Viv Groskop – Be more Margo

For those young enough not to have seen the TV series ‘The Good Life’, which ran from 1975-1978, this is the Wikipedia entry for Margo Leadbetter. “Margo cannot understand her neighbours’ lifestyle, but their friendship is important to her. As a child, Margo Sturgess, she was bullied at school for having no sense of humour.…

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Tiffany Stevenson: Seven

Tiffany Stevenson

It’s Tiffany Stevenson’s seventh solo show, and so it’s called Seven. That might seem to lack imagination. But there’s definitely plenty of imagination at work here, and plenty of provocation, insight, mocking and acid observation. Seven is instead a riff pivoting around seven potential tweets that Tiffany considered making after the Battaclan attacks in Paris,…

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Jena Friedman – American C*nt

Jena Friedman

Dark, dangerous and unexpected. Expect yourself to be shocked by this performance, because Friedman’s humour takes dark, sharp turns and does not flinch from using the word cunt in its full Shakespearean crudity. Friedman apologises from the start about the offensive word in her show’s title – that word of course, she whispers, being ‘American’.…

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Jo Caulfield – Awkward Conversations

Well this is awkward… Jo Caulfield picked me out of the audience and lampooned my lovable, hangdog Humphrey Bogart / Droopy good looks. And then got other people to pick on me. And only later as I left did I whisper that I was reviewing her show. Awkward! But then, that’s what happens when you…

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Literary Death Match

This is not an ordinary Fringe show. Four writers read their own work for five minutes or less, and are then judged by three all-star Judges. Two finalists are chosen to compete in the Literary Death Match finale, a vaguely-literary game to decide the ultimate winner. And there’s of course a different line-up every night.…

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Bakersfield Mist – Arkle Theatre

Bakersfield Mist

Maude Gutman is an unemployed ex-barmaid who lives in a trailer park. Lionel Percy is a former director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art who works for an art foundation to authenticate disputed works of art. Think for a moment about your first assumptions about those two characters. Then imagine them thrown together. This is…

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Much Ado About Nothing – Arkle Theatre

Much Ado about Nothing

All the boys are dressed as girls, and all the girls are dressed as boys. This is the first surprise from Arkle Theatre – they bend the gender of every member of the cast to add a twist to this Shakespeare classic, which was in its day controversial for challenging accepted gender stereotypes. The venue…

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Edith in the Dark – Harrogate Theatre

Edith in the Dark

A mixture of horror and hilarity, this deft and superbly acted piece balances humour and dark terror, with superb acting of multiple characters from all of the actors. The background to the piece surrounds children’s author E Nesbit, best known for The Railway Children, and reveals that not only does she write bleak and terrifying…

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Invisible City – Nova

Invisible City

When a girl’s conversation with a lemon makes you smile, you know you’re both seeing an unusual show, and one that’s performed with virtuoso skill and panache. Physical theatre is a terribly broad label, and it’s normally not a category that lights my fire. But I was surprised and delighted by this show. Invisible City…

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Christine Bovill’s PIAF

Christine Bovill's PIAF. Photo by @nazipova

No, no regrets… You often get the measure of a musical performance from the crowd witnessing it. So when the crowd at the end of this performance all jump to their feet and cheer, stamp their feet and whistle and applaud loudly, it’s not difficult to guess that they like what they are hearing. Bovill’s…

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