Edinburgh Festival Fringe: comedian Simon Evans

Prepare to be depressed and entertained at the same time with some of the driest and most acerbic comedy on offer in this year’s Fringe. Brighton-based Simon Evans has been a circuit comedian for years, and those of you who are regular listeners to BBC Radio 4 will be familiar with his particular style of…

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Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Newsrevue is still one of the best

Newsrevue is an annual fixture which deserves its plaudits and awards, and this year’s offering  is flawlessly delivered by four professionals who are as comfortable singing as acting. Piano is a tad too loud on occasions, but I’m being picky. There’s no shortage of material this year so the political satire and wry view at…

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Edinburgh Festival Fringe: Tape Face

Come see Tape Face, they said. We saw it when it first came to the Festival and it was brilliant, they said. He must be exceptional because he won America’s Got Talent, they said. Of course, they said all of that before we had been to see one of the worst shows I’ve ever seen.…

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Edinburgh Festival Fringe review: Elsie Thatchwick

I used to blub like a baby at the Little House on the Prairie even as a teenager, but as a grown man the only times I’ve cried were when I had to put my favourite dog down and when wasting three hours trying to put up a tent after a bottle of wine and…

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Edinburgh Festival Fringe review: Marcus Brigstocke

So, apparently, it’s time to establish, for once and all, what’s good and bad about life and its major players. Here you find Lucifer appearing in person, complete with red face, menacing horns and astonishingly white shiny teeth. Topics covered include everything from gender fluidity to utterly British foibles, the demise of Theresa May, and…

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Edinburgh Festival Fringe review: Brexit

Brexit has slick performances and a decent enough script, but the venue is uncomfortably hot and it feels like it should be an evening performance. All that said, if you like Yes, Minister-type humour, and are as sick of all the Brexit lunacy as I am, you’ll enjoy it. Could have done with being 15…

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Fringe review: Nicholas Parsons’ Happy Hour

With slightly less of Nicholas Parsons this year than I’d hoped for, it’s still an hour of fun, none the less. No checking the watch in this show…. For this year, unless you can pick up a cancellation, prepare to be disappointed as it’s sold out, so the best advice is to book now for…

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Have your chance to be a critic at this year’s Fringe

They say everyone’s a critic but now Edinburgh Fringe attendees can make it official. The aptly named Whyte & Mackay Roaring Review Booth is a pop up build in Underbelly, Bristo Square, where punters can share their honest Fringe reviews on camera for a chance to win prizes throughout August. And they will be recording…

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Book review: Roald Dahl’s Reekin Rhymes

What’s the story? In recent years, many children’s books have been getting rather special makeovers, taking them and translating them into Scots. For example, Roald Dahl’s The Twits became the Eejits, while JK Rowling’s first Harry Potter book became The Philosopher’s Stane). The entertaining trend continues with Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes, becoming Reekin Rhymes. Dahl…

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Review: The Willow Tea Rooms Recipe Book

This is far more than a straightforward recipe book, as The Willow Tea Rooms is the story of a piece of Glasgow’s history. It opens with an introduction by Anne Mulhern, who revived the tearooms in the 1980s, followed by a brief history of the original tearooms founded by Kate Cranston and designed by Charles…

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