This was my first Edinburgh Festival Fringe, and before arriving, I imagined an idyllic, culture-packed stroll between historic venues, watching the best creatives from all over the world. Yet within about twenty minutes, your find your pockets overflowing with damp flyers, you’ve climbed numerous flights of stairs, and you’re dodging a man dressed as a hedgehog trying to drag you into a basement.
For my debut run, I tried to see as many shows as possible; in fact, 17 in total! What I learnt–quite early on–is that the festival is an absolute lottery. You can pay good money for something that leaves you staring at the ceiling with second-hand embarrassment, only to wander into a dark room an hour later and witness pure, creative genius.
To save you from some of the most painful watches (particularly free hypnosis shows), here are the standout acts that made my first Fringe.
Will Spence: Chris Martin Lied to Us (10/10)
The weirdest, most random thing I witnessed all festival, and yet an absolute masterpiece was Will Spence’s show. The idea of the show is simple: Chris Martin claimed in 2000 that “it was all yellow,” and Spence is here to challenge that claim. Dressed sometimes in either a floral shirt, topless, or in a morph suit, Will Spence takes you through a crazy PowerPoint presentation and multiple iterations of the song “Yellow” to cover every colour in the rainbow. On paper, it sounds like the most pointless hour of theatre ever staged. Yet, his awkward clowning and his commitment to the conspiracy made it a fringe masterpiece. Easily my favourite finds of the run and the inspiration for my hot take on the committee post! (Chris Martin has been contacted for his right to reply.)
Julian Clary: Fully Dilated (10/10)
Julian Clary has been on the comedy scene for years. The “renowned homosexual” made his fringe comeback with a slightly more personal show delving into his past and retelling stories along with his usual comedic style, and it was absolutely hilarious. Remarkably similar to his yearly panto, just with increased swearing and smut. His impromptu song “Life’s a C***” stole the show for me, and his crowd work is always effortless.
Rob Duncan: Printer of the Year (9/10)
An absurd, chaotic stand-up that got funnier by the minute as the madness escalated. Paper was flying everywhere across the room, as Duncan creatively used call-backs to keep the audience engaged and build energy as the show went on. He also pulled me up on stage, which naturally earns him bonus points. Separate from his main show, I also saw Duncan perform a work-in-progress set at the Monkey Barrel, where he proceeded to shout “what have we got jeans//what do we want jorts?” for 15 minutes before bringing up an unsuspecting victim to turn their jeans into jorts with scissors. In the end, it was obvious this guy went to clown school (yes, that’s a real thing; it’s in France??)
House of Life (8/10)
House of Life is also worth a mention. Pure vibes from start to finish. The room was buzzing, the crowd was completely on board, and the infectious energy made it impossible not to walk out smiling. The sparkly “Raverend” and his friend Trev led the show like a church service, yet with a lot more glitter, manifestation, and tunes. The show itself is kind of hard to explain; I would say it’s part comedy, part rave, and part therapy?? But it’s impossible not to come out of that show beaming.
Will Adamsdale: AI, AI, Oh… (7/10)
Pedigree aside (he won the Perrier comedy prize here back in 2004), this was a fantastic piece of storytelling. It tracks a middle-aged writer’s crisis as he tries to churn out a hit sitcom using ChatGPT. Furthermore, brief guitar interludes add to this incredibly well-written, engaging, and funny watch.
Shit-faced Shakespeare (7/10)
It does exactly what it says on the tin. Take a serious classical play, cast talented actors, and send one of them out completely drunk while the rest try to hold the plot together. It is very unserious and chaotic, which makes for a good laugh. This time the show was Hamlet, and personally I think it makes one of Shakespeare’s more boring plays a bit more bearable (no offence!)
Ed Gaughan: The Emperor (7/10)
Based on a fictitious local radio “family history” investigation in which Gaughan discovers his biological lineage traces back to Napoleon Bonaparte, the show quickly spirals into character sketches, impressions, and again guitar interludes (seems to be a running theme here). The variety of accents and characters in this show is fantastic, and the audience engagement is, too.
Operation Market Garden (7/10)
A more serious piece of theatre based on the wartime diary of a Welsh paratrooper captured during the 1944 “Operation Market Garden”. The lead actor was phenomenal; his storytelling, presence, and monologues gave the piece true emotion. The only thing holding it back was the supporting cast; a few dodgy Welsh accents did take a bit away from the drama! Nonetheless, something very different from the onslaught of comedy!
Raves R Us (6/10)
This is the show you see at 11 PM after four pints. It’s an energetic, nostalgic ode to rave culture featuring a Scouser aggressively dancing around while coating himself in flour, pretending it’s cocaine. It is very silly, perhaps even a tough watch at times, but it all comes together when the actors get the whole audience up on stage for a proper rave (obviously without the class A’s). However, as I said, probably can’t do this one sober!
Well, there you go, those were the top picks of my first fringe. I can still safely say I don’t have a clue about what makes a good show; however, maybe that’s the point! Half the fun is taking a punt on something random and hoping it pays off. Sometimes it does, sometimes you end up watching someone pretend to be hypnotised for an hour. Either way, I’m sure I will be back!
