Edinburgh Fringe is now an ‘in and out’ affair for me and I really enjoyed my fast and furious few days last week at the festival.
This year, as last, my focus was on both the culmination of The Glitter Challenge (more about this to follow), and to attend a couple of our Glitter Project events, which are expertly run by our mentoring team. However, I still managed to squeeze in seeing a few shows even though I fell woefully short of my target.
Scuppered by the unpredictable weather, miscalculating the time it takes to get from one venue to another, and trying to see shows on their day off are all part of the festival’s unique mix! Not to mention the late nights, excess alcohol and aching legs from walking on uneven cobble stones and climbing Edinburgh’s never ending steps!
After many years of attending the Fringe, I’m still overestimating what I can see during the world’s largest arts festival, which is hardly surprising given that there are no less that 4,500 shows this year!
So, here’s a whistlestop ‘review’ of the shows I did manage to see, all of which I highly recommend if you’re braving the last mad, bad crazy week when the TV world descends on the city and awards mania sets in.
Harriet Dyer never disappoints. Now rightfully a regular on television bringing her neurodiversity and originality to panel shows and Live at the Apollo, it’s very good to see her venue full of genuine fans.
Loved her show again this year and her response to some very distracting snoring sounds, which we never established whether they came from an audience member or some ghostly presence in the walls of her cave-like venue. It all added to the hilarity. This is genuinely the nearest you will get to proper organised chaos in a comedy show, all delivered with such haplessness you cannot fail to enjoy every funny minute.
The haplessness continues, this time with an Irish accent as Aideen McQueen delivers up her uniquely bonkers look at her life choices. From dating (a famous comedian) to ‘doing the work’ on herself, you find yourself drawn in by her charismatic storytelling and apparent lack of inhibition when it comes to oversharing cosmetic surgery procedures and more.
In my long experience two comedians in a relationship is dangerous territory and Aideen’s show corroborates this, especially when the object of her desire is already taken. Not in a Liam Neeson Irish accent, movie way, but ‘two-timing’ – an expression I expect cool young people don’t use anymore!
By contrast, and with a ‘posh’ accent, onto a show with a serious edge with Sophie Garrad’s Period Drama. Not a comedy confessional version of Liaisons Dangereuses as implied by her sumptuous posters and flyers (she hates real period dramas), but a real-life journey about suffering from endometriosis.
Originally diagnosed as polycystic ovaries, the drama ensues when Sophie discovers she is pregnant – harrowing but she makes it funny at the same time. With her it-girl persona and freshly wed, Sophie wins over her audiences with her audacious high-status rhetoric about some pretty life-changing experiences.
Produced by Gilded Balloon and Gobby Girl Productions this wonderful piece of theatre was conceived by and stars writer-performer Lois-Amber Toole and directed by Anna Morris, Fringe First winner and Funny Women Awards alumni. With such impeccable credentials including an award-winning production team in Katy Koren and Gina Lyons, I had high expectations.
Theatre is hard to do well with minimal resources in a small black box venue and this is good, very good. Strong narrative, a good twist and a sympathetic nod to mental health awareness. It wasn’t about drug taking as I’d assumed from the poster (should have gone to Specsavers…). It’s a rite of passage and a great performance from Lois-Amber.
The bonus experience of my week was Clementine 2 courtesy of Rosalie Minnitt, who won our 2025 Comedy Shorts Award. The sequel to the cult-hit Lady Clementine is every bit as ‘unhinged’ as described in the show’s promotional copy. Clementine literally bursts with delusion and illiteracy!
I very nearly didn’t see this show due to the total evacuation of the Pleasance Courtyard, Above, Besides and more. We stood on the street for about an hour and I did some of my best networking at the festival! Funny how people bond together when there’s an unknown threat.
We did all finally go back into the Pleasance about an hour later and the show went on, with Clementine in full throttle! Then at about 40 minutes in, another curveball was thrown as the sound of apocalyptic heavy rain hit the roof of our venue, a plastic ‘bubble’ with no sound proofing. As the heavens opened Rosalie’s performance went into overdrive as we all thought the world was actually ending! All in all, an unforgettable Fringe moment!
By complete contrast away from the chaos and the rain in the lunchtime comfort of The Apex Hotel, game set and match went to Pauline Eyre. This crisp efficient production is based on her 20-year tennis career as a Wimbledon line judge and it’s full of naughty revelatory anecdotes about players, balls and what the judges shouted before they were replaced by a bot!
Pauline wears her tennis credential and Wimbledon colours with pride and even has her official courtside ‘rests’ to rehydrate throughout her award-winning performance! This show is a joyous mix of comedy and theatre about an institution that is familiar to so many of us from television coverage. Returning from last year’s Fringe and a national tour, tennis clubs across the country will be getting their courts ready for more brilliant entertainment.
Shows still on that I sadly missed personally but come highly recommended either because I saw them as a work in progress pre-Fringe or heard about them from other reliable sources, include:
Bitches in Stitches: The New Grrrl Order
Rachel Creeger: “Queen of the Jews!”
Been and gone so look out for new dates:
Nerine Skinner: Decisions Decisions WIP
There is never enough time and train delays and cancellations really don’t help when you’re on a tight deadline and budget. Arrival day on Sunday ended up in a Delay Repay situation and you never get that time back.
Despite the ups and downs, this was a good Fringe and I continue to be blown away by the variety and scale of female comedy at the festival and beyond.
Enjoy if you are still there!
Check out the full programme on the EdFringe website here.
