2

	Sweet Grassmarket (venue website) Theatre 1-11, 13-25 Aug, 5:40pm-6:30pm Reviewed by Jane Bristow
Family-friendly. Suitable for all ages.

A one woman play involving origami, a teapot, and audience participation sounded like it could stand out from the three thousand shows vying for attention in this year’s Fringe. Sadly, it failed to live up to its promise, and instead became a little too reminiscent of an angsty drama project. Still, there were some interesting aspects of I Want To Tell You Something – and the play showed real potential to bring a character to life.

3

	Assembly George Square (venue website) Comedy 31 Jul, 1-9 Aug, 7:30pm-8:30pm; 10-11 Aug, 3:30pm-4:30pm, 7:30pm-8:30pm Reviewed by Mathilda Gregory
Recommended for age 14+ only.

What life is like for the famous – the premise for this show – is a rich seam for David Baddiel to mine, even as a man less famous now than he once was. Despite some enjoyable set pieces, Baddiel isn’t really willing to let go of his laddish 90s comedy shtick to make this the thoughtful show that this could have been – and that’s a shame.

4

	Pleasance Dome (venue website) Theatre 31 Jul, 1-11, 13-25 Aug, 12:25pm-1:45pm Reviewed by Richard Stamp
Parents or guardians should consider the content of this show if children are attending.

A collaboration between theatre-makers from Scotland and Finland, Preen Back Yer Lugs! is a cheerfully far-fetched take on national identity, set in a future independent Scottish state. It’s the early 2100’s, and an unspecified apocalypse has finally occurred – rendering England (and, as a footnote, every other country in the world) a burning, inhospitable desert. So the huddled English masses have travelled north, to a Scotland ruled by a triumphant and egotistical dictator… a man who bears a striking physical resemblance to a certain politician of the present day.

5

	C venues - C nova (venue website) Theatre 31 Jul, 1-26 Aug, 8:30pm-9:35pm Reviewed by Jane Bristow
Family-friendly. Suitable for all ages.

Like many, I was disappointed to see that Fringe veterans Belt Up Theatre were missing from 2013’s line-up – and a little investigation on their website suggests that, for the foreseeable future at least, that’s how it’s going to stay. So far, so bad. But all is not lost; there are some new projects for fans to enjoy, which brings me to The Bunker Trilogy. These three plays, reimagining the legends of Agamemnon, Morgana and Macbeth against the backdrop of the First World War, are all put together by Belt Up’s producer Jethro Compton and writer Jamie Wilkes, and having seen Agamemnon it’s fair to say there are a lot of familiar traits to be found in the production – not least its outstanding quality, on every level.

3

	theSpace @ Jury's Inn (venue website) Theatre 2-3, 5-10, 12-17 Aug, 6:20pm-7:10pm Reviewed by Richard Stamp
Recommended for age 16+ only.

This praise-worthy three-hander from Newcastle University begins with its tongue firmly in its cheek – but, as befits its blood-spattered genre, it slowly evolves into something rather darker. The action takes place on the set of a slasher flick, Porkiez (“with a Z!”), which we learn is being filmed at a predictably-isolated location somewhere in Estonia.

4

	Pleasance Courtyard (venue website) Theatre 31 Jul, 1-13, 15-19, 21-26 Aug, 2:30pm-3:30pm Reviewed by Ellen Macpherson
Parents or guardians should consider the content of this show if children are attending.

When I arrived at the Pleasance Courtyard fully fifteen minutes before I Need A Doctor was scheduled to start, I found myself already at the end of a mammoth queue. Regrettably on my own, I joined the line of fans – mostly between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five – harmoniously engaged in a group singalong of the Doctor Who theme song. In hindsight, the cheery throng outside was much better at ooo-eeeee-ooo-ing than the two people actually performing the show. Considering that the show is an intentional parody of its own lack of funding, however, I guess I shouldn’t hold that against them.

4

	Pleasance Courtyard (venue website) Theatre 31 Jul, 1-14, 16-26 Aug, 2:00pm-3:00pm Reviewed by Richard Stamp
Parents or guardians should consider the content of this show if children are attending.

In a vaulted cellar beneath the Pleasance sports hall, a spooky-looking man in a Victorian tail-coat wants to talk to us about ghosts. He’s a tour guide, we’re told – one of those portentous men with an arsenal of tall tales, who lead gaggles of tourists around the city at night. We’ve joined him in the pub, unwinding after a tour and supping a pint of ale. As time wears on and the beer slips down, our host shares his secrets and the tricks of his trade… and inevitably, before the hour is up, his monologue takes a scarier and more personal turn.

3

	C venues - C nova (venue website) Theatre 31 Jul, 1-17 Aug, 12:15pm-2:00pm Reviewed by Ellen Macpherson
Recommended for age 12+ only.

With four separate productions of Titus Andronicus in this year's Fringe programme, you’d be forgiven for thinking the arts community seems a little maniacal and angry this year. And there's no shortage of old-school fake blood effects in this production: set against the gloomy backdrop of Soviet Russia and staged as a graphic novel, this is Shakespeare meets Sin City. Titus Andronicus will never be a pleasant play to watch (as the shocked and appalled first-timer sitting next to me attested to), but the performances in this production make it an entertaining adaptation.

3

	Sweet Grassmarket (venue website) Theatre 2-11 Aug, 4:00pm-5:05pm Reviewed by Richard Stamp
Family-friendly. Suitable for all ages.  Free and unticketed. No pre-booking required.

Over the last few years, actor-playwright Ginny Davis has earned herself a reputation for delivering witty reflections on family life. Her popular “Ruth Rich saga” now runs to four much-lauded instalments, but with Hound Dog she’s tried something different – handing over the stage to a full cast of actors, and stepping back herself into the writer’s role. Her script tells a tale inspired by a real-life experience: on a recent holiday in Crete, she rescued a dog from an abusive owner, bringing it home to live with her ageing Labrador and the rest of her middle-class family.

3

	Greenside (venue website) Theatre 2-10 Aug, 6:35pm-7:25pm; 12-17 Aug, 11:05pm-12:05am; 19-24 Aug, 2:55pm-3:55pm Reviewed by Ellen Macpherson
Recommended for age 16+ only.

Judging by this show, I think we have finally moved to a stage of human development where shows based on social media don’t exist purely to preach messages about its use. Timeline is a refreshingly normal production, in which I didn't once have to sit through a thinly veiled message about the moral degradation of young people on the internet. The writers have used verbatim conversations from Facebook to create a narrative of five university students and their relationships – resulting in a comedic drama with plenty of genuine laugh-out-loud moments.