With just a week to go until the start of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2023, we’re taking one last look at some great shows to check out this year.
This Fringe round-up includes stand-up comedians, a Shakespeare play performed by pupils from King Charles’ old school, a one-woman show on an open top bus, hard-hitting dramas and the chance to enjoy an intimate sound-experience that invites you to plant a wildflower meadow in Edinburgh.
1. Late'n'Live
A star studded comedy event and a must for any Fringe bucket list, Gilded Balloon once again presents Late’n’Live - with huge names including Olga Koch, Vittorio Angelone, Catherine Bohart and more announced for 2023, plus an all-female MC line-up including Alison Spittle, Kiri Pritchard-McLean, Jay Lafferty, Michelle Brasier and Sikisa bringing a new lease of life to one of the Fringe’s most iconic shows. Gilded Balloon, Teviot - Debating Hall, 4 - 28 August, 11.30pm. Photo: STEVE ULLATHORNE
2. The Devil’s Passion
Award-winning playwright Justin Butcher, writer/performer of ‘Scaramouche Jones’, the hit anti-war satire ‘The Madness of George Dubya’ and the acclaimed ‘Go to Gaza, Drink the Sea’ now turns his pen to perhaps the greatest story of all, The Passion of The Christ told from Satan’s perspective. The Devil’s Passion offers a radically fresh perspective on the timeless narrative, an audacious hell’s-eye view of the Easter story. By turns comic, gripping, poetic, pungent and heart-stirring, it explores themes of good and evil, religious extremism, freedom, rebellion, life, death, and much more. Assembly George Square Studios: Studio One, August 12 – 27, 1.20pm. Photo: Submitted
3. Chloe Petts – If You Can’t Say Anything Nice
Fresh from her smash hit Edinburgh Fringe and Soho Theatre sell-out debut, rising star Chloe Petts returns with her follow-up hour. Praised for her polite & well-mannered way of handling hot topics like gender and toxic masculinity in the last show, this year she’s returning with a newer, ruder approach to the big issues. Expect routines on weddings, men who like Millwall and calling you all a bunch of virgins. 2– 27 August (excl 14th) at Pleasance Courtyard, Above at 6.40pm. Photo: Avalon
4. Manifest Destiny’s Child
Playwright, performer and filmmaker Dennis Trainor Jr’s thought-provoking and deeply humorous play, Manifest Destiny’s Child, is a true account of his experiences as a teacher who jettisoned a cushy job to join the frontline of the Occupy Movement as communications director for Jill Stein’s well-meaning but flawed 2016 US Presidential campaign. A provocative, intelligent account of how America lost its way and woke up in Trumplandia. Trainor Jr. hilariously dismantles the toxic myth of American Exceptionalism. Directed by Broadway veteran David Esbjornson, known for his work on ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ and the 1991 World Premiere of Tony Kushner’s ‘Angels in America’. Assembly Rooms, Drawing Room, August 3-27, 2.25pm. Photo: Submitted