MetroLife

Hilary Mantel celebrates nowhere man

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 11:35:12 GMT

Book-loving types have been so keen to take a punt on Hilary Mantels historical novel Wolf Hall winning this years Man Booker Prize that the odds have been slashed to 2/1.

Adam Riches is fighting fit in Rogue Males

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 10:06:29 GMT

Maybe it's Adam Riches' canny audience rapport, or maybe we're just glad to have him back in one piece, but during this lightning fast hour of character-based laughs, one of us dances with him, another locks him in a bear hug and someone plants a smacker on his cheek.

Sean Hughes is the selfish stand-up

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 10:06:29 GMT

Sean Hughes isn't what he used to be. As the youngest comic to win the Perrier award back in 1990, Hughes was a fresh-faced rake of a boy, whose routines pictured him phoning his parents from his bedsit.

Wake up and smell the desperation

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 09:55:06 GMT

Coffee satirises management culture

Internal is a unique kind of affair

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 09:11:36 GMT

Its 25 minutes long and has an audience of five but Internal is the most talked about theatre piece of the Fringe.

Alistair McGowan puts on a class act

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 09:11:35 GMT

I must confess to a certain degree of trepidation ahead of Alistair McGowan's first appearance on the Fringe for 13 years. Away from the comfort zone of TV, there was a chance that The Big Impression star would flounder.

The Doubtful Guest just isn't dark enough

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 09:11:35 GMT

Hoipolloi's stage adaptation of US author and illustrator Edward Gorey's book, which sees a fantastical bird-like creature turning up uninvited and wreaking havoc in the Bishop family home, arrived in Edinburgh trailing plaudits in its wake.

The Devoured packs a punch

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 09:11:35 GMT

A show called The Devoured wasn't ever likely to be bags of fun. And within minutes of taking our seats, we're given hell by a man in ripped pyjamas for our 'cowardice' at abandoning his family to the jaws of 'the beast'.

The Last Witch is an odd mix of sex and sorcery

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:10:13 GMT

Anyone expecting Rona Munro's new play about Janet Horne, the last woman to be executed for witchcraft in Britain, to be a Crucible for Scotland is in for a disappointment.

Michael Clark's back on song

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 12:10:13 GMT

Dance Interview In the year of Homecoming Scotland, it seems fitting that one of Scotlands finest, and most notorious, dancers is back at the International Festival after a long absence.

Marcus Brigstocke gets to grips with religion

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:59:09 GMT

Marcus Brigstocke's new show is unusual for him, in that it sees a distinct softening of the fairly rabid secularism he's known for. Make no mistake, God Collar still takes many broad swipes at religion.

Mash means comedy smash

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:59:09 GMT

Two Episodes Of Mash is a deadpan delight

Tim Key is a hidden gem on the Fringe

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:59:08 GMT

Talk about a misnomer, the title of Key's show couldn't be less appropriate which is presumably why he's done it.

Mike Wozniak's clown shoes are a perfect fit

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:59:08 GMT

Clown Shoes fits Comedy Mike Wozniak perfectly

Palace Of The End shows the true face of war

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:59:07 GMT

Even though the major players in the Iraq War George W Bush; Tony Blair; Saddam Hussein have since departed the scene, Iraq remains high on the news agenda.

Aussie comic Brendon Burns makes a case for ranting

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 10:01:21 GMT

The Fringe wouldn't be the Fringe without controversial Aussie comic Brendon Burns. So how come he's such a late starter this time around?

Power Plant is a dreamworld made real

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 10:01:21 GMT

Theatre Review Approaching the Victorian glasshouses in Edinburgh's Royal Botanic Garden on a starry evening would be an enchanting experience at any time. But this is eerily, captivatingly different.

Jamie Kilstein surfs the zeitgeist

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:38:30 GMT

New Yorker Jamie Kilstein wears his left-wing heart on his sleeve. Politics is what he lives and breathes and, therefore unsurprisingly, what he talks about onstage. Forget any notions of dry satire; Kilstein is giddy about his political leanings, espousing his beliefs in a manner so bouncy, any spacehoppers watching would be green with envy.

The Kosh have treats in store

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:27:47 GMT

Murder and revenge stalk this giddy one-woman show from Fringe veterans The Kosh. Co-director, writer, choreographer and performer Siân Williams has set herself a mean challenge.

Jack Whitehall is a comic on the rise

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:16:52 GMT

At one point during his solo Fringe debut, Jack Whitehall kicks open the fire doors of the stifling upstairs venue and screeches a tirade of ironic abuse out over the courtyard below

Power Plant is a dreamworld made real

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:16:52 GMT

Approaching the Victorian glasshouses in Edinburgh's Royal Botanic Garden on a starry evening would be an enchanting experience at any time. But this is eerily, captivatingly different.

Fergus Craig Is A Good Neighbour

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 09:05:52 GMT

First broadcast in the UK in 1986, Neighbours spent more than 20 years as the twice-daily staple of students, school kids and home workers everywhere, only to be packed off to a station that no one really watches.

Adam Hills is the most likeable bloke on the Fringe

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 08:54:49 GMT

Aussie stand-up Adam Hills is one of the nicest blokes you'll ever meet. No surprise then to find that when a couple leave his set ten minutes in because the woman's feeling unwell, he insists that they get a refund.

Jack Whitehall is a comic on the rise

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 08:54:49 GMT

At one point during his solo Fringe debut, Jack Whitehall kicks open the fire doors of the stifling upstairs venue and screeches a tirade of ironic abuse out over the courtyard below

Aussie comic Brendon Burns makes a case for ranting

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 08:54:49 GMT

The Fringe wouldn't be the Fringe without controversial Aussie comic Brendon Burns. So how come he's such a late starter this time around?