Edinburgh Festival

BWW catches up with real-life besties Ian Stroughair and Eliza Jackson about the shows they've brought to the 2018 Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

Theatre, we are informed at the outset of the show, is a dying art.  A potentially controversial statement at the Fringe, but luckily for everyone, underappreciated actor Garry Starr is on a mission to save the art form.  Over the course of sixty minutes, he will attempt to perform every single genre of theatre in order to inspire his audience to new-found appreciation and enthusiasm for everything from melodrama to maskwork.

We are all time travellers in our own way.  After all, what else is a to-do list but a message from a past self?  But what would happen if you started getting messages from a future version of you?  That is the intriguing premise of Passionate Machine, a one-woman show written and performed by Dr Rosy Carrick.

Thom Bee is a wrestling fan who wants to share his passion for the art of the squared circle with Edinburgh audiences.  He does this with the aid of comedy tag-team partner Balthazar Dark (Andrew Marsh), whose career failures have led him to something of an existential crisis.

Scotland's favourite funny girl and viral internet sensation Ashley Storrie returns to Edinburgh with a brand-new show about not growing up. With the world most likely ending quite soon, Ashley believes we should all have a laugh and be a bit more honest particularly about the myth of 'adulthood'... nobody really grows up, we're just great at pretending!

Catherine Bohart is the bisexual, OCD daughter of an Irish Catholic Deacon and she's got a hell of a lot to say about it. Debut show from a rising comedy star.

Clark Gesner's You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown first opened on Broadway in 1967, based on the Peanuts comic strip characters created by Charles M. Schulz. Charlie Brown (Cameron Kirby), Snoopy (Ellie Campbell) and friends are brought to life in this revival by Bare Productions directed by Dominic Lewis.

Showstopper! The Improvised Musical makes a return visit to the Edinburgh Festival for its 11th consecutive year. The premise is simple; create a brand new musical from scratch at every performance, the execution is not.

"Wheesht" is a Scottish expansion of "Shh", often used within the phrase "Haud yer wheesht' when telling someone to shut up north of the border. Seasoned Scottish comedian Jay Lafferty returns to the Fringe after being rated one of the top reviewed comedians at the 2017 Fringe Festival.

Alex Edelman won Best Newcomer at the 2014 Edinburgh Fringe and now returns with his third solo show, Alex Edelman: Just for Us. From the moment he comes out on stage you know you are in for a top class evening of comedy.

Six began as a Cambridge University student production before heading to the Edinburgh Fringe last year. It returns to Edinburgh this year following on from a successful run at the Arts Theatre in London and a UK tour.

Courtney Act will be best known to UK audiences from her winning stint Earlier this year in Celebrity Big Brother. More dedicated fans will know Courtney as Season 6 runner up of Ru Pauls Drag Race. She is in fine form as she takes us 'Under the Covers' of some of her favourite songs, accompanied by funny and sometimes touching stories about her life.

With sold-out shows in New York and Los Angeles, a gay man's life implodes when actress Tilda Swinton (Buffy and Instagram star Tom Lenk) insists on studying him for her next big movie role

In 1992 a schoolgirl from Fife was catapulted to a rock star life in an indie band. Touring with Radiohead, partying with Blur, she was living the dream. Until she wasn't. Based on her teenage diaries, this is the true story of Cora Bissett's rollercoaster journey from the girl she was to the woman she wanted to be. Performing with a live band, directed by Orla O'Loughlin, Cora celebrates life's euphoric highs and epic shitstorms, asking what wisdom we should pass to the next generation and which glorious mistakes we should let them make.

Many have said to a loved one: 'If you need anything, give me a call, any time of day.'. But what happens when a friend actually takes you up on that offer in the middle of the night? MESS is a new musical that follows two best friends over the course of an evening as they counsel and confess to one another.

Armour: A Herstory of the Scottish Bard is a new musical written by Shonagh Murray and directed by Melanie Bell that addresses who Nancy and the other women featured in his poetry were and what might have happened if they had met after his death.

Can you run through plasterboard? How does an electric fence work? How good is your hearing? What is the best way to spin an office chair? All questions that may or may not have crossed your mind but are answered by the Brainiac team live on stage.

Multi award-winning Grid Iron, in association with Platform, bring you a hilarious road movie for the stage. In 2006 Martin McCormick flies across the Atlantic to be reunited with a woman he has fallen passionately in love with, a Californian girl. But she's changed. Completely. Almost as soon as he's arrived, he's on the road again, penniless and desperate to get home to Scotland in one piece. A tale of hope, of love, of a small country and a vast one, of a good samaritan and a relationship gone bad. With live foley and a brilliant soundtrack.

In 1662 Morayshire, Isobel Gowdie works for zealous and ruthless witch-pricker John Dixon, torturing suspected witches into confessing their crimes.  When a ragged man appears, claiming to be the real John Dixon, and that the witch-pricker is a disguised woman named Christian Caddell, Isobel must reconsider the figure in whom she has placed her trust and affection. A dark and unsettling piece based on a true story, Heaven Burns is the 2018 winner of the Assembly Roxy Theatre Award.

Sheer anarchy is about the only way to describe John Robertson's latest stand up effort. Sweaty, Sexy Party Party is a difficult show to summarise, as if there was a theme or set to it, it was quickly discarded in favour of riffing off of audience members to hilarious ends. Luckily, the Australian comedian best known at the Fringe for the perennial cult hit The Dark Room proves just as effective a showman with the lights on.

A teenager on the road to ruin and his little brother are about to be taken into care by the authorities. This tense, fast-paced one-man show, written in verse, tells the story of two brothers who flee their council estate flat in a bid for a better life.

A triple threat of heavenly vocals, theatrical swagger and razor-sharp wit. Direct from sell-out performances, Velma Celli celebrates the iconic drag moments of film, stage and popular culture. Join Velma, her voluptuous backing singers and band for an electrifying cabaret featuring the music of Queen, Bowie, Lady Gaga, Tina Turner and more. Forget lip-synching for your life, this is singing for your soul - from one of the West End's top performers.

The multi award-winning Gingzilla is on a mission to conquer the world! Gingzilla: Glamonster vs the World presents gender equality and femininity from the 1950s to now. ***** (GlamAdelaide.com.au). Smashing together 1950s films like Godzilla, Swamp Monster and King Kong, Glamonster subverts the idea that Gingzilla can only be either glamorous or monstrous. Witness this iconic 7ft ginger-bearded drag queen tear up the stage, question your orientation and leave you gagging for more!!

Stripped is a new beginning. A reintroduction of myself. Life has a way of hardening you, at least mine has. This is my attempt at shedding those skins, saying goodbye to part of myself and embracing someone I knew a long time ago. Through film, music, poetry, song and dance, I share my story and in turn ask the audience to consider theirs. From boy to man, sexuality, sobriety, success, love and loss. My pictures, memories, moments. Featuring original music and choreography alongside the soundtrack of my life. Bowie, Bush, Buckley and more..

A new Tory PM must unite his party's warring factions with his masterful plan for a final Brexit deal. Just... what was it again? Starring Timothy Bentinck (The Archers), Jo Caulfield, Hal Cruttenden, Pippa Evans and Mike McShane.