Written by Katia Haddad Directed by Guy Retallack Review by Eve Nugent Pleasance Courtyard ★★★★ It is the summer of 1992 – one year after Ukraine has gained independence from the Soviet Union. One fateful night, the lives of Galina, an ambitious student from Moscow, and Steven, a smooth-talking Ukrainian naval officer, are crucially brought … Continue reading Review: Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025 – Maruipol
Created by Third Floor Theatre Review by Eve Nugent ZOO Playground ★★★★★ Upon entering the auditorium of Zoo Playground 1, the audience finds themselves plunged into the tank of Coral and Gil – a married pair of French angelfish, struggling to get along under the claustrophobic pressures of their new home. In hope of saving … Continue reading Review: Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025 – TANKED
Written and Directed by Brooke Jessop Review by Eve Nugent Pleasance Courtyard - Cellar ★★★★ A warm light fades up on Andrew, sprawled across the sofa in his baggy jeans, white vest, and small hoop earrings. He is fast asleep, arm dangling, surrounded by his mess – until his boyfriend Julian struts in, passionately dancing … Continue reading Review: Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025 – Paradok Platform 2025: Unwelcome
Written by Alfie Jones Directed by Alice Harding Review by Orly Benn Underbelly George Square - Buttercup ★★★★ In a visual age of mass media consumption and production, Alfie Jones’s ‘This Blighted Star’ is immeasurably pertinent as a modern analysis of surveillance, mass media safety, social conspiracy, and celebrity idolatry. Jones’s play, expertly directed by … Continue reading Review: Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025 – This Blighted Star
Written by Jenna Stones Songs by Lucia Ireland Review by Aislinn McSharry Leith Arches ★★★ Bawdy, bold and imbued with deeper social commentary, DollsnRags Debut Fringe Show Happy Ending Street, is an impressive display of new Scottish theatre, expertly and engagingly performed. Detailing the lives of three sex-workers in 1890s Edinburgh, Pearl (Lucia Ireland), Bonnie (Jenna Stones) and Frances (Braegha Sturrock) plan to … Continue reading Review: Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025 – Happy Ending Street
Written by Alison Skillbeck Review by Moyra Jones Assembly Rooms ★★★ Alison Skillbeck portrays Eleanor Roosevelt with warmth and precision, guiding the audience gently through her life during one of the most turbulent periods of the early to mid-twentieth century. The play spans from her birth in 1884 to her death in 1962. It offers … Continue reading Review: Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025 – Mrs Roosevelt Flies to London
Written and Performed by Lucy Roslyn Directed by Jamie Firth Review by Eve Nugent Pleasance Courtyard - Cellar ★★★ It’s man devouring man, my dear, and who are we to deny it in here?We have all heard of Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd and his murderous exploits on Fleet Street. But what of his partner in crime? … Continue reading Review: Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025 – Lovett
Review by Eve Nugent Monkey Barrel Comedy ★★★★ Alison Spittle waltzes onto the Monkey Barrel stage in her puffy, multicoloured tulle suit – a whimsical armour she soon sheds to reveal a glamorous, sparkly two-piece. From the offset, she disarms the audience with her total transparency, acknowledging her large size and recent weight loss. Exactly … Continue reading Review: Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025 – Alison Spittle: BIG
Written by Indra Wilson Co-directed by Cora Bissett and Niloo-Far Khan Review by Orly Benn Gilded Balloon Patter Hoose - Big Yin ★★★★ The care and generosity of Indra Wilson’s performance begins in the queue entering Gilded Balloon’s ‘other yin’, where patrons are handed silver-star stickers to use in acts of personal remembrance and celebration … Continue reading Review: Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025 – Float
Written by Xhloe Rice and Natasha Roland Review by Orly Benn theSpace @ Niddry St ★★★★★ Fringe heroes Xhloe and Natasha return to the too-busy, too-expensive, over-saturated Auld Reekie Edinburgh Fringe with all three of their previous shows to remind us why Fringe is worth it and why we should all try to do what … Continue reading Review: Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2025 – And Then The Rodeo Burned Down
