-honed by just enough years in drag not to be a drag, and so obviously enjoys doing what she loves being great at. Those rather odd men who love to feel uncomfortable around drag and have got something to prove without having anything to say are swatted away as flies to wanton boys. Ginger is the boss and don’t forget it.

The trouble is that this show, in its current format, can only ever be as good as its audience. Good crowd? Good craic. Surly gobshite crowd? Less fun to be had. The format needs tweaking so that some content can be whipped out and milked without relying so much on the crowd if they turn up flaccid. Still, Ginger is gracefully maturing into an EdFringe stalwart, a reliable source of satisfaction for when you need your funny bone rubbed in just the right way.

Come for the solid standup. Stay for the sparkling wit and repartee. Get your glittery gladrags on and go see this!

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Everest Mallory 24 (With Stanley)’ (Venue 29, until AUG 23rd)

Posted in Theatre by

“It’s Andy versus the elements as he showcases the elemental art of storytelling.”

Editorial Rating: 4 Stars (Outstanding)

Andy Dickinson returns to EdFringe with his comic creation, Stanley, the plain-spoken everyman eyewitness to history. Last year, we listened in as Stanley recounted his time with Napoleon Bonaparte during the Hundred Days. This year, Stanley’s great-grandson is along on the 1924 Mount Everest expedition – the second British attempt to conquer “the third pole”. Even folks as terrestrial and gradient-averse as this Cambridgeshire fentrotter have heard of how, 101 years ago, Edward Norton set a world altitude record of 8,572.8 metres and how, on the expedition’s third ascent, George Mallory and Andrew “Sandy” Irvine disappeared. Did they reach the summit before they perished? Could their still unrecovered Kodak camera contain the final proof that, despite some of the harshest conditions on our homeworld, the highest place on Earth was reached decades before Hillary & Norgay?

An awful lot of art and artistry goes into making something seem artless. Dickinson packs his shows like you’d want to pack for an expedition to the back of beyond. Nothing is coming with us except the most essential. It’s Andy versus the elements as he showcases the elemental art of storytelling. It’s a total and complete contrast to what’s on offer over at Assembly. There, punters can feast their eyes on the sumptuous costumes, sets, and staging of the massively emotive, pansori-style of theatre presented in the Korean season. Andy’s approach is more akin to Roald Amundsen’s straight there and back expedition to the South Pole.

What makes an Andy Dickinson production so memorable is the afterburn. As you walk out of the venue and into your favourite Nepalese restaurant, a flood of flashbacks wash over you, a reminder of just how much unadorned material has been presented in so short a span of time. As you hum and haw over whether to have the Machhako Tarkari or the Chicken Rumjatar (before finally settling, yet again, for the Solukhambu Lamb) it occurs to you that you have been witness to an exceptionally fine and informative presentation. You’ve actually learned a thing or six. Our narrator, Stanley, is put upon, trodden down, and occasionally even sneered at by history’s great and the good whose names we remember. The genius of Stanley is that he goes where no one else can go. He sees, and lives to recount, what few others have such precise knowledge of.

There is less tech in this production. I would like to have seen a side-on elevation explaining just how steep the climb really was, and just how sharply the path between life and death narrowed for the expedition between the Northern (Tibetan) Route’s primary camps – but then I would also like a ski lift. What I like best about Dickinson and Stanley is that they leave the audience entirely free to think and feel what they like. Subjectivity is left at base camp. The emphasis is on how objectively nuts and bonkers the whole premise of the story actually is, especially since it really did happen.

Come for the unadorned but always adorable storytelling. Stay for the inside track on one of the great moments of adventure, danger, and excitement. Get your windproof Burberry cotton smocks on and go see this!

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EdFringe Talk: Jack Offerman’s Big Uncut Flick

Posted in *EdFestivals 2025, *Written Interviews by

“I’ve learned the value of being present and engaged in as many rooms, conversations, and spontaneous moments as possible.”

WHO: Melissa Firlit

WHAT: “Buckle up, buttercup! In Jack Offerman’s Big Uncut Flick, a quirky 1970s small-town broadcast unravels into a chaotic collision of campy commercials, outrageous characters and a gripping 1930s noir-style crime story. Enjoy the meltdown.”

WHERE: Downstairs at Assembly Roxy (Venue 139) 

WHEN: 15:50 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

This is my fifth time at the Edinburgh Fringe, and every year I’ve worn a different hat. My first visit was as a company manager, young, determined and debaucherous. I soaked up everything this incredible festival and city had to offer. I had no idea what I’d signed up for, but I knew I’d landed somewhere special, where art in every imaginable form bursts to life during that wonderfully wild August stretch.

The second time, I returned as a performer with a dance company, still wide-eyed, still learning. After that, I came back as director and producer for Marrow in 2019 and 2022 – one pre-COVID, one post-COVID – both a crash course in adapting to a constantly shifting landscape. And now, in 2025, I’m back with Jack Offerman’s Big Uncut Flick at the Roxy Downstairs, equipped with lessons from the past and a focus on what truly matters: making meaningful connections, taking the time to see people, and building community.

That’s what makes the Fringe, and any great festival, special: the sense of community. There’s space for everyone here, and the camaraderie is real.

And of course, you have to be a little bit mad, bold, and wildly courageous to produce a show here. It’s no small feat, no matter the scale. But there’s a shared understanding among those who make the leap: the sacrifice, the risk, and the joy are all worth it.

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2024 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

In 2023, I returned to Edinburgh as an audience member. What struck me most was how many of the connections I’d made in 2022 were still alive and thriving. Those relationships hadn’t faded. It was a beautiful reminder that the bonds you forge here are part of an ongoing creative family.

As a producer, I’ve learned the value of being present and engaged in as many rooms, conversations, and spontaneous moments as possible. The curated events at Fringe Central have been a gift.

My best advice? Throw caution to the wind. Make that bold introduction. Remember that we’re all artists and are connected in lasting ways.

Tell us about your show.

Jack Offerman’s Big Uncut Flick is theatre of the ridiculous at its most delicious – a 1930s film noir flick, hosted by a 1975 afternoon local TV personality who knows absolutely nothing about movies but everything about hamming it up for the camera (or so he thinks). It’s an ode to theatrical styles, packed with physical comedy, camp, vaudeville, slapstick, and more winks to the audience than you can count. Four actors. Twenty-eight characters. What a delight!

Written by Todd Michael, who also plays an array of characters, the show uses a story-within-a-story device to keep the play fast-paced, buoyant, and full of surprise. Todd has a rare gift for capturing period style while still letting the absurdity run wild.

It’s produced by Resolve Productions, a two-person New York City-based team: Craig Dolezel and myself. We came together working on Misterman by Enda Walsh, needed a company name, spotted one on a bottle of rug cleaner (yes, really), and figured: if it fits, it sticks. Well, it’s stuck for 10 years now. Our mission is to create work that’s playful and gives a platform to voices and stories that don’t always get the mic.

Before landing here at EdFringe, Jack Offerman’s Big Uncut Flick was part of the East to Edinburgh series at 59E59 Theaters in NYC, a program that gives US shows an opportunity to jumpstart their EdFringe runs.

What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?

One of the joys of being at EdFringe is getting swept up in the sheer variety of art. You can go from belly laughs to heartbreak to a full-on dance party and all in the span of a single day. We’re thrilled to share a few of our must-sees so far, in no particular order:

Smile: The Story of Charlie Chaplin – Physical comedy at its finest, with audience engagement, humor, and a surprising amount of heart.

Delusional: I Killed a Man – Stunning, vulnerable, and gripping, a powerful piece of theatre.
Ten Thousand Hours – Captivating, playful, and wildly inventive.

Dangerous Goods – Passionate, awe-inspiring, with a message that sticks.

Frisky’s – An incredible singer with a stunning voice, high energy, and fun audience collaboration.

Ohio – One for the books; trust us on this one.

Club NVRLND – Pure dance party joy.

Van Gogh Shogh – Unhinged, asymmetrical, and utterly loveable.

Best Man Show – Bizarre, silly, heartbreaking, fun, and completely relatable.

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EdFringe Talk: Everest Mallory 24 (With Stanley)

Posted in *EdFestivals 2025, *Written Interviews by

“Obviously, it’s great to go and watch the established acts. But the really special experiences are when you come across an extraordinary performer in one of the small, intimate spaces.”

WHO: Andy Dickinson

WHAT: “A comic storytelling show, based on the 1924 British Mount Everest expedition. It follows Mallory on the SS California to India, on a train across to Darjeeling, and on ponies across Tibet. In tow is Stanley from the Mad Hatter’s town of Stockport, Manchester. All of this is new to Stanley, who has barely been up Helvellyn in the Lake District! Once reaching Mount Everest, they must tackle it with feet, ropes, and possibly some oxygen. Knowing his own limitations, Stanley absolutely does not make a summit attempt, alongside Mallory and Irvine…”

WHERE: The Vault at Paradise in The Vault (Venue 29) 

WHEN: 19:15 (60 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

No, this is my fifth Edinburgh Fringe, and my third as a solo performer!

As a producer, there is no better place to get a show on its feet. With over 3000 other shows on, you know that you have to bring your very best work. Moreover, there is the concentration of reviewers, agents, and producers. If you do do the right show, at the right time, things can really take off for you. So far, we have had 2 quite big successes – Shackleton and his Stowaway, which went on to play a Sold Out run in Park 90, London, and Tam O’Shanter, Tales and Whisky, which Sold Out for 2 performances in the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh, for Burns Night 2023.

As a festival goer, there is endless variety, and genuinely something for everyone. Obviously, it’s great to go and watch the established acts. But the really special experiences are when you come across an extraordinary performer in one of the small, intimate spaces. To be a spectator there is a true privilege.

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2024 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

Since 2024, I believe I have developed quite a lot as a solo performer. Till now, I have been performing with a hand mic and stand, in what was effectively a mix of theatre, storytelling, and stand up comedy. For 2025, I have dropped the hand mic and stand. This has been liberating! Storytelling is, of course, words embodied, and I am no longer constricted by the mic. Also, by roaming the whole stage, I can create whole scenes, far more effectively. You may even come to believe that we are approaching Everest, AND then climbing up it, in my current show.

Also, I have learnt to pace myself. 3 weeks, with 20 shows, is quite a serious commitment. Obviously, my principle focus has to be my own show. But it’s worth trying to fit in some other shows every few days, to connect with other artists, and also to give yourself a proper breather!

I also learnt how to categories my show, more carefully, so that audiences will find it easier to get to me – Theatre, Storytelling, Comedy!

Tell us about your show.

For 2025 my show is ‘Everest Mallory 24 (With Stanley)’, which I wrote myself. It is based on the very famous British Mount Everest Expedition of 1924. This is the most famous of all the British Everest expeditions. However I tell it in a new way, with a new character!

The character is Stanley, who comes from the mad hatter’s town of Stockport. He has been ‘up Kinder once. Not quite to the top.’ So yes, he’s not the best person to be tagging along on such an expedition. Mallory certainly doesn’t make him feel welcome! Stanley is, in effect, an everyman. He reacts to the increasing dangers and jeopardy in a way that most of us would. He’s ‘probably’ not going to be making an attempt on the actual summit . . .

Stanley is something of an alter ego for me. I am also from Stockport. I am also a fan of the early Himalayan adventures. I also have been known to go up Kinder, Helvellyn, Ben Nevis. I’m not as bad as Stanley is at it, though! At the same time, I would never be going beyond Base Camp at Everest.

We did some previews of the show at Leicester Comedy Festival, Brighton Fringe, and Keswick Mountain Festival. Not surprisingly, they were familiar with the story down in Keswick. Fortunately, the history has all been solidly researched!

What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?

Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me but Banjos Saved My life, which I think is worth attending just for the title. Not quite a banjolele, but I do play the Ukulele myself. Its’ theme is one that is close to the heart of all artists, in respect of art being the flame that keeps us all ever marching on.

A Mad Mad Wonderland. Jason Woods has a marvellous flair for bringing numerous characters to life, from Lewis Carroll’s works. Not only bringing them to life, but giving them his own spin, particularly with a range of celebrity voices. Unbelievably, James is actually doing 2 shows at this year’s Fringe!

I’ve also seen Make it Happen but that comes to an end on 9th Aug. And National Theatre of Scotland don’t exactly need a plug from me! Other shows on my list are The Truman Capote Talk Show, Air Heart, and Amazons.

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‘Wodehouse in Wonderland’ (Venue 17, until AUG 24th)

Posted in *EdFestivals 2025, 5*, Rated: Outstanding, Theatre by

“There is a dramatic pivot in this piece delivered with such sudden, callous, earth-shatteringly precise cruelty that afterwards, for the first time ever, I find myself waiting by the stagedoor determined to shake the hand of the horribly talented actor who has just sucker punched us all in the gut.”

Editorial Rating: 5 Stars (Outstanding)

We enter to find ourselves in the study of one of the most celebrated writers of English since Chaucer’s pilgrims first set out to Canterbury. The seemingly uncomplicated genius of Pelham Grenville Wodehouse (1881 – 1975) conjoured into being such immortals as Jeeves and Wooster, Ukridge, Mr Mulliner, as well as some of the most popular, zeitgeisty smash hits of the interwar years. Gershwin, Porter, Kern and Novello all knew him as an equal. He was big in America at a time when America itself was getting big.

Stage left there’s a home bar. Scotch and soda, martinis and the requisite stemware. In the centre, behind the writing desk, a picture window looks out over the Suffolk County landscape – Suffolk County, Long Island, not the East of England for reasons which will become obvious as the plot thickens. A red leather chesterfield armchair completes the scene. It’s the familiar haunt of someone whose literary oeuvre and immortal reputation became established in his own lifetime in the way that an auld oak tree or a gothic catheral might seem established only after the passage of centuries.

Robert Daws completely captures the chronological vertigo of this seemingly very ordinary Englishman towards the close of an extraordinary life. Daws is one of those faces familiar off the telly from ‘Midsummer Murders’, ‘Roger Roger’, ‘Robin of Sherwood’, and of course Fry and Laurie’s masterpiece ‘Jeeves and Wooster’ series. Daws is delivering one of the finnest bits of character work to be seen this EdFringe – this is the other show that us mega Pip Utton fans MUST SEE this year.

With a glove-like fitting, Daws inhabits the persona, personality, and personal space of Wodehouse, a familiar figure yet also an ultra private individual, a charmingly befuddled auld stick in the mud who came to public notice during the roaring exuberance of the 1920s. Wodehouse scaled the highest heights of celebratory fame and success. He became a legend in his own lifetime only to suffer one of those excrutiating moments of irrefutable British tabloid unfairness to rank alongside Michael Foot’s donkey jacket or Prince Harry’s entire adult life. The folk who love to loathe Wodehouse will never let us forget his ill-advised broadcasts from internment during WWII but this was not the only dark cloud that lour’d upon our Wodehouse. There is a dramatic pivot in this piece delivered with such sudden, callous, earth-shatteringly precise cruelty that afterwards, for the first time ever, I find myself waiting by the stagedoor determined to shake the hand of the horribly talented actor who has just sucker punched us all in the gut.

Here is a masterful performance to rank alongside Christopher Lee’s Saruman and for precisely the same reason. Lee was famously the only member of the LOTR cast to have actually met Tolkein. Similar magic has rubbed off on Robert Daws who has known, worked and collaborated with some of the very greatest Wodehousians – Carmichael, Fry, Laurie, Spall, Horden, Jarvis, and Mangan. Daws received the personal blessing and benediction for this production from Sir Edward Cazalet, the son of Wodehouse’s beloved daughter Leonora. Daws is himself of course the definitive Hildebrand “Tuppy” Glossop resoncibile for some of the most joyously side splitting moments of the 90s TV series. My only criticism of this show is that there isn’t a tie-in album of the seven or so Broadway songs written by Wodehouse which Daws merrily belts out with the calm, luxurious, powerful assurance of a 1932 Lagonda 3-litre Weymann.

Come for the candid yet reverential insight into a true great of English letters. Stay for simply one of the best solo performances you’ll see at this or any Fringe. Get your a trifle too exotic Sir white mess jackets on and go see this!

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EdFringe Talk: GENDAI

Posted in *EdFestivals 2025, *Written Interviews by

“As a performer, it’s both exciting and humbling to be part of such a huge mix of talent from around the world.”

WHO: Gendai

WHAT: “A Japanese laser show combining custom-made paper costumes, expressive body performance and original music featuring traditional Japanese instruments. Movements are sharp, precise and unpredictably playful – designed to surprise and engage. Laser light becomes a visual masterpiece: meticulously designed, immersive and breathtakingly beautiful. This performance invites audiences to feel, see and experience a world where energy flows through light, sound and movement. In a space where tradition and innovation meet, rhythm, texture and emotion – born from the body – carry the audience on an unexpected journey beyond the visual.”

WHERE: Temple at WU (Venue 396) 

WHEN: VARIES (15 min)

MORE: Click Here!

Is this your first time to Edinburgh?

Yes – this is my first time performing in Edinburgh, and it’s been incredible to experience the scale and energy of the Fringe. What’s special about EdFringe is the way the whole city becomes a stage, and how audiences arrive ready to discover something new. As a performer, it’s both exciting and humbling to be part of such a huge mix of talent from around the world.

What are the big things you’ve learned since 2024 and have you absorbed any of the lessons yet?

We want the audience to feel a deep emotional connection—through awe, serenity, and wonder. The performance is designed to be immersive and meditative, offering moments of stillness and intensity that reflect the contrasts found in Japanese culture.

Tell us about your show.

I personally programmed the laser sequences to sync with my dance. One of the biggest challenges was blending automated light patterns with the human body’s texture and movement. The soundtrack is also self-produced, incorporating subtle elements of Japanese sound culture throughout.

What should your audience see at the festivals after they’ve seen your show?

After our show, I’d love for you to experience The Proust Effect by Eden Choi—a mesmerizing close-up magic performance with a global twist. He invites the audience to a journey around the world through sleight-of-hand, seamlessly blending humor, warm connection, and astonishing finesse.
His tricks are performed just a few feet away, making every moment feel intimate and magical. According to reviews, “His sleight-of-hand is so smooth, so astonishingly clean… Tricks that should be impossible unfold right in front of your eyes.”

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‘Not Another Quiz Night’ (Venue 8, until AUG 23rd)

Posted in *EdFestivals 2025, 5*, Rated: Outstanding, Theatre by

“This show is rowdy like an invasion of Mongolian horsearchers is rowdy.”

Editorial Rating: 5 Stars (Outstanding)

On balance, and after careful consideration, I can confidently say this is the best show I have seen at any EdFringe. A good review is a balance of the informative, the objective, and the subjective. For your information, this show is a Daliesque acid trip of a pub quiz with all the traditional elements done massive and then some. Objectively, the crowd is huge, mad for it, loving it, and kept thoroughly entertained throughout 90 minutes of brilliantly bonkers boisterousosity. Subjectively, how could I not love a show featuring popadom frisbee (Queensbury Rules)? There’s celebrity appearances, fat cupid, Liam and/or Noel Gallagher, as well as the single greatest Alan Rickman impersonation this side of Hogwarts.

Our host, Jake Bhardwaj, is a one-man Disaster Area – the plutonium rock band from ‘Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy’ said to be the loudest rock band in the Galaxy, and also the loudest noise of any kind at all. Bhardwaj’s stagecraft is exceptional. Watching him is like having a front row seat at a supernova or seeing Usain Bolt run an egg spoon race against a kangaroo. Supported by a host of chaotic, colourful misfits, what Bhardwaj conjures into existence is definitely maybe the purest of pure doses of explosively lowbrow highbrow comedy delivered directly into the bloodstream. This show is rowdy like an invasion of Mongolian horsearchers is rowdy.

If you’re afraid of audience participation, look away now. There’s Biggest Crisp, Baywatch Beach Parade, and a piss-your-pants-laughing plethora of properly funny parts for everyone, front seats and back. There is also the pub quiz itself, which is a solid mix of pop culture and no-holds-barred tricky brain teasers. From the concept, through planning, and into delivery, this is a phenomenal EdFringe success story that needs to be added to every August calendar and spreadsheet. Come for the greatest and best bar trivia night in the known universe, stay for a brilliant piece of live theatre, get your coats on and go see this!

 

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‘1457, The Boy at Rest’ (Venue 17, until AUG 24th)

Posted in *EdFestivals 2025, *Written Interviews, 5*, Theatre by

“This was my first experience of Korean national theatre and I am left wanting more! More! MORE”

Editorial Rating: 5 Stars (Outstanding)

The story of the 15th-century Korean boy King Danjong has been told and retold down the ages. A child, too young to govern. An uncle, too ambitious not to seize the throne. A devoted wife, doomed to a lifetime of regret.

We enter to find that some of the most elegant and effective set dressings anywhere this EdFringe have transformed one of the University’s more functional lecture spaces into a sensual backdrop perfectly attuned to the pansori-style session of storytelling about to unfold. Contemporary pansori has been described as the sound of han – the sound of that uniquely Korean form of grief and sorrow. The genius of this production lies in what has been built on that melancholy foundation. Here is a production that is vibrant, laugh-out-loud funny, as well as poignant and thought-provoking. Three goblins (dokkaebi) act as our chorus, framing the narrative with puckish light-heartedness and head-shaking regret at what fools these mortals be.

Thanks to an ultra-contemporary byeokgeori / backdrop displaying colour-coded subtitles, nothing is lost in translation. Sitting in the back row of the theatre, I found the blending of live performance and visual tech aides fairly seamless, although those up front in the spit zone might feel differently. Pansori’s focus on emotional depth, singable narrative arcs, and traditional drum-based accompaniment were delivered by the bucketload by a company of stellar performers who hit all the high notes while also being accessible and (most importantly) really chuffing entertaining. The dokkaebi stole the show with their mix of clown and frown but there were also flashes of pure brilliance from across the company.

This was my first experience of Korean national theatre and I am left wanting more! More! MORE! Drawing on 5,000 years of history, troubled by outsiders, this production is a perfect showcase of national feeling, talent, and identity. Come for the spectacle, stay for the masterclass in professional stagecraft, get your durumagi on and go see this!

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