Theatre
Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews: Refuse / Terry's / SugarSaturday, 23 August 2025
Refuse, Assembly George Square Studios ★★★★Maks works as a bin man in a small Ukrainian town. His little son might get picked on at school and told he’s smelly because of his dad’s occupation, but Maks is content with his lot, his soulmate of a wife... Read more... |
Faustus in Africa!, Edinburgh International Festival 2025 review - deeply flawedFriday, 22 August 2025
What new light can the age-old legend of Faust selling his soul to the devil shed on colonialism in Africa, slavery, the rape and destruction of the natural world, the exploitation and murder of the continent’s people? It’s a question you may well... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews: Imprints / CourierThursday, 21 August 2025
Imprints, Summerhall ★★★★Keep your wits about you for this appropriately tricksy, sometimes elusive but beautifully put together show from young company the Palimpsest Project. For a work that’s ultimately about memory, Imprints is just as... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews: The Ode Islands / Delusions and Grandeur / Shame ShowWednesday, 20 August 2025
The Ode Islands, Pleasance at EICC ★★★★ I might be going out on a limb here, but you’re unlikely to encounter anything quite like The Ode Islands elsewhere on the Fringe – perhaps anywhere, to be honest. That’s both in terms of form and content... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews: Ordinary Decent Criminal / InsidersSaturday, 16 August 2025
Ordinary Decent Criminal, Summerhall ★★★★★ Frankie learnt a thing or two about the police and how they work from his years as an activist. Fighting for crucial political causes, however, never seemed at odds with a sideline in drug-dealing –... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews: Kinder / Shunga Alert / Clean Your Plate!Friday, 15 August 2025
Kinder, Underbelly, Cowgate ★★★ Drag artist Goody Prostate (yes, I know) receives a call from a local library. Garbed in lederhosen and sporting a preposterous German accent, she was expecting a brutal, no-prisoners-taking drag roast battle.... Read more... |
The Two Gentlemen of Verona, RSC, Stratford review - not quite the intended gateway drug to ShakespeareThursday, 14 August 2025
I have two guilty secrets about the theatre – okay, two I’m prepared to own up to right here, right now. I quite enjoy some jukebox musicals and I often prefer schools-oriented, pared back, slightly simplified Shakespeare to the full-scale Folio... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews: The Horse of Jenin / NowhereThursday, 14 August 2025
The Horse of Jenin, Pleasance Dome ★★★★★ Alaa Shehada bounds onto the stage, all muscular energy and swaggering self-confidence, for what’s effectively a cross between stand-up and solo theatre. Is it wrong to joke about Palestine? Definitely... Read more... |
Edinburgh Fringe 2025 reviews: The Fit Prince / UndersignedWednesday, 13 August 2025
The Fit Prince (who gets switched on the square in the frosty castle the night before (insert public holiday here)), Pleasance Courtyard ★★★★They’ve created an affectionate but merciless send-up of Princess Di; they’ve lampooned Gwyneth Paltrow, her... Read more... |
Tom at the Farm, Edinburgh Fringe 2025 review - desire and disgustMonday, 11 August 2025
As shockingly beautiful as it is horrifyingly brutal, actor Armando Babaioff’s deeply Brazilian adaptation of thriller Tom at the Farm leaves a rancid taste in the mouth and harrowing images seared on the retina. It’s a show to shock and provoke,... Read more... |
Works and Days, Edinburgh International Festival 2025 review - jaw-dropping theatrical ambitionSunday, 10 August 2025
With the sheer density of theatrical creations jostling for attention across Edinburgh’s festivals, there’s no shortage of arresting stagings, innovative visuals and powerful, memorable design. (Just take Cena Brasil Internacional’s shocking Tom at... Read more... |
Every Brilliant Thing, @sohoplace review - return of the comedy about suicide that lifts the spiritsSaturday, 09 August 2025
The Fringe piece Duncan Macmillan devised with Jonny Donahoe in 2014 has since been round the world and back, finally landing in the West End. It feels as freshly minted as ever.The premise is simple: a performer takes an audience through the story... Read more... |
