“The staff at Plumstanton Library are clinging to tradition as the shelves collapse around them. The roof leaks, the stacks are bare, and they haven’t issued a new library card in years. When a new head librarian arrives and they learn the building could be condemned and sold, panic spreads fast! Can they save the library and themselves before it’s too late?” Amy Milburn's direction is clear and strong, providing a solid framework for the story and letting the comic situation

“Slime. Ooze. Mucus. Tobi feels like he is covered, head to toe, in slugs. Every unwanted kiss, lover and confused indignity over the years has left its oozy mark. They’ve always been there, but one recent romantic encounter and suddenly these slimy gastropods are taking over in a big way. From his childhood bedroom, Tobi explores fractured memories of his queer, adolescent sexual awakening (replete with a Hollyoaks Hunks calendar circa 2008) in an attempt to make peace with

“The Olivier Award-winning West End smash hit and Fringe favourite is back! The Showstoppers improvise a hilarious new musical every show, totally inspired by audience suggestions. The mind-blowing, must-see phenomenon where it’s opening night of the hottest musical in town… every night!” The concept is simple: the audience provides the ingredients and the Showstoppers have to turn them into a fully formed musical in real time. What makes that so impressive is just how quickl

“Four sisters escape their tower and collide with the outside world. Where fairy godfathers rule and happy endings come at a cost.” There is a certain irony in calling a musical Bliss when, for much of its 80-minute running time, I was desperately searching for mine. On paper, this should be a major Fringe event. A large-scale new musical, seventeen West End performers, Olivier Award-winning creatives and producers behind Cabaret and The Great Gatsby, and my personal favourit

“International sell-out cult-hit Garry Starr is back, and is hell-bent on saving books from extinction by performing every Penguin Classic novel ever written. Mostly naked (but with flippers).” ] Some shows make you walk into the theatre wondering what on earth you have just agreed to watch. Garry Starr: Classic Penguins is very much one of those shows. Honestly, that is part of the fun. What begins as an attempt to save literature from extinction quickly descends into a glor

“In this brand new show, everything you think you know will be challenged. What do we believe, why do we believe it, and what does it take to change a mind? In a world where reality is shaped at the touch of a button, truth feels flexible and trust feels dangerous. Blending jaw-dropping mentalism with razor sharp comedy, Cloud dismantles assumptions, bends reality, and makes the impossible uncomfortably personal. Hoax is designed to blow your mind, shake you to your core, and

“Four actors and a Foley artist perform a live, shot-for-shot parody of the greatest Christmas film of all time.” Kristin McCarthy Parker's direction is great. There are some brilliant uses of the space, and I particularly appreciate the decision not to do every single scene in front of the cameras and screens. Some moments are played directly to the audience, which stops the production from feeling like we are simply watching a screen being made in front of us. It keeps the

Family history has an extraordinary way of shaping the stories we choose to tell, and DUST feels like a production born from both personal memory and a deep sense of responsibility. Ahead of bringing the show to this year's Edinburgh Fringe, I caught up with writer and director Charlaina and performer Craig McArdle to discuss the real-life events that inspired the play, preserving the legacy of Yorkshire's mining communities, and why stories rooted in one family's experience