Reading Time: < 1 minuteFiona jumped into notability at last year's fringe as winner of the Edinburgh Comedy-ish Award. An experienced act and host she’s now building her next show and from what I can tell it’s going to be great.
Reading Time: < 1 minuteIn a beautiful courtyard of possibly the poshest hotel I’ve ever stepped foot in there’s an early morning (for fringe) gathering for Funny Women at the fringe. A mixed group of ages and experience, everyone is stuck in chatting about the early days of the fringe. Snippets of conversations hang in the air ‘I had a small audience’, ‘make sure you steam’, ‘there’s massage chairs in Edinburgh Waverley.’
Reading Time: 2 minutesMirren Wilson’s PALS (or Perfectly Average Lassies) is a play about 4 friends, embarking on an adventure to climb Ben Lomand as a way to feel better about themselves as their friends are seemingly conquering the world. Sadie (Millie Rodger) is our narrator and guide for the weekend - a keen hillwalker who’s ailing mum is having more of a toll on her than her friends know. Her childhood friends, the overly prepared Claire (a fantastically slapstick physical comedy performance from Briony Martha), the chatty Flo (Shelley Middler) and the Insta-obsessed Taylor (Amy Glass).
Reading Time: 2 minutesIt takes only a few seconds for the show to start making you laugh, with the group ridiculing the prestige they’ve been given for “winning a bunch of awards 50 years ago” setting the tone for another absurdist, satirical, and unserious show, with some serious talent. Any fan of Monty Python will feel right at home, sketches are littered with absurdist punchlines, wordplay that makes you roll your eyes violently, and sight gags that make you feel like you’re going a little insane. Each of the actors has a great chemistry , selling whacky character and scenes nonchalantly.
Reading Time: 2 minutesConducted and taught by Astrid Jorgensen Pub Choir is fun, hilarious and you come away having learnt something new. She surrounds herself on stage with talented musicians both from Australia and locally to create a unique, homegrown experience for every audience.
Reading Time: 2 minutesDNA Studio’s RTFM is a play about conflict, fear, chaos and grief. Performed by Helena Harrison and Philip Honeywell in an intimate studio space, this mixed media, physical theatre piece hit every emotion in the playbook.
Reading Time: 2 minutesZo Tan, from Singaporean youth theatre company Conundrum Theatre, gives an insight into their AI-inspired production Only Human. Zo plays uBot, an advanced robot, in the production.
Reading Time: 2 minutesThis highly relatable, dark comedy will speak to anyone who has been through the weird and wonderful stages of a breakup whilst still holding onto the hope that it can’t truly be over. The one-woman show is a monologue about heartbreak and the crazy things it can make us do.
Reading Time: 2 minutesNicole Nadler's Why Am I (Still) Like This? is a moving and hilarious exploration of life with ADHD that leaves audiences both crying and laughing. In this captivating one-woman show, Nadler fearlessly delves into her 30-year journey with neurodivergence, using a minimalist set to maximum effect.
Reading Time: 2 minutesA lot of comedians have been really hard done by this fringe, not by the low pay, high costs of accommodation and the general unreliableness of fringe success actually leading anywhere, these are expected.