The sheer choice of shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival is overwhelming. With over 3,500 plays and performances going on, it’s tricky to predict what is most worth your time. Will a comedy have you laughing ’til your sides hurt or force your toes to curl up in cringe? Will a theatre show be poignant and powerful or a flat dud?
Luckily, Time Out has its theatre pundits on the ground to give you lowdown on which Fringe shows are really worth it. As we reach the end of week one, here are the best shows to grace the Edinburgh Fringe Festival so far.
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Patti Harrison: ‘My Huge Tits Huge Because They Are Infected NOT FAKE!’
The concept of this show has US comic Patti Harrison speaking only in cloying therapy-style affirmations contrasted with a heavy dose of grotesque punchlines. Our theatre editor called it ‘an audaciously weird and eye-wateringly lurid hour that frequently sails much closer to performance art than ‘comedy’ per se’. Warning: it’s not for the faint of heart.
Sh!t Theatre: ‘Or What’s Left of Us’
‘Funny and barbed and eccentric’, this show by Edi Fringe veterans, Rebecca Biscuit and Louise Mothersole, earned five stars from Time Out. This year, they’re sharing their new-found love of folk music and dealing with grief following the death of their former director and Biscuit’s partner Adam Brace. Stick around for some post-Sh!t Theatre drinks and a sing-song at Summerhall’s bar.
Natalie Palamides: ‘Weer’
Natalie Palamides plays both halves of a Gen X couple in a parody of a 90’s rom com that is ‘hysterically funny but weirdly poignant’. Expect themes of confused sexuality, toxic masculinity and dysfunctional relationships.
‘Demi Adejuyigbe Is Going to Do One (1) Backflip’
This debut Fringe show from Demi Adejuyigbe (best known for working on The Good Place and the Late Late Show with James Corden) sees the comedian psyche himself to do, you guessed it, a backflip to impress a crush. It’s more than that, though. Our critic called it an ‘hour of imaginative, multimedia-enhanced sketch comedy masquerading as a confessional solo show’.
‘Every Brilliant Thing’
‘Every Brilliant Thing’ is back for its tenth year. The play by Duncan Macmillan and Jonny Donahoe follows an unnamed protagonist committed to writing a list of every brilliant thing that exists in the world in response to his mother’s suicide attempt. Time Out’s four-star review describes it as ‘true fringe classic’.
Emma Sidi: ‘Emma Sidi Is Sue Gray’
‘Starstruck’ and ‘Taskmaster’ star Emma Sidi pays hilarious homage to Sue Gray (yes thay Sue Gray, of Partygate fame). Hailed as a ‘ludicrous triumph’ by Time Out’s theatre critic, the show sees Sidi makes up a ridiculous back-story for the politicians and gives insights into characters, including Rishi Sunak the office prankster and a Kier Starmer ‘dripping with rizz’.
John Tothill: ‘Thank God This Lasts Forever’
This ‘brilliantly entertaining’ show from ex-primary school teacher John Tothill presents its audience with a series of wild anecdotes, from dealing with a mouse infestation to taking part in a clinical trial for malaria.
Lorna Rose Treen: ‘Skin Pigeon’
When it showed at last year’s Fringe, Time Out called Skin Pigeon a ‘hysterically weird character comedy’ and ‘inventive as hell’. It won Dave’s Best Joke of the Fringe 2023 and was the Telegraph’s number one show to see. Now, it’s back for another run, playing at the Pleasance Dome until Monday, August 12.
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