Doctor Brown – Befrdfgth

This year's Edinburgh Fringe was awash with mime acts, but it was Doctor Brown, the silent character creation of American Phil Burgers, who ended up taking home the Foster's Edinburgh Comedy Award for his confusingly titled show 'Befrdfgth'. There are no 'trapped in a box' routines here; Burgers is like an unnerving cult leader, taking his audience on a hysterical, sometimes unsettling journey. His black-gloved hands, raised in the surrender position, are his props, helping to transform him into silly, occasionally dark characters in scenes of bullfighting, parental abandonment and unnerving sexual encounters. The intensity builds steadily throughout, and so do the laughs, until the final act, where the true magic happens, in a celebratory finale that has the audience in hysterics. Thrillingly unpredictable and gloriously funny, Burgers literally gives mime a kick up the arse. You'd be a fool to miss this.