Until Next Year!
Among the Pigeons
Hilarious improvised comedy from TBC Improv, this time in the form of one wonderfully rambling hour-long sketch based (loosely) on the life experiences of an audience member. The format made for a great change of pace from the usual short sketches and mini-games, allowing the performers to really dig into the depths of the daftness.
If you like improv, make sure you catch this show - and if you think you don’t, go anyway and be proved wrong!
★ ★ ★ ★
Carrie: The Musical
As both a fan of the original Stephen King novel and the 1976 movie, I was keen to experience this musical adaptation. Unfortunately, my seat meant I was unable to see much of the show, and for that reason I don’t feel I can give a balanced account or a fair rating.
That said, from what I could see and hear, this seemed to be a competent and well-produced staging of the material, and it certainly seemed like a show that most fans of musical theatre would enjoy.
The Last Girl There
The Last Girl There is an engaging piece of theatre based around an intriguing murder-mystery premise soaked in sisterhood, loyalty and buried resentments.
The script is well written and tightly constructed, meaning that although the eventual reveal is perhaps somewhat unsatisfying, the journey there remains enjoyable and worthwhile.
★ ★ ★ .5
Unexplained Live
I've been a listener of the Unexplained podcast for a while now, so I was excited to see how its fantastically unsettling, too-spooky-to-fall-asleep-to atmosphere would translate to the stage.
Richard MacLean Smith's storytelling is simple but hugely effective, and he makes clever use of lighting, sound and a few small props to build mood and tension without ever feeling overdone. Whether you’re already a fan of the podcast or coming to it completely fresh, this is a great example of classic storytelling done well: no unnecessary distraction, no irony, no forced humour. Just a well-told, eerie tale, delivered with real craft.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Operation Market Garden
Operation Market Garden is a quietly powerful piece of theatre, drawn from the wartime diary of Welsh paratrooper Neville Neads, who took part in the Arnhem drop during Operation Market Garden in 1944.
A thoughtful, sensitive production that trusts its material rather than hammering home its themes, showing a mature restraint that lets the story’s weight speak for itself.
★ ★ ★ ★
Material Girl: Madonna The Icon
Just as the real Ms Ciccone is enjoying a late-career renaissance with Confessions II, there couldn’t be a better time to celebrate her startling contribution to and impact on pop music. While this is not a 1:1 tribute act, what you get instead is a high-energy, glorious rip through an hour of Madonna hits, backed by a live band and, for the most part, given a fabulously rock & roll treatment.
Maia Elsey is stunning throughout, bringing joyful energy, top-notch vocals and a splash of sexy to this fantastically fun celebration of the Queen of Pop. If you are a fan, or just like great live music, you should not miss this.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
The Yellow Wallpaper
This darkly atmospheric dance thriller takes Charlotte Perkins Gilman's 1892 story and turns its interior horror inside out through movement. The unnamed narrator, confined to a room after the birth of her baby and diagnosed with a “hysterical tendency”, becomes a study in claustrophobia. The piece builds a nightmarish atmosphere, switching between exhaustion, delirium and hysterical ecstasy as her grip on reality slips. Hauntingly staged, sharply danced, and quietly furious underneath: highly recommended.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
The Body I Left in Susquehanna National Forest
An enjoyable, unsettling piece of dark comedy springing from a deceptively simple setup. Two newlyweds are driving late at night on the way to their honeymoon when they hit a deer. Only, it’s not a deer. To say much more would spoil the surprises, but there were several for me - both in how the plot develops and in how the tone shifts throughout.
The comedy manages for the most part not to undercut the tension, but the show remains funny enough to enjoy in the moment and dark enough to think about on the walk home.
★ ★ ★ ★
Parking Spot: The Musical!
Parking Spot: The Musical! takes a wonderfully petty premise - five Jersey City neighbours scheming over one open parking space - and mines it for a lot of laughs.
Some of the more American-centric gags didn’t land with the Scottish/international audience, but the broader threads (marriage, friendship, the insufferability of trying to park in a modern city) are things most can relate to, and this is a fun little show filled with quirky characters, catchy original music and dayglo road-safe fabrics.
★ ★ ★ .5
TWELVE: Going The Distance
New York choreographer Marisa F Ballaro makes a strong Edinburgh debut with TWELVE: Going The Distance, staged inside a boxing gym and following five women through twelve rounds of shifting rivalry and alliance. Confident, character-driven dance-theatre performed with real commitment by its cast - a promising first Fringe outing worth catching if you can.
★ ★ ★ ★
Week One Roundup
A whistle-stop summary of my week-one reviews for the 2026 Edinburgh Fringe
Elba
Following his abdication in 1814, Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to the small Mediterranean island of Elba, where he was made sovereign. This dynamic and engaging two-hander follows the former general and André Pons de l'Hérault, a French revolutionary turned administrator, living on Elba during these months.
Never boring, Elba races through its runtime, taking what could be a dry or uninviting subject matter and making it hugely entertaining while still remaining thoughtful and smart.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
★ ★ ★ ★ .5
Film Noir Frog
A very silly show, with a very silly premise, Film Noir Frog is an entertaining, short, sharp blast of toad-ally ridiculous fun. If I said I was entirely able to follow the plot I would be lying, all I know is that it had a lot of laughs and somehow Dance Dance Revolution saved the day.
★ ★ ★ .5
Improv Comedy with Box of Frogs
Hilarious non-stop improv from the Birmingham-based Frogs incorporating sketches, mini games and songs. If you are looking for a solid hour of silliness and laughter this is the show for you!
★ ★ ★ ★
exit strategy's How to Win a Gameshow
Part bleakly dystopian satire, part interactive improv comedy, any description I give of How to Win a Gameshow will fail to do it justice. There's dancing, there's singing, there's a very tantalising cash prize..
I'm loath to say much more for fear of spoiling it, but I can't recommend this show enough. Go for a shot at the money; stay for the hope of ever leaving.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Macbeth: Blood and Bluegrass
The ‘Scottish Play’ is a bit like Imagine - endlessly covered and often wildly reinterpreted. I might have said I never needed to see another; however, I love good music and I'm a sucker for a fresh take (hey, I once saw Dannii Minogue play Lady Macbeth at the Fringe and it wasn't half bad), so I couldn't resist the premise of a bluegrass reworking of the famously cursed tragedy.
An interesting spin on one of the most famous plays in history - If you fancy some cracking live music with a side of Shakespeare, you should certainly give it a go.
★ ★ ★ .5
Mark Vigeant: OUT THERE
I loved Mark’s previous Fringe outing The Best Man Show so much I saw it two years in a row, so I had high hopes for his latest expedition into the more rugged subject matter of outdoor adventuring. I’m glad to say I may have left the theatre a little soggy, but in no way disappointed.
If you like your comedy on the verge of a breakdown, this is one for you - just make sure you pick a big fern on the way in, you’ll thank me later.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Dear Michelle Kwan
As a former figure skater and survivor of Skate Camp, I was naturally drawn to the subject matter but I was not prepared for the bonkers, bedazzled spectacle that was about to unfold. If the Judy Blume-sounding title gives the impression of something sweet and reflective, this is in fact a wonderfully weird little show with a darkly comedic tone. Dear Michelle Kwan balances its girlish silliness with the spiralling horror hilariously and to great effect. Dear Edinburgh Fringe audiences, please go and see this!
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
★ ★ ★ ★ .5
I Made You A Mixtape
I Made You A Mixtape is an absolute joy from start to finish. There are glowsticks, there is beer pong, there is audience participation, and above all there is fantastic, exuberant dancing. There are a few downbeat moments but the overall feeling is one of pure exhilaration and the kind of glorious, effervescent girl-bonding that, if we are lucky, lives on in our own mental mixtapes too.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Sweaty Clowns
What's not to love about a pair of miserable clowns spiralling into failure, dragging the whole of Boogie Woogie Entertainments towards bankruptcy with them? Less of a sad trombone, however, and more of a slapstick farce, the plot of Sweaty Clowns hinges on a potentially career-saving gig delivering a posho party to eighty rich-kid brats as the group hurtle towards the inevitable, proverbial slow-moving clown-car crash when everything possible begins to go wrong.
★ ★ ★ .5