“Spectacular and unhinged” are two words rarely seen together in theatre reviews, except for at the Edinburgh Fringe, where the most brilliantly eccentric ideas get space to breathe.
Here are the best shows to catch at the Edinburgh Fringe, and helpfully, we’ve only reviewed performances with London transfers so if you aren’t going to Scotland this summer you can book these shows for their runs in the capital.
HOW I LEARNED TO SWIM
Putting on a play about swimming presents one hard-to-overcome obstacle: stages are traditionally dry. But Somebody Jones’s drama How I Learned to Swim still plays with the senses. Rather than splashing the audience, this show’s stripped-back set uses lighting and sound to create an airiness which transports the audience to the steely world of the public swimming pool – you can almost smell the chlorine. Frankie Hart, who plays the show’s lone star Jamie – a 30-year-old woman who has decided to learn to swim – is nimble in her performance, flitting between characters with easy rhythm. The play explores the complex relationship between black people and water, with a particularly affecting scene about the myth of a ‘black Atlantis’, which imagines an underwater kingdom built by pregnant black women who jumped from slave ships. A unique show with an understated power. Roundabout at Summerhall, Edinburgh, daily until 17 August; then at the Brixton House in London from 2-14 September
STAMPTOWN
This is just utter madness. The spectacular, unhinged kind. Everything about Stamptown is a piss take, every concept pushing provocation in new directions to find fresh ways in. Starting 40 minutes late at gone midnight, compere Zach Zucker can’t stop repeating that we’re running out of time. But there are still 17 acts to go! It’s all part of the shtick, and by 2am most of the 700 seats were still full, and me and the three mates had barely stopped laughing. It’s essentially a comedy variety show with acrobatics, but who cares about the embellishments when the core is this good? Zucker speaks in half-formed sentences to play his alter ego Jack Tucker, an awkward guy-next-door type who’s struggling through a comedy sketch. All the while, abstract characters like a butt naked crowd surfer and a giant cuddly bear disrupt his flow. It would do a diservice to try to explain Stamptown other than to say it takes immense focus and talent to create something this messy. This is a glorious, free-flowing, stream of consciousness. Zucker’s steady hand keeps the show on the road as everything is imploding in. Pleasance Grand, Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh, 15-17 & 22-24 August; 18-23 November, Soho Theatre
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FAME HUNGRY
“We got thrown off last night, I’m having to use my producer’s account!” Louise Orwen tells us halfway through Fame Hungry, a zany, experimental show/game which explores the cost of online fame – all while Orwen seeks it herself by streaming the show live on Tiktok. That’s performance art, baby! It’s a gripping premise and Orwen carries it off impressively, gaining the audience’s trust by allowing them to be in on the game with her. The show consists of a kind of dual-performance: one for Tiktok designed to game the algorithm (singing, dancing, licking lollipops – on Tiktok you must be sexy but still cute, Orwen educates us) and one for the in-room audience, who get to read an alternate script projected above the screen. You’re left wondering whether either performance is actually “real”. Energetic, provocative and memorable in the extreme – you won’t forget this one. Summerhall, Edinburgh, until 26 August; then The Place, London, 3 October
JOBSWORTH!
There’s a particular effervescence about this payday loans comedy, and credit is due to Libby Rodcliffe, whose compelling displays of fiestiness and vulnerability are both hilarious and unsettling. Bea works three jobs and bails out her broke parents, but even so, she’s getting ever closer to bankruptcy. Writer Isley Lynn stirs with her punchy, relatable writing, and Rodcliffe does a wonderful job crafting Bea: despite her challenges, she’s capable, hard working and likeable, and you often feel the injustice of her situation. It burns that she cannot enjoy her evenings without financial fear. Rodcliffe darts around in a powerful red suit, giving Fleabag energy in monologues then switching hilariously into multiple characters to embody difficult bosses and family members. Jobsworth goes a little way to deconstructing the shame that many who work hard for little reward feel. Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh, 18-13 & 15-26; London details to be confirmed
BELLRINGERS
An end of the world drama about two bellringers waiting in a church steeple for a thunderstorm to come is an arresting image, but, in the end, this show left me also waiting for more. Playing in the Fringe’s cosy Roundabout theatre, Bellringers could not have picked a better venue. The audience too are forced to feel like they’re in the belltower waiting for the storm to come, as the two bell ropes, menacingly hung like nooses, swing in the centre. The symbolism, as you can tell, is not always subtle, but the play’s loftiness is part of its folktale schtick (and you’re allowed to be dramatic about the apocalypse). Luke Rollason and Paul Adeyefa make a strong duo and are easy to watch, though the script’s frequent flitting between dark and light doesn’t always quite chime. Then again, for a climate crisis commentary, it’s a fitting tribute: as the world implodes, don’t many of us too reach first for laughs? Roundabout, Summerhall, Edinburgh on various dates; Hampstead Theatre Downstairs, 27 September – 2 November
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THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING… EARNEST?
“Are you working right now?” the cast of The Importance of Being… Earnest? shouted in my direction. The house lights came up and halfway through the show I was forced to blow my cover and admit I was a theatre critic. Oscar Wilde himself would have loved it: he believed we should live our lives as pieces of art and would have adored nothing more than the critic wafting pretentiously around on stage in a meta shake up to his high camp comedy of manners. I couldn’t review the show in the end as I was in it, so I have absolutely no idea how good it is, but given I was in it I’d imagine it was terrible. Though it has been a lifelong dream to try acting! A farce with audience interaction is a classic way to enjoy the very essence of the Fringe: spontaneous, chaotic, unfiltered fun. Pleasance Courtyard, Edinburgh until 25 August; UK tour to be announced at interactiveearnest.co.uk
Find out more about the Edinburgh Fringe