Venue 33, Pleasance Courtyard, Pleasance One,
3rd-24th Aug (not 15, 22), 1.30pm-3.00pm
"A vibrant, stimulating showcase of talent."
WEDNESDAY 9th AUGUST 2023
Pleasance One, Venue 33
12.40pm-2.10pm
Tickets: £15.00
Crizards: This Means War
Comedy (musical comedy, sketch show)
Crizards, the 'classic double act' (Guardian), are back with a wonky war epic directed by Edinburgh Comedy Award winner, Jordan Brookes. The musical duo's gentle bangers provide the soundtrack to their bulletproof patter as they stumble into a world of false memories and tall tales from the battlefield. They say you are your own worst enemy... well, not during wartime. **** (Guardian). 'A comedy triumph' ***** (TheReviewsHub.com). 'Essential Fringe viewing' ***** (EdFringeReview.com). 'Hilarious' **** (Skinny). **** (Entertainment Focus). **** (BroadwayBaby.com). **** (List). As seen on BBC One, BBC Three and Dave.
Alexandra Haddow: Not My Finest Hour
Comedy (stand-up)
Have you ever done anything wrong? Alex has; relationships, sex, feminism, kids, even dancing. The only thing she's gotten right was writing a show about it. And losing her virginity. Where we want to be seen publicly to be good, nothing in life is black and white, and the grey part is a lot more fun. 'One of the most exciting new acts on the circuit' (Frankie Boyle). Best New Show nominee (Leicester Comedy Festival 2023). Tour support for Frankie Boyle and Eshaan Akbar. As heard on BBC Radio 4 Extra.
Tones: A Hip-Hop Opera
Theatre (hip hop, opera)
What if you're not Black enough for the ends, but too Black for the rest of the world? Jerome, aka The Professor, is a man in battle with his identity, on a journey through the depths of Black-British culture, class, and belonging. Tones combines the gritty underground sounds of hip hop, grime, drill and the melodrama of opera, into a piece of gig theatre like no other. Join The Professor as he navigates the treacherous path to self-discovery. A new show from the company behind Bismillah! An ISIS Tragicomedy and It'll be Alt-Right on the Night.
Groomed
Theatre (contemporary, drama)
How can a truth be told? How can a secret be spoken? Three true stories of survival. A schoolboy is kept back by his teacher, a Japanese soldier won't surrender and an accident-prone young Belgian invents the saxophone. Fast, powerful, gripping storytelling with live saxophone music. 'Astonishing... unmissable' **** (Guardian). 'Remarkable, brave, inquiring theatre' **** (Financial Times). 'One of the most moving pieces I have seen' (Sandi Toksvig). Winner: three Outstanding Theatre Awards, Brighton Fringe. Finalist: Best Male Performer, Off West End Awards. Written and performed by Patrick Sandford. Directed by Nancy Meckler. Composer Simon Slater.
Stuntman
Dance, Physical Theatre and Circus (devised, contemporary)
An intensely physical, funny, and tender duet by two men wrestling with their relationship to violence – both onscreen and off. Fusing the Pow! Biff! and Wallop! of over-the-top stunt fights with personal stories of real encounters with violence from the performers' lives, Stuntman explores the relationship between violence and masculinity and the impact this has on our perceptions of men. A show for anyone who has ever enjoyed a violent action movie (but felt a bit weird about it). 'A thoroughly exhilarating 60 minutes that certainly pulls no punches' ***** (TheRecs.co.uk). MadeInScotlandShowcase.com
Darren Harriott – Roadman
Comedy (stand-up, storytelling)
Yooo! Darren’s brand-new show is all about how his life has changed for the better (yay!). He used to be a 'Roadman' who wouldn’t even smile for a photo, but now he’s trying all sorts of things he thinks he missed out on; some good, some bad but at least he’s smiling… just about. Double Edinburgh Award nominee, host of Live at the Apollo, team captain on Guessable, series regular on Love Island After Sun and co-host of The Shame Is Delicious podcast. 'This very funny stand-up makes joke-telling look simple' **** (Times).
The Kinsey Sicks: Drag Queen Storytime Gone Wild!
Comedy (drag, a cappella)
America's most potty-mouthed and politically outspoken drag a cappella quartet escaped the morality police in the US... only to inflict their outrageous parodies on the UK! What can possibly go right? No Disney tune, nursery rhyme, or beloved pop song is safe from their outrageous parodies in delicious four-part harmony. With scathing satire and cheeky classics from 30 years of appalling their audiences, this new musical from America's favourite Dragapella Beautyshop Quartet has been rated PG for Patently Ghastly. 'Wonderfully smart... Hilarious... Artfully crude... Lovably ribald' (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