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	Gilded Balloon Teviot (venue website) Comedy 2-21, 23-25 Aug, 10:30pm-11:40pm
Recommended for age 14+ only.

A musical performed for one night only – because it’s composed on the spot. That’s the ambitious promise of The Showstoppers, the cult sensation returning for its sixth year on the Fringe, which in each performance weaves together a song-filled show from the threads of suggestions shouted out by that night’s crowd. It sounds impossible… but if its constellation of five-star reviews is anything to go by, it’s actually just impossibly good.

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	C venues - C (venue website) Theatre 31 Jul, 1-11, 13-26 Aug, 10:00am-10:55am
Family-friendly. Suitable for all ages.

We confess. This is one preview we trot out every year... but that's because we always look forward to this tongue-in-cheek homage to the Bard. Amazingly, it's the 22nd annual instalment of C Venues' Stratford-themed knockabout, served – as always – with coffee and croissants at the very start of the Festival day. And if previous years are a guide, Shakespeare buffs and lay-people alike will find plenty to tickle their humour, in what usually proves a cheerful, great-value show.

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	Gilded Balloon Teviot (venue website) Comedy 31 Jul, 1-11, 13, 15-25 Aug, 5:30pm-6:30pm; 12 Aug, 5:30pm-6:30pm, 9:30pm-10:30pm
Recommended for age 14+ only.

Welcome, watchers of illusion, to the castle of confusion. If you grew up in the right decade, the very name Knightmare may be enough to send you side-stepping to the box office – eager to recapture the innocent fantasies of a simpler, more wide-eyed age. But if, on the other hand, you weren’t a teenager in the early nineties… then perhaps we’d better explain.

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	Pleasance Courtyard (venue website) Theatre 31 Jul, 1-12, 14-26 Aug, 7:10pm-8:00pm
Recommended for age 12+ only.

For today’s preview we’ve picked out a brand-new play, based on an intriguing real-life story and from a company that’s impressed us in the past. Kubrick³ – pronounced “Kubrick Cubed”, we assume – tells the tale of London travel agent Alan Conway, who for a few bizarre years in the 1990’s convinced some of the biggest names in the entertainment industry that he was the reclusive film director Stanley Kubrick.

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	Hill Street Theatre (venue website) Theatre 1-12, 14-25 Aug, 2:15pm-3:15pm
Family-friendly. Suitable for all ages.

Our pick today is solidly traditional, thoroughly unchallenging… and in every way perfectly delightful. A warm-hearted one-man adaptation of Dickens’ Pickwick Papers, we first spotted this show at this year’s Brighton Fringe – where actor Nigel Nevinson impressed us with his mastery of the character and instantly-likeable style.

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	Underbelly, Cowgate (venue website) Comedy 1-13, 15-25 Aug, 8:40pm-9:40pm
Recommended for age 12+ only.

How to describe The Dark Room? In 2012, we settled for “innovative, funny, exciting, dark-as-hell brilliance”. An unexpected word-of-mouth hit last year, The Dark Room is a lo-fi improvised game show, hosted by Aussie comedian John Robertson. Describing himself as “a brutal Old Testament God, who loves grammar and hates you”, Robertson invites selected audience members to navigate a Choose-Your-Own-Adventure-style maze – in the hope of escaping the eponymous “dark room” and winning a real-world prize.

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	Paradise in The Vault (venue website) Theatre 3-11 Aug, 5:50pm-6:30pm
Recommended for age 12+ only.

A dark psychological thriller with overtones of classic horror, Shadow On Their Wall arrives in Edinburgh after an acclaimed run at last year's Buxton Fringe. Often surprising and sometimes heart-stopping, it's a tensely thoughtful analysis of one man's encounter with his demons – told through a conversation with his psychologist, interleaved with poignant recollections of days gone by.

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	Pleasance Courtyard (venue website) Comedy 3-6, 8-12, 14-19, 21-25 Aug, 12:45pm-2:15pm
Recommended for age 14+ only.

Take reviews with a pinch of salt? Like to see for yourself before you make up your mind? Then Pick Of The Fringe is made for you. An old-fashioned variety show with a typical Fringe spin, Mervyn Stutter's now-traditional lunchtime slot gives you the chance to sample a number of acts, all hoping to tempt you along to the full version of their routine.

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	Pleasance Dome (venue website) Comedy 1-10, 13-17, 20-24 Aug, 11:00pm-12:00am
Recommended for age 16+ only.

The late-night comedy showcase is an Edinburgh staple. Comedians do their regular shows during the day or early evening, and then (perhaps after a mild libation) pitch up for a ten-minute turn as part of a line-up of Fringe talent. But Set List, which won one of our Editors’ Choice awards back in 2011, delivers a creative twist on this familiar format – mixing in a refreshing dose of genuine spontaneity and innovation.

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	Zoo (venue website) Dance and Physical Theatre 18-25 Aug, 9:30pm-10:30pm
Recommended for age 14+ only.

And now for something completely different. We discovered this engrossing, surprising piece of dance theatre at last year’s Brighton Fringe – and following an acclaimed run in London, it’s on its way to Edinburgh for one week only. A solitary woman embodies a whole host of characters, transforming her voice at the same time as she shapes her body, capturing their essence with both her movement and her tone.