It’s the Lady Boys’ seventh year in Brighton, we’re told… though you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s been a whole lot longer.  A regular fixture on the UK touring circuit, this show’s now so well-known it’s strangely easy to overlook.  But when it comes to these guys, familiarity really shouldn’t breed contempt; their oh-so-befuddling act deserves its fame as one of the truly remarkable experiences of the Fringe.

You might have seen Michael Robins, in super-sized form, on the side of a Brighton bus – but we met the man in the flesh at last year’s Fringe, when we joined him for a guided walk round Brunswick.  A leading light of the local community, Robins is one of several tour guides plying their trade in this year’s programme, and his gimmick-free delivery will suit those who like their history un-spun.

It’s back to the future for the Penny Dreadfuls, the three-man comedy troupe originally known for Victorian-era sketch show Aeneas Faversham.  Like last year’s play The Never Man, this new show eschews their historical trademark and keeps them rooted firmly in the present day.  But it also marks a welcome return to sketch comedy – the genre which made their name, and where, we feel, their talent truly shines.

Oh my goodness, what are we doing?  We're recommending a conjuring show.  Performed by a man in a dragon suit.  Who calls himself Piff, has a mind-reading fish... and according to the Fringe programme, suffers from a "penchant for princesses".  Have we taken leave of our minds?

Billed by its creators as a Great Gatsby for today, When All The Crowds Have Gone sets the age-old tribulations of family relations against a backdrop of the modern world.  A brand-new but classically-formed play, we’ve picked this one out thanks to its promising pairing of a proven writer with an ambitious young director.

Previewing music’s an activity fraught with peril: if you’re in the market for this type of show, you probably know more than we do about what you’re looking for.  But here’s one option you just may not have thought of... an orchestra, a whole orchestra, made almost entirely of mandolins.

They’re back!  Perhaps the most improbable cult hit in the entire history of comedy – and certainly the most literally-named – Kev Sutherland’s one-man, two-handed sock-a-thon offers another hour of high-pitched hijinks at this year’s Fringe.

Anarchists in Copenhagen, fisticuffs in Arizona and a tree-house-dwelling time-traveller called Gorilla Eucalyptus.  We’ll hear the stories behind these encounters – plus a smattering of racier ones – in Number 9 Bus To Utopia, the latest instalment in the gloriously unpredictable life of local writer David Bramwell.

You’ll need to move quickly if you want to book this one: voted the leading tourist attraction in the whole of Brighton and Hove, it’s always one of the first sell-outs of the Fringe.  It’s unique; it’s magnificent; we gave it five stars in 2009.  And yes – it really is a hike through a sewer.

The uncanny valley, some psychologists say, is an abyss inside our minds: a place where the cute flips over to be freaky.  And it’s in that mental valley that you’ll find local musicians Spacedog, whose deliciously creepy electronic tunes will be weirding out Brighton once again this May.