"A vibrant, stimulating showcase of talent."

SCOTSMAN

WEDNESDAY 10th AUGUST 2022

Pleasance One, Venue 33

12.40pm-2.10pm

Tickets: £15.00


TODAY'S SHOWS


Fruit Flies Like a Banana

Cabaret and Variety (music, classical)

Three performers. 20+ acts. 60 minutes. Music, theatre and dance collide in this madcap variety show. Praised for their 'deft choreography' (Wall Street Journal), The Fourth Wall combines stellar musicianship with daring physicality to make music that leaps off the stage. Music by Chopin played while riding hoverboards, Satie performed while upside down, Joplin on plastic tubes and tangos where musicians are also dancers! Audiences choose the show order in this fast-paced, vaudeville experience that's a favourite across America. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit Flies Like a Banana! ***** (CBC, Winnipeg Free Press, GlobalNews.ca).


Dan Rath: Cockroach Party

Comedy (stand-up)

Cockroach Party will be a rambling tour through a mind that is on its last legs. It only takes one cockroach to ruin a bowl of cherries. But it takes a cockroach party to save the world. Have you ever gone on incognito mode to google symptoms of multiple sclerosis? Well let's get this party started. Topics covered will include: a) Insomnia (haven't slept for a year), b) Getting diagnosed with glaucoma, c) Being thrown under the bus, d) Respect, e) Revenge, f) Redemption, g) Regret. 'Hilariously maladjusted hour' ****½ (Chortle.co.uk).


Made in India/Britain

Theatre (deaf led, storytelling)

Since leaving home in Birmingham, Rinkoo Barpaga has been determined to find somewhere to settle. Along the way he's encountered racism, discrimination and has begun asking himself: 'Where do I belong?' Join him as he delves deep into past experiences in order to discover his true self and a place he can finally call home. Performed by Rinkoo in British Sign Language, with live voiceover provided by an actor. Supported by the Pleasance's Generate Fund. Directed by Tyrone Huggins.


Circus Abyssinia: Tulu

Dance, Physical Theatre and Circus (circus, international)

A dazzling display of speed, skill and flight lands in Edinburgh this summer, celebrating the first African woman to win Olympic gold. Inspired by the true tale of an Ethiopian icon, Derartu Tulu, this unmissable showcase of superhuman strength blends breathtaking contortion, awe-inspiring acrobatics and mesmerising fire juggling with a rocking, exuberant soundtrack. Circus Abyssinia made their UK debut at the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe and featured on the Royal Variety Performance in the same year. After touring internationally, including a sell-out run in New York, they are thrilled to return with their greatly anticipated new show.


Good Grief

Theatre (physical theatre, clown)

Winner of Underbelly, New Diorama and Methuen Drama’s hit-making Untapped Award 2022. A dying man’s last wish: for his friends to create a show about death. Will it be subtle? Will it be sophisticated? Probably not, but it’s his funeral. Literally. Multi award-winning physical comedy company Ugly Bucket process the death of a friend in the only way they know how – through a kinetic maelstrom of outrageous clowning, personal testimony and a thumping techno soundtrack. Ugly Bucket are thrilled to present this hilarious gut-punch of a show.


Soup Group!

Comedy (absurdist, family)

Two chefs stir up a lot of chaos in this silly, physical comedy. Soup Group is a clowning double act who perform regularly for audiences of all ages. The show is a mixture of slapstick, surrealism and creative messing about. From the minds of Phil O'Shea ('Utter, delicious nonsense' (Fest)) and James McIntosh ('The next Ross Noble' (Skinny)). 'Props based clowning, positions them somewhere between Spencer Jones and Tommy Cooper’ (Telegraph).


SK Shlomo: Breathe: The Play That Becomes a Rave

Theatre (music, solo show)

In aid of the suicide charity CALM, and sound-tracked live with songs from his upcoming second album, the acclaimed beatboxer is back with Breathe: a breathtakingly theatrical display of bravery and virtuosic performance, recreating the impromptu rave in his living room that not only saved his life but transformed a sleepy village community. 'A Play That Turns into a Rave? Yes Please!' (Felix, Basement Jaxx). 'A riot of noise and light… SK Shlomo is a treat to watch' (Scotsman). 'A one-human music festival' (Times).


Mervyn Stutter

Host and Compere

Mervyn has been in the entertainment industry since 1974. He started in theatre where he acted, wrote scripts, songs, and directed for around 14 years. In the 1980s, he became the 'regular topical song bloke' on the BBC TV's first ever daytime show, 'Open Air', fronted by a thin Irishman called Eamonn Holmes. Over the years he has performed weekly topical songs on many TV current affairs programmes and more of the same on radio. In the late 1980s, he took his comedy songs onto the Comedy Circuit and then touring theatres. Merv's first Edinburgh Fringe was in 1986 and he has been every year since. 'Pick of the Fringe' started life as 'Have you seen anything good?', a show to help answer the perennial Fringe-goer question. The title was changed to 'Pick of the Fringe' in 1994 and it he has built it up into one of the must-see Fringe shows.

“Mervyn Stutter is very, very good as compere of this chat show, for to make such a showcase work requires skill, talent and quick reactions. Stutter works the crowd like the showman he is.”

THE OBSERVER


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