EdFringe 2024
Animate Lands: A Celtic Myth Cycle
★★★★☆ Traditional
After selling out the Scottish Storytelling Centre in 2022, Animate Lands: A Celtic Myth Cycle returns to the venue for the Fringe. Storyteller Dougie Mackay accompanied by multi-instrumentalist Freya Rae, takes us on a poetic journey through traditional Scottish tales and wilderness.
PALS
★★★★☆ Unstoppable
Filled with banter and the odd Gaelic phrase, PALS at the Gilded Balloon Patter House is a brilliant adventure-comedy that will have you laughing one minute and holding back tears the next.
Singing Willows
★★★☆☆ Whimsical
Singing Willows at the French Institute is the brainchild of Alexandra Borghino, a French artist who has adapted her book of the same name into bilingual tunes for wee ones, to teach French and English through songs and pictures.
Antonio’s Revenge
★★☆☆☆ Unfathomable
Antonio’s Revenge is a definite oddity, not made any less strange by its staging by Edinburgh/New Zealand company Half Trick Theatre at C alto on even dates of the Fringe only.
Hamstrung
★★★★☆ Method in’t
“A fellow of infinite jest,” is how Shakespeare introduced deceased court jester Yorick, but the Yorick of George Rennie’s Hamstrung is a being as existential as the appearance of his skull at a pivotal moment in Hamlet’s crisis deserves.
A Knock on the Roof
★★★★☆ Politics of horror
A Knock on the Roof, Khawla Ibraheem’s play at the Traverse for piece by piece productions, is a chilling evocation of war and its human cost.
Murder at the Fringe
★★★☆☆ Fun exercise
Murder at the Fringe, by Edinburgh Little Theatre, is extremely courageous. The audience is closely involved in the solving of a murder, with six suspects lined up for questioning.
Malvolio’s Fantasy
★★★☆☆ Tentative
Zuzabella Productions’ Malvolio’s Fantasy at theSpace @ Surgeons Hall is an adaptation of Shakespeare that is at its best when it is furthest from its source.
Tom Greaves: FUDGEY
★★★★☆ Tragicomedy
Tom Greaves: FUDGEY at the Assembly Roxy is a funny, disturbing and at times deeply tragic piece, featuring convincing storytelling and wonderful physical comedy from Edinburgh-based writer/performer Greaves.
Dear Billy
★★★★☆ Devotional
Gary McNair presents a remount of the National Theatre of Scotland’s Dear Billy, A Love Letter to the Big Yin at the Assembly Rooms on George Street for a ten date run at the fringe.
