5th - 26th August 2023 (not 17th, 21st, 23rd),
12.40pm - 2.10pm
REVIEWED SHOWS
Our team of arts professionals go out on to the Fringe to review shows, looking for the really good stuff to invite onto our 'Pick of the Fringe'. Those that are considered good enough are invited on to Mervyn's showcase but, with only 133 slots available during the run, not all the excellent shows we see get to perform for us. This year we are listing all the shows that our reviewers thought worthy of a recommendation, breaking them down into the 'HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED', and the 'EXCEPTIONAL'.
EXCEPTIONAL
CABARET & VARIETY
- Kokoon
COMEDY
- Bill O'Neill: The Amazing Banana Brothers
- Dan Tiernan: Going Under
- Ed Byrne: Tragedy Plus Time
- Gillian Cosgriff: Actually, Good
- Jon Culshaw: Imposter Syndrome
- Lou Wall vs The Internet
- Nurse Georgie Carroll: Sista Flo 2.0
- Paul Currie: Shtoom
- Paul Foot: Dissolve
- Showstopper! The Improvised Musical
- Tom Crosbie: Actions Speak Louder Than Nerds
DANCE, PHYSICAL THEATRE, and CIRCUS
- Afrique en Cirque
- Beats on Pointe
- Circa’s Peepshow (Club Remix)
- Dances Like a Bomb
- Scherzo
MUSIC
- Chris Difford: What Happened? 50 Lyrical Years
MUSICALS and OPERA
- Death Suits You
THEATRE
- Afghanistan Is Not Funny by Henry Naylor
- Bacon
- Chicken
- Home
- Horizon Showcase: Birthmarked
- King by Pat Kinevane
- The Ice Hole: A Cardboard Comedy
- The Insider
- The Way Way Deep
- Yippee Ki Yay (the Die Hard parody)
HIGHLY HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
CABARET & VARIETY
- Ben Hart: Jadoo
- Dizney in Drag: Once Upon a Parody
- Ginava's Messy Friends
- How to Be Dumped: A Sort of Magic Show
- La Clique
- One Night with Marilyn
- Yes-Ya-Yebo!
COMEDY
- Adam Flood: Remoulded
- Al Porter: A Work in Progress
- Alexandra Haddow: Not My Finest Hour
- Amos Gill: The Pursuit of Happy(ish)
- Amusements by Ikechukwu Ufomadu
- Ange Lavoipierre: Your Mother Chucks Rocks And Shells
- Ania Magliano: I Can't Believe You've Done This
- Annabel Marlow... is this okay??
- Avital Ash Workshops Her Suicide Note
- Bad Play
- Benji Waterstones: You Don't Have to Be Mad to Work Here
- Chris Turner: Vegas, Baby!
- Christopher Macarthur-Boyd: Scary Times
- Crizards: This Means War
- Dan Jones: This Seems Ambitious
- Dane Simpson: Didgeridoozy
- Elf and Duffy: Heist
- Emmanuel Sonubi: Curriculum Vitae
- Flat and the Curves: Divadom
- Jack Docherty in David Bowie and Me: Parallel Lives
- Janine Harouni: Man'oushe
- Jason Byrne: The Ironic Bionic Man
- Jay Lafferty: Bahookie
- John Tothill: The Last Living Libertine
- Juliette Burton: No Brainer
- Lachlan Werner – Voices Of Evil
- Larry Owens Live
- Laser Kiwi: Rise of the Olive
- Laura Ramoso: FRANCES
- Louise Atkinson: Mates
- Luke Kempner in Gritty Police Drama: A One-Man Musical
- Lulu Popplewell: Actually, Actually
- Matt Forde: Inside No. 10
- Michelle Brasier: Reform
- Mitch Benn: The Point
- My Last Two Brain Cells
- Paddy Young: Hungry, Horny, Scared
- Pear: But Braver
- Pete Heat: Huge
- Pierre Novellie: Why Are You Laughing?
- Police Cops: The Musical
- Public – The Musical
- Rob Auton: The Rob Auton Show
- Robin Ince – Weapons of Empathy
- Robin Tran: Don't Look at Me
- Schalk Bezuidenhout: Keeping Up
- Sh!t-faced Shakespeare®: Romeo and Juliet
- Sikisa: Hear Me Out
- Simon David: Dead Dad Show
- Six Chick Flicks... Or a Legally Blonde Pretty Woman Dirty Danced on the Beaches While Writing a Notebook on the Titanic
- Steve Bugeja: Self Doubt (I think)
- The Kinsey Sicks: Drag Queen Storytime Gone Wild!
- The Umbilical Brothers: The Distraction
- Tom Ballard: It is I
- Troll
DANCE, PHYSICAL THEATRE, and CIRCUS
- 360 ALLSTARS
- AFTER ALL
- Bird
- Common Dissonance
- Emptiness: Floating Through Molasses
- Escalate
- I'm Muslamic – Don't Panik
- Katherine and Pierre
- N.Ormes
- Papillon
- Party Ghost
- Reclaim
- Sophie's Surprise 29th
- Spirit of Ireland
- Stuntman
- The 7 Fingers: Duel Reality
- The Black Blues Brothers
- The Revel Puck Circus: The Wing Scuffle Spectacular
- Tutu
- What Does Stuff Do?
- Woodhill
- You and Me
- YUCK Circus
MUSIC
- Amazing Stories of Blues and Soul: The Road Trip
- Bob Marley – How Reggae Changed the World
- Frankie Mack: Swing and Rat Pack Showman
- The Beatbox Collective: What's Your Sound?
- Tinderbox Orchestra
MUSICALS and OPERA
- 2020 The Musical
- A Comedy of Operas
- Actually, Love
- I Wish My Life Were Like a Musical
- Kathy and Stella Solve A Murder
- RENT
- Rise and Grind
- Spring Awakening
THEATRE
- ...And This Is My Friend Mr Laurel
- 17 Minutes
- 52 Monologues for Young Transsexuals
- A Manchester Anthem
- A Migrant's Son
- After Shakespeare
- Almost Adult
- Andronicus Synecdoche presented by Song of the Goat Theatre
- Anything That We Wanted To Be
- Bangers
- Beautiful Evil Things
- Bill's 44th
- Bitter Lemons
- Blizzard
- Blood of the Lamb
- Blowhole
- Blue
- Bowjangles: Dracula in Space
- Burning Down The Horse
- Character Flaw
- Chopped Liver and Unions
- Deuteronomy
- Diana: The Untold and Untrue Story
- Did You Eat?
- Distant Memories of the Near Future
- Dom – The Play
- Goodbye Uncle Fudgey
- Groomed
- GUSH
- Hive
- Hysterical
- I Love You, Now What?
- It's a Motherf**king Pleasure
- Junk Monkey
- Lady Dealer
- Let the Bodies Pile by Henry Naylor
- Lovefool
- Lucy and Friends
- Luke Wright's Silver Jubilee
- MEAT
- Nan, Me and Barbara Pravi
- Nick Wilty: Veteran Comedian
- Oh My Heart, Oh My Home.
- Otto & Astrid's Joint Solo Project
- Pitch
- Playing Latinx
- Rewind
- Rosaline and Juliet
- Salty Irina
- Sherlock Holmes The Last Act
- Spin
- Strategic Love Play
- The Death of Molly Miller
- The Good Dad (A Love Story)
- The Half Moon
- The Imitator
- The Importance of Being... Earnest?
- The Life Sporadic of Jess Wildgoose
- The Quality of Mercy: Concerning the Life and Crimes of Dr Harold Frederick Shipman
- The Standard Short Long Drop
- Them
- Thirst
- Tick Box 2
- Tomatoes Tried to Kill Me but Banjos Saved My Life
- Unstitching
- Wasteman
- What If They Ate The Baby?