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MickeyJoTheatre
What to see at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival | Mickey-Jo's 2025 recommendations for plays and musical theatre
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Christian Dropo
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Miki Jo
Not that I've ever been accused of being at all overdramatic, but it's about 75 degrees Celsius in the UK right now and so I am ungodly warm and sitting here right now with my feet in a bowl of ice water just to be able to get through the next 40 something minutes of filming. But what choice do I have? You have all been waiting patiently for this video. And here it is. Oh my God. Hey, welcome back to my theatre themed YouTube channel. My name is Miki Jo and I am obsessed with all things them theatre. And this is the one that many of you have been waiting for, have been asking me about, have been commenting, have been emailing me. Finally, July is here, which means August is next month. For those of you familiar with the calendar and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, 2025 is not too far away. And today, finally, I am going to be sharing with you my thoughts, my feelings, my inclinations, if you will, about what you should see at this year's Fringe. If you don't know, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe is one of the world's biggest, if not the world's biggest, international fringe festival. And though it may predominantly be associated with comedy, there is also a lot of brilliant theatre and there are a lot of brilliant theatrical productions that started their life in the UK at the Edinburgh Fringe, including but not limited to the global phenomenon that is six the Musical. But for a theatre fan making the theatrical pilgrimage to Edinburgh in the summer, it can be a little bit overwhelming because there are and I'M not joking about this. Thousands of shows to choose from. You can go and see some of your favourite comedians, you can go and see some exciting new musicals, or you can go and see student and community theatre product of musicals that you already love that you don't necessarily get a chance to see performed in London or wherever you live in the UK or elsewhere around the world. If you're traveling from overseas to the Edinburgh Fringe and so your choices about what you want to go and see at the Fringe can be very personal and I would encourage everyone to take a look at your convenience through this year's Festival Fringe brochure which I'm holding right now. There are several distribution points where you can receive one. Check out the fringe website edfringe.com to find out where you can pick up your free copy to let you know what is going to be playing at the Fringe Fringe in the month of August. But for those of you who appreciate what little insight and guidance I am able to share with you, that is what this video is going to be. A couple of these are going to be shows that I've seen before and can really vouch for and have previously reviewed and are returning to the Edinburgh Fringe. But for the most part it's going to be stuff that I am excited about and I plan to share with you why I'm going off of, you know, the reputations of venues and producers and theater makers and performers and in some instances little bits of material or previous shows by those companies that I have seen, all of which essentially just amounts to reputation. Combine that with an interesting title, an interesting concept and the themes of a piece and that's where it gets a little bit more subjective and I'm going to be more intrigued by stuff that speaks to me personally. But since we're here and the ice around my feet is beginning to melt, let's just dive in and take a look through this year's Fringe brochure at all of the shows that I'm particularly intrigued by. This is a great time to remind you to hit the subscribe button right here on my theatre themed YouTube channel and turn on notifications. Especially so that in a few weeks when I am covering the Edinburgh Fringe and I plan to bring more coverage to YouTube this year than perhaps ever before. Then you are going to get notifications about all of the videos that I share and you'll be able to stay up to date with everything that's happening at the Fringe. Now I tend to prioritize new work when it comes to the Edinburgh Fringe, which is why I don't necessarily take the opportunity to go and see the full musicals that are produced there, usually by amateur companies or schools groups. But already on the first page here we have productions of Annie, of Avenue Q, of Bear, of 13 of the 25th annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, not shows you get the chance to see very often, or at all, really, in the uk. There's also Chicago Teen Edition and a production of Come From Away from Captivate Theatre. Now here are a couple that I've picked out. Daddy, Tomorrow Will I be a man. This is at the Space at Nidri street and this is a solo show, A true life solo show. James is on the verge of becoming the world's best squash player. Aren't we all, in our own ways, when a chance meeting leads to an agonizing dilemma? Daddy is an ode to beautiful mothers sporting ambition and fatherhood. If that speaks to you, if that intrigues you, you can check it out at the Space at Nidri Street. It's playing either at 7:25 or 5:25pm, depending on which day you go and see it. Here is another one. Dear America from the University of Utah Youth Theatre. I saw a show with similar themes a couple of years ago called Americana, and I am still thinking about it. And that was a show devised by an American college group in association, I think, with a Scottish university. I think it was like a collaborative educational project. It was so good. So Dear America is a heartfelt original musical exploring the hopes, fears and frustrations of a generation coming of age in a divided world. With humor and honesty, students ask questions about the future they're inheriting and the country they call home. And that's also at the Space at Nidri street, only playing between August 7th and 10th at 9:30. What else do we have? We have Escape Room, the Musical. The title intrigued me about this one. If you like escape rooms and musical theatre, then chances are you're in the middle of a Venn diagram that they hope to appeal to. That's just the tonic at the caves at 10 past 10 at night. And then across the page from that we have Footballers the Musical from Wild Park Entertainment and Big Broad Productions. This is a show that has been touted for a few years now. There was a little bit of a preview of this, I believe, at Musicalcon a few years ago, but Dame Arlene Phillips is attached to this and they have some exciting names in the cast as well, including Lisa Tully from the West End production of why Am I so Single? This is going to be at the Assembly Rooms. It is of course based on the iconic TV series. I anticipate it being campy and silly, but hopefully a lot of fun. It's an hour and 20 minutes. It's at 6:35 in the evenings. Bear in mind, that's the Assembly Rooms, I believe on George street rather than in George Square, which sound like they're close together and they are absolutely not. That is some of the most rogue naming in the entirety of the Edinburgh Fringe. Those Assembly Rooms are a new town. Most of the Fringe venues that I tend to visit are an old town. There is a hill in between them and a significant walk. I'm warning you now. What else do we have here? Okay, this is a really great double page spread. The H's and the J's are where it's at this year. Hot Mess by Jack Godfrey, a name you may have heard me mentioning before. This is my number one most anticipated musical. Not just my most anticipated musical, my most anticipated show of the entire Edinburgh Fringe because I think Jack Godfrey is the most exciting new musical theatre composer globally right now. I just recently traveled to Chicago to go and see the North American production of 42 balloons. That's another of his shows. If you saw or heard anything from the musical Babies, that is another of his shows that he co wrote with the brilliant Martha Guillen. Hot Mess is another one that has been developing a alongside those he's had these three productions all sort of coming to fruition at the same time. Very exciting time to be Jack Godfrey. And I believe it's about the relationship between humanity and the earth and climate change as personified via a real relationship between two performers. Played at the Edinburgh Fringe this year by Tobias Turley and Danielle Steers. Hugely accomplished West End performers. Tobias, of course of Mamma Mia. And of Heathers and more recently of White Rose. Danielle Steers of course of six Bat out of Hell just for one day. Very exciting casting. I may have to go and see this twice because I am so excited. That's going to be at the Pleasants Courtyard. I do think it's going to sell out. I would encourage you to get your tickets. It's doing previews at the Birmingham Hippodrome which have almost already sold out. But you can find it at the Pleasants Courtyard in Pleasants 2 at 10 past 3 in the afternoon. I am very excited. And right below that we also have how to win against history. Francesca Moody is a co producer on this. She is one of the biggest names among producers at the Edinburgh Fringe as the producer. Producer of Fleabag and also of Baby Reindeer. She has a slate of shows going to the festival this year just like she did last year. This one's going to be at Underbelly George Square. It's a historical musical comedy and I believe it's played at the Fringe before. It says here the solid gold diamante studded hit of the Edinburgh Fringe is back, bigger and more sparkly than ever, which sounds very exciting. It's also co produced by Bristol Old Vic and Underbelly and I think it's doing a pre Fringe run at Bristol Old Vic. That one's going to be performed. It's a 90 minute show at 7:15pm now we have many others here as well. I Was a Teenage She Devil. This one has interesting producers behind it. Auspicious producers. Let me tell you a little bit more about the concept. Pushed over the edge by the popular kids at school. Four eyed wallflower Nancy Miller cries to the heavens for help. We've all been there. But it's Satan who answers her call. If I had a nickel and transforms her into a vengeful sex bomb rocker. And I'm getting a lot of the 80s vibes from it as well. This is going to be at the space at Nidri street and throughout the month. It's going to be playing at 10:30 at night. Why not? We also have Jack with three exclamation points. This is produced by Blair Russell Productions, which is a producer I have come to really trust over the last few years. Joe Kennedy's pulling the strings, Jackie's sister is pulling away and JFK is pulling anything that moves. This is about Jackie Kennedy. Jackie Onassis. Follow Jackie as she navigates the sex, drugs and coercive control that dominate life at the White House in this new musical. So we have some of the team from Pop Off Michelangelo involved with this. If that is a show that you previously saw and enjoyed and just like that one, this is going to be at Gilded balloon Patahoose at 6:30. There are also, I should let you know, a couple of other musicals that have been at the Fringe over the past few years. Like I Wish My Life Were like a musical. If you want something really stagey and like poking at all of the fun tropes of musical theatre and performing on stage and fandom, then that's going to be a great show for you. It's like a cute cabaret show that I think everyone only really needs to see the wants. Also the Jaffa Cake musical. If you Want to find out if they can extend the joke of whether or not a Jaffa Cake is a cake or a biscuit for an fringe show, then go and check it out for yourselves. I thought it was a little bit limited, but a lot of other people enjoyed it a lot more than I did. Here's one that got me on the title and then subsequently on the description. Lady Macbeth played wing defence. This is from Crash Theatre Company in the House of Oz. It's going to be at the assembly George Square Studios. This multi award winning Australian musical. I'm already interested. I love Australian musical theatre. Serves hot sporty girl power like never before. Count me in. Step onto the netball court where this contemporary turmoil entangles the timeless allure of Shakespearean drama with electro pop dance music. And I have seen all male Romeo and Juliet set amidst a school rugby team before, so it feels only fitting for the sake of balance that I go see all female Macbeth in a girl's netball team. That sounds fun. Here's why I'm cautiously intrigued. Intrigued by Level up from Goldspun Media. This is also going to be a Gilded Balloon Patahus, a fast paced musical comedy about three players who try to play life like a game. I like the show artwork. Sometimes that does win me over. I will say unrelated to this show, I'm seeing a troubling amount of AI generated artwork this year and I know all of these shows or most of these shows are coming together on a shoestring budget and for the most part they don't have the funds or the capacity to hire a graphic designer anyway. And so if you're seeing artwork, it's artwork that they've come up with themselves amongst the production company. So it's not that someone isn't being hired, but still I just, perhaps that's me being old fashioned and already out of date. It just annoys me. We also have Little Squirt at Gilded Balloon at Appleton Tower, which I believe is an Australian performer. One man musical comedy, multi award winning. It's about sperm donation with all original songs. Musical comedian Darby James returns with his hilarious heartfelt journey through the clinical procreation process with musings on identity and parenthood. I saw a different sperm donation musical last year. Aaron went to go and see this one while I was seeing something else and he really raved about it. So that is a recommendation from Mr. Aaron James. Oh, we also have Midnight at the palace. This from Sing Out Louise Productions and I trust them very much. This is LGBTQ musical theatre. This is 9:30 at night. And it describes itself as rebellious and hilarious, countercultural. A night of raucous drag and radical joy. I know that that sou like fun. I hope that you think so as well. That is also going to be at Gilded Balloon Patahoose. Listen, Gilded Balloon, the place to be this year. I am intrigued about Ms. Brexit. Once again I was taken in by a title extravagant musical satire about young migrants surviving in a country that no longer welcomes them. Meet real people facing the consequences of Brexit and how it's affected their future. That's at Underbelly Bristoe Square. Here is what I am desperately trying to fit into my schedule. I don't know if I'm going to have the chance to. So I would really like it if other people go and see it on my behalf. This is Much Ado about Pirates from Westcliffe Boys Theatre. Gilbert and Sullivan meets Shakespeare in this song, dance play, mash up performed by National School Theatre award winners. They've got great reviews for their previous production of Les Miserables. This is going to be at the space at Nidri Street. I think it sounds exciting. I love Much Ado About Nothing. I also love Pirates. Who among us doesn't? Is this. Can I turn this into a fan? Is this doing anything? Oh, okay. What section is that? What's purple? That's really okay. The comedy section is really, really doing a lot to create air around my face right now. Here is a very exciting one. Nerds produced by Paul Taylor Mills who occasionally brings work to the Edinburgh fringe. This is going to be at Underbelly Bristow Square in the cow barn. You may remember the history of Nerds. I believe there is a Wait in the Wings documentary in the pipeline at some point. But this was a Broadway misfire. This was getting ready to open on Broadway and then it didn't happen. Things fell through. I don't know the whole story. So you're gonna have to wait for that Wait in the Wings document, friends, here on YouTube. But I did get to see a workshop presentation of it, a public workshop at the first ever MT Fest at the other palace years ago. I think I reviewed it, I think I made a video review and it's one of the earliest video reviews I believe I ever made for YouTube, like with no microphone whatsoever, sitting on the sofa in my room in my parents old house. Probably a very cringy review but I thought the show had a lot of promise. There was one number where and it's all about Steve Jobs and Bill Gates sort of riffing on the notion of an epic rap battle of history and sort of satirizing their early careers and rivalry. But there's one song where their respective love interests sing a song called who Wrote this Crazy Code of Love? And there's belting in binary. I've never forgotten that. I'm very excited to see this. It was meant to get developed further. It's been a long time since that MT Fest production. We've been waiting a long time for nerds. Finally we're going to get to see a full production of it. I'm very excited. What else have we got here? The Queen is Mad. This is another show that I have been aware of during its development. Joanna has always spoken her mind. When she unexpectedly becomes Queen, her family conspires to silence her. 6 the musical meets Sondheim in this dark saga about Catherine of Aragon's sister, which sounds very exciting. And since six the Musical we've had a lot of feminist re examinations of history. I'm all for it. That's going to be at Zoo Southside at 4.15pm we also have Potty the Plant. I'm wearing their merchandise right now. I love these gu. This is from Little Big Stack. Gilded Balloon at Appleton Tower is where you can find Potty this year. It's very Little Shop of Horrors esque if possible. Even more subversive. Combine that with the madness of a hospital based comedy like Scrubs and you get Potty the Plant with a lot of brilliant puppetry and whimsy as well. It's not the most remarkably sophisticated, intelligent piece in the world, but it's perfect for silly musical comedy at the Edinburgh Fringe. I've seen this before. I love Potty the Plant. You may see a Mickey Joe Theatre 5 star review on their poster. Go and check it out if that's what you're looking for. Now there's something here called the Pink List that intrigued me as a piece of LGBTQ plus new writing. This is from Fabulate Productions. You may have seen a previous production of theirs at the fringe. Set in 1957, a gay concentration camp survivor stands trial in post war West Germany. Interesting, right from the creator of Fabulous 1933. That's the previous show which got a five star review from broadwaybaby.com this haunting one person musical explores the untold stories of queer men erased by history. Also Gilded Balloon Pat a Hoose. Now here is one that was written as if only for me. The Real Housewives of the Zombie Apocalypse from the Clydebilt Theatre company. You may or may not know that the whole Real Housewives franchise is an unashamed guilty pleasure of mine. The dead have risen. But that won't stop our 7 housewives from hashing out their drama in the most high body count reunion episode yet. Oh, my gosh, this sounds great. And I don't think I can fit it into my schedule. It's going to be a at Greenside at Riddle's Court. I initially thought the Housewives were zombies. Perhaps by the end they are. Perhaps we need to go and find out. What else do we have? Sense, a new musical about dementia. Just from a writing perspective, this really intrigued me. This is a musical journey through time and memory, following a family as they face their grandpa's Alzheimer's. With original songs and a powerful cast, Sense honors life and those we never want to forget. And that's being presented by Plotfish in collaboration with the Belgian Alzheimer's League. That's at the Space Triplex. And it's either at 10:45, 11:05 or 10:50 in the evening, depending on when you see it during the month. Oh, we have the uncrackable case. This is from Front Room Productions and Lawrence Batley Theatre. This seemed fun. Humpty Dumpty is dead. Was it murder, suicide or simply a fall? Tabloid media conspiracy theorists and familiar fairy tale faces combine in this hilarious musical that'll have you hooked from the first note. That's going to be at the Pleasants Courtyard. I'm intrigued. We also have another Van Gogh musical. I say another because there are many of them. People love to write a Dorian Gray musical or a Vincent Van Gogh musical. In fact, Beneath Vagabond Skies, the Van Gogh musical is Vincent his quest to love and be loved. And it's only by chance that those two are right next to each other because they do have different titles. Vagabond Skies seems the slightly more interesting to me of the two. Gilded Balloon at the museum is where you will find that gut wrenching and uplifting in equal measure. This extraordinary must see production, I mean, they've said that about themselves. Depicts Vincent's later years. Emotive songs and vivid artwork portray resilience despite a life consumed by mental turmoil. I don't know if I need to see another Van Gogh musical, but that's for you to decide for yourselves. Then there is World's Greatest Lover. This one I am intrigued about because of its director and choreographer. That is Joshua Bagasse, the choreographer of Smash, both on TV and recently on Broadway. It's going to Be at Pleasance Courtyard. The plot is legendary. Lotharios flirt and fight as they battle through song for the title of World's Greatest Lover. I think it's Six for Boys. I think it sicks with a lot of historical romantic male lead characters like Romeo and Casanova and I assume it's like vaguely boy bandy and they're trying to determine who among them is the world's greatest lover by all performing songs about their lives and their stories. I think it's. I think it's Six for Boys. Maybe there's going to be a fun gay twist. Who knows? Is that the end of the musicals? That's the end of the musicals. We're into spoken word and. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I am just going to skip on past to the theatre up. Let's try and power through this. We have a lot to get through. Everybody. I hope you're taking notes. Three Chickens Confront Existence. That is the name of a play. I'm pretty sure that was around last year. I remember seeing this name before. Three factory farm chickens attempt to find peace of mind and a greater sense of purpose by engaging in a series of debates, games and emotional experiments while nervously awaiting their imminence Trip to the Broiler. It feels like a contemporary absurd take on Beckett. Something sort of Waiting for Godot esque. It's going to be an underbelly cowgate at 5:20 in the late afternoon early evening if that's something you're looking for. I saw a great sort of clowning show, lots of physical theater about two seals escaping from a circus once. That has stayed with me. Oh, here's a thorough recommendation from me because I've seen it before. 300 paintings by Sam Kisajuki. This was brilliant at last year's Edinburgh Fringe. A sort of manic combination of PowerPoint presentation, true story and performance art that then went to Off Broadway and I think it was nominated for a Drama Desk Award. I really enjoyed this. It's very different. It's sort of the intersection of theatre, comedy and visual art. But it brings audiences on a roller coaster ride through how Sam Kizidukian quit comedy and became a painter, generating 300 large scale paintings over a six month manic episode. And that is very much the vibe of the thing. But it's also very funny and minimally intense. That's going to once again be at Summerhall at 12:05 in the afternoon, which is still very early for a show like that. Now there's two productions of 1984. The one by Boxtail, Super Pleasant's Courtyard is the one that I am intrigued about because this is a company known for their ingenuity and slick storytelling. And their unique puppetry becomes a striking metaphor for Orwell's chilling vision of power and control. It's been described as a wonder to see and remarkable. This is going to be at 11:25 in the morning, like I said, at Pleasance Courtyard. Now I saw a great play a couple of years ago called Bacon. I think that was the best thing I saw that year at the Edinburgh Fringe. This feels thematically a little similar. This is called an adequate abridgment of boarding school life as a homo. That's from Choir Boys Productions. This one might be a little bit more comedic than Bacon was, which was very intense. It's going to be at Underbelly Bristow Square. Johnny doesn't fit in at boarding school. He daydreams of being a gay tragedy. But even though that fails, enter Harry. To save time, Johnny and Harry shag constantly. And that's the end of the description. So maybe it's more Heartstopper than Bacon. Who knows? There's also Ether. This is currently breaking my heart because I'm desperately trying to fit it into the schedule. But 7:15 is another pinch point in my current schedule. This is from Theatre Goose. This is at Summerhall and in general, if you're looking for some of the most exciting pieces of provocative theatrical art, then you will find those at Summerhall more risk taking and bold boundary pushing and just compellingly thoughtful. If you want something a little bit more established, if you want something that you know happens to be a Tony Award winning play at one point in its life or has won awards as a piece of Irish theatre, you will find more prestigious and like I said, just established pieces like that at Traverse Theatre. And you'll find more stuff in sort of comedy adjacent and sometimes musical adjacent realm at the likes of the Pleasants Courtyard or at Underbelly or Assembly. So I do tend to gravitate between those venues. But like I said, a lot of exciting stuff at Gilded Balloon this year as well. But each then I'm gonna read you the description and you'll hear why this spoke to me. A PhD student hunting dark matter, a disillusioned illusionist. Try saying that three times fast. A medium with a secret and a murdered mathematician star in the greatest unsolved mystery of the universe. A show about the unknown and our insatiable desire to define it. Oh, I wish that I could go and See that show and I don't know if I can possibly afford to miss it. I might have to reorganize my schedule schedule for the 27th time to try and fit in aether at SummerHall. That's at 7:15. Like everything else this year then you have alone. There's a lot of five star reviews on the poster which had me intrigued, including one from westendbestfriend.co.uk this is a heart racing multi award winning thriller about two female astronauts. There are multiple shows this year, I will say, about two female astronauts on their failing spacecraft. Oh, carrying Earth's last hope. That's not great. This intense, captivating, heartfelt show asks who will save our hope? And that's going to be an assembly George Square in the box, which if I'm not mistaken is literally a shipping container if you want that kind of theatrical experience at one o' clock in the afternoon for the duration of the festival. Now there are some Fringe first award winning theatre makers, Chloe and Natasha, in fact consecutive Fringe first award winning theatre makers that was in 2022, 2023 and 2024 who are bringing three shows, I believe those specific three shows shows to the fringe this year. One of those is and then the Rodeo Burned down, an absurdist western send up of the American Dream. They also have shows, a letter to Lyndon B. Johnson or God, whoever finds this first. And what if they ate the baby? I think is the other one. But Chloe and Natasha, Chloe spelt with an X rather than a C, definitely look them up. I hear great things even though I haven't yet seen any of their shows. I know. Oh, this is a work in progress. This is by Hannah Maxwell. This is called Baby Flea, Reindeer Bag Tag and obviously we already know what that's sending up. This is going to be in Summerhall in the second half of the month. I won't be there. But it says Maxwell kicks over the bucket of ideas. She can't yet bring herself to make a show about interrogating the risk and cynicism in telling one's own story on stage. And I do like to see a couple of things every year that really speak to the concept of putting together theater and what that asks of individuals. I like to see metatheatrical work, work at the end of a fringe that really talks about, you know, what we're doing there. What else have we got here? Cecilia Gentiles, Red Ink. This is co produced by Breaking the Binary Theater and Elliot Page for Pageboy Productions and I believe Sarah Ramirez also A co producer on this as well. This is an autobiographical play from Cecilia Gentili. It's about the young trans female experience. Follow a young trans girl as she searches for faith while trans in rural Argentina. God won't give up on Cecilia Gentili. Unfortunately, neither will the devil. That's going to be at Underbelly Bristow Square at 2:30 in the afternoon. If you want to go and support some trans theater and some trans theatre makers, then in the political realm, we have Charlottesville. Full title Charlottesville, the play that Trump does not want you to see. And in fact, I can't imagine there are many plays at the Edinburgh Fringe Trump actively wants you to see. But this one is direct from Washington D.C. where of course, everything is currently going down with the Kennedy Center. Priyanka Shetty's gripping docudrama about the 2017 Unite, the right Rank rally and the rise of white supremacy in America. This feels essential and I am particularly excited about this one that's going to be at pleasance courtyard at 12:20 in the afternoon. And the beauty of the Edinburgh Fringe is, you know, it's a very turbulent time in the world at the moment, politically, socially, with everything that is going on. And you might not want to spend an entire evening going to see a West End or a Broadway play or a piece of theatre. Wherever you are in the world where that's going to be, your entire day is going and spending time, time listening to, you know, conversation about what's happening right now politically. Perhaps that is what you like to do and you think that that's really essential. But there's a lot of people who prefer theatre as escapism. The great thing about the Edinburgh Fringe is you can follow that up with something completely different and insincere and charming and funny. You could go to a kid's puppet show beforehand and then go to this striking political piece and, you know, it's like a tasting menu and everything is a palate cleanser to everything else. What have we got here? Club Neverland, but without any of the vowels in the word Neverland. So like Club Neverland. Inexplicably, not in the musical theater section, but there are a lot of shows that decide to do that every year. Now, this is immersive. This is going to be an assembly checkpoint. And I have seen.
- [28:09]
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Miki Jo
Immersive musical theatre and like club vibes done brilliantly before the end of A Fringe Thinking of you Oscar at the Crown Currently playing in London. Go check it out near Tottenham Court Road Station if you haven't already. London theatre people. I have also seen slightly tragic versions Thinking of you, I'm so sorry to say it Was it called Club Cleopatra? No, that wasn't the name. Maybe it's for the best that I've entirely forgotten the name of that show, but this one is written by some interesting people. Specifically one of the most interesting theatre makers working right now, Jack Holden, who was the brilliant mind behind the shows Cruise and Kenrecks. Now he has written the book, but not the songs because it's not an original score. This utilizes 2000's anthems from Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake and more. Wendy and Peter reunite for an unforgettable night of nostalgia, adventure and staying forever young. Now we have consumed this is a Payne's Plough production. Payne's Plough often occupy a tent space outside the back of Summer hall, the Roundabout tent, and I usually spend an entire day in there every year, seeing every single production there that is not going to be making an appearance this year, sadly. But they do have this at the Traverse Theatre. Four generations of Northern Irish women reunited. A house full of hungry ghosts and skeletons in the closet. A tale of twisted family dynamics and national boundaries. Winner of the Women's Prize for playwriting 2022. Now everything at Traverse Theatre is going to prove perhaps a little difficult to schedul because the timings change every single day. I like to try and go to Traverse during the earliest slots because there's not a lot of other theatre happening at the Edinburgh Fringe at 10am or 10.30am So I tend to see whatever the earliest show is that day every day of my time in Edinburgh. But you're Going to want to check out the Traverse Theatre website for the best overview of when to see the plays there. And honestly, almost everything at the Traverse Theatre is usually worth seeing. There's a lot of really great stuff, even if I haven't mentioned it in this particular roundup. We have the Crawl. This one got me from the concept, I'll be honest. In this explosive comedy, two swimmers go head to head in the race of a lifetime on a stage with no water. Featuring physical storytelling and larger than life characters, the Crawl dives into a world of absurd competition and boundless imagination. That's going to be at Pleasant Dome. I think the concept sounds funny, so check that one out if you agree. We have Dear Annie, I hate you. This one has been hailed as masterly by the Stage newspaper. The 2024 smash hit is back. Bigger, bolder and more visceral than ever. Those are all adjectives that I like in my Edinburgh Fringe Theatre. This darkly comic. I like that one as well. Deeply heartfelt show. All good. Dares you to find comedy in the chaos of the unknown. That's going to be at midday for one hour at the Pleasants Courtyard. There's also a return for another production, the Untold and Untrue Story in which Linus Karp of AWK Productions plays Princess Diana. As you have never really experienced her before, this multi award winning celebration of the people's princess is back. It's very audience participatory and it's a lot of fun. It's zany and it's campy and it's silly. I enjoy Linus and Joseph Martin's work more and more every year because I think it's building towards something more theatrically realized rather than the sort of admittedly very funny and charming TED Talk style presentation performance art that they were doing a years ago when Linus was doing how to Live Angelicle Life Life lessons inspired by the hit movie musical Cats. Now often they bring back old shows alongside presenting new ones. They are also. Let me see if I can find it for you right now. Bringing a new show in which they both star this year and I do particularly enjoy when they are together on stage. I think that's when they do some of their best work. Here it is the Fit Prince Open brackets who get switched on the square in the frosty castle the night before. Open more brackets. Insert Public holiday here. Close brackets. Close brackets. And that's a send up of Hallmark movies. It's going to be at the Pleasant Courtyard. Are they doing Gwyneth Goes Skiing Again this year. I don't think they are necessarily. Maybe it's just Diana and that one, but if you're a fan of those two, they are also having an official legitimate wedding ceremony at some point during the Edinburgh fringe so you can go and watch them actually get married one day. Here's another one I thought was deeply charming down to Chance. This is from maybe you like it. Theatre Royal, Plymouth and Pleasants, Alaska, 1964. This is New writing and true life. The largest earthquake in U.S. history. Live on air, part time radio reporter Jeannie Chance must take unimaginable risks to save her community from chaos. A frenetic and madcap retelling of this incredible true story sounds very exciting. I'm looking forward to that one. There's also Falling, a disabled love story from Aaron Pang. This is disabled lead queen comedy. One accident, two stories, one you've heard a thousand times, one you've never heard before. Falling is an uncomfortably sexy and hilariously vulnerable stumble through Aaron's misadventures in love, lust and life after disability. Also in Pleasant's courtyard, here's another piece at Traverse. Gary McNair's award winning show A Gambler's Guide to Dying has toured the world since its premiere at the Traverse in 2015. It's now back for a special run to mark its 10th anniversary. That's at Traverse 2. I suspect that that might sell out. If that's intriguing to you, be sure to check it out. This I circle every single year and I never managed to find a way to fit it into my schedule. But this is the Gummy Bears Great war. This is contemporary puppetry. The Gummy bears have declared war against the nation of dinosaurs. The outcome is tragically obvious. But what makes the candies so obstinate? An object theater show with real candies. An absurdist theater delicacy. This is at Zoo Playground. You can go to gummybears war.com It's 30 minutes long. It's at 3 o' clock in the afternoon and my understanding is that they are puppeteering. Actual gummy bears. I assume that cameras may be involved or you're just sat very closely. Here's another interesting one. Hamlet Wakefulness. This is at Summer Hall Fringe first and Total Theatre Award winning Song of the Goat Theatre. Great name. Present an exploration into the origins of Hamlet. With groundbreaking polyphonic vocal technique, this Shakespearean vigil turns pagan ritual, honoring spirits of the dead. And I somehow in my lifetime have never seen a full legitimate production of Hamlet. So I have this rule that I have to see Hamlet before I see takes on Hamlet, but that one definitely did intrigue me. Here's another piece from Traverse. This is experimental performance art. It's called I'm Ready to Talk Now. Set inside of a hospital room, this award winning one on one show that means one performer and one audience member at a time explores disability, gender and identity. All performances can be spontaneously altered to include open captions, audio Description touch tours and a low sensory or relaxed environment which I think is terrific because the kind of primary concept can sound very intimidating. This is exactly the kind of theater that I flee from, shy away from, get overwhelmed by the notion of and so to challenge myself this year I have already bought a ticket because it was selling out immediately inquire about returns. I believe it's fully sold out because one audience member at a time. So not a high capacity for that one, but hopefully I will get the chance to see it and then let you know. We also have Johnny Woo Suburbia. This is some LGBTQ plus cabaret from Cabaret and queer community icon Johnny Wu, who I've enjoyed on stage before. And speaking of icons, Laura Bernanti as in multi Tony Award winning Broadway star Laura Bernanti is bringing her solo cabaret show, the one that I think she did at the Manetta Lane Theatre with Audible in New York not too long ago, to the Edinburgh Fringe. How exciting. She's going to be in Edinburgh for the entire month of August and it's her acclaimed comedy show filled with hilariously true stories and peppered with original songs written with Todd Almond, whose show at the Fringe I loved last I wonder if that's why Laura is doing it this year. I have circled this so many times because I'm so excited. Next up we have one from Airlock Theatre in association with the brilliant soho Theater Lesbian Space Crime. The title got me I told you. Lots of lady astronauts, or as they're also known, astronauts. And this one is framed for the first ever space crime. Space crime. Oh my gosh. Accused Alone Gay. Is she really a criminal or a hero? Airlock's musical comedy about intergalactic queer dirtbags returns after a sellout Soho Theater pre premiere. Does that not sound exciting? This is why we go to the Fringe, everybody. For shows just like that. Look, we've gone past the L's now. Here we are. Love it. From Boondog Theatre. I had to tell you about this one because if you're watching me, chances are you might be a musical theatre person long before meeting Sweeney Todd. We discover what ultimately leads to turning his victims into Pies. This is a newly widowed young Mrs. Lovett who needs to find a way to survive using the skills she learned from her Whaler Fire father. This is going to be at the Pleasants Courtyard. I love the artwork with like the hands as if they're praying, but it's two other hands that she's holding. We also have Miles at Summerhall. This is the story of the iconic jazz musician Miles Davis and the seminal album Kind of Blue, featuring live music from the UK's foremost trumpeter Jay Phelps. Delirium's new play is a smoky, atmospheric fever dream rooted in the birth of the cool. This is in Summerhall and it's going to be at six o' clock in the evening. Doesn't sound like it's an out and out musical, but it sounds like it's a piece using music. Now here's a couple of plays I'm really excited about. I know I'm throwing a lot of shows at you at the moment. The Monkeypox Gospel this is a Congolese American journalist reporting on the 2022 monkeypox outbreak. Remember that one confronts his fears about the gay life he's discovering and the evangelical words world he is abandoning. A fantasy docu play with nerdy tangents. Adapted from the podcast. This is at underbelly cowgate at 5.50pm Then we have Motorhome Marilyn, starring the actress Michelle Collins as a Marilyn Monroe lookalike in a dark comedy about the obsessive fascination of an icon and the devastating realities of aging. Blending dark humor with poignant reflections on unfulfilled dreams. That sounds brilliant. Also, Gilded Balloon Patahoos there's another terrific sounding show at the Traverse Theatre after I leave Edinburgh only in the second half of of the month, from 13 August onwards. Inspired by his involvement in the Egyptian revolution of 2011 and experience of the counter revolution that followed, Khalid Abdallah brings together the personal and the political in an act of anti biography. Love the sound of that. Deeply fascinating. That's called Here and Now Showcase. We also have two more exciting pieces, both here at Summerhall. The first is Niusia, which I think I'm pronouncing correctly. Nusia was a Holocaust survivor, but granddaughter Beth only remembers an angry dying woman ready to learn her stories. What she discovers instead is all the questions she was never allowed to ask. Then you have no apologies from Emma Frankland. This show delves deep into Internet discourse and classical mythology, radically misremembering Nirvana's iconic 1993 MTV Unplugged concert and I like a lot of these pieces combining the idea of truth and anti truth and storytelling and memory. Oh, here's another really great piece page and three shows I need to tell you about. So we have another Payne's Plough here. This is going to be at summer Ordinary Decent Criminal, starring political comedian Mark Thomas. Join Frankie as he enters the brave new world of a liberal prison experiment. His fellow convicts aren't what they seem and he discovers the revolution is not dead. It's just sleeping. I think that's going to be something really exciting. There's also Orpheus from Wright and Granger. If you saw their show Half Man Half Bull parts one or two previously, they are brilliant musical storytellers. It's folky and it's exciting. It's something that I think you'll really respond to and enjoy. If you like musicals like Hadestown. Not just because we have similar mythological subject matter, but because of the nature of the style of storytelling. Enter a world of dive bars, side streets and ancient gods with a tale of impossible death, defying love told through hair raising spoken word and soaring acoustic soldiers. Music by internationally acclaimed storytellers Wright and Granger. I loved Half Man Half Bull so much. This is only on until the 7th of August, so you have to be there right at the start of the Fringe. But that's a huge recommendation from me. Go and check out Orpheus. It's going to be really special. Then we have Ohio. This is another Francesca Moody produced show and created by indie folk duo the Bengsons, who I've been hearing about for a long time from my friends in New York. Shawn met Death with when he was three and life hasn't sounded the same since. Arousing new musical experience about losing faith and finding hope. I think that's either previewing or playing after the Fringe at the Young Vic studio space. But this is one of my most anticipated shows of this year's Fringe Ohio. Now here's one everyone's quite excited about paldom at Summerhall. This is being pulled out as one of the most exciting shows potentially at Summerhall this year. Quite possibly because it's been written and created by BAFTA rising star winner David Johnson. It's an anti romantic comedy comedy. I like the sound of this. That crosses the murky lines of interracial dating, fetishisms and hookups in the digital age. That's going to be at 9 o' clock at night and it is definitely buzzy already. Here's another interesting one from Traverse Theatre in association with National Theatre Scotland. This is she's behind you. A riotous, heartfelt journey into the wild west of pantomime. Johnny unearths the magic and madness behind the curtain with a story as touching as it is hilarious. A true celebration of anarchy, transformation and challenging traditions. With a lovely poster of a pantomime dame there, I have high hopes for what I feel like this show is going to turn out to be and I'm hoping that that aligns with the show that it actually is, which is so much of going to see theatre at the Edinburgh Fringe. Actually. You try and get a sense of what it is you think you're going to see. Sometimes you're pleasantly surprised, sometimes you're wildly disappointed. Here's another Traverse one, Standing in the Shadows of Giants. I don't think Traverse are doing any out and out musicals this year year, but this might be the closest that we're getting. This is new LGBTQ writing. Lucy Barat, sister of the Libertines frontman, flips burgers while her brother's band skyrockets. Surrounded by sycophants, failed auditions and 2000's chaos, she questions her choices. An autobiographical show about being a rock star's sister. Not the first I will have seen on that topic because Coldplay frontman Chris Martin's sister Nicola Wren also put together a few years ago a very interesting autobiographical show. Talking about talking about similar ideas and also nodding to self written shows like Fleabag at the Edinburgh Fringe. We've got Spy Movie the Play. I feel like I've been hearing about this one for a while. Agent Blonde has 24 hours to save the world. The only things standing in her way are dastardly villains, an outrageous plot and a lack of funding. Prepare to witness the greatest spy movie never made. That's going to be at Pleasant's courtyard at 12:55. It sounds like a fun way to spend your own afternoon. Now here is a show I feel I have to tell you about because it has a title that prompts a lot of questions and a description which answers absolutely none of them. This is called Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me But Banjos Saved My Life from Keith Alessi. Playbill gave this a five star review and called it storytelling at its best. It sold out in 2023 and 2024. It got a Mervin Stutters pick of the Fringe, which is a big deal. It's a true story about overcoming obstacles, pursuing passions and the healing power of music. And going to be at Summerhall. I'm absolutely intrigued. I feel like I need to know more before I commit to it. This one also seems a little whimsical. The Unstoppable Rise of Ben Manager I absolutely get how to Succeed in Business without really trying vibes from this this is physical theatre and musical comedy from Bunkum Ensemble and Pleasants. When Ben witnesses a mysterious death and picks up the victim's lanyard, an endless chain of promotions follows. But what's his actual name? Job A dark satire for anyone who's ever worked in an office. There's also the Truman Capote Talk show, which was a winner of the Scotsman Fringe First Award. Bob Kingdom reprises his critically acclaimed performance as the brilliant, adorable, infamous writer of In Cold Blood and Breakfast at Tiffany's. Terrific script go straight to this show. Five stars, says the Guardian. That's going to be at pleasance courtyard at 11:35 in the morning. And like I said, not a lot else on at 11:35 in the morning. Morning. And I'm just circling back because there's a couple that I'm noticing that I haven't said yet. One of those is Pop Off Michelangelo that is going to be playing a slot that was meant to be going to a new musical from the writers behind Unfortunate the Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch. It was going to be Medusa Uncut, sadly no longer happening at this year's festival, but Pop Off Michelangelo is returning. If you've heard me talk about that before, you know how much I love that show. Full of musical theater references and queer science silliness. Great show. Go and check it out. Also, another show at Traverse called Lost Lear that I was very intrigued about that I can't find at this exact moment and my camera is about to give up on me because we have been doing this for too long. I could spend another hour talking about interesting looking things in the Fringe guide. I'm going to keep looking even after I give you my recommendations, I'm going to keep trying to make sure I have found all of those hidden gems gems. And I'll be letting you know when I get to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe what I enjoy, what I think of everything. So make sure that you're subscribed, make sure that you have the notifications turned on and feel free to go follow me on other social media platforms as well because as well as sharing reviews to YouTube, I usually tend to also bring them to Instagram and TikTok both. Also ickyjotheatre and those of course have only been my recommendations for shows that you could go and check out this year at the Edinburgh Fringe. If you have any recommendations or if you are an artist or theatre maker taking a show to the Fringe this year, feel free to pitch them or share them in the comments section down below. That is everything that I currently have to say. I will see you next month for the Edinburgh Fringe and I will see you every other day this week for more theatre in between now and then. Thank you so much for listening to this. I hope that you enjoyed, I hope you found it helpful and I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a Stagey Day. For 10 more seconds. I'm Mickey Jo Theatre. Oh my God. Hey thanks for watch. Have a stagey day. Subscribe USAA knows dynamic duos can save the day like superheroes and sidekicks or auto and home insurance. With USAA you can bundle your auto and home and save up to 10%. Tap the banner to learn more and get a'@usaa.com bundle restrictions apply.
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